Simple Homemade Recipes

BEGINNER SOAP MAKING Simple Homemade Recipes

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Table of Contents

Copyright ...... 4 Preface: A Word from the Author General Policy Notes / Disclaimers ...... 5 Introduction: What is Soap? ...... 7 History Of Soap Making ...... 9 Why Make Your Own Soap? ...... 11 Different Types Of Soap ...... 12 Equipment ...... 14 Safety First! ...... 15 Additions to Your Soaps ...... 16 Carrier Oils ...... 16 Essential Oils ...... 18 Fragrance Oils ...... 20 Herbs and Botanicals ...... 20 Some Common Herbs and their Properties ...... 21 Clay ...... 22 Creating Color ...... 23 Saponification Charts ...... 25 Soap Recipes ...... 29 Cold Pressed Soap Recipes ...... 30 Beginner Soap Recipe ...... 31 Clay Soap ...... 32 Easy Shea Butter Soap ...... 33 Acne Soap ...... 34 Castile Soap ...... 35 Baby Soap ...... 36 Mango Butter Soap ...... 37 Gentle Facial Soap ...... 38 Beeswax Soap ...... 39 Melt and Pour Soaps ...... 40 2 naturalhealthblogger.net | facebook.com/Natural-Health-Blogger | pinterest.com/annieneeds | twitter.com/AnnieNeeds

Copyright 2015 Oatmeal Melt and Pour Soap Recipe ...... 41 Citrus Exfoliating Soap ...... 42 Soap in a Shaving Mug ...... 42 Hot Process Soap ...... 43 Basic Hot-Processed Soap ...... 44 Clear Glycerin Soap ...... 45 Crockpot Hot Process Soap ...... 46 Gentle Avocado Crockpot Soap ...... 46 Rosemary Mint Crockpot Soap ...... 47 Milled Soap ...... 48 Basic Milled Soap...... 49 Another Hand Milled Soap...... 50 Milk Soaps ...... 51 Basic Goat’s Milk Soap ...... 52 Goat’s Milk Coffee Soap ...... 53 Heavy Cream Soap ...... 54 Liquid Soap ...... 55 Super Simple Re-Milled Liquid Soap ...... 56 Super Mild Hot Process Liquid Soap ...... 57 Making Your Own Recipes ...... 59 Suggested Blends & Combinations ...... 62 Trouble Shooting ...... 64 Tips & Tricks ...... 68 Starting a Soap Making business...... 69 Soapmaking Supply Resources ...... 71 Conclusion ...... 72 Glossary ...... 73

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All rights reserved. Purchase of any of our titles constitutes (1) user license. The contents MAY NOT be excerpted, distributed, repackaged, resold or otherwise shared in ANY manner without prior written consent of copyright owner. Copyright violations will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law. © Beginner Soap Making, Simple Homemade Recipes. All Rights Reserved.

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Dear Readers, Everyone has a unique body chemistry with differing levels of skin sensitivity, oiliness, dryness, and other unique characteristics. I encourage you to know your body well as that is foundational to well-balanced natural health in all respects.

The recipes in this e-book, while containing natural ingredients, may not react well with your body. For that reason, I highly recommend the testing of the various oils and ingredients on a small area of your skin. If irritation ensues, rinse the area thoroughly with warm soapy water and apply some soothing moisturizer to the test area.

Be smart, know your own unique body, and enjoy exploring your natural beauty! Please note: The information contained in this book is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, or action which results from reading or following the information contained in this book.

The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider.

All of the following information set forth is this eBook is designed to entertain and teach you the fine art and use of natural beauty products that you can make at home. It is not intended to provide medical advice or treatments for any type of medical condition. If you have a specific medical condition, we suggest that you consult your healthcare provider or seek advice from a licensed medical professional. Do not substitute any medical advice given by using the information from this eBook. Your healthcare providers know what is best for your continued health. We are certainly not trying to change or affect their suggestions.

The author of this eBook accept no responsibility for errors or omissions that may be related to any of the recipes or projects shown in the reading material. We advise each reader to carefully follow all instructions that are presented, and if any adverse reactions are encountered, to discontinue use immediately. All products that are included in these projects should be used externally and not taken internally.

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Copyright 2015 We urge you to use this material presented with your own experienced discretion. Safety precautions must be carefully observed and followed in accordance with the printed materials and the customer's common sense.

The information provided in “Beginner Soap Making, Simple Homemade Recipes" is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical conditions. If you have medical conditions that would normally be handled by a healthcare provider, please consult them for such.

