How to make soap at home

Making handmade soap can be a fun and rewarding hobby. If you want to avoid synthetic ingredients and want to know exactly what is in your detergents, then homemade soap making is the right solution. Many people prefer to make it themselves because it can contribute a lot to our beauty. The advantage of making handmade soap is that we can tailor it to our needs by choosing ingredients that are more beneficial to us. Read on Joy-pup how to make your own soap.

Preparation for soap making

When making soap, it is very important to be well prepared and have protective clothing because you will be working with lye. Here are some tips:

• It is important that the work surface is dry and clean.
• Make soap in a room with running water.
• The room where you make soap should be well ventilated. Do not inhale fumes generated during manufacture.
• Since you will be working with lye, you must have protective equipment. Be sure to wear an apron, goggles, and thick rubber gloves. Just in case, prepare vinegar to neutralize the alkali if it suddenly gets on the skin.
• Do not use aluminum utensils, utensils and work surfaces, as alkali destroys the metal. Best of all – plastic and stainless steel.

Basic equipment

Everyone makes soap a little differently and with different tools. It is important to use accurate scales that show up to 1 gram and high quality ingredients. All items used for soap making must not be used for cooking or baking.

You will need:

• a saucepan with a capacity of 4-5 liters;
• submersible blender;
• molds for soap made of plastic, silicone or metal. Important: when using metal molds, they must be lined with food foil. Otherwise, the alkali will react with the metal.
• additional small plastic containers;
• kitchen scales.

Basic soap making recipe

There are several ways to make soap at home. One of the most common methods is the use of lye and fats or oils. See the basic recipe for making soap.

Ingredients:

• coconut oil – 0.5 kg;
• olive oil – 0.5 kg;
• alkali (caustic soda) – 0.158 kg;
• distilled water – 0.5 l;
• essential oil (any) – 2 tsp
• dye (optional).

Step by step preparation:

Step 1. Prepare the necessary ingredients.

Step 2. Measure lye and water and send them to different containers. Carefully add the lye to the water, stirring until it is completely dissolved. Never add water to lye, only lye to water!

Step 3: Melt the solid oils in a saucepan over low heat, then add the liquid oils. When they are completely melted, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Step 4. Add a mixture of water and lye to the oil in a thin stream and mix for a minute with a spatula. Turn the blender on to the lowest speed and immerse it in the mixture, beating slowly and intermittently until the mixture is slightly thick and opaque.

Step 5. Pour the mixture into soap molds, wrap in a towel or cloth and leave in a warm place for 24-48 hours.

Step 6. Remove the soap from the molds or cut into sticks.