From Pour to Cure: Recording Every Batch

Hey soapmaking friends! Let’s talk record keeping.

I giggled a bit writing this section in my book and again while working on this blog. All my life, I thought I was a type-A, ultra-organized personality. One year, when I was teaching about personality types, I proudly told my students I was type A. My teacher’s aide laughed out loud and said, “Just look at our desks!” We all looked over—hers was perfectly organized, and mine… was a creative mess.

That’s when I realized: I like to think I’m organized, but in reality, it’s something I have to focus on and deliberately practice. And it’s very important in soapmaking!

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One of the simplest ways to grow as a soap maker is by keeping good records of your batches. To help you do just that, I’m sharing a soap batch record form, available as both a printable PDF and a Google Sheets version, so you can choose what works best for your workflow. And learn from my early mistakes—don’t be like me, scribbling notes on scraps of paper and Post-its everywhere! I realized pretty quickly (around my third batch) that staying organized was going to be key to my learning and growth… and I’m not even a type A personality. I’ve hav to truly focus on organization in a meaningful way, and I promise—cross my heart—that keeping accurate records will alleviate a lot of stress and greatly speed up your learning .

Accurate record-keeping helps you refine your craft, stay consistent, and build a strong foundation in soap making—especially if you’re testing natural colorants or other additives. This becomes even more important when working in micro-batches, where small changes can make a big difference.

Keeping notes acts as a memory aid—because let’s be honest, it’s easy to forget what you did in a batch weeks or even months ago. Writing things down helps you remember ingredient amounts, methods, and those little tweaks you made, so you can repeat them with confidence.

It also allows you to perfect your recipes & formulations. When you track each batch, you can make thoughtful adjustments over time and fine-tune your soap until it’s just right.

When you create a bar you absolutely love, good records make it easy to recreate your favorites. No more guessing how much essential oil you used or which oils gave it that perfect feel—everything is right there. Ask me how I know… you really won’t remember what you did without a record!

If a batch doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, your notes help with identifying what went wrong. Being able to look back and see what changed makes troubleshooting far less frustrating.

Record-keeping also lets you experiment wisely with time efficiency in mind. You can try new ingredients, techniques, or additives while documenting exact measurements and methods, that way you always know exactly what you did and how it performed.

And even if you’re only making soap for your own family or gifting bars to friends—with no intention of selling—I still recommend keeping an ingredient list with your stored soaps or attaching one when gifting. Even natural ingredients can cause sensitivities or reactions for some people. Clear labeling creates transparency, protects those we care about, and helps all of us learn more about what we love—and what we don’t love—on our skin.

Keeping records supports personal growth as a soap maker. Looking back at older batches shows just how far you’ve come—and helps you see where you may still want to improve.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been making soap for years, keeping batch records is one of the most valuable habits you can build. Grab my free soap batch record—it’s available in two forms: the PDF form, if you are a print-it-at-home, write-it-by-hand type, and a Google Sheets form for those of us who like to type and have trouble keeping up with printed sheets and binders.

Want to save time experimenting and get step-by-step guidance for a rainbow of organic soap colors?

The world of natural colorants in soapmaking is vast! If you want more details and step-by-step guidance, grab a copy of From Seed to Soap. Inside, you’ll find charts for over 25 natural colorants, showing each ingredient, the exact amounts to use, and how to incorporate them—so you can create beautiful, vibrant soaps with confidence.

Keep Records: Save Yourself Headaches (and Maybe a Migraine or Two!)

Record keeping might sound tedious, but trust me—it pays off! Whether you’re curating your own soap formulas or experimenting with natural colors, keeping notes will save you a lot of frustration later. If you’re doing all the experimenting, you’ll want to be able to recreate your results again and again. A helpful tip: consider keeping records for your base soap formulas separate from the ones for testing and experimenting with colorants.

What to Record

You can jot things down in a spiral notebook while making soap, but I highly recommend transferring your notes into a digital system or organized system when you have a chance. That way, you’re not digging through pages of scribbles later. That’s actually how my book came to life—I realized all my organized notes could save others a lot of time! (Apparently, not everyone wants to spend months—or even years—researching something when someone else has already figured it out and organized it.)

Here’s what to track:

Colorants – Note what you used, how much, and how you added it. Some herbs or botanicals vary in quality, so note your source.

Infusions – Record the ratios when infusing oils. I learned the hard way that without this, duplicating results can be tricky. For example: did you infuse 4 tablespoons of botanical powder in 2 or 3 cups of oil?

Ratios in Soap – Document how much of your infusion or water replacement went into the soap. For instance: 10% of the recipe's oil weight was annatto seed-infused oil + 100% carrot juice water replacement.

Environmental Factors – Things like insulation, gel phase or CPOP (cold process oven process) can all affect the color. Jot these down too!

Essential Oils & Other Additives – Even small changes here can impact color, so record exactly what and how much you used.

Soap Base Formula – Not all soap bases are the same. Some are bright white, while others are ivory, cream, or pale yellow. This affects the final color outcome, so note it!

Keeping these records will help you recreate your favorite soaps, troubleshoot issues, and confidently explore natural color combinations. Think of it as creating your own personal soapmaking roadmap—worth every note!

I’ve put together a color experimentations form, and it’s included in my soap batch recording download—perfect for keeping track of your natural color tests!

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