How to Make Soap From Natural Ingredients

Making your own natural homemade soap can be a fun and rewarding experience. Because you know what all of the ingredients are, you never have to worry about harsh, unnecessary chemicals being used on your skin. With a bit of preparation and practice, making your own homemade soap and concocting your own soap recipes may become an enjoyable hobby.

Things You'll Need

• 24 ounces of cold spring water
• 12 ounces of lye crystals
• 34 ounces of organic soybean oil
• 24 ounces of organic olive oil
• 16 ounces of organic palm oil
• 14 ounces of organic coconut oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of organic paprika
• 2 ounces of organic jojoba oil
• 1 tablespoon of organic sugar, dissolved in a small amount of hot water
• Safety goggles
• Rubber gloves
• 2-cup heatproof measuring cup
• Large metal mixing bowl
• Metal mixing spoon
• Soap mold
• 2 soap-making thermometers
• 1 sharp cutting knife
• *6 to 8 towels

Instructions

Cold-Process Soap-Making

1. Be sure to put on your safety goggles and rubber gloves before beginning, and especially before touching the lye. Lye is a strong chemical ingredient that must be used in order to make soap, even if the soap is a natural formula.

2. Pour the water into the heatproof measuring cup. Add the lye to the water. Mix this solution continuously with the metal spoon until all of the lye has dissolved in the water. Place one of the soap-making thermometers into the lye solution and set this solution aside.

3. In the large mixing bowl, combine all of the oils: the soybean, palm, olive, coconut and jojoba oils. Add the sugar and paprika to the oils. Place the second soap-making thermometer into this solution and set the solution aside.

4. When using this recipe, both solutions should have a temperature of 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to proceed, you will need to wait until the temperature of both solutions has reached this level. Should one solution need to be warmed up, this can be achieved by inserting the container into a sink full of hot water. Should one solution need to be cooled down, insert the container into a sink full of cold water.

5. Carefully pour the lye mixture into the oil mixture. Begin stirring this mixture briskly and constantly in order for the ingredients to interact with one another. Stop stirring when the mixture begins to saponify. It may take nearly an hour of stirring before this occurs. Test the mixture by drizzling part of the solution from the mixing spoon onto the surface of the mixture. If it takes a brief period of time for this drizzled amount to sink to the bottom, the solution is ready.

6. Pour the mixture into a soap mold of your own choosing. Cover the mold with the lid it comes with. Layer the towels over the top of the covering to insulate the soap. Leave the soap just as it is, for about 24 hours.

7. Remove the towels, flip the mold over and let the soap fall out. Take the sharp knife and carefully slice the soap into 1/2-inch sections, or as thick as you would like each bar of soap to be.

Tips & Warnings

• Adding your own herbs and essential oils to this recipe is a snap. Simply add a desired amount of crushed herbs or essential oil drops into the final mixture as it is being stirred.

• When combining the water and the lye, always add the lye to the water and never add the water to the lye.

References

• All-Vegetable Soaps & Recipes; The Miller Soap Company
• Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial: A Lesson in Lye Soap Making; Soap Making Resource.com