Resources provided through outside links in this eBook are provided as a courtesy for further information. The authors of "Beginner Soap Making, Simple Homemade Recipes" are not responsible for information provided by these other sources. We cannot guarantee their accuracy. By reading and using this eBook, you are agreeing to the terms presented in this single-user license.

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Copyright 2015 Before you begin making soap, read this book and pay particular attention to the safety instructions and necessary equipment. Soap making can be hazardous, but not if you pay attention to your safety.

Making soap is a process that cannot be rushed and cannot be exactly replicated. Every batch you make will be slightly different, even if you do exactly the same thing every time.

Tips for your first batch:

Soap is anything that when used with • When you begin, it will take water decreases the surface tension and several hours to make a batch of attracts away unwanted substances, soap. It will be easier to work usually dirt and microorganisms. with a partner because the batch must be stirred continuously Soap making is a craft, and as such it is while all the ingredients are a blend of science and art. Once you incorporated. have mastered the basics of mixing • Use quality ingredients. Quality alkali and fats to make soap, you can go soap does not come from cheap wild and make any kind of soap you can ingredients. It will be a waste of imagine. In this book, you will learn the the time and money you spend to basics of soap making, then move on to make soap that doesn’t lather experiment with colors, scents, and well or smell good, or have the textures to create unique soaps for proper color. yourself, your loved ones or to sell in a • Invest in a high-quality digital business. scale and measure accurately. The scientific portion of soap Soap is created when a fat is mixed with making demands precision. an alkali. When the two ingredients • Be patient! Once you pour soap combine, a chemical reaction occurs. into a mold, it must sit for This reaction is known as between one and two full days saponification. before it is hard enough to cut. Then the bars must cure for at least six weeks.

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Soap has been in use since about 2800 An Islamic document of the 12th century B.C.E. It has been found in the early C.E. mentions al-qaly (where we get the civilizations of the Babylonians, English word alkali) as a key ingredient. Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks and In the 13th century, the Islamic world Romans. In the beginning, soaps were was making soap using industrial used for cleaning cooking utensils, processes in Nablus, Fes, Damascus and goods or cleaning wounds. Aleppo.

One story of soap’s discovery comes By the late 6th century, Naples had a from the Rome. Women would wash soap making guild and the process of clothing in the Tiber river, on Sappo making soap spread to Spain and Italy hill. At the top of the hill, animals were by the 8th century. sacrificed to the gods and rain would wash down the melted animal fats and By the mid-15th century, France had wood ashes into the river. They mixed professional soap makers in a few cities with the water and created soap. Sappo which supplied the entire country. hill is the basis for the word Gentler soaps have been made since the saponification, which is the chemical 16th century using vegetable oils instead process that creates soap. of animal fats. Many of these, such as Castile soap, are still made today. In the long-distant past, Phonecians combined goat tallow and wood ashes, Soap, as a luxury item, was taxed the Celts used animal fats and plant heavily and was difficult for many ashes to make soap. Soap was made at people to obtain until Nicolas LeBlanc home until the late 18th century when a found a way to make lye more easily, Frenchman named LeBlanc discovered resulting in a less expensive soap. In a chemical process that made 1852, the soap taxes were eliminated so manufacturing soap cheaper. About less affluent households could purchase twenty years later, Michel Chervreul it. discovered that to make soap all you American settlers made soap need to do is combine glycerin, fat and themselves by saving up animal fat and an acid. wood ashes to make soap once a year. Their methods were inaccurate and A Babylonian clay tablet, dated to 2200 often too much lye was used, making B.C.E. had a formula for soap: water, the soap caustic and harsh on the skin. alkali and cassia oil. Synthetic detergents were first commercially made during World War I A papyrus dated 1550 B.C.E. indicates because vegetable oils were in short that the Egyptians of the time bathed supply. This led to a much cheaper soap regularly and used a soap as well. and since that time, people have always

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By the mid-1950s, detergents were 1n 1806, William Colgate founded outselling soaps. Detergents now make Colgate &Co. in New York. The up almost all cleaning-related purchases company made 45,000 pound batches of for dishwashing, general home cleaning soap. and laundry. Detergents are also found William Proctor and James Gamble in many bar or liquid soaps used for (yes, that Proctor & Gamble) bathing. accidentally created Ivory soap when an employee went to lunch and neglected Today’s new detergents are efficient to turn the soap mixing machine off. and easy to use, However, they are The soap had air beat into it and was the often made with the cheapest possible first floating soap, called Ivory. ingredients that can often dry the skin. Palmolive soap was originally made with palm and olive oils – hence the name. The formulation is different now, however, and contains primarily animal fat. The term “B.O.” was coined with England’s Lever Brothers and their marketing campaign against offensive body odors.

