Making Soap from Scratch: Ingredients, Safety, and Basic Steps

Table of Content

• Experiment with Single Colors and Fragrances to Start With
• Let’s have a look at the dif­fer­ent types of soap bases
• This is Why handmade Soap Can be Better for Your Skin
• Base at home soap making recipe
• Natural Colorants
• Should you cure homemade soap base?
• Wait for Oil Solutions to Cool Before Adding Lye Solution

Once those are melted or almost melted, add the arrowroot powder and zinc oxide if using, then blend into the oils with a stick blender. Check the wax, oils, and butters mixture. If needed, use a fork to break up any unmelted bits, to help them melt faster.

Set the lye solution aside for a few moments in a safe spot, such as your kitchen sink. The directions to make this soap base are below the recipe section. If your soap develops glycerin dew on the surface while curing, you can dab it off with a paper towel or clean (non-linty) dishtowel.

Experiment with Single Colors and Fragrances to Start With

If it gets too thick, you can use a potato masher. I have a stainless steel one I use just for this. Different oils can lead to a different finished product. By trying out varied recipes that use different oils, you can get a feel for the type of soap each oil produces.

Always use gloves and safety goggles when handling lye. (Learn all aboutlye in soap making.) Have vinegar on hand in case lye spills or splashes occur. It’s used to make a lye solution, which is combined with oil. The water helps the oil and lye complete the saponification process. By the time the soap hardens, most of the water will have evaporated. Keep in mind, too, that DIY soap tends to have a lighter scent than traditional, store-bought soap.

Let’s have a look at the dif­fer­ent types of soap bases

Commercial melt and pour bases often have detergents added that help give them great lather, so one idea to consider is to add something like SLSA to the recipe. Use a scale to measure the oils, butters, wax, lye , water, and glycerin. Don’t use measuring cups when making soap.

It will still melt up fine when the time comes to make projects with it. For this recipe, I use a 4 quart crock pot , picked up at my local big box store. Make sure not to use one with a non-stick or Teflon inner coating since it will react negatively with lye. Should choose a place to make soap that is ventilated when making lye solutions. However, some people are interested in lye. As it is highly corrosive, it can cause irritation to the skin, eyes and respiratory system.

This is Why handmade Soap Can be Better for Your Skin

If the soap is hot treated, it will have a rustic and homemade look. If you like delicate bars, consider trying the cold treatment. BHot process This is the process of using heat to make soap, the outside heat will speed up the saponification. In general, soaps are used the next day, but to be on the safe side, wait a week as they have become stiffer by now. However, insufficient research has been done to assess the purported benefits of neem. In adults, short-term use of neem is safe, while long-term use may harm the kidneys or liver; in small children, neem oil is toxic and can lead to death.

Slowly pour the base into the soap mold to create your first layer. If needed, sparingly use your stick blender to gently and briefly pulse floating chunks of solid soap so that they blend into the glycerin better. Don’t overuse your stick blender here, or you’ll get lots of unwanted bubbles and foam on top of your finished soap base. This is why I recommend adding the zinc oxide to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution. That layer will melt back into the soap base when you melt it for projects, so I always leave it on, rather than trim it off. Once the essential oils and food coloring are in, mix very very well.

I see I forgot to mention that in the post; I’ll fix that. You can use all the way up to the weight of the oils in your recipe. Thank you for creating these recipes for those of us DIYers that would rather not rely on commercial products. Leave the soap base undisturbed and uncovered overnight or for 12 to 24 hours, to allow the soap time to completely cool and harden. Stir until the lye is completely dissolved. Avoid breathing in the momentary strong fumes and use caution when handling lye.

Keep the blender immersed to avoid air bubbles. With a spatula, carefully stir the solution as you add the lye. It’ll become hot and release fumes, which is OK.

I just wanted to give you an update on this….I re-melted the soap to use in as a melt-and pour soap base for another recipe and it came out absolutely fine. JR you have inspired my endeavor with neem. I made a batch of cold process method because I already had all the supplies. I followed your advice on the amount of neem and I am totally loving my soap. It was waiting for the soap to cure that was the hard part.

It may take a couple minutes of stirring to get everything well combined. You shouldn't see any oil or color floating on the top when it's mixed. I did right around 5% neem oil in my soap bars g soap base & 23 g neem oil. Tyler did the full 10% g soap base and 45 g neem oil. You can add up to 10% neem oil to the soap base, but the smell will be VERY intense and the soap will not lather as much as it would normally. The ready soap base has prac­ti­cal­ly no smell, so es­sen­tial oils or per­fumed wa­ter are added to the soap for scent.