HOW TO MAKE HANDMADE SOAP

First , I will talk about superfatting. Most lye calculators will superfat the recipe for you automatically. So why we should do the superfat in cold process soap recipe? - this is the reason...

Superfatting is the technique by adding an extra amount of oil into the soap recipe but keep the amount of lye the same.

Lye discounting is the technique by using the same amount of oil but less lye. For example, using 9.5 ounces of lye instead of 10 ounces would amount to 5% superfatting (5% extra oil).

Normally 5% superfatting is standard %superfat that mostly soapmakers use.

The great lye calculator site :
http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

The reasons we should do superfat
The rest of oil in the soap give us extra moisturizing...however, too much of the rest oil in the soap isn't good because the soap will be a softer bar and get rancid quickly. So the best is just small amount of oil in the soap which is 5% superfat is recommended.

Another reason to superfat is the safety. If your weighing isn't precise , Superfatting helps in the safety. Because there is a little extra oil in the recipe ensure that every one of the lye molecules will have more than enough opportunity to pair up with an oil molecule.

Normally, most lye calculators will calculate superfat 5% for you. If not, you can discount lye. For example, if your recipe calls for 10 ounces of lye and you want a 5% discount, multiply that by .95 (95%). That would give you 9.5 ounces of lye.


Discounting water
In soap recipe , more water will result in softer soap and takes longer time to mix until it trace , longer time to unmold and cure. On another hand, using less water results in soap that get trace faster and takes less time to unmold and cure.

And the same as superfat that lye calculators will calculate water discount for you. The amount of water in the recipe depends on the amount of lye (not oils). Once you know the amount of lye you will use , then you can calculate the amount of discount water by following this (in case you would like to calculate the water discount manually) :

Calculate a non-discounted water amount :
Water = Lye Amount * 73 / 27

If the recipe requires for 3 oz of lye:
Water = 3 oz lye * 73 / 27
Water = 8.1 oz

(The most common “non-discounted” lye and water solution is 27% lye and 73% water.)

For water discount , I would like to recommend a ratio of about 33% lye and 66% water.. then we can calculate easily. For example, if the recipe requires for 2.4 ounces of lye, I will use 4.8 ounces of water. (Just use this formula to calculate , The amount of discount water = 2 X the amount of lye )

However, different recipes use different discount water because some ingredients in each recipe absorb water which can result in cracking if you discount water too much. Some fragrance and additives can also react or affect trace.

I have searched cold process soap recipes on internet and found these recipes are perfect and interesting!

The below 3 recipes come from : http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/my-favorite-cold-process-recipes-2/

Lots of Lather (this is reallyhard soap bar) Soap Recipe

16 oz. Coconut
16 oz. Palm
16 oz. Olive Oil
2 oz. Castor Oil

13 – 19 oz. water
7.4 oz. lye

Recomend 3% superfat for best bubbles


Moisturizing Soap Recipe

4 oz. Avocado Oil
8 oz. Coconut Oil
1 oz. Jojoba Oil
16 oz. Olive Oil
8 oz. Palm Oil
4 oz. Shea Butter

11 – 15 oz. water
5.6 oz. lye


Nourishing Soap Recipe

2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
2 oz. Avocado Oil
8 oz. Coconut Oil
2 oz. Hempseed Oil
16 oz. Olive Oil
8 oz. Palm Oil
4 oz. Shea Butter
2 oz. Wheatgerm
2 oz. Vitamin E

12-16 oz. water
6.0 oz. lye


The below recipes come from : http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/

Pear-Lishish Soap Recipe (Easy to make, soothing, emollient )

6.4 oz coconut oil
1.9 oz. illipe butter
4.8 oz. kokum butter
2.2 oz lanolin
3.8 oz mango butter
6.4 oz. palm kernal oil
3.2 oz. palm oil
3.2 oz. shea butter
11.5 oz water
4.5 oz. lye
superfat with 1.1 oz meadowfoam oil and 1.1 oz of avocado oil
.7 oz to 1.0 oz pearberry fragrance


Bay Rum Sesame Oil Soap Recipe (Extra bubbly and very spicy!)

Tallow (beef) 10 oz
Sesame seed oil(untoasted)6 oz
Olive oil 6 oz
Coconut oil 6 oz
Palm kernal flakes 6 oz
Castor oil 2 oz
Rice bran oil 1 oz
Lye (at 5% discount) 5.28 oz
*Water 14 oz OR 12.6 oz(discounted)
.5 to 1 oz Bay Rum FO
*For extra skin conditioning add use half water and half Goats milk or substitute all the water for goats milk.

Bubble gum soap (kids will love to use) Recipe - (Smells so good you'll want to eat it!!!)

8 oz soft water
3 oz lye
7 oz crisco, palm oil or tallow
7 oz coconut oil
6 oz olive oil
1 oz jojoba oil
1 oz Bubble gum fragrance oil
Imperial Red Mica to color



Select one of your favourite recipe and go to make your own handmade soap following this process :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/10/cold-process-soap-making-process-step.html

Prepare your soap making kits before start making your soap :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/10/cold-process-soapmaking-kits.html

OK. That's it! You are ready to make the soap you have dreamt of now!

To start to make handmade cold process soap, the first thing is you have to ensure that you have prepared all these Cold Process Soapmaking Kits. They are :

Cold Process Soapmaking Kits
- Oils & all ingredients : depends on each recipe.

- Mixing lye-water tank. Use only mixing tank which made from wood , glass or Stainless Steel because the lye cannot make reaction with these materials. !!Warning!! , don't use aluminium tank to mix lye-water - the lye quickly burn aluminium!

- Soap mold and paper to line it.

- Safety goggles and gloves

- A Thermometer

- Glass or stainless steel mixing bowl

- Mixing tools - stick blender (for faster mixing - the soap mixture will get trace very quickly), hand mixer (in case you don't have stick blender), and/or spoons.

- Paper towels

If you don't have all or some of the above kits , you can buy them via this blog by looking on HANDMADE SOAP PRODUCTS category.

If you have prepare all necessary kits which provided above , let's go to make handmade soap following this Cold Process Soap step by step !

Cold Process or CP soap. Cold Process soap is made by mixing oils and NaOH (sodium hydroxide) solution which call "lye" ...then triggers the saponification process.

Before go to the cold process soap making , you should read these first :
Cold process soap equipment - Click
Cold process soap recipe

How to Make Cold Process Soap Step by Step

1. Once you have selected the recipe you like, prepared all necessary equipments & ingredients...weigh all ingredients by follow the recipe carefully.

2. Prepare lye solution. Weigh the amount of distilled water of your recipe. Weigh the NaOH (sodium hydroxide). Once you have weighed both, slowly add the lye to the pitcher of water...WARNING: ALWAYS add the lye to the water, not water to the lye. Adding the water to the lye can cause explosion!!!!

Gently stir the mixture until the lye is completely dissolved (this time it's very hot but continue stir until it completely dissolve). The lye will be ready to use when it cools down

3. Melt & Mixing the Soapmaking Oils. Put solid oils into the pot, then put the pot onto the stove using medium heat. Slowly melt the oils while stirring softly. Turn off the heat when the oils get to about 110 F. Keep stirring until all of the solid oils are melted...then add the room temperature liquid oils to the soap pot. This step will cool down the overall temperature. The oils' temp should be at about 100 F when you add the lye-water.

4. Slowly add the lye solution to the pot that melted oils (step 3) are in. The oils will instantly begin cloudy. While adding lye also slowly stir. The starting of the saponification process is here which means the actual soap making process begins!!

5. Continuous stir the mixed oil and lye until it get "TRACE". If you use your hand to stir the mixed oil and lye , it will take about an hour to become trace.

To test for trace, dip a spatula or spoon into the mix and dribble a bit of it back into the pot. If it leaves a little "trace" behind, you're there. It just needs to be well mixed with no streaks of remaining oil.

At "light trace" and pour into the mold, the soap is still very liquid. For a more heavy trace which means pouring the soap into the mold after trace occurred for a while, and the soap has thickened enough - you will get the harder bar soap.

