Soap making instructions are everywhere on the Internet. But the instructions are often complicated and hard to follow. This article reviews the basics so you can get a picture of the process and better understand some of the instructions you see.
First you need to understand that soap is a result of a chemical process. Soap is the product of a combination of an alkali and fats and oils. The most critical part of this process is getting the proportions right. You have to mix the proper amount of alkali with the proper amount of oils.
The alkali we use is some form of lye. For bar soap it's sodium hydroxide. And no, you can't make soap without lye. Now you can buy soap that's already been made with lye and remelt it. And you can use certain plant extracts that have soap in them. But what we call soap is lye plus a fat or oil.
The oils or fats we use to make natural soap can be most any kind of fat or oil. But different oils produce very different kinds of soap. Coconut oil, for example, produces soap with lots of big, beautiful bubbles. But coconut oil soap cleans so well that it removes the oils from your skin so it feels drying. On the other hand, olive oil soap is luxurious and moisturizing, but it makes very small bubbles. So, what you do is combine different oils to produce a soap that's just right. Just right to you that is.
The artistry to making soap is combining the ingredients in just the right proportions.
Each type of oil or fat uses a different amount of lye to turn it into soap. Luckily charts have been developed that tell you just how much lye is required to turn each kind of oil to soap.
We mix lye with water usually to make it easier to mix the soap batch. Without the water, the chemical reaction would take place too fast to make nice looking soap. That's means you have to pick the right amount of water too. We need enough to get good mixing of the lye and oils. But not too much or it will take to long to dry.
And it does take several weeks for the soap to dry or cure after it is mixed.
The basic soap making instructions are:
- Always use approved eye safety goggles. Uncured soap can blind you.
- Develop a recipe.
- Measure the oils.
- Measure the water.
- Measure the lye.
- Combine lye into water, never water into lye.
- Melt oils if necessary.
- Let oil and water come to about the same temperature.
- Stir lye-water mixture into the oils.
- Continue stirring until the mixture just starts to harden, called tracing.
- Pour soap mixture into molds.
- Allow to cure for about 4 weeks.
There are many complications like how do you scent natural soaps and how do you color soap. You would be surprised how much scent oil it takes to make soap smell good. You might also be amazed at how beautiful soap can be with natural handmade soap colorants.
We specialize in milk soap. The milk is used instead of water. The trick is to mix the lye into the milk very slowly. Also keep the milk chilled, otherwise the lye can burn the milk. It actually caramelizes!
Once you get experience as a soap maker, you may think about selling soap. Many people make a nice part-time income selling their soap. We sold over 35,000 bars of soap in about four years just working part-time making soap in the kitchen sink. Now think about that. That's 35,000 bars of soap worth about $4 per bar!