If you don’t trust the common chemicals used in home cleaning products, what makes a mass-produced bar of soap any different? It’s important to have a good idea of what you’re rubbing onto your skin and what those materials might do to you.
That’s why learning how to make soap is a smart move. Making your own soap gives you total control over the ingredients, the fragrance, and the effect of your home’s soap.
We’re going to explore soap making today, giving you some insights into how it’s done and what you can do to improve the process. Hopefully, the ideas below show you how simple making soap at home is.
Let’s get started.
How To Make Soap At Home
The first thing we’ll discuss is the easiest way to make your own soap at home. There are two primary ways to get the job done, but the second one is a little more dangerous than the first.
The reason for that is the fact that creating your own batch of soap requires that you use lye, also known as sodium hydroxide. It’s important to know the sodium hydroxide dangers before you get started with that product because the risks are very real and very severe.
The first method is called the “melt and pour” method. It consists of only a few steps and it leaves you with a solid batch of your own customized bars of soap. Making soap without lye is the smart move if you’re making it with children or if there are pets around.
Melt And Pour Soaps
Buy a number of bars of clean white soap without any coloring or any scents added to it. Buy bars of this soap, not liquid soap.
Buy a proportionate amount to the number of bars of soap you’d like to make for yourself. When you get these home, you can put them in a pot on a burner with low heat.
After a few minutes, you’ll notice that the soap starts to meltdown and liquify. It should remain thick yet able to be pushed and pulled with a spoon. Keep the soap at low heat throughout the process, though, because you risk altering or burning it if the pot is too hot.
At this point, add the appropriate essential oils or scents that you want in your bar of soap. You can also add food coloring or other forms of coloring that you desire.
Stir those ingredients into the soap pot until they’re blended evenly and the aroma starts to emit from the pot. Finally, pour the concoction into a mold and let the soap dry.
Once it’s hardened, you’re good to use it like you normally would. You’ve got your own custom-made soap that smells and looks the way you want it to.
The Standard Cold Process
Our second section is the one that involves sodium hydroxide. Soap making safety is essential when you’re following this method.
Before you start, you’ll need a few things. Gather vegetable oils, lye, a pitcher of water, a boiling pot, essential oils, coloring, a mold, glasses, and a facemask.
Note that you can also use fresh fruit and milk because the process of saponification preserves these items without allowing bacteria to grow. It’s wise to follow a recipe on your first try because there are numerous ways to achieve suitable results.
Put on a pair of rubber gloves to protect your hands from the lye.
Start by mixing the appropriate amount of water and lye. Add the lye to the water after it’s poured in a pitcher and be sure not to spill any water while you’re mixing it in.
Rinse the utensil you used to stir the mixture immediately Cover the pitcher and set it in a place that nobody will mistake it for a container of drinking water and nobody will spill the mixture.
Add The Oils And Lye Mixture
Your recipe should call for numerous oils. Common oils include coconut, palm, essential oils, cocoa butter, canola oil, olive oil, and castor oil.
Stir all of these oils together until they blend and reach a temperature of about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. There may be some room-temperature oils to add as well, and those will bring the temperature back down to around 100 degrees.
Add any other additives that your recipe calls for at this point. Prepare all of your measuring utensils for the next steps and have them on hand.
Slowly add the lye mixture to the solution of oils. Make sure that you do this in a way that prevents splashing. Once the solution gets added, mix it together slowly with a large spoon.
Don’t use an electronic blender or anything that could splash the water out of the pot. Once you mix the lye solution with the oil, the process of saponification begins. After around ten minutes of blending by hand, you can use the electric blender in short bursts of a few seconds followed by more hand stirring.
Reaching The Point Of Trace
“Trace” is the stage of saponification that signifies the emulsification of the mixture is almost done.
This means that it sticks together and binds in such a way that it will fall off of objects without leaving any residue. To check for this stage, put a spoon in the solution and pick some of the soap up.
It should all fall off of the spoon without leaving a trace. If the majority of the scoop falls off but leaves some residue, you’re not ready yet.
Once you reach trace, you can start adding more fragrances and colors to the mixture. You then pour the soap into the mold of your choice and let it sit for around 24 hours.
Be sure to use your safety gear when you’re washing any of the utensils that were used to touch lye.
Interested In Learning More About DIY Practices?
Learning how to make soap is just one of the many activities you can take part in to enrich your home life, improve your health, and reduce your carbon footprint.
We’re here to help you learn more. Explore our site for more ideas on soap ingredients, lifestyle tips, financial ideas, and much more.
