Among soapmakers, soap from scratch is popular. The recipe for cooking can be different, but the essence remains one. This soap is different from the usual gels, lotions, shampoos with absolutely natural ingredients! Such a product does not dry and does not irritate the skin, does not cause rashes, redness, peeling. But not every handmade soap will be “zero,” as soap makers call it.
Varieties of soap
Soap, which is made aromatized in the form of different figures from a soap base, can be attributed to non-natural means. Since it is the basis of industrial production, where surfactants (surfactants) are added, cheap oils, foaming agents.
Despite the addition of aromatic natural ingredients, the soap still remains synthetic. It is often used for gifts, as the cooking process is simple. It is enough to melt the soap base and add oil.
Soap from scratch is another matter. The recipe does not contain harmful chemical additives, but includes natural ingredients (honey, essential or vegetable oils, herbal decoctions, chocolate, nuts, coffee). This soap is obtained by saponification with alkali of vegetable fats to form glycerol and a salt of fatty acids. Preparation of "null" requires the calculation of proportions, time, experience. Beginners often make mistakes, since properly created soap should be free of alkali.
When there is no soap base or alkali at hand, many novice soap-makers resort to a simple but lengthy method. Take baby soap (it is practically free of chemicals), planed, melted on a fire with water or a herbal decoction in a water bath until smooth with frequent stirring. Then the mass is removed, oil is added. By application, the soap can be divided into children's, household, shampoo. According to the manufacturing method, soap makers distinguish between hot and cold methods.
Where to start soap making?
Even simple soap recipes from scratch can not do without special tools, materials. For soap making you will need the following devices and ingredients:
- Scales for measuring water or oils.
- Scales for measuring alkali with an accuracy of hundredths of a gram.
- Thermometer for measuring the temperature of liquids.
- Hand blender.
- Disposable glasses or other dry containers for alkali.
- Stirring spoons.
- Heat-resistant vessel where alkali will dissolve.
- Stainless, enameled or glass heat resistant container for mixing soap.
- Glasses, gloves, a respirator, overalls.
- Wooden or silicone soap molds.
- Alkali is sodium and potassium hydroxide (the first is used in the preparation of solid soap, the second is suitable for liquid).
- Vegetable oils.
- Soapy calculator (used to check the proportions of all ingredients, especially alkali).
- Water, herbal decoctions, milk, coffee, zest.
Please note that dishes in which soap is boiled must not be used for cooking or storing food.
Safety regulations
It is very dangerous for beginners to take up soap immediately from scratch. The recipe for any manufacture requires safety.
- Store alkali in a dry, sealed container in an inaccessible place.
- Pour dry alkaline powder onto the balance slowly, in small portions, so that particles do not get into the air.
- When diluting alkali, sprinkle the powder with small spoons into water, and not vice versa. Dissolved the particles, then poured again.
- When preparing an alkaline solution, the bowl is very hot, so freeze part of the required water, and place the container with the chemical in a sink with cold water.
- Alkaline solution in contact with skin causes a chemical burn. Wear protective equipment, long-sleeved clothing.
- If alkali gets on your clothing, remove it and rinse your skin.
- If dry powder gets in, then brush it off and wipe it with a damp towel.
- If the solution gets on your skin, wash it first with water, then diluted with citric or acetic acid.
- When working with chemicals, the windows should be open, the hood should work at full capacity.
Homemade soap recipes from scratch
The "zero" soap is made in the hot and cold way. In the first version, it is cooked in the oven. In the second, the soap “reaches” in a water bath. In both cases, the soap needs to mature from a few weeks to a year.
Beginners should start with the cold method. Recipe data should be entered in a calculator that will give the exact ratio of water to alkali.
- 7% overweight (SF or superfat).
- 10% linseed oil.
- 20% palm and coconut oil.
- 50% olive oil.
The fat protects the skin, and the oils under the influence of alkali form soap (from scratch). The recipe is as follows:
- Prepare all the components.
- Put a heat-resistant container on the scales, measure out all the ingredients except alkali and water.
- Melt until completely dissolved on fire at a temperature of 50 degrees.
- Measure the alkali, pour it into the ice.
- Bring the alkali and oil solution to the same temperature, measuring it with a non-contact thermometer.
