Soapmaking
by Ronnie Ugulano
I've been intrigued by the process of soapmaking for years. Unfortunately, I've also been intimidated by it. Several things finally combined to push me into actually trying it. First of all, I should mention that my husband, up until recently, has been "Mr. Safeguard". Not only did he strongly prefer Safeguard soap, he wanted it in beige. He always told me that he'd be perfectly willing to use "any soap that worked", but no other brand, or even color, ever seemed to "work" satisfactorily. So, eventually I learned to not even look at other brands, but went straight to the only one that seemed to "work". One day, a local seconds store had Safeguard soap on sale really cheap. They were probably only changing their label, so I took a chance and bought a couple of bars. Since they seemed to "work" as good as previous incarnations, I went back and bought (nearly) a truckload. That stash of soap lasted us over eight years. During all that time, I never thought about buying soap again. Eventually, though, we ran out of soap. What was I going to do? Where do they even keep soap at the store? For the first time in years I had to seriously think about it.
In the meantime, we were entering the High School years of homeschooling, and projects, particularly science projects, were always desirable. An online friend in a homeschooling forum that I share in managing, was a soapmaker. Although over the years I have tackled more than my share of unusual projects, soapmaking didn't seem realistic. I was a bit intimidated about using lye, and hated to spend money on a scale that I wasn't sure we would use again after a few batches. But the more I thought about it, the more the idea intrigued me. Also, our soap stash was running out, so this was a good time logistically to try to get DH to try something new. So, I started pricing the equipment, and before I knew it, I had almost everything we would need for a very basic batch of soap.
Since this was science class, I let DS do everything, only double checking his measurements. We melted the oils and mixed the lye and water. Our first batch was made entirely by hand with a wire whisk in the crock pot using the hot process method. It took over 2 hours for the mixture to reach trace, and even then it didn't seem right. We poured our soap into a plastic box, took it outside and waited. The next morning, we went to look. It was "as ugly as homemade soap".
Hot process was supposed to allow for complete lye consumption immediately after its time in the crock pot, but upon inspection, our lye was still active. I was afraid the whole thing went wrong, but we cut those bars, set them aside, and tried making another batch, also crock pot hot process (cphp). This batch also turned out less than beautiful, and the lye was still active again. I was less than impressed by the cphp method, but I hated to give up without success, so we tried another method known as cold process (cp). In addition, I had heard that using a stick blender was helpful in speeding up the process, so we added that power tool to our equipment. This batch was a totally different story! Trace occurred within 5 minutes, the soap poured beautifully into our humble plastic boxes, and the next morning, we were able to cut it. In a few weeks, this soap was safe for use.
While my husband had a record of wanting only one brand of soap, I had always been happy to use whatever was on sale. But no longer. I was amazed at the difference between store bought soap and hand made. My home made soap felt absolutely wonderful! Even Mr. Safeguard had to agree. I knew I could never go back to store bought. Over the next few months I perfected my recipes and streamlined my procedures. I made lots of soap, using different ideas for molds and eventually using essential and/or fragrance oils for scent. With all this soap, I started giving some away, and other people started loving it too. So, slowly we have built a small business of making soap and other bath luxuries such as lotions and bath salts, enough to cover expenses for this surprisingly addictive hobby.
Soapmaking is not the kind of lab project you do without careful calculation. All ingredients must be measured to, at least, the tenth of an ounce, and protective gear, such as goggles and gloves are required. However, if you want to try your hand at it, here's a basic recipe, provided by Rachel Peterson:
You will need dedicated soapmaking supplies. After a bowl, spoon, etc. has come in contact with raw soap it should not be used for food preparation, because the NaOH (lye) could etch its way into the utensil and then later leach back out into food. If you don't have extra things in the kitchen that can be donated to soaping, you should be able to find most of the things you need at a thrift store. Clearly label these implements so that they don't find their way back into the kitchen cupboards.
Supplies:
- Soap ingredients (oils, liquids, NaOH (lye))
- Vinegar
- Mixing container (glass or plastic bowl)
- Mixing spoon (not wood)
- Containers for weighing ingredients (2)
- Accurate scale for weighing ingredients
- Heatproof container for mixing NaOH solution (old, widemouth coffeepot works well)
- Thermometer
- Molds (heavy plastic, no aluminimum)
- Rubber gloves
- Plastic apron
- chemical splash goggles
- Notebook for recording recipes/observations
Soap is a salt. As with all salts, it is made by combining an acid and a base. When done correctly, this combination yields a neutral salt. The trick is to get the right amount of the different ingredients; too much acid and the soap will be oily, too much base and the soap will burn hands.
