I started making bar soaps at home from scratch a few months ago and have become somewhat "obsessed" with soaps, so I finally decided to write about it. "What made you decide to make your own soap?" my friends and coworkers ask. It seems like a strange thing to do, especially in this day and age (and I live in Silicon Valley). Well at first I did it out of curiosity more than anything else. But after I started using my handmade soaps and read more about it, I discovered that they have more benefits than I realized. Until a few months ago, Softsoap or Dial liquid hand soaps and Dove or Olay body washes are what you would find in our home, and it has been that way for a long time. During this last winter season (and previous ones), my skin got really dry and itchy and none of the "intensive moisture" body washes I tried helped. Then I started using my handmade soaps, and the itching stopped and the dryness improved significantly. The soaps had nice lather even with our hard water, didn't sting Michael's eyes when he washed his face, and rinsed clean quickly unlike the body washes that left a film on the skin. I gave some to my parents, Michael's parents, coworkers, and friends, and everyone liked them.
The more I read about soap making, the more I realized that simple and natural soaps are much better than commercial soaps. Commercial soaps (liquid and bar) contain chemicals that may be harmful in the long run (some people are out right sensitive to them) and synthetic detergents (e.g. sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate or ammonium lauryl sulfate) that clean too well, leaving skin dry and itchy. Commercial soap manufacturing also takes out the glycerin (moisturizer) from the soap and sells it to cosmetics manufacturers for more profit. Natural soaps retain the glycerin and are generally milder (mine are pH 7), whereas commercial soaps are generally more alkaline (pH 10) with the exception of Dove (pH 7). I don't think I'll ever go back now that I've used handmade natural soaps. There are soaps on the market that are made with wholesome ingredients, e.g. look in the natural beauty section at Longs Drugs, or check out Whole Foods or local health food stores, or go online - there are many soap makers (individuals & families) selling handmade natural soaps.
I learned how to make soap with the "Everything Soapmaking Book" by Alicia Grosso. It's an excellent book for the beginner soap maker. I followed the basic recipe in this book which uses the following ingredients and yields ~2 lbs of soap:
Note: these are weight, not volume measurements
6 oz distilled water
2.25 oz lye (sodium hydroxide)
10 oz olive oil
6 oz coconut oil
1 tbl/0.45oz castor oil
If you are wondering "do i have to use lye," the answer is: No Lye = No Soap. Lye reacts with the oils to form soap and glycerin - there is no lye left in the soap if the recipe is formulated properly. In fact many soap recipes are "superfatted", i.e. include a bit more oil to a) ensure all the lye is neutralized, and b) increase the lathering, moisturizing, or other properties of the soap (depending on the oil added). The castor oil in the above recipe is for superfatting the soap and boosting lather. Lye is not only used in soap making but also in many bath and beauty products such as toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, skin care products, etc. Go to Drugstore.com and do a search for sodium hydroxide, and you'll see a long list of common products that contain this ingredient.
Now that I've made a number of batches of soap, I can tell you that as long as appropriate precautions are taken (explained below), it is safe to work with lye. So where do you get lye? If you have a Lowe's near by, that would be the easiest - find "Roebic 2lb Heavy Duty Drain Opener". Before you freak out on the drain opener part, let me explain that this product is 100% sodium hydroxide and therefore is ok to use in soap making. It comes in tiny little beads of snowy white color. I've read from other soap making sites that Ace Hardware also carries a "Rooto" brand drain opener that is 100% lye as well. If you don't have either of these stores nearby, you can buy lye online - do a search for "buy sodium hydroxide". Please don't use crystal Drano or any other drain opener because they contain additional ingredients such as aluminum bits and/or other chemicals that definitely shouldn't be in your soap!
For olive oil you can use any kind but the color of the soap will vary. Extra virgin olive oil is usually greenish yellow, so the soap will take on that color as well. Extra light olive oil is usually lighter and your soap will be whiter as a result. Coconut oil is a staple ingredient in soap recipes - it contributes lather and hardness to the soap. It can be found in health food stores, Whole Foods, or Walmart (in the cooking oil section), and is usually in solid form below 76 degrees. Castor oil can be found in drug stores and Walmart. You can also use other plant-based oils in soap making, such as soy bean oil (common vegetable oil), canola oil, corn oil, peanut oil, sweet almond oil, Crisco, or animal fats such as tallow (beef fat) and lard (pork fat), but the amount of lye required will change depending on the oil. There are lye calculators online so people can make their own recipes, but for first time soap makers it's better to follow the recipe exactly (make no substitutions). I will discuss lye calculation and soap recipe formulations at another time.
