Directions to Make Soap
Making your own soap is an economical way to stock your bathroom with custom scented and textured bars. Soap making does demand a significant amount of time, but if you're willing to wait for the results of your labor, you won't be disappointed. Learning to make soap will allow you to create your ideal soap, whether it's a lavender-scented soap with good lather, an exfoliating bar with moisturizing properties, or something different altogether.
Things You'll Need
- Kitchen scale
- Heat-proof glass container
- Lye crystals
- Liquid (e.g., water, milk)
- Wooden spoon
- Stainless steel stock pot
- Fats and/or oils
- Soap mold
- Freezer paper
- Thermometer
- Stick blender
- Essential oil
- Additional add-ins (oatmeal, lavender seeds, etc.)
Instructions
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Create a Recipe
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1
Acquire the fats or oils you want in your soap. The fats you choose will determine your soap's prominent properties. For example, if you want a moisturizing bar, you should use an superfatting oil, such as almond oil or cocoa butter.
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2
Determine how much lye you need. The amount of lye you need to make soap depends on the fats and oils you decide to use. Consult a saponification chart or plug your data into a saponification calculator (see Resource) to determine exactly how much lye you will need.
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3
Calculate the amount of liquid you must use to create a successful batch of soap. The amount you use depends largely on the kind of liquid you use. For soap recipes that use water, that ratio of water to fat should equal 1:3, and if you use milk, the ratio of milk to fats should equal 1:2.
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4
Choose add-ins. After you develop a basic soap recipe, you can further customize it with scented and textured add-ins. For example, if you want an exfoliating bar, you might add oatmeal or lavender seeds, and for custom scents, you can add essential oils.
Make the Soap
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5
Weigh your ingredients using an accurate kitchen scale.
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6
Pour the liquid into a heat-proof glass container and stir in the lye with a wooden spoon. Use cold water, as the lye will quickly heat up the liquid. Turn your head away from the container as you stir to avoid inhaling toxic fumes. Allow the lye and water mixture to cool to 110 degrees F.
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7
Place fats in a stainless steel stock pot and heat until they reach a temperature of 110 degrees F; while the fats heat up, line a soap mold with freezer paper as the fats and the lye solution come to temperature.
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8
Combine the fats and/or oils and the lye solution. Submerge a stick blender in the oil/fat pot, turn it on, and quickly add the lye solution to the pot. Pulse the stick blender for 30 seconds, rest for one minute (stirring the mixture with the idle stick blender) and repeat until the soap begins to trace. At trace, the mixture will have the consistency of a thin pudding.
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9
Add any additional ingredients, such as essential oils and exfoliating materials, and stir with the idle stick blender to combine. Pour the soap into the lined mold and allow it to cure for at least six weeks. After the soap has cured you can cut it into bars.
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Tips & Warnings
Test cured soap on a small patch of skin before using it for general washing. If it feels harsh, allow it to cure for a longer period of time.
Once your soap begins to trace, work quickly to blend in remaining ingredients, as the soap may not take long to harden.
Practice extreme caution when working with lye. It is highly caustic and will burn your skin.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit bars of soap image by Jale Evsen Duran from Fotolia.com
