How Do You Make Soap? What You Need to Know

Grandpa will surely enjoy his candy cane peppermint soaps. For the baker in the family a tin of cookie shaped and scented soaps will work perfectly. As  for that slightly annoying  niece who is still into her "Goth" phase, some skull and crossbones soaps will make her gift choice much less headache inducing. Let's not forget that slightly boring brother-in-law who loves sports … baseball and football shaped soaps will be perfect.  You breathe a sigh of relief. The Holidays just became less hectic.

You quickly decide that you need to learn how to make soap and you're chagrined to discover that there are four different ways to do it!  Help is at hand.  Although directions for the hot process soap making method will be covered, here are a few hints for how to know which soap making process to choose.

The melt and pour method is the best option for beginners. Rather than making the soap base you can purchase it in different varieties, melt it, add scent and color and pour into a soap mold. You need only wait a few hours before you un-mold your soap. This process requires only two hours until you have a beautiful finished product.

The cold process soap making method requires that you make the base by adding lye to different types of oils. This method requires a four to six week "cure" time. Many people prefer this method because they have control over the base materials. The time it takes for the soap to completely "cure" is four to six weeks.

Another method, similar to the melt and pour is taking existing soap scraps, melting them and remolding them. This is certainly easy but the quality can frequently suffer since the material consists of discarded and different types of soap.

The hot process method is preferred by those with a more scientific bent. It is very similar to the cold process method but the time required for the soap to "cure" (this process is called saponification) is decreased. Those who like to create their soap entirely from scratch and have creative control over the products used in the base, but do not want to wait for weeks for the soap to "set up" prefer this method.  

1. Choose your recipe, read carefully and assemble all the required equipment.
2. Melt your oils at medium heat in a pan (never use aluminum pans the lye will cause them to tarnish) or crock pot.
3. While the oil melts, prepare the lye mixture by stirring the lye very slowly into the water until completely dissolved. Never pour the water into the lye always slowly stir the lye into the water. Make certain that you are wearing protective gloves and eye gear as lye is extremely caustic.
4. Add the lye to the melted oils.
5.  Using a stick blender beat for 5-10 minutes or until trace. Trace refers to the thickened end product.
6. Cover the pan or crock pot with the lid.
7. When the oil begins to separate, stir until the mixture is the consistency of very thick mashed potatoes.
8. Remove a spoonful of the mixture, add colorants and fragrance and return it to the entire batch and stir thoroughly.
9. Pour the mixture into greased molds. It is important to use a cooking spray in your molds, if you do not the soap will not be easily removed from the mold
10. After two hours remove the soap from the molds.

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