How to Make Your Own Handmade Soap

Have you ever thought about making your own handmade soap? There are many soap making techniques, from the super simple, fail-proof melt and pour to the cold process soap making methods our grandmothers used. Each technique has its benefits and drawbacks. Learn about the various types of soap making and find the one that's right for you.

Soap making is an enjoyable activity no matter what method you use. All handmade soaps are highly versatile, allowing you to create custom blends that will benefit your skin type. Handmade soaps are natural, healthier for your skin, and safer for the environment.

Commercial soaps are often not soap at all, but a blend of detergents, surfactants, and other chemicals that harm the skin by stripping it of natural oils. Many of these chemicals are unsafe for the environment and contribute to pollution.

If health and environmental reasons weren't incentive enough, it should also be noted that homemade soap makes a great gift. Most people truly enjoy a lovely, long-lasting bar of handmade soap. It's a simple luxury that is highly marketable, making it a great product to produce and sell as a sideline business.

Melt and Pour

Melt and Pour soaps are great for beginners who want a fail-safe way to experiment with soap making. It is incredibly easy to make and highly customizable. It can be poured into molds that are very intricate in detail, producing very artistic soaps. This gives it an advantage over cold or hot processed soaps which don't allow for as much detail.

With Melt and Pour soaps you start with a soap base. The base is melted in a double boiler or microwave and any desired colorant, fragrance, or additives are stirred in immediately before pouring the soap into a mold. The soap hardens very quickly and it can be used immediately.

Melt and Pour is not as natural as made from scratch soaps, but it is still far superior to commercial products.

Pro's

• More artistic
• Very easy to make
• Can be used immediately with no cure time
• Extremely versatile
• Transparent bases are available for interesting effects.

Cons

• Not as long lasting as cold processed
• Doesn't lather as well
• Less control over what goes in the soap
• Soap base can be pricey - especially in craft stores.

Saponification: A really big word that means your lye and fats are having a chemical reaction that turns the sodium hydroxide or "lye" water mixture into glycerin. This process causes the oils and water to mix and form a solid – soap :).

The name here is somewhat deceptive, because even in cold process some heat is applied initially. In CP soap making, nearly all ingredients are measures by weight. Accuracy of measurement is essential in order to create a usable soap product.

The fats used are melted in a large pot on low heat. Once the fats are melted and combined, the sodium hydroxide water mixture is slowly added and stirred. The soap is cooked until it reaches “trace” stage. At this point the liquid in the pot is well blended and starting to thicken to the consistency of a thin custard. When you take your spoon and drip the mixture across the top the drops stay elevated for a second or two before sinking back down into the mixture.

Once the batch of soap has reached trace, it is removed from the heat, essential oils and any colorants or additives are stirred in, and it is quickly poured into prepared molds. After this, it is covered and left to cure for 2 – 4 weeks. The cure time allows *saponification to continue until the soap is ready for use. Using soap that is not fully cured can result in burns and skin injury, so it's very important when making cold process soap to follow your directions very carefully and to allow your soap to have a long enough cure time.

Cold process soap produces hard, long-lasting bars in bulk. Most recipes for CP soap are designed for 2 – 3 dozen bars. This process is the closest to pioneer soap. Today's version is carefully weighed and measured and doesn't result in the burns that last centuries wood ash methods used to produce. It's a great rustic craft. One of the best (or worst) things about it is every batch is a little different and you wont know exactly what you're going to get until it has fully matured.

Cold Processed Soap Making Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Large Batches
• Low Cook Time
• Extra firm, long-lasting bars

Cons:

• Must be very accurate with measurements or the soap will fail
• Long cure time
• Not as easy to mold as MP soaps

Hot process is virtually the same as cold process, the only difference being that the soap is cooked to speed up saponification, enabling it to cure and be usable more quickly. It is ideal for the impatient among us who want instant gratification.

Hot process soap can be made on the stove top or in a slow cooker. It takes several hours and due diligence to not burn the soap. Once it is almost fully cooked, essential oils, colorants, or any other additives are added. it is then quickly spooned into a mold, pressed and allowed to cool before being removed and cut. Once the soap is cut, it is highly recommended to allow it to cure for a few days to a week before use to ensure that saponification is complete.

Hot Process Soap Making Pros and Cons

Pros:

• All the benefits of CP soap with a faster cure time

Cons:

• The soap hardens quickly as you spoon it into the mold
• Not as easy to mold as MP soaps
• Requires more fragrance than CP due to high temperature and burn off

These are the 3 ways to make hand made soap. If you are doing soap projects with kids or teens, I would recommend starting with melt and pour methods. There is less risk of injury and it is a fast, fail safe project.

If you want to try the old fashioned and truer soap making techniques, you may want to start with hot process because you will know right away if your soap is going to turn out. Nothing is more exasperating than creating a batch of cold process soap, only to uncover it after a few weeks and find it is unusable.

Hot process is a great way to get some practice and get your technique down. Once you have a good feel for how it works, then definitely try some cold process batches also. Every technique has its benefits and drawbacks and the best way to find the one you will enjoy is to try all three.