How to Cure Lye Based Soap

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By thebeaddoodler
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So, you've taken the plunge and decided to make your lye soap. It's been in the mold for 24 hours, you've unmolded it and cut it into bars. But what do you do with it now? It's not ready to use. It needs to cure for at least 4 weeks or it will be so soft it'll wash a way too fast during use and it may not lather very well. Here's step by step instructions to cure your beautiful new creation.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Fresh hand made lye soap
a rack that will allow air to circulate all around the soap
a location that isn't exposed to direct sunlight.

Step 1

Find a place to set up your rack. Your rack can be any thing from a cake rack, office sorter basket or a book shelf lined with one of those textured rubber mats, depending on how big a batch you made. Don't put your fresh soap directly on finished wood. It can mar the surface. For a two pound batch that makes 12 bars I use a plastic office sorter with ridges on the bottom.
Step 2

Lay your bars of soap on the rack so they aren't touching. You can either lay them flat or stand them on edge.
Step 3

If you don't have a place where there's no direct sunlight, cover the soap with a coarse cloth.
Step 4

For the first few days, turn the soap every day.
Step 5

After about a week you can just leave it on the rack for the remaining curing time. When I first started making soap I always left it on the rack for the full curing time. However I've experimented throughout the years and found that after a week you can wrap your soaps and put them where ever you're going to store them long term. They need to be stored out of direct light. I like to store mine in plastic shoe boxes

Comments

dlcass said

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on 4/21/2009 I think soap making is the neatest thing. I've tried my hand at the easier methods...lye soap is still a goal of mine. Thanks for the tips.