The tools you will need are:
- safety goggles to protect your eyes
- thick rubber gloves to protect your hands and arms from the lye (wear long sleeve shirt, long pants, and socks if possible so none of your skin is exposed in case there's a splash/spill)
- a good scale for weighing the water, lye, and oils. it should measure down to 0.25 oz, and preferrably have a "tare" function which allows you to reset the reading to 0 after putting a container on the scale, or after you add each ingredient so you have a clean reading of how much of the next ingredient you are adding
- a instant read digital food thermometer to measure the temperature of the lye water, oils, and the soap mixture
- two heat proof 4 cup/32 oz glass measuring cups (e.g. Pyrex or Anchor brands), one for the lye & water solution, the other for the oils
- plastic, ceramic, or glass bowl for measuring the lye
- plastic or silicone spoon for stirring (wood is not recommended because lye will "eat" it away over time)
- stick/hand blender or stainless steel whisk (if you use the whisk be ready for a good arm work out)
- small cardboard box or plastic container to pour the soap into
- plastic bag, plastic food wrap, or wax/freezer/parchment paper for lining the container so the soap is easy to remove
- knife for cutting the soap after it solidifies
Caution: do NOT use nonstick, aluminum, cast iron, or tin pots/pans, containers, or utensils because they will react badly with lye and ruin both the soap and the tool. Also wood is not recommended for repeated use because over time the wood will eventually break down from coming into prelonged contact with lye.
The instructions for this basic recipe is for cold process soap making, which doesn't require cooking the soap after mixing the oils and lye water together. This method takes less time while making the soap, but requires longer curing time (3-4 weeks minimum) before the soap becomes neutral and mild enough to use. In contrast, the hot process involves cooking the soap mixture in a stock pot or double boiler for a few hours which speeds up the neutralization process but also takes longer to make the batch. I've done both and each has it's pros and cons. I'll discuss hot process at another time.
At a high level, cold process soap making is pretty simple - mix lye with water, mix lye water with oils, pour mixture into container, cut solidified soap, and let cure for a few weeks. Below are the detailed steps:
1. line the container with plastic bag/wrap or wax/freezer/parchment paper
Store soaps in a ventilated container and use within a year or six months in hot areas. Because this recipe is all natural and doesn't have any preservatives, the soaps will go bad eventually. Hopefully they'll get used up so quickly or given away as gifts that you'll never find out what soap gone bad is like :)!
To clean up after making soap, with your goggles and gloves on (because the soap mixture is not yet neutral), wipe everything down with towel/paper towel then wash with dishwashing liquid and warm water.
If you’ve ever read the labels on health and hygiene products, you know it can be a challenge to find a product that doesn’t contain long lists of ingredients you can’t even pronounce, let alone know what they are or what they’re for. Plus, there are the occasional headlines that yet another standard ingredient in the products we use every day turns out to be counter to the very health and cleanliness the product is supposed to promote. Sometimes the easiest way to ensure that you’re using the best, healthiest products — from soap to toothpaste — is to simply make your own. You can easily make safe, effective toiletries — including lotion and deodorant — at home, using simple, healthy ingredients.
Try your hand at one or all of these basic recipes and rest assured that your body is getting the best care you can give it. You should be able to find the basic ingredients listed below at your local pharmacy or health food store.
Shea Butter Soap (from Soothing Soaps by Sandy Maine)
2 cups glycerin soap base, melted in a double boiler
2 tbsp shea butter, melted separately
Several drops of your favorite essential oil (optional)
Mix well, pour into molds (you can use regular food storage containers), and cool.
Whitening Sage Tooth Powder (from Natural Beauty at Home by Janice Cox)
Mix together 1 tsp each of baking soda, table salt, and dried sage.
Scoop onto a dampened toothbrush and brush as usual.
Body Butter (from Natural Beauty at Home)
1/4 cup grated cocoa butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp avocado oil
1 tbsp grated beeswax
Combine all the ingredients in an ovenproof glass container. Place the container with the mixture in a pan with a 1- to 2-inch water bath. Melt the oils and wax gently.
Pour the melted mixture into a clean jar and allow to cool. Stir the cooled mixture.
Spread the butter on your body and massage into the skin. Yields 4 oz.
Basic Deodorant Powder Formula (from Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold-Bond)
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
Antibacterial essential oils such as cinnamon, rose, birch or lavender, as preferred
Edited by Sondra C, Flickety, Dave Crosby, Travis Derouin and 8 others
Tips
联系客服
