Lye Soap Cold Making Process

Making your own cold process soap with lye can be quite fun.

According to TeachSoap.com, cold process soap is hard, long lasting and customizable to get specifically desired qualities such as extra lather or moisturizing soap. The process involves mixing fatty acids with sodium hydroxide, more commonly referred to as lye. Perhaps the most difficult part of making cold processed lye soap is that cold processing takes four to six weeks to complete. While it is simply sitting and curing for most of that time, it's still a long time to wait for your soap to finish.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• For 4.5 pounds of soap:
• 6.9 oz lye (5% superfatted)
• 16 oz palm oil
• 16 oz coconut oil
• 16 oz canola oil
• 15.8 oz water
• Safety goggles, gloves & mask
• Long-sleeved shirt
• Glass candy thermometer
• Stick blender or stirring stick
• Molds

Preparation

1. Put on your safety goggles, glasses and mask, as well as a long-sleeved shirt. Lye can be very dangerous to exposed skin and eyes, and the fumes can be harmful to breathe. Put the water into a large bowl that is heat resistant.

2. Pour the lye into the water and stir it in well using your stirring stick. Do not touch the mixture; the chemical reaction causes it to heat up to burning temperatures. Allow the mixture to cool to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, testing the temperature with the candy thermometer. Keep the area well ventilated to avoid dangerous fumes, or put the mixture outside if the area doesn't offer enough ventilation.

3. Place all the oils in a pot and melt them. Allow them to cool to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit; the oils should be within five degrees of the lye mixture.

4. Very carefully pour the lye/water mixture into the melted oils, not the other way around. Stir with vigor until trace occurs, which will leave the mixture looking like thin pudding. Stirring by hand may take up to an hour, which is why a stick blender is recommended.

5. Carefully pour the trace mixture into the molds. You can find specific soap molds online or in crafts stores, though cookie molds work, too.

The Waiting Game

1. Place your soap mixture somewhere secure, out of the way and room temperature. It's important to keep the molds out of the reach of children and animals.

2. Pop the soap bars out of their molds after allowing them to sit for three to five days. Be careful not to crack the newly formed bars of soap when removing them.

3. Place the bars in a safe place. Wait a full four to six weeks, allowing your soap to cure and complete the process of saponification.

Tips & Warnings

• Many recipes can be used to produce specific qualities in the soap. Experiment with different recipes if you're not satisfied with this one.

• Never touch the mixture until the bars have hardened. In the early stages, it could harm you and in later stages, your dirty hands might contaminate the soap.

References

• Teach Soap: Soap Making Methods
• Teach Soap: Easy Cold Process Soap Recipes for Beginners

Resources

• Soap Making Resources: Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial