You might end up making soap unintentionally when extracting, but research into alkaloid extractions has actually raised my interest in home soapmaking. A forum search has only turned up very specific quesions about soap, and talk about failed extractions, hence this new topic.

It seems like a relatively cheap way to produce healthy, natural and even gentle soap - I did some calculations, and if I go with non-exotic ingredients, homemade soap is about an order of magnitude cheaper compared to the cheapest "artisan" soap that compares in purity and organic-ness. So since most of us already have some lye lying around, why not use it like this?

I'm planning on doing a batch of olive / coconut soap over the next few weeks, I'll post some results. If anyone else makes soap, I'd love to hear ideas, recipes, experiences... Maybe even using extraction waste material as soap ingredients?

BTW here's a soap calculator for calculating characteristics and the lye amount for a specific fat/oil mixture: http://soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp

Have you looked into using tepezcohuite to make soap?
They use it in Mexico, it is actually bark from mimosa hostilis but they do not use the bark from the roots. Probably useless for extraction but from what I gather it has some great applications for physical healing, burns, scars, etc. when used in soap.

I've been making soap for a few years now. It seemed like the natural thing to do with having a lot of lye around. After much experimentation I have found certain things that I like and certain things that I don't like.

For the most part I always like to put coconut oil in as it produces the best lather of any oil. I always look online and find different recommended ratios for various ingredients, as if you put too high a ratio of coconut oil in it will be drying to the skin. SO looking up a guide on oil ratios is essential and there are several good theories out there, so I don't want to recommend one. Experimentation is half the fun.

To combat the possible drying effect of the coconut oil I typically always use some percentage of olive oil (again look up recommended ratios), as it's very good for the skin, as well as shea butter, because there are ingredients in shea butter that do not saponify, which will help moisturize the skin.

So my main three ingredients I always always use are coconut oil, olive oil, and shea butter. Then I try to experiment with adding other oils.

My last batch was coconut olive, shea and sunflower oil, and it was excellent. I added a fragrance from an essential oil I found called "Sweet Dreams", it turned out fantastic, a relatively soft bar, but still quite firm and lathered beautifully with soft moisturizing suds. It took me a while to get comfortable with the ratios. And I still like to experiment, such as use corn oil, or peanut oil. I've used palm kernel before but wasn't a fan at all. Either way, I say experiment, you'll soon find something that works for your skin.

Also when you try new batches make note of how quickly it lathers as well as the type of suds it produces. I've found a wide range from thin soft really tight silky bubbles to thick frothy heavy oily bubbles.

My next plan is to use tepezcohuite powder and see how it turns out.

Ive been making soap for a while. I like castille soap for washing my face because of how gentle it is but where im at getting ahold of it is hit or miss and pricey. Started making shaving soap next.

The key to castille is letting it age so you need to keep a rotating stock.

You'll get to learn how the different oils react with the lye. Olive oil comes to a trace incredibly slow. While coconut oil will come to a trace very quickly even turning lumpy and coagulated before you can pour.

You can speed up the curing process that soaps go through by putting the soap and mold into a warm oven overnight before cutting the loaf. I turn my oven on to warm when I start a batch. When its all put in the mold i put it into the oven, shut off the heat and leave the light inside turned on. It stays warm enough to help speed up the curing process enough to make even the slowest curing soaps usable right away.

Also soapcalc dot com

The wife has made soap professionally for 18 years or so. Whatcha need to know?

Just made my first batch recently. Decided to make it coconut honey cinnamon. Came out great! Cant wait to make more when I get more ingredients!