- Pour alkali into the oils through a strainer, whip with a submersible blender to the consistency of cream.
Marble soap from scratch
The recipes for the manufacture of soap involve 5 stages: cooking, mixing (or the step of the trace), drying, the gel phase and storage. Therefore, after preparing the soap mass, proceed to the next step. You can divide the mass into two parts, paint with different pigments to get a two-color soap. Stir each part with a blender. Then add the essential oils, fragrance. Combine multi-colored soap bases without stirring. Pour the mass into the mold. To remove the resulting bubbles, simply tap the shape on the table and add the base. Draw a pattern on top with a brush.
Next comes the gel stage, that is, the hardening stage. It goes through almost any children's, household, toilet, shampoo soap from scratch (we will consider the recipe below). Put the soap in a heated but turned off oven (40-50 degrees) or wrap it around the battery for several hours, then dry at room temperature for a day.
The last step is to cut the soap into pieces, put in a box with holes, leave it to “ripen” for several weeks. Only then can you get it, pack it for a gift or start using it.
Making soap
Soap farmers, in addition to the toilet product, make natural laundry soap from scratch. Recipes usually consist of inexpensive oils (corn, sunflower, palm, coconut). Consider one recipe for such soap:
- 64.52% coconut oil;
- 24.19% olive oil;
- 11.29% castor oil;
- 2% overweight;
- 33% of water;
- 1% citric acid;
- 103.93 grams of alkali;
- 1 tsp soda (with a slide);
- 10 ml of essential oil of lemon and peppermint.
The total weight of the oils is 620 grams. Melt all the oils with the fat in a water bath. Dilute citric acid in a small amount of water. Next, prepare an alkaline solution of powder and water. After the alkali is completely dissolved, pour in the lemon solution, stir.
When the oils dissolve to homogeneity, remove, leave to cool to the same temperature with an alkaline solution. Mix both masses with a blender to form a “trace”, put in a preheated oven to 60 degrees for 2.5 hours.
Continuation of soap making
We continue to produce laundry soap from scratch. Recipes, by the way, can allow the use of the paste not at the first stage of melting with oils in a water bath, but when rubbing it along the walls of the mold. In our case, the forms are simply covered with baking paper.
As soon as you get the soap out of the oven, you need to work quickly, as the mass quickly hardens. Add soda to it, whisk with a mixer. Pour in essential oils, mix, spread in a mold. As soon as the soap hardens completely, remove it from the mold, cut into pieces, you can immediately use it. This is the advantage of the hot manufacturing method.
This laundry soap smells good, copes well with limescale, they can wash dishes and a bath before bathing children. And what is most pleasant, after working with him there is no discomfort, peeling or dry skin.
Whether it’s laundry, toilet or baby soap from scratch, the recipe requires clear calculations. Otherwise, with a large amount of water, the soap will quickly be washed off, with an excess of over-fat, the product will deteriorate, and the soap base will not thicken from an excess of alkali or base oil.
Making Shampoo Soap
Also, soap makers brew shampoo soap from scratch. The recipe includes healthy decoctions, oils, and hair supplements. Only it turns out not a liquid shampoo, but a piece of solid soap. That is why it may not be suitable for some people. Experiment with the ingredients to get your type of soap.
To prepare a shampoo soap that cleanses and strengthens your hair, take:
- 40% rapeseed oil;
- 34% coconut oil;
- 26% of sunflower oil;
- 1% citric acid;
- 33% of water;
- 10 ml of EM petitgrain;
- 15 grams of laurel oil;
- 76.48 grams of alkali;
- 3% overweight for form.
Oils are designed for a weight of 500 grams. The cooking process is similar to laundry soap, that is, the oils melt, a lemon and alkaline solution is prepared separately. The acid is poured into an alkali, not hot, but at room temperature. Then add the mass to the oils, beat with a blender until a trace forms.
Also send in a preheated oven for 2.5 hours. Add to the soap base a paste, essential oils, mix, spread in a mold. After a day, cut into pieces, leave for a couple of weeks to harden, although it is already ready for use.
Brief Summary
If you want to have clean and well-groomed skin, then prepare soap from scratch. Recipes differ in ingredients, method of manufacture, but the process itself is repeated. A beginner should first study the information on the interaction of oils with alkali and practice with a soap calculator.