Many people prefer having natural organic products at home; one of the things that are available for homemade produce is soap, among many other things, such as shampoos, lotions, and others. To make it you can either use a kit or do it from scratch. Doing it from scratch you can test different recipes, trying different ingredients to find the best one you’ll like. There are many different variations you can make with different herbs, oils, different processes of making soap. You can search for recipes and improvise.
There are three variations of making soap processes, such as cold process, in which the reaction takes place at room temperature, hot process with the reaction near boiling point, and fully boiling process, in which reactants are boiled at least once. The hobbyists and other small scale homemakers of soap usually chose the cold process method. Also the hot process is widely used. They’re considered to be the simplest.
One of the basic making soap recipes consists of such ingredients as water, lye and oils. You can purchase them at your local grocery or craft store. Lye and water don’t combine easily. First they need to be of similar temperatures. And after cooling they’re added to the oils. Every oil requires different amounts of lye to turn the oil into soap.
Lye is a chemical, and a dangerous one, so it’s better to use safety precautions, such as rubber gloves and goggles to protect you from the fumes. Before starting the process of making soap you should read the safety instructions that come on the box of lye. You should be careful about not letting any lye on your skin, as it will burn you. Also the workplace for your soap-making should be in a well ventilated area or outside.
Making soap with the cold process method you’ll need a scale, as the ingredients need to be of exact weight. Measure 32 ounces of water and pour it into a glass bowl or large stainless stell pot. Then use the scale to measure 12 ounces of lye and slowly add it to the water, gently stirring until lye is completely dissolved. Make sure that you add lye to the water and not the other way around. And when mixing them together turn your head away, as lye heats the water and releases fumes. After this, set the mixture aside to cool.
Heat a large stainless steel pot and mix in it 24 ounces of coconut oil and 38 ounces of vegetable shortening. Stir them frequently until they’re melted. Then add 24 ounces of olive oil. When all the oils are completely melted remove them from heat.
When the two made substances reach around 100 degrees F slowly add lye mixture to the oils. Stir with heat-resistant spoon (spatule or wooden spoon, don’t use metal). Or instead you can use a stick blender. Continue to mix until you see a trace left behind your spoon. That will take around 10-15 minutes.
Once the trace occurs add 4 ounces of cinnamon or other essential oil. Some oils will harden the soap quickly so mix as little as possible. Next pour the mix into mold and cover it with towels or blankets. Leave it covered and out of air draft for 24 hours while saponification takes process.
When the soap has set after 24 hours, cut it into bars and store them on a drying rack in a cool place for 2-3 weeks before use.