PRECAUTIONS: If you pour the lye into the water too fast, the stuff will explode and you'll have lye solution all over the ceiling (and everything else). In this case it will be especially important to have on eye protection unless you want to damage your eyes. If you do it backwards, pouring water onto lye crystals, you'll have a solid rock on the bottom of your container; it won't dissolve, or it might explode. If you work with lye crystals without rubber gloves, be prepared to get tiny crystals stuck under a fingernail where it can't be dug out; when you wash your hands the lye will burn itself into your finger and hurt for weeks. Make sure you don't leave your soap where someone might inadvertently think it's food and eat it (btw, it's a good idea to post poison control's # by your phone before beginning, just in case)
Have vinegar available before beginning. Lye spills can be neutralized with vinegar. All ingredients (except water) should be carefully and accurately weighed. Do not go by volume.
Basic White Soap
- 1/2# shortening
- 1/4# coconut oil
- 1/4# olive oil
- 2 oz lye granules
- 1 Cup water
Basic directions (more detailed to follow):
- Fats/oils
- H20
- NaOH
Mix NaOH with H20 and let cool while heating oils. Add NaOH solution to oils. Stir forever. Pour into molds. Set aside 1-2 days. Unmold, slice into bars, set aside to finish curing. Ta-da! You made soap!
Detailed directions:
Place water in a (1qt) heatproof container. Wearing rubber gloves, plastic apron, and eye protection, carefully weigh NaOH (lye crystals). Diligently clean up any spills and put away the lye container. Carefully, gradually, pour the lye crystals into the water, stirring constantly (I stir with my thermometer). Observe the exothermic reation. Set lye solution aside to cool (to approx 120 degrees F).
Mix fats/oils and heat to 120 degrees F (this could be done in kitchen equipment). Pour hot oils into your soap-mixing bowl. When lye solution and oils are at the same temperature, slowly pour lye solution into oils, stirring constantly.
Continue stirring until the mixture traces. "Trace" is when the mixture is very thick, about the consistency of a milkshake or honey. When a little is dribbled from the stirring spoon onto the surface, you'll be able to clearly see a trace on the surface (try writing your initials). If you're lucky, it will only take 15-30 minutes to trace, however three hours isn't uncommon, so be sure to do this when you have lots of time.
Once the soap traces, pour it into a mold. (Plastic cookie trays, if you ever do store-bought cookies; cans from frozen juice concentrate; rubbermaid drawer liners; jello jiggler molds; whatever, a flexible container is best. Don't use aluminum.)
Set the soap-filled molds in a warm, draft-free place for 24-48 hours until the soap is solid. Wearing rubber gloves again, unmold soap (if it doesn't unmold easily, set in the freezer overnight) and cut into bars. To cut, I tie fishing line to two pencils and cut the soap with the cinnamon-roll method. If you have a thin-bladed knife that you want to dedicate to soapmaking, it would work for cutting. Set the bars of soap aside to cure for two weeks. Try washing your hands. If they feel slimy, rinse with vinegar and leave soap to cure more.
VARIATIONS:
Fancy soaps can easily be made by modifying the basic white recipe. Different oils can be used. Look up the saponification value of each oil and calculate the exact amount of lye needed to turn that oil into soap.
- at trace, add essential oils to scent the soap
- vary the liquid. lemon juice in place of water yields a naturally yellow soap. Milk can be used in place of water, but be extra careful with this, as the milk tends to curdle.
- add finely ground oatmeal for an exfoliating soap (1/4C per 1# of oils) (mix with a little oil and add at trace)
- add cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves for a speckled, scented soap
- melt 1oz of beeswax and 1/4 C honey and add at trace
- experiment. predict what might happen, then test to see if you're right.
SUPPLIES:
You can use any fats/oils. If you want to save bacon drippings or chicken grease, they would work, however we have access to many more oils than our ancestors had. If your local grocery doesn't carry coconut oil, check the ethnic foods section, or a health-food store. Lye is with the drain cleaners; Lewis' Red Devil Lye is in a 12oz container about the size of a soup can. Shake it to ensure that you get one with all loose crystals; do not buy lye into which moisture has seeped as it will be unusable.
More info. You'll want to keep a notebook of all soap batches. I keep track of the following information:
- Date
- Soap Name
- Ingredients
- Saponification calculations
Predictions
- why I'm trying it this way, and what I think will happen
Observations
- what actually happens, including:
- temperature of oils when mixed
- amount of time required to trace
- general observations, accuracy of predictions...
- color change while mixing...
- how long in molds, how long required to cure
- how well I like the soap, color changes over time, etc.
The soapmaking instructions are provided by an online friend of mine, Rachel Peterson. This information is © Copyrighted by her, and while she won't mind you keeping a copy for personal use, commercial or any other use is prohibited. The above recipe and instructions are provided with safety in mind, however neither Ronnie Ugulano nor Rachel Peterson assumes any reponsibility for any accidents that occur during your project.