How to Make Soap

How to Make Soap

Soap making can be both a worthwhile and rewarding hobby. Not only will you learn how to make soap – a handy skill that can come in handy, you can also have a whole lot of fun. Making your own soap also means that you will not be exposed to the harmful chemicals that commercial soap companies use in their products.

There are an unlimited number of recipes for soaps you can make at home – you can choose to use the most basic materials or create soaps with herbs or other items embedded into it.  The recipe does not really matter – what counts is that you are safe and have fun.

General Process on How to Make Soap using the Cold Process:

1. Preparing the lye solution.
2. Melting your carrier oils.
3. Mixing the lye solution and carrier oils together to create a soap mixture.
4. Add your essential oils for fragrance at “trace” and pour into the soap molds.
5. Allow the soap to cure.

Before starting, you should remember to wear the gloves and goggles and read the warning labels on the lye. Lye is a dangerous substance and can cause burns if it comes into direct contact with skin.  The first thing to do when making soap is to prepare a solution from lye and water.  Start by mixing the water and lye. Do this by slowly and carefully pouring the lye into very cold water. Mixing the two causes a chemical reaction, causing the mixture to become really hot. Leave the mixture until it gets back to room temperature.

In the olden days, getting lye was a rather time consuming activity.  It involved collecting the brown liquid produced from pouring water into wood. Nowadays, you can buy lye at shops that sell soap making ingredients.

The preparation of the oils is the next step.  Again, in the olden day it entailed the removal of any impurities in animal fat or grease. This process is called rendering and is notorious for the rank smell it produces.  Fortunately, the process of how to make soap doesn't require you to render fat anymore.  You can use what are called carrier oils.  These are oils derived from various parts of some plants such as olives, coconuts, and avocados, for example. 

After melting your oils, slowly pour in the lye solution to create the soap mixture. Stir carefully until the consistency thickens and reaches “trace”.  You can then add your essential oils for fragrance.  Pour your soap mixture into the molds. Let this mixture sit undisturbed in room temperature for about twenty four hours. After this time, you will be able to simply pop out your soap from the molds.  The soap must be set aside and allowed to cure for 4-6 weeks before it is ready for use.