How to Make Simple Soap

Making simple homemade soap is a fun project. Homemade soap lasts longer, does not have to contain perfumes, dyes and other irritants and is healthier for the skin. Have some good, clean fun and make over 10 pounds of simple soap using this method.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 18-ounce can of Red Devil lye (sodium hydroxide)
• 5 cups distilled water
• 20 cups of olive oil
• Pyrex glass heat-proof container
• Rubber or silicon spatula or spoon
• 1 large stainless steel or enamel pot at least 2 gallons in size
• 1 submersible cooking thermometer
• Stick blender
• 1 plastic Rubbermaid box 13 by 9 by 6 inches deep with a snap-on lid
• 1 blanket
• Brown paper

1. Pour 5 cups of room-temperature distilled water into the glass Pyrex container. Add 18 ounces of lye and stir carefully with the rubber spatula or spoon to mix and dissolve. There will be a chemical reaction and the mixture will get very hot! Set the mixture in a well-ventilated, safe place to cool.

2. Carefully heat 20 cups of olive oil to 100 degrees F in the large mixing pot on the stove once the lye solution cools down to a temperature that is warm to the touch.

3. Add the warm lye solution to the 100 degree F olive oil. Pour very slowly so you do not spill or splash. Stir continuously with your spatula.

4. Continue stirring the oil and lye mixture for a couple more minutes to be sure it is well mixed. Then use a stick blender and alternate the stick blender for 20 seconds, then stir by hand for 20 seconds. Do not skimp or change this blending method. The mixture will soon get thicker and more opaque. Keep stirring until it is the consistency of thick pudding.

5. Transfer the mixture into the container and snap the lid on. Cover with the blanket and leave undisturbed for at least 12 hours.

6. Peek at the soap after 12 hours. The soap should be firm to the touch. If it still feels hot or warm, don't do anything. Leave it until it is cool to the touch and firm but not hard.

7. Slip the soap out of the container. If there is some liquid on the block of soap, leave it there. It is condensation and will reabsorb. Cut the soap into bars as soon as possible after unmolding as it is a hard soap and will be very hard to cut if you wait too long!

8. Stack the bars of soap on brown paper-lined shelves in a well-ventilated area. Age and cure the bars of soap for 4 weeks before using.

Tips & Warnings

• Lye is potentially very dangerous. Never put lye in aluminum. Never leave a lye mixture unattended.
• The lye mixture will get very hot and give off fumes when mixed with the distilled water. Get away from it quickly until the fumes disperse, then put the lye mixture in a safe place to cool where you can keep a close eye on it.