Getting started

Getting started

All soap makers use similar basic kits, like mine

1. Stainless steel pan (the lye can react dangerously with other metals)
2. Stainless steel spoon and whisk
3. Plastic spatula
4. Hand mixer and a powered stick blender
5. 4/6 small glass or plastic measuring beakers for oils
6. A digital scales able to measure in grams
7. Container dedicated to lye water
8. A mould to shape the soap. (I use an old wooden box lined with grease-proof paper or a silicon cake mould.)
9. A basic pistol-grip digit thermometer is cheap and safe to use (not having contact with the liquids)

10 A knife and a ruler to measure and cut. (the often quite expensive cheese type slicers and graded wooden boxes can wait)

To minimise problems, measurements are based on weight, not volume.

Cold Process Soaps

Ingredients.

Distilled water

Sodium Hydroxide

The base oils and butters according to the recipe being used such as coconut oil, castor oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil, shea butter and cocao butter, to name a few examples. For ethical reasons, I never use Palm oil.

Additives

This refers to materials added to the mixture at the end of the mixing, to add to the texture, colouring or aroma.

Texture.

To assist in exfoliation, plant seeds, oats etc. Can be added.

Colourants.

All the natural ingredients give the soap their own colouring and further botanicals can be added for more variety. However, natural ingredient colours tend to have subdued gentle hues. Mica is natural but it’s own colour is a greyish off-white which is not considered attractive so dyes are added to provide vivid, bright eye-catching shades. All of these dyes are artificially created in commercial laboratories and their chemical formulas are not always clear.

Aromas

It is popular to add aromatic scents to soaps. Essential oils are a gentle natural source but they have the disadvantage of fading relatively early in the life of the soap. Again, the chemical laboratories come to the rescue by providing artificial fragrances which chemically recreate/copy scents and retain their stronger smell for much longer. These are simply identified in commercial ingredients as “fragrances” or “perfume/parfum” thus not clearly disclosing their actual content.

I like to know exactly what is going into my soaps and onto the skin of my family and friends, so I don’t use either artificial colourants or fragrances.

Tutorials

Not knowing anyone to teach me, I looked on line and was very pleasantly surprised to find that there are many tuition videos on YouTube. Just search in YouTube using “Soap Making” and take your pick.

A wider general search of the internet using your usual browser/search engine will produce lots of results for many sites also offering videos, some supported by detailed written tutorials and photographs of the processes, on their pages. These, (usually free of charge) tutorials cover the four basics of:

Cold Process Soap making, Hot Process Soap making, Melt and Pour and Liquid Soap making.

In addition, they often include blogs and other up to date information on all aspects of soaping for differing levels of expertise, from all around the world. Some helpful ones, I’ve found, are listed below but really, just jump in and try the “suck it and see” method, as I did. You may find something to your own taste. (excuse the pun)

UK

“thesoapkitchen” a supplier of ingredients too

“savvyhomemade” a very thorough site and aptly named

“lovelygreens” a gentle site from the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea

USA

“soapqueen” jam-packed with info and tutorials, ingredient supplier too

“simplelifemom” recipes and tutorials

“thesprucecrafts” recipes and tutorials

Canada

“soap-making-essentials” there is no selling on this site, just lots of very useful advice from Vancouver Island. BC.

(these are just some of the sites that I have visited during my search for soap making advice. I don’t know any of the people concerned but I have found their information to be helpful to me. I have not included links to external sites)

Some hopefully useful jargon

Trace is used to describe the state of the oils just after being mixed with the lye/water solution. Once the liquid has thickened and leaves a trail across the surface when drizzled, it is said to have reached “trace” and can be poured into the prepared moulds.

Curing is the term used to describe the process taking place after the pouring into the mould when the water and lye slowly evaporate and the soap gradually hardens. After 24 hours it can usually be removed from the mould/s and sliced, if necessary. However, a further curing period of four to six weeks is usually required to enable the saponification to be completed, thus evaporating all of the lye.

Gelling is a phase that may or may not occur during this initial 24 hour period. The insulated curing soap may change to a transparency and is caused by the soap naturally heating up. It does not affect the quality but may affect the appearance /colour.

Discounting applies to the percentage reduction of either

a) the amount of water/sodium hydroxide mixture (Lye) being added to the oils

or

b) the percentage of water being added to the sodium hydroxide.

In the case of (a) this would result in a surplus of oils being left in the soap to act as a moisturiser on the skin. The discount allowed for this might be in the 5% to 10% range. This is also known as “super-fatting.”

For (b), this would mean a reduction in the usual percentage of water added to the Sodium hydroxide from the usual average of 37% to say 35% to remain within the safety margins. The reduction in water content causes the curing (hardening) rate to quicken and has the risk of the mixture (seizing) going stiff, in the mixing bowl. The overall curing might mean that the soap is hard at four weeks. However, it should still be allowed to cure for the remaining two weeks to avoid any lye being left un-saponified.

If you find “superfatting” a little difficult to understand, at first, like I did, it may be helpful to know that the lady on the “lovelygreens” site, has incorporated this into her starter recipes for beginners, to save you the trouble of having to do those calculations, at this early stage.

When I started, I strictly followed the small batch starter recipe paying great attention to the weights. Some oils and butters are solid at room temperature so it was necessary to heat them in a pan. When they were liquid I added the other liquid oils (but not the essential oils)

Then I added the sodium hydroxide flakes to the distilled water and gently stirred with my stainless steel spoon. I then placed the solution in a safe place, often outside because the chemical reaction caused the mixture to heat up and give off fumes.

Temperature is very important so I needed to monitor both the lye solution and the oils container aiming for a temperature of around 40 C, for each. Then I gently poured, through a strainer, the Lye solution into the oils. At the same time I submerged the end of my stick blender in the liquid and began mixing, using short bursts until the “trace” stage was reached. At that point, after the use of the blender was over, I added my essential oils. (this is also the point when other additives would be included such as colourants and fragrances.)l

This was the end of the process and I then simply poured my soap into the moulds to allow the curing process to begin. I covered the moulds for 24 hours then when they were firm, I released them from the moulds and stored them for a further six weeks. .