natural soap is just better!
© 2010 by KV5R — Rev. Nov. 24, 2010.
The author accepts no responsibility for your use or misuse of the information presented.
Overview
I wanted to start using natural soap, so I started reading several Homemade Soap Pages, and I got the bug! Yes, I could have bought a lot of homemade soap for what I paid for my tools, but I just wanted to learn how to make soap. So if you’re like me, but haven’t taken the plunge, this article is for you. This is just about how it will go, step-by-step, all nice & concise. In the following pages are notes and photos I made while studying soapmaking and then making soap, fixed up a bit for public consumption. I will proceed in a logical manner, and hopefully not skip anything important:
- Soaping Terms Defined: Before you can learn soaping, you need to learn the terminology. That makes all subsequent study much easier and more productive.
- Soaping Safety: Don’t let lye (caustic soda) scare you away, just handle it with care and common sense.
- Tools and Supplies for Soaping: You’ll already have some, but you’ll need some more.
- Overview of the Procedure: Get a feel for how it will go, and it will go well.
- The First Batch - Castile: Avoid the mistakes I made and do it right the first time.
- The Second Batch - Classic 3-Oil: Now that’s more like it! An excellent, creamy, no-scent bath bar.
- The Third Batch - With pine tar, citronella, and cornmeal: a camp soap, and the challenges of wacky-smelling additives…
- The Fourth Batch - With 4 oils, lard, and baked bread fragrance, this new recipe designed on my new soap designer soapsheet has an almost perfect balance of all 7 important soap properties!
- The Fifth Batch - Winter Soap: Pushing the conditioning and suds way up, and the cleansing down, I attempt to design and make a soap that pampers dry winter skin. It uses four oils, Clary Sage, and a bit of cinnamon.
- The Sixth Batch - 3-oil soap with a video tutorial!
- Laundry Soap Basics - for best results, design what your water needs!
You can make soap much better than you can buy. You can make soap exactly like you like it. You can make soap for yourself, soap for the baby, soap for the teens, soap for granny, soap for the laundry, and soap for the dog. You can make it super-cleansing or super-moisturizing. You can make aromatherapy soap. There’s nothing quite like bathing with a soap that’s custom-made for your water and your skin! Yep, it really is worth it.
Soap making is a basic skill that everyone should acquire, but more than that, it’s a fun hobby! There are many ways and many reasons to make soap:
- You can make your own custom soap from scratch (“soaping”), or you can buy bulk soap base and melt it, adding fragrances and colors, and pour it into fancy molds (“melt & pour”).
- You can make soap just the way you want it, or for gifts, or for sale. Or all three!
- You can made specialty soaps for bathing luxury, greasy hands, pets and farm animals, and even insect repellent.
- Best of all, you can master a new, desirable, and useful skill. You might even make a little money!
My goal in writing these articles is to pass along some knowledge and give you the confidence to give soaping a try.