All About Soap Making: Basic Soap Making

by Judi on Jul 26, 2007

by Gary Everson

Many areas of misunderstanding exist with regard to soap making. I am often asked “do I have to use lye?” “just how dangerous is lye?” and “will soap making save me money?” “can I really make soap and sell it for a profit?” these and many more questions arrive in my inbox on a daily basis, making it clear to me the extent of misinformation that exists where soap making is concerned.

There are really only two soap making techniques, cold process and hot process. Other techniques referred to as melt and pour and rebatching, are not actually soap making at all, instead they involve melting previously made soaps back to liquid form, then adding fragrance and color, maybe some herbs and grains and then allowing to set again.

True Soap Making involves the chemical reaction which takes place when fats and/or oils are mixed with an alkali such as Sodium Hydroxide, also known as Lye, or Caustic Soda. It’s as simple as that really, but more complex than you can imagine.

Aside from the basic fact that a strong alkali in solution will cause a chemical reaction known as saponification when mixed with fats, the exact nature of the resulting soap is dependent upon the type of fat used, the amount of lye, the curing time and a host of other factors all of which combine to make soap making a truly interesting and rewarding craft. I call it a craft because it requires skill and practice, I would prefer not to recall the number of soap batches I made when I was starting out that had to be thrown into the trash. Its important to remember that sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right, but once you’ve got the process down, homemade soap making is easy and fun. It is a never-ending source of joy because there is always more to learn.

Soap making is an age-old skill that is currently undergoing a popular revival. Home or cottage level soap making is done by the “cold process”, however this method is not recommended for children because of the potential danger that lye poses. Soap making is a fascinating, enjoyable and creative hobby, but did you ever realize that it could actually become an excellent source of income. the beauty of soap making is its adaptability to village-sized enterprises, it represents a business that requires little space, with little cost and offers numerous possibilities.

Soap making is a great hobby and makes a wonderful gift because, let’s face it, everyone needs it. Homemade soap making is not at all a difficult process. The melt and pour process makes it even easier, although melt and pour is not soap making in its true sense, it is an easy and creative way to make your own soap. It is the easiest of all the methods and is by far the least time consuming.

The most popular soap making process today is the cold process method, where fats such as olive oil react with lye, it is the process that more advanced hobbyists and small business owners use. It is certainly a more complicated way of making your own soap than melt and pour, but can yield much more pleasing results. Cold process is a method of soap making which doesn’t utilize any external heat source. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is used in cold process soap making. The cold process yields no waste products of any kind.

Melt and pour soap making is an easy and creative way to make your own soap. Some soap makers prefer melt and pour because the process is easy and allows the soap maker to concentrate more on the aesthetic aspects of soap making. In its simplest form, slice off what you need, melt it, and pour it into your favorite soap molds. Learning how to make melt and pour soap is the easiest soap making method that you can learn. The joy of Melt and Pour Soap Making promotes the making of soap in the home as a fun hobby and economical craft. Learn melt and pour and cold-process soap making basics then try your hand at lotion, lip balm, salt scrubs and more. Melt and pour soap base is pre-made and purchased by the block, a natural soap base is melted and poured in individual shapes. It has become very popular in recent years. Melt and pour is not actual soap making, often called glycerin soap, it can be opaque, colored or clear. Even children, when supervised, can make soap using this method. Typical un-molding time for Melt and Pour soaps is 4 hours, after which it is ready to use. Un-molding time for cold process soaps is 24 hours or more, followed by a curing period that can take as long as four weeks.

If you are careful to shop around for the best deals and buy your ingredients in bulk wherever possible, you can create batches of soap which cost between 20 and 50 cents per bar, less than commercially available soap bars with many times better quality and a lot less than the price of other handmade soaps on the market. This provides the opportunity for a reasonable profit margin should you decide to sell your products, either simply to recoup the cost of your hobby, or to fuel the beginnings of an exciting and profitable business.

Soap making is not hard to do if you are armed with just a little bit of information. It is an age-old skill that is currently undergoing a popular revival. A fun and useful hobby, soap making is a great pastime and makes a wonderful gift because, let’s face it, everyone needs it. Cold process soap making is not recommended for children because of the potential danger that lye poses. Melt and Pour soap making is the easiest of all the methods and is by far the least time consuming. Soap making is not just for your grandmother anymore; it has become a popular hobby for many creative and artistic people.

Copyright © 2007 Gary Everson

About the author:
Want to learn All About Soap Making, but haven’t a clue where to start? Gary Everson’s FREE course will show you how, from the basic techniques with a detailed explanation of theraputic soaps, to cold process and melt and pour recipes, followed by comprehensive safety and legal information and finishing by turning it all into a business, with an extra bonus at the end.

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Making Homemade Soaps - What Needs To Be Learned First

by Judi on May 12, 2006

by Lisa Chambers

Soap making can be a creative and rewarding hobby as long as the proper safety precautions are followed. One of the biggest aspects of this means learning about lye and other safety procedures, and this should be done before even bothering to attempt to research how the soapmaking process works. Sometimes even experienced soapmakers need to be reminded! Don’t let this all scare you- making soap can be as safe of a craft as any other! However, the key to safety means being informed. Here’s some guidelines and tips:

GET TO KNOW LYE AND RESPECT IT!!!

Soap CANNOT be made without lye. There’s no way around it and if someone told you they did, I hate to break it to you- they lied. Even liquid soap, bath gels, and shampoos contain a form of lye called potassium hydroxide. However lye, alone, is a highly dangerous substance. There’s no sugar coating it- lye can kill you. If you respect it and use it properly everything will be fine. Try not develop a fear of it, and instead focus on handling it properly.

