Previously, the manufacture of handmade soaps at home was ubiquitous. Using ash and animal fats, families themselves produced detergents for their needs.
At the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the discoveries of German scientists, it became possible to produce inexpensive soap at the production level, which gradually replaced the home.
But recently, interest in everything natural and home-made is growing more and more. Therefore, soap making at home is becoming popular. Handmade soap has significant advantages:
- It is more profitable for your wallet. Making a large batch of soap from scratch is cheaper than buying a separate one at a store over and over again. In doing so, you can use the remaining pieces to make a new one.
- It is good for your skin and does not contain harmful chemicals.
- Homemade soap is safe for the environment: there are no synthetic substances that do not decompose in water.
- Soap making is an interesting and creative process. And the results of your labors will never stale, collecting dust.
Security measures
When making handmade soaps at home, you will work with a caustic substance - sodium hydroxide, or liquor. In any form - grains, flakes, granules - it can damage different materials, peel paint, and most importantly, burn the skin and eyes.
Use extreme caution, wear gloves with high cuffs and use eye protection and a respiratory mask when you add alkali to the water. Avoid breathing in its vapor. They are combustible, so ventilate the room when working.
If alkali gets on the skin, it must be neutralized with a solution of vinegar, if it has got on other objects - immediately remove it and wipe this place with a detergent.
Before starting work, make sure that children or pets will not bother you. Do not use foil, tin, wooden or aluminum containers in the manufacture of soap. Take only glass containers, strong plastic, enameled or stainless steel utensils. Keep your soapmaking materials out of the reach of children.
How to make handmade soap at home?
Now that you are familiar with the precautions, we can get down to business.
To begin with, make sure that all the necessary ingredients are at your fingertips, looking for them in the process will be very inconvenient. You will need:
- Lye, namely caustic soda (in another way - caustic soda).
- Water (or other liquid, according to the recipe).
- Fat, oil.
- Rubber gloves and eye protection.
- Two mixing bowls. It is better if one has a spout (for convenient pouring of liquid).
- Kitchen scales.
- Different spoons for mixing and measuring. At least one of heat-resistant plastic or stainless steel for stirring liquor, one wooden, whisk or rubber spatula. A measuring spoon will be needed when using essential oils.
- Two precision kitchen thermometers
- Electric blender (desirable) - saves you a lot of effort in the manufacture of handmade soaps at home.
- Measuring cup for liquids.
- Molds for soap. Best made of glass, plastic, silicone or stainless steel. Wooden or cardboard can also be used, but only if they are coated with waxed or greased paper from the inside.
- Rags or disposable towels to wipe spilled liquid.
This is a sample list, it will vary depending on what kind of soap you make and whether you add essential oils, fragrances, natural decorative elements, etc. to it.
Measure seven times
When making homemade homemade soap at home, accurately measure each ingredient.
Regardless of whether you make it from scratch or use waste to make new pieces, you must strictly follow the recipe.
One inaccurate measurement can make the soap smell foul, unattractive, or unusable.
To ensure a good result you need: scales, 2 thermometers and the so-called alkali calculator or soap calculator. Typically, this is an online service for calculating the required amount of ingredients.
Different oils require different amounts of alkali, so make sure you know their saponification number.
How to turn individual ingredients into a finished product?
There are three main ways to make handmade soap at home:
- From a soap base - it is sold ready-made. It is melted, its ingredients are added to it and new pieces are formed.
- Grinding - grated ordinary baby soap is taken as the basis. Then water or milk is added to it, it is melted, mixed with the necessary components and poured into molds. It is simple and safe.
- From scratch - that is, the creation of soap completely on its own, from oils, alkalis and other additives. This method is not so simple and obvious as the first two, so we will tell you more about it.
The most difficult handmade soap. Making soap at home from scratch
This method has two subspecies - cold and hot. The sequence of work in the first case:
- First, the liquor is mixed with water in the proportions indicated in the recipe. Please note that hard water can disturb these ratios due to its impurities, so use distilled water. Important: pour lye into the water, and not vice versa, so as not to get an “eruption”! In this case, a chemical reaction will occur, from which the mixture heats up almost to a boil.
- Carefully place the components and place one of the thermometers in the mixture.
- We pass to the oil part. Heat liquid and solid oils and wax in a saucepan. Put the second thermometer in the pan.
- You should now have two containers of liquids to mix. But this must be done at the temperature indicated in the recipe (it depends on the components). Therefore, heat or cool them to the desired level.
- When the temperatures of the liquids coincide, pour the liquor solution into the fats.
- Now mix the liquids vigorously. An electric blender will greatly facilitate this task, but you can start using it only when the mixture has cooled slightly, otherwise it may overheat.
- Stir so that the mixture becomes thick and the spoon leaves a mark on it.
- Now pour the liquid into molds, wrap with a towel and leave for 1-2 days.
- Then remove the soap from the mold, cut into pieces and let it “ripen” for a month and a half. During this time, the soap will harden, excess moisture will evaporate, and it will be ready for use.
Hot way
The initial steps in this production of soap are the same as in the cold, namely, to the stage of the "trace". Then we simply continue to cook the saucepan with the mixture in a water bath or in the oven (if it is possible to clearly maintain the required temperature in it). Stir the fluid periodically until it becomes gel-like. Then it will begin to harden and become like wax. So the soap is almost ready, it's time to add essential oils and other ingredients and pour into forms. With this manufacturing method, you do not need to wait a month until the product is ready. You can use soap in a day, but if you let it lie down for two days, it will only get better.
Which way to choose?
Each method has its pros and cons, as well as a lot of variations.
If you are a beginner, then you will like the second method - the easiest and cheapest. But since children's soap is opaque, it will turn out not very decorative. Therefore, if you want to make beautiful pieces, but are afraid to work with alkali, then select 1 method. But do not forget that the further you move away from the soap from liquor and fats, the more expensive the cost of the final product is and the less natural its composition becomes.
And if you carefully read the security measures and set yourself up for serious and accurate work, then you can try to make homemade handmade soap from scratch. Of course, this is the most difficult, but also the most interesting way, but you control every ingredient that gets into the composition of the soap.
Scope for creativity
Perhaps one of the main reasons why handmade soaps at home are so popular is the ability to use different ingredients and experiment with form, color, smell and caring properties. If you decide to do this, then make the most of your freedom of choice.
When you make soap from scratch, you can take both animal fats and vegetable fats (based on sunflower or rapeseed oil). And instead of water, you can add broth, tea, milk.
Also added to the soap:
- essential oils: rose, mint, rosemary, bergamot, vanilla, lavender and others;
- vegetable oils such as palm, coconut, olive;
- natural dyes: clay, spices, herbs;
- decorative elements, for example, flower petals;
- scrubbing particles: grape seed powder, poppy seeds, loofah slices, etc.
It’s best to find a basic recipe for homemade handmade soap that you like, and then experiment with additives to it.
Important Tips
However, do not be lazy to learn more about additional components - some of them can be ineffective in soap, others can ruin it. Essential oils should be mixed with a base oil, such as olive oil - it neutralizes their irritating properties.
While working on soap, your home will be filled with many flavors. And you will inhale vapors of essential oils in high concentration, which can cause allergic reactions. Therefore, carefully select them and make sure that, just in case, in the medicine cabinet there is an appropriate medicine that suits you.
When you make homemade handmade soap at home, you will still have small pieces or failed copies. Instead of throwing them away, use them. Rub and remodel or pour chips into the water when you take a bath, or add small pieces of the remaining soap to a new one to create colorful patches.