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My first reaction to this question is: ingredients. Love the scent of “Why not make your own soap?” lilac? Add lilac oil to your soap. • Small batch soaps have a good • Soap making has never been proportion of glycerin that is easier than it is today. There are a taken out of industrial soap. plethora of recipes in this book Glycerin is an emulsifier, and on the internet – you could meaning that it separates oil and literally never make the same dirt from your skin. It soothes and soap twice and not run out of hydrates the skin. varieties. • Handmade soaps make great • Making your own soap is cost gifts. You can tailor your recipes effective. You can make an for the recipient – color, scent, or inexpensive bar of soap for about other properties. $2, or use some high quality • You can compensate for any ingredients and make a bar of allergic reactions you may have soap for $4. to the ingredients in • You can determine exactly what commercially prepared soaps. quality of ingredients to use. If • You can overcome dry skin you have particular needs, you ailments with the proper soap. can address those in your

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Cold process soap can be hazardous. Make sure you review and understand the safety instructions before beginning.

Melt and Pour Soap Melt and pour soap is exactly what it sounds like. You melt a soap base, add coloring or fragrance and pour it into a mold. It is far easier to work with

because the saponification with lye has There are several basic types of soap: already been done. If you’re in a time Cold process, hot process, melt and crunch and need to make gifts quickly, pour, milled, liquid, glycerin and milk this is your best route. base. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, but there’s nothing that says Bases for melt and pour soap include: you need to make soap with just one cocoa butter, aloe vera, glycerin and method. goat’s milk.

Cold Process Soap Glycerin Soap Cold process soap is the soap you think Glycerin is created in the soap making of when you think of grandma making process. Glycerin is a humectant, her own. It’s made by combining fat and meaning it takes moisture from the lye together. Grandma could have used environment and will keep your skin any fats from beef tallow to Crisco to moisturized. olive oil – the combinations are endless. Cold process soap is hard and long- Industrial soap factories remove the lasting. glycerin to add to more high-value products. Glycerin soap is generally If you use coconut oil it will lather well, clear and is known for its moisturizing olive oil is known for its gentleness and properties. shea and cocoa butter are very moisturizing. Cold process soap makers simply keep the glycerin in their soap by mixing it In cold process soap making, lye is back in. Glycerin soap can be purchased added in proportion to water and fat and in large blocks to melt and pour. the resulting reaction is called saponification. Saponification is a slow Hot Process Soap process and takes six weeks to fully Hot process soap is a variation on the complete. cold process soap making method. In a 12 naturalhealthblogger.net | facebook.com/Natural-Health-Blogger | pinterest.com/annieneeds | twitter.com/AnnieNeeds

Copyright 2015 nutshell, you take all the ingredients, There are three different ways to add add to a pot, heat and stir frequently milk to just about any soap recipe until the soap goes through the stages to Replace the water in the recipe with become soap. milk when making the lye solution. Freeze the milk and make sure it is at The excess water evaporates and the least slushy before adding the lye to entire six week saponification process is reduce scorching the milk. The milk completed in just a few hours. The soap will turn anywhere from yellow to is ready to use once it has cooled. You orange, so make sure you account for don’t have to wait six weeks for the soap the color change in your planning. to be ready because the saponification process has completed already. Replace half the water with milk. In this case you would make the lye solution Milled Soap with half the water, being extremely Milled soap is also called French milled cautious because the lye solution will be or triple milled soap. In this process, double strength. You would add the you start with a cold process soap milk to the lye solution when you add you’ve already made, run it through a the oils. grater and put the shavings into a pot with a small amount of liquid. You could add powdered milk at trace. Discount your water by 1/2 cup and Once the mixture melts you can add dissolve the milk powder in 1/2 cup color and fragrance. The reason to add water. Stir in at trace. color and fragrance after the saponification process has already Liquid Soap finished is to keep them from reacting There are many ways to make liquid with the lye during the soap making soap. You can remill already made (or process. Fragrances, colors and other even already purchased) soaps. Liquid ingredients will be at full strength. It is soap can also be made ‘from scratch’ also easier to use intricate molds to with a liquid oil (like olive) and make beautiful soaps. potassium hydroxide (caustic potash). Potassium hydroxide is as dangerous to Milk Soaps you, your pets and your family as lye is, Milk is one of the best natural so use the same safety precautions. moisturizers. It nourishes the skin and the fats and proteins found in milk help Clear liquid soaps are created by adding seal moisture into your skin. When an excess of potassium hydroxide to the making soap, use full fat milk or cream. soap solution and after the The higher the fat the more lather your saponification process is complete you soap will produce. It is important to must neutralize the excess by lowering remember to freeze your milk overnight the pH by adding an acid. Creating a before making soap with it, or the lye liquid soap this way is difficult and is may scorch it, turn your soap bright suited for an advanced soap maker. orange and make it smell like ammonia.