Label your lye water.

If lye is ingested internally, there is a strong likelihood of it being fatal. If you walked away for even for less than a minute and someone walked into your kitchen with a bowl of lye water in a glass, bowl, or pitcher- the results could be deadly! Just to be safe I like to mark my bowl or pitcher with large adhesive label or even better yet, a permanent marker.

Wear your goggles or safety glasses.

Always! If lye water splashes into your eyes, it can blind you. It doesn’t take much… Better to be safe than sorry!

Wear your gloves…. And your clothes!

If it can do that to your eyes, exposed skin isn’t safer either! Lye can eat through skin. Even in tiny amounts it can cause painfully irritating chemical burns. It’s wise to keep a bottle of vinegar around in case of splashes or spills. If this should occur, rinsing with vinegar helps to neutralize the lye. However, care should be taken to prevent this because the vinegar cannot undo damage that has already been done! Even finished soap bars can be irritating until soap has it’s “curing” time- usually a very minimum of four weeks. When making soap, it’s smart to make sure you’re wearing clothes that will protect your skin. Pants, instead of shorts or dresses, and long sleeves are ideal. Don’t forget your feet- remember your shoes!

Keep pets and children away while soapmaking.

It doesn’t take much for lye to be harmful to anyone- it takes even less to bring harm to a small child or pet. If you have little ones running around, it’s best to do your soapmaking in an area they don’t have access to or wait until you have “alone time”. Even with ground rules and with the best behaved children or pets in the world, it’s just not worth the risk.

Only use pure lye.

NEVER attempt to use Draino or any other products that “contain” lye. These products contain other chemical additives that may interfere with the soapmaking process. The results could range from winding up with a soap that is highly irritant to the skin to a lethal concoction that you wouldn’t even want to be in the same room with!

Work in a well ventilated area.

The fumes that rise when lye is mixed with water during the first few minutes can irritate the lungs. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, but a well ventilated area is recommended to anyone. Remember even if it doesn’t bother you at the moment, repeated exposure may bring about a different story. Larger batches of soap are usually give off more potent fumes than smaller ones.

Use an accurate scale.

Never measure your ingredients by volume because it can lead to inaccuracies, leaving you with an irritating “lye heavy” soap. Instead, make sure you use an accurate scale to weigh out your ingredients- one that measures in increments of at least a 10th of an ounce is best. A good postal scale will do just fine. It’s also a good idea to invest in calibration weights for your scale so that you can test it’s accuracy periodically.

Use the right equipment.

Choose your bowls, pitchers, spoons, or whatever will come in contact with your raw soap carefully. Ideally, you want to make sure your supplies aren’t going to be used again for cooking, for an example. You also have to keep in mind that certain metals such as aluminum or copper can have undesired chemical reactions with lye. The best materials to use are stainless steel and heavy duty dishwasher safe plastics. (Even wooden spoons will do, though the lye water will slowly eat at them over time. I lost a good spoon that way!) Some people even recommend using large glass Pyrex measuring cups. However, I personally can’t. I have heard of rare instances where even sturdy Pyrex glass has shattered- in one case I heard of, no one was even in the same room when it happened! In a way it makes sense. Lye water, when first mixed, can reach very high temperatures in an absurdly small amount of time. Then on top of it, over time the potent lye itself may do it’s damage. Over time it may make the glass brittle and create stress on it, though unseen to the human eye.

Use distilled water instead of tap.

Some people say it’s alright to use regular tap water for soapmaking. In most cases, it probably is fine… However tap water can contain various trace metals and minerals that may interact with your lye, giving some unexpected results in your finished soaps. Once again, much better to be safer than sorry!

Mind your pour!

Always make sure to close the container of lye tightly when you’re done. Any moisture that gets in contact with the lye granules will form clumps, which may increase the chance of spills while pouring next time you use it. It may even effect your soap by giving you inaccurate weighings of your ingredients in the end, if enough gets in there. Pouring slowly so you get it right the first shot and don’t have to put any back is also wise. Another thing that can be a hassle sometimes when pouring to weigh your lye is static… Lye sometimes gets a “charge” and granules here and there seem to have a mind of their own when being poured! A quick wiping of the container you’ll be weighing with a dryer sheet first helps with a smoother pour.

Always use a lye calculator- no matter what.

Never assume a recipe that someone gives you, that you find online, or come across in a book is safe. Even if you obtain a recipe from the world’s most trustworthy source, it is always safer to run your recipe through a lye calculator first to make sure you use the proper amount of your ingredients. There are many free and easy to use lye calculators that can be used online or downloaded to your computer, so there’s no excuses!

Stay away from painted surfaces.

It’s best not to do your soapmaking on any painted surfaces. Lye can easily strip paint and damage surfaces. Even on kitchen counters made with a tougher surface material, it’s a good idea to lay down some plastic or freezer paper to protect the area you’re working in. Remember to always keep that vinegar handy as well, just in case!

I know this all must sound terrifying to some and makes you feel as if you need a Hazmat team on standby when learning how to make soap, but believe me it’s not really as bad as it sounds! More people than you’d probably imagine throughout the world make soap every day. If you’re interested in soapcrafting, just do as much research on the subject as possible from as many different sources as you can. There are also several wonderful forums for soapmakers where people can turn to others for advice and to share experiences and ideas. Soapmaking may not be for everyone, but chances are once you make your first successful batch , you’ll be hooked on this craft! Just remember- at any stage in this wonderful hobby, safety always comes first!

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About the author:
You can visit Lisa Chambers’ website at http://www.chambersessentials.com for more free information, recipes, and tips based on natural or crafty point of views.

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