To make soap at home, you need several ingredients that are sold in specialized stores or in pharmacies. The first of these is a soap base. It’s easier to buy ready-made, but in this quality you can use the usual neutral (baby) soap without fragrances and additives, after rubbing it on a grater. It is perfect for this purpose, since it has virtually no smell, therefore, the selected aroma will not “interrupt” anything.
The soap base can be made independently, "hot" or "cold" (without cooking in a water bath) method. However, this process is quite complex and time-consuming, in addition, it is not entirely safe, since you have to deal with caustic chemicals (alkali). In addition, a soap base made from scratch will be ready only in a month - it needs such a period of time for aging (or it will take a month to stand a soap before use, with all the fillers). Therefore, when answering the question of how to cook soap at home, many experienced soap makers recommend that beginners skip this step and turn to making soap from scratch later, having already gained some experience.
The second ingredient that is needed for soap making is a base oil. It should be without a strong smell: suitable, for example, almond, sea buckthorn, apricot, coconut, peach, castor or ordinary olive. For 100 g of soap base, it should take 2 tbsp. l In addition, you will need glycerin, aromatic substances (essential oils), additives and natural dyes, water or herbal infusions (200 ml).
Before you cook the soap at home, think about how it will look and what it will smell. Many people acquire special molds for soap - it is very convenient and beautiful. However, you can pour it into ordinary plastic trays, and after cooling, cut into plates. Soap with several layers will have a particularly spectacular appearance with this design.
To make soap according to your own recipe, you first need to heat the base oil in a water bath. After that, gradually, in small portions, add a soap base to it, thoroughly mixing everything and periodically adding hot water or infusion. The mixture cannot be brought to a boil. After it becomes similar in texture to sour cream or batter, it is removed from the heat and a tablespoon of glycerin, selected aromatic oils and dyes are added. For a multi-layer soap, the mixture is divided into several parts and different ingredients are added to each of them. The finished composition is poured into small curly molds or into a large mold, pre-coated with foil (you can also use special “cut” shapes, simple or with a curly surface). If the small curly mold is not made of silicone, it should be slightly oiled - it will be easier to remove the finished soap from it. Talking about how to cook soap at home, some soap lovers advise spraying its surface in the form of alcohol to remove unaesthetic bubbles. The same method is also recommended for better adhesion of layers in multi-colored soap.
Those who are interested in how to make soap at home, original and unusual, can be advised to add natural ingredients to it - for example, juice or pulp of various fruits. Soap with flower petals or herbs looks very interesting. Soap scrub with ground oatmeal, poppy seeds, sea salt or natural coffee is good for cleansing the skin. To get different shades, they use dyes - ready-made, purchased at the store, or homemade, natural: for example, hibiscus broth (red), sea buckthorn oil or carrot juice (orange), saffron (yellow), cucumber or parsley juice (green), etc. On the whole, when answering the question of how to cook soap at home from a ready-made base, one can note the simplicity and accessibility of this method, due to which soap making has become a favorite hobby for many.