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This is a list of everything you will need • Blankets or old towels to insulate the to make soap. Keep in mind that soap as it cures. aluminum reacts with lye, so purchase • A face mask or scarf to protect your face from potential lye splashes, and to only non-aluminum supplies. prevent you from breathing in powdered additives or fumes. • An accurate scale that weighs to a • Electric spice and coffee grinder a tenth of an ounce. small grinder is useful for grinding up • Safety goggles and rubber gloves to additives, like almonds, oatmeal, herbs prevent lye from touching your skin or and botanicals. It is easiest to clean the eyes. Do not skimp on this. Safety is grinder by grinding bread or rice to critical. soak up the oils. If you use non- • A three quart heat-resistant plastic foodsafe ingredients, label the grinder or stainless steel pitcher with lid to and only use it for soap making. mix the lye solution in. Clearly label • Food processor or hand grater this with the word “Lye” and do not (optional), it is easiest to grind soap for store it with your food containers. hand milled soap and can also be used • A large plastic spoon to stir the lye to process wax, salt or other additives. solution • Eye droppers you will need 2 or 3 • A large Pyrex pitcher to mix glass eye droppers to measure essential everything in for two to three pound oils, and plastic droppers for fragrance batches of soap. For larger batches, oils. you’ll need an 8-12 quart stainless • Mixing spoons, long handled spoons steel pot with a lid to melt oils and to mix soap, wax and oils. blend the soap. • Sharp knife to cut your handmade bars • A 2-3 quart glass or plastic bowl or of soap. pitcher to measure and hold oils. • Molds pour your soaps in. It is best to • A quick read thermometer avoid inflexible molds because it was • Measuring spoons to measure the much more difficult to get your soap additives (fragrance, essential oils, out of one. You can use any of the colorants or additives). following: • A few small glass cups to hold the additives ◦ Plastic food storage containers • A few spoons or small whisks to blend with a flat bottom colorants or fragrances before you add ◦ Plastic plaster crafting molds them to the soap ◦ Plastic candy molds • A ladle to ladle out some the raw soap ◦ Plastic candle molds – to blend colorants into remember, no aluminum • A Stick blender to blend the ◦ PVC pipe (use mineral oil to ingredients and start the saponification help the soap release) process ◦ Soap molds • Rubber spatulas to scrape any last bits ◦ Wooden soap molds of soap out of the pot: ◦ Silicone bake ware • Paper towels or dishcloths to wipe up the inevitable spills

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Please read before making any soaps – and tools before beginning. safety must come first! Leaving the room once you have started making soap is not safe. The most important safety issue is soap • Make sure all your utensils are making is dealing with lye. Lye is the clean and in good working order. common name for sodium hydroxide • Protect your workstation – and its chemical formula is NaOH. newspaper, vinyl tablecloths or Although lye is needed to make mild old towels will work. soaps, on its own it is extremely • Teach you family to be wary. alkaline and will burn anything it Label all utensils and equipment comes into contact with. Because it is and store them far from all food so harsh, you must always use caution preparation areas. when working with lye. • Wear protective clothing, things like your eyesight are too Never leave lye or a lye solution important to risk: long sleeves, unattended. Do not turn your back on a gloves the longer the better, container of lye, because it only takes goggles, closed toe shoes and one brief second for a spouse, a child or pull your hair back before starting a pet to get into it and irreparably harm work. themselves. I can’t stress how • Keep a spray bottle of vinegar important this is. nearby to help neutralize any lye spills. ALWAYS add lye to the water not the • Before beginning work, eliminate other way around. distractions (kids, pet, spouse) It is also wise to keep a spray bottle of until you are finished. vinegar at hand to help neutralize any • Do not use any aluminum, tin or lye spills. zinc in working with soap. These Only use pure lye! Avoid the hardware products and lye do not mix well. lye as it may contain additional • Uses a sturdy container that can chemicals. There is a list of suppliers of contain any “splashes”. Handles soap making at the end of this book. are helpful and it is also useful to test your container by filling it When in doubt, do not proceed. Get with boiling water and letting it expert advice first. sit. • Always read through the recipe • If you can’t go outside to mix before beginning. Make sure you your lye and water mix it with have all the necessary ingredients your container in your sink.