6. Before the soap mixture becomes too thick, slowly add the fragrance or essential oils to the mixture (depends on your recipe). Stir until completely mix.

7. Add additives depends on the recipe you use. Stir until completely mix.

8. Add color to your soap. If you want 1 color for your soap, add color and stir until it well mix. If you would like to get swirl color , this is technique :

- Ladle a half of the mixture , add color to one of a half of the mixture and mix.
- Go to next step.

Example of swirl cold process soap

9. Pour the Soap Into the Mold. For one color soap , just pour the mixture into the mold directly. For swirl color soap, pour un-color soap mixture into the mold first , then add the color soap mixture that you have prepared on step8 around the un-color soap mixture in the mold...after that use a stainless small spoon, swirl the colored soap through the mold. !!!!Don't stir too much because color will well mix , you may endup with 1 color soap - not swirl color.

Swirl soap in the mold

Set the soap in a warm, safe place to set up and begin curing. The soap is very hot (high temperature) now because saponification process continue running.

10. Done!! Normally, It takes about 1 day for the soap to harden enough to take out of the mold and slice it. Once you have sliced it, then set it to cure..because the saponification process will stop in about 4 weeks and the soap will be safe to use, you should cure it for about 4 weeks, then it's surely ready to use.

See cold process soap making process step by step in video for more details :

Glycerin soap is known that it's different from other soaps because it's translucent, this soap type contains glycerin, a component of fat or oil. A lot of people know glycerin soap is actually transparent soap. Transparent soap is also real soap...just because it goes through a hot process by adding sugar and alcohol as "solvents" to maintain the soap crystals from becoming opaque. Without this crystallization, the soap still clear. There are many soap recipes that you can select and modify the process to make them transparent.

Some people also call "melt and pour" soap as glycerin soap. This is also true but not 100% because there are clear and opaque melt and pour soaps.

To get started to make your own glycerin soap, you'll need clear glycerin soap base, coloring (food or cosmetic grade), stirrers, soap mold. Glycerin is usually sold in large blocks at crafts stores. Melting it by cutting it into small cubes that will fit in your melting pot, slowly heat & stir it until it's completely melted. Mix liquid coloring into bowl with a stirrer. (liquid coloring is very strong, so use it sparingly.) Pour in melted glycerin in the mold. Let it cool completely, normally about 2 hours. Using a bench scraper, slice block into individual bars.

Homemade soap can also called natural soap if we use only natural ingredients to produce it. Homemade soap is easy and enjoy to make! ...before we go to deep step, let me explain about it for a little.

Types of homemade (handmade) soaps.
I have talked about it here :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/08/types-of-handmade-soap.html

Homemade Soap - Natural Soap benefits
We can design it as we like. You can select any smells you like and any recipes have their unique properties. Some recipes give a lot lathers but some give less. We also can add colors as we imagine of. So your homemade soap will be unique and good as you have designed it before making.

Example of Homemade Soap recipe
Cold Process recipe (This is an easy, mild olive oil soap, good for beginners) :
Recipe: (Makes 8 lbs.)
24 oz. olive oil
24 oz. coconut oil
38 oz. vegetable shortening (Crisco)
12 oz. lye
32 oz. distilled water
3-4 oz. any essential or fragrance oil

Melt & pour Soap recipe (Milky Rose Soap Bar) :
Recipe:
Glass Measuring cup
Metal Spoon
Mold of your choice
1/4 C. Freshly picked or dried rose petals, the more fragrant the better
16oz Clear M&P Soap base
1/8th Cup Goats Milk, may use buttermilk or other milk of choice
1/2 - 1 tsp Rose Petals Fragrance Oil
Microwave
Alcohol in spray bottle

How to make handmade soap
For the cold process soap , we mix lye with oils we prepared for each recipe first , when it trace , we add fragrance and colors...mix it well then pour into the mold. I will post more and deep details on how to make handmade soap later.

For melt and pour soap , We melt soap base first (don't let it boil) , then add all additive we have prepared for and stir well and pour into your molds...yeah! I will post more and deep details later. Please keep reading my blog :)