The process of soap making at home is gaining increasing recognition among daring experimenters who want to try everything on their own, even an indispensable part of hygiene - soap.
There are two ways of soap making: hot and cold. How to make soap “from scratch” using the hot method? To do this, the soap mass should be cooked for a rather long time, 5 hours, and it will take at least 6 hours to make Castilian soap . You can use it almost immediately after cooking. In the cold method, after the trail stage, the soap will mature for about 1 month.
To make soap “from scratch” with your own hands, you will need some ingredients and devices, without which you won’t succeed. First you need to prepare the room and equipment for soap making. Be sure to ventilate the place where this process will take place. All containers, measuring spoons and devices should not be used later in cooking.
If you undertook such an exciting activity, do not forget that this is a work with a caustic substance, so you must definitely have protective equipment. Safety comes first! Since the task of how to make soap “from scratch” involves working with alkali, where all these measures will be extremely necessary, and they must be strictly observed.
Soap making is a serious and creative process in which feelings and thoughts must be invested. Do not forget that you should approach this work with a good mood and always in a positive state.
Soap “from scratch” is obtained by the interaction of fatty acids and alkali. During the chemical reaction, the saponification process begins. Wax, vegetable oils, animal fats and butter oils can be used as fatty acids.
Before starting the process, try to cover with an oilcloth those objects and areas of the floor that could be spoiled by alkali on them. You must have an accurate scale for weighing alkali and essential oils, especially if you are cooking a small piece weighing less than ½ kg. You will need a container for mixing ingredients, a pan, a heat-resistant container for alkali, a strainer, disposable glasses, mixing sticks, molds, a spoon, a thermometer and a mixer.
So, we begin our experiment called soap “from scratch”. We suggest that in this recipe replace the water component with cucumber gruel. The soap will have a beautiful rich green color, and the cucumber mass and juice will give it a special smoothness and softness.
Many lovers of making soap with their own hands from scratch use the finished soap blank as the basis. It contains foaming agents, preservatives and thickeners. In this case, as with alkali, the soap will not be 100% natural.
Soap “from scratch”. General manufacturing rules:
- determine the recipe and calculate the weight of the necessary components;
- weigh all ingredients accurately. Keep solid and liquid components in separate containers;
- Weigh water, ice or cucumber. Use only clean, bottled water;
- weigh all fillers and additives;
- melt in a water bath the solid components: wax and oils;
- put on overalls that comply with safety precautions: an apron, gloves, goggles and a respirator;
- very carefully weigh the alkali;
- the container in which the alkaline solution will be made must be placed in the sink under the pressure of cold water, due to which the container cools faster during a chemical reaction.
- Pour alkali in small portions, stirring constantly. If instead of water, you will use ice, it will instantly melt.
- After the alkali has dissolved, pour the solution through a strainer into the oil mixture, in order to avoid the appearance of undissolved crystals, which can cause a thermal burn on the skin . Mix the whole mass well.
The principle of how to make soap “from scratch”, you now know. Now choose the cooking method and pouring mold that suits you best.