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• Linoleic acid is conditioning and leaves a silky feel on the skin. • Myristic acid is similar to lauric acid in that it creates a hard bar of soap, is cleansing and lathers well. It doesn’t dry the skin, though. • Oleic acid is conditioning and gentle on the skin. It feels slippery and does not lather well. • Palmitic acid makes a hard bar of soap, cleanses well and creates a good lather. • Ricinoleic acid makes a softer bar of soap, is conditioning and moisturizing to the skin and Carrier Oils makes a great deal of lather. • Stearic acid makes a hard, long- Fatty acids are the chemical lasting bar with a stable lather. components of oils and each gives a • Any oil will have a range of different property to soap. Combining percentages of the listed fatty the different fatty acids can make for a acids depending on the souce of balanced bar of soap. the oil, but the following information will give you the • Lauric acid creates a hard bar of basic components. soap, is very good at cleansing and lathers well, however, it can dry the skin.

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Word bout Palm Oil Unsustainable palm plantations are also contributing to deforestation and None of our recipes include palm oil, climate change. Palm oil is a key although we have included the ingredient in many baked goods, information on it in various sections of candies, cosmetics and soaps and can be the book. It is your choice to use it or difficult to avoid. not. We can try to avoid it in our Palm oil is an oil extracted from the soapmaking, or we can look for African palm tree. Most palm oil comes sustainably farmed palm oil. If you want from Indonesia and Malaysia, and is not to avoid palm oil, a close substitutes are being sustainably farmed. Vast areas of cocoa butter, lard and shea butter. Any natural rainforest are being slashed and time you make a change to a soap burned to make room for palm recipe, you should double check it with plantations. Wildlife is killed or an online soap calculator, like the ones displaced in this process. found at soapcalc.net or thesage.com.

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Copyright 2015 remove nail polish and protect Essential Oils your work surfaces. • Be particularly careful with Essential oils are used for their essential oils if you are pregnant. aromatherapy properties. Oils can be chosen for their relaxation, stress relief, Properties of Common Essential Oils anti-anxiety or healing properties. Basil: Antiseptic, anti-spasmodic, Essential oils may react with the lye bactericide, energy, expectorant, during the saponification process, so it headache, jet lag, memory is wise to use a fixative to keep the scent enhancement, shock, sinusitis strong. Common fixatives include the Bay: Antispasmodic, astringent, following essential oils: Benzoin, orris diuretic root, frankincense, patchouli, oakmoss, Benzoin: Antidepressant, anxiety, cedarwood, myrrh, ylang ylang, vetiver, astringent, diuretic, irritability, copaiba and balsam. laryngitis, relaxation, sedative Bergamot: Anti-depressant, antiseptic, anti-spasmodic, deodorant, expectorant, fever, laryngitis, sedative Black pepper: Antiseptic, digestive, diuretic, exhaustion, fever, infection, influenza, laxative, rheumatism Carnation: Antidepressant, relaxation Cedarwood: Antiseptic, astringent, detoxification, diuretic, expectorant, insect repellent, rheumatism, sedative Chamomile: Windburn, anti-allergic, Safety Rules for Using Essential Oils anti-asthmatic, anti-rheumatic, anxiety, fever, hayfever, insomnia, heartburn, • Although not as dangerous as lye, irritability, migraine, muscle pain, essential oils must still be sunburn, toothache, windburn handled with care Cinnamon: Anaesthetic, aphrodisiac, • Keep oils away from fire or open influenza flame and keep a fire extinguisher Clary Sage: Antidepressant, anti- close by. spasmodic, anxiety, deodorant, • Store in a cool, dry, dark place. exhaustion, insomnia, irritability, Store expensive oils in the muscle pain, relaxation, sedative refrigerator. Clove: Anaesthetic, antiseptic, • Store in glass. Plastic bottles will antispasmodic, disinfectant, nausea, break down as they absorb the oil. toothache • Always wash your hands after Cypress: Antirheumatic, astringent, using essential oils diuretic, influenza, laryngitis, sedative • Do not get oils in any open cut. Eucalyptus: Anti-asthmatic, anti- • Essential oils can remove nail rheumatic, anti-viral, decongestant, polish and furniture finish, so 18 naturalhealthblogger.net | facebook.com/Natural-Health-Blogger | pinterest.com/annieneeds | twitter.com/AnnieNeeds

