Home Made Soap

Several years ago, one of my friends had dabbled in soap making and encouraged me to try it for myself.  It wasn't terribly expensive or difficult and I can make a very basic soap that doesn't irritate my skin like store bought soap.  I do vary the amounts and types of fats that I use when I make soap, so every batch is just a little bit different.  Some of my earlier soaps tended to be soft and dissolve quickly, so I did a little research to find out what types of fats make a firmer soap.  The latest batch used a combination of tallow, coconut oil and palm oil.  The liquid portion of the soap was a combination of chamomile tea and aloe juice boiled and crushed from fresh aloe leaves.  To figure out how much lye to use I use this lye calculator.  I just enter the amount of each type of fat and the lye calculator tells me how much water and lye to use.  I have yet to make a bad batch of soap using this calculator.  I also added some ground oatmeal to the soap to make it even more beneficial for my skin.  

The method I use to make soap is called cold processing.  The first step is to measure out the water and lye and mix them.  When lye is added to the water solution it undergoes an exothermic reaction - meaning it gets very hot very fast.  Handling the lye is the most dangerous part of the whole operation.  I always make sure that I wear long sleeved shirts, rubber gloves, and goggles when I am handling the lye to avoid any unnecessary chemical burns.  I also keep an open bottle of vinegar nearby to neutralize any lye I might accidentally spill.  When water and lye are first mixed together they can reach temps above 180 degrees.  I generally try to mix them outside because they also let off noxious fumes.  I generally make my soaps in the winter so that the lye mixture cools more quickly when I leave it outside.  I check the temp about every ten minutes until it comes down near 120 degrees.

The second step is measuring and heating the oils.  Many of the oils used in soap making are solids at room temperature, making it necessary to heat them to change them into their liquid form.  Oils tend to heat fairly quickly, but take a long time to cool if you overheat them.  I monitor the temperature of the oil very closely and turn off the heat just as the mixture reaches 120 degrees.

The third step is to mix the lye solution with the oils and stir them together until they begin to trace.  Trace is the point when the mixture is beginning to thicken because the oil and lye have been well blended together and saponification is taking place.  This is the point where I usually add any dry additives such as ground oatmeal.  I blend the mixture just a little bit longer, and then pour it into molds.  I use some plain silicone soap molds that form the soap into simple two ounce bars.  Each mold holds twelve bars and the flexibility of the silicone make removing the bars of soap simple.

After I pour the soap into the mold I cover it with a sheet of wax paper and place it on a firm surface and wrap it in a towel to insulate it.  The saponification process does take some time to complete, but after 24-48 hours the soap has firmed up and is removed from the mold to complete the curing process.

I allow the soap to dry for at least two weeks, turning it every couple days to make sure it dries evenly.  Once the soap is finished I store it away for future use.  I haven't had to buy any bath soap for myself for years and I often have enough extra to give away as gifts.