Soap Making Help... Please?

Question

http://video.about.com/candleandsoap/Homemade-Soap-From-Scratch.htm

this is the link... [^^^^^^^-up]

i was just wondering if i can replace the soap safe fragrance or essential oil with an extract of orange / mango / or any other fruits and flowers

Answer 1

The most popular soapmaking process today is the cold process method, where fats such as olive oil react with lye. Soapmakers sometimes use the melt and pour process, where a premade soap base is melted and poured in individual molds. While some people think that this is not really soap-making, the Hand Crafted Soap Makers Guild does recognize this as a legitimate form of soap making or soap crafting. Some soapers also practice other processes, such as the historical hot process, and make special soaps such as clear soap (glycerin soap), which must be made through the melt and pour process.

Handmade soap differs from industrial soap in that, usually, an excess of fat is sometimes used to consume the alkali (superfatting), and in that the glycerin is not removed leaving a naturally moisturising soap and not pure detergent. Superfatted soap, soap which contains excess fat, is more skin-friendly than industrial soap; though, if not properly formulated, it can leave users with a "greasy" feel to their skin. Often, emollients such as jojoba oil or shea butter are added 'at trace' (the point at which the saponification process is sufficiently advanced that the soap has begun to thicken), after most of the oils have saponified, so that they remain unreacted in the finished soap. Superfatting can also be accomplished through a process called superfat discount, where, instead of putting in extra fats, the soap maker puts in less lye

Answer 2

You should be able to use any oily perfume.  Orange would be good, you can also use sandalwood though it might be more expensive than orange oil.  

Answer 3

As long as the extract is an essintial oil not an extract for food - from what i've gathered from others on soapmaking forums, food extracts do not work as well and can cause problems like your soap siezing, it's best to stay with essential oils or fragrance oils that are skin safe