Copyright 2015 diuretic, fever, hay fever, headache, Neroli: Anti-depressant, anti- insect repellent, rheumatism, sinusitis, spasmodic, anxiety, bactericide, sunburn, throat irritability, relaxation, sedative Orange: Frankincense: Anti-asthmatic, Antidepressant, antispasmodic, antiseptic, astringent, exhaustion, detoxification, energy rheumatism Orange: Antidepressant, Garlic: Antibiotic, bactericide, antispasmodic, detoxification, energy decongestant, expectorant Parsley: Laxative, diuretic, expectorant Ginger: Digestive, indigestion, fever, Peppermint: Anaesthetic, influenza, laxative, nausea, seasickness antispasmotic, astringent, decongestant, Grapefruit: Detoxification, energy, digestive, expectorant, headache, exhaustion, hangover, headache, jetlag heartburn, indigestion, insect repellent, Lavender: Anti-asthmatic, indigestion, jet lag, migraine, nausea antidepressant, anti-rheumatic, Pine: Antirheumatic, decongestant, antispasmodic, antiviral, anxiety, deodorant, disinfectant, diuretic, bacteriacide, decongestant, deodorant, expectorant, infection, rheumatism, hay fever, headache, insect repellent, sinusitis insomnia, irritability, migraine, Rose: Antiseptic, astringent, relaxation, sedative, shock, sunburn, bactericide, diuretic, laxative, sedative windburn Rosemary: Antirheumatic, astringent, Lemon: Antirheumatic, antiseptic, detoxification, diuretic, energy, astringent, bactericide, detoxification, infection, jet lag, memory enhancement, digestive, diuretic, energy, exhaustion, migraine, sinusitis indigestion, fever, infection, influenza, Sandalwood: Antiseptic, laxative, laryngitis, rheumatism antispasmodic, anxiety, astringent, Lemongrass: Antidepressant, diuretic, expectorant, insect repellent, bactericide, deodorant, digestive, insomnia, irritability, relaxation, scar diuretic tissue, sedative Myrrh: Antimicrobial, astringent, Tea Tree: Antibiotic, antiviral, bactericide, deodorant, disinfectant, bactericide, sinusitis expectorant Thyme: Antimicrobial, antirheumatic, antispasmodic, expectorant

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A fragrance oil, is a mixture of Herbs, leaves and flower petals can chemicals – natural and synthetic – that make lovely additions to your soaps. are used simply for their pleasant They can add texture, color or smells. They can replicate natural additional scent. You can grind them to smells (flowers, pine, fruits) or can be add to the soap for texture, pat them into used to represent the idea of a smell the top of the soap before it cures or (clean linen, love potion). infuse them in oil or water to create a delicate color. The sky is the limit with fragrance oils, as long as the oil is safe for skin. Make To infuse in water, boil water and steep sure to purchase oils that are labeled the material in a tea strainer until you safe. Personally I tend to learn towards have a strong concentration. using more essential oils, but it is really up to you. To infuse in oil, you add the material to one of the oils you will use in your soap A basic guideline is to add 1/2 an ounce and either warm the oil in a crock pot or of fragrance oil for every 16 ounces of on the stovetop for a couple of hours. base oil used. Fragrance oils should be If you don’t have the time or patience to added in at trace to prevent them from watch the oil for a few hours, you can reacting with the lye. pack the material in a glass jar, cover it and leave it in the sun for a day or two. Once the botanical has infused in the oil, strain it and use in your soap.

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• Basil: When dried and crushed, it healing properties. The buds are makes a speckled greenish brown lovely when pressed into the top soap of the bars of soap. • Calendula: Old English marigold • Loofa: Yes, the sponge-like is an orange flower and will heal plant. Grind and add to soap to the skin. It makes soap a light exfoliate and improve orange. circulation. • Cardamom: Grind to a fine • Myrrh: Myrrh adds a pinkish powder. When added to soap it brown color to soaps. improves circulation and is • Nettle: Traditionally used to treat energizing. dandruff and prevent hair loss. • Cayenne Pepper: Dried cayenne Turns soap green. turns soap salmon pink. • Paprika: Another botanical to • Cinnamon: Turns soap a use lightly or it will leave a ring speckled brown. It is used to around the tub. It turns soap a reduce stress and is an astringent. deep red. • Citrus Peel: Grate the peel finely • Parsley: Parsley turns soap a and it will be a mild exfoliant. light green but fades quickly. To Citrus has a refreshing scent and preserve the color, store soaps in is an astringent. Some citrus peels a dark closet. inhibit tracing, so don’t add until • Poppy Seeds: Poppy seeds create after you reach trace. a speckled soap that exfoliates • Clove Buds: Clove is mentally and stimulates the skin. stimulating and smells delicious. • Rose: Buds, hips and petals are Clove turns soap brown. Use beautiful additions to soap and caution because it can irritate impart their smell. Ground rose sensitive skin. hips will also turn soap a delicate • Green Tea: Green tea helps boost pink color. immunity and helps fight disease. • Rosemary: Rosemary turns soap • Indigo: Use indigo with a very a mossy green. It is antiseptic and light hand or it may stain you in will make hair shine. the tub. Try to make your indigo • Safflower: Safflower turns soap soaps a pale blue to prevent an orangish red. staining. • Wheat Germ: A great exfoliator • Lavender: Lavender is a natural that softens sensitive skin. deodorant and has relaxing and

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Clay is another wonderful additive for because it gives the soap a silky soap. It gives silkiness to soap and texture: Bentonite Clay absorbs oils from the skin. You can buy (Cosmetic Grade) 5 Lb most of the clay from the stockists listed • Rose clay: This is a heavier clay at the end of the book, or as an than the others and is mostly used alternative you can buy them from in soap for its color and oil amazon.com, I have included links to absorbency: Evan Healy Rose amazon.com options. There are four Clay 2.1oz clay clays that you can use in your soaps: • Rhassoul: Rhassoul is light brown and is great for absorbing • Kaolin: Kaolin is white and oil and impurities from skin and fluffy. It makes soap silky and hair. It is also a light exfoliator: makes a good scrub: Kaolin Kae Natural Clay Rhassoul Powder Clay – 1 lb,(Frontier) • Bentonite: Bentonite is light You can add about one teaspoon of green. It is good for oily skin clay per eight ounces of oil used. Since because it absorbs the oil. It is clay does not react with lye, you can also good for shaving soaps add it to the lye water or to the oils.

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There are four major pigment options purchase natural products. for coloring soap – pigments, FD&C Unfortunately, even colors can be hard colors, micas and natural colorants. to make and the pigments require a great Pigments, or oxides and ultramarines, deal of mixing to ensure they don’t used to be mined from the earth but clump. most are now created in a lab to increase purity and prevent contamination with Some excellent natural colorants are: toxic metals like selenium, arsenic and • Alkanet root: purple mercury. Pigments are stable and • Annatto: yellow generally will not change color in either • Carthamin: yellow cold process or melt and pour soaps. • Chlorophyll: green They are cost effective, but tend to • Cocoa bean: brown clump so mix them with a bit of liquid • Cocoa powder: brown oil before adding to the soap mixture. • Fermented tea: brown FD&C Colorants are also • Paprika: red manufactured in a lab and give a wide • Saffron: Yellow range of colors. FD&C colorants mix • Turmeric: Yellow are concentrated and mix smoothly. They generally stay clear in melt and It is best to start by adding in just a bit pour soaps but are not stable in cold of colorant at trace. Once it’s process soap. thoroughly mixed in, you can add more until you get the color you like. Micas are natural products that are mined and then coated with either You can choose to color your soaps with pigments or FD&C colorants. Mica has one color or you can make some a crystalline structure gives it it’s beautiful soaps by swirling a contrasting characteristic shimmer. Mica is best color into your soap. It’s a simple used in melt and pour soap and other technique that will add value to your clear products because the shimmer soaps. needs light to reflect nicely. Mica does not clump and the colors are smooth. You start by making soap as usual. They provide a light, sophisticated color When your soap is at a thin trace, take in cold process soaps, but since they use about a quarter of the soap out of your FD&C colors, they may react during the pot and put in a smaller container. In this saponification process. container, mix your colorant in and stir until the color is evenly distributed. If Natural soap colorants comprise a wide you are not happy with the color, you variety of ingredients. Natural colorants can darken it by adding more colorant or are great to use from a marketing lighten it by adding more soap. Adjust perspective. Clients are happy to

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Copyright 2015 the color until you have a shade you utensil is touching the bottom of the like. mold so the first layer is properly swirled. Drag the utensil up and down If you want to have more than one the length of the mold in two or three additional color, you would just divide lines, then across the width of the mold up the removed soap into several a couple times as well. containers, one per color. Be careful not to over-mix, or the colors To ensure color is distributed through will blend and you will not have the entire bar of soap, layer like this: beautiful swirls.

Layer 1: Pour thin streams of color at Another tip is to add your natural colour the bottom of the mold. Use about 1/3 of to liquid oils that you are going to use in the colored soap. There will be areas your recipe. The most effective way t o with no soap at all in this layer and that’s do this is to infuse the oil. You will need fine. The next layer will fill this in. to experiment a bit to get the colors you Layer 2: Pour one half the base, non- like, so remember to take notes. Here is colored soap into the mold. a starting point, to 5 oz. of oil add 1 Layer 3: Thin streams of color again, tablespoon of the colour. Let it infuse using about half of the remaining over a week or two, shaking once a day. colored soap. Before you use your infused oil it is a Layer 4: Pour the remaining non- good idea to strain it if you have used a colored soap into the mold. powder like Alkanet, just use something Layer 5: Pour the remaining colored like cheese cloth or panty hose over a soap into the mold. wide mouthed jar. Use a utensil (chopstick, spatula, plastic knife) to swirl the colors. Make sure the

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These numbers are the saponification values in terms of milligrams of Now, what if you want to use more than potassium (KOH) or sodium hydroxide one fat to make your soap? You would ( NaOH) required to saponify 1 gram of do the calculations separately and add the given oil. the amounts of lye together to get the total lye needed. To convert the SAP values to ounces, do the following: For example: • For solid soap, divide the SAP If you want to make a solid soap with 10 value by 1422.9803 ounces of Acai Berry oil and 15 ounces • For liquid soap, divide the SAP of Almond Butter, you would do the value by 1010.316 following calculations: 10*0.136 = 1.36 This can be a bit confusing, so here’s an 15 * 0.098 = 1.47 example. If you make a solid soap with You add 1.36 and 1.47 and get a total just 16 ounces of almond butter as a fat, lye amount of 2.83 ounces. you would calculate the lye necessary like this: So far, so good, right? If not, do not 16 *0.098 = 1.568 proceed until you understand what you 16 is the ounces of almond butter you are doing. At best you’ll wind up with will use, 0.098 is the corresponding lye soap that doesn’t saponify because you number from the NaOH column (use didn’t add enough lye or caustic soda, this one to make solid soap) and the and at worst you’ll wind up with a soap result is the number of ounces of lye you with too many harsh chemicals in it and need. will burn your skin.

If you wanted to make a liquid soap with Also, if you are intimidated by all this, just 16 ounces of aloe vera butter, you you can run your soap recipe through a would multiply 16 (the number of lye calculator like the one found at ounces of fat you are using) by 0.247 https://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php (the corresponding caustic soda This information has also added number) and get 3.952 ounces of caustic to www.naturalhealthblogger.net so soda required to make this soap. that you can view the chart in a larger format if needed.

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SAFETY REMINDER! for example fragrances and essential oils. Remember, the lye water mixture is always added to the oil and not vice versa. If you do this backwards, the water will sputter and splash lye up onto you and cause harm.

Always wear protective gear – goggles, gloves, long sleeved shirts, pants and closed toe shoes.

Re-read the safety chapter of this book if you need to.

Tip: when making your any soaps set out all your utensils and measure any additives you are adding to your soap

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Tips For Making Cold Pressed Soaps in old towels or blankets. This is allowing the soap to finish the • Measure all ingredients chemical process of accurately. saponification to complete. • Have your mold / molds ready to Leave it undisturbed for 24-48 use. If you are using a single “loaf hours. mold” line it with plastic or • When removing the soap from grease proof paper the molds use latex gloves and tap • When you are mixing the lye and the bottom of the mold. water pour it slowly with a hard • If your soaps do not release plastic spoon until the lye easily, place them in the freezer dissolves. Make sure to set it for about 1/2 hour, remove and let aside in safe location. sit for 5 minutes and they should • Don’t overheat your oils, allow come out easily. both the lye/water mixture and • When curing your soap place it in oils to cool before mixing them. a well ventilated area. The longer They need to both be in the range you allow your soap to cure the of 100 – 120 F. harder the bar, be patient an allow • When adding you scents and 4 – 6 weeks. botanicals, stir well and mix • To cut your bars invest in a pastry quickly. You don’t want your scraper and use it with a mitre soap to become to hard before box. There are options available you pour it into you molds. to buy from Amazon.com OXO • Insulate your molds by placing Good Grips Multi-Purpose Pastry them in a cardboard box that is Scraper/Chopper larger than the molds. Wrap them

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Ingredients for 4.5 pounds of soap 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, • 16 oz. Canola Oil pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to • 16 oz. Coconut Oil 5 days and then take it out of the mold. • 16 oz. Cocoa Butter If you have one large piece of soap, cut • 6.9 oz. Lye (5% superfatted) it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a • 15.8 oz. Distilled Water full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

Ingredients for 6.5 pounds of soap Lavender Variation: You can use this • 5 oz. Canola Oil recipe to make lavender soap by adding • 5 oz. Castor Oil 2 ounces of lavender essential oil to the • 32 oz. Coconut Oil smaller recipe or 3 ounces to the larger • 32 oz. Cocoa Butter recipe at trace. You can spread 2 to 3 • 11 oz. Lye (5% superfatted) ounces of lavender buds across the top • 24.4 oz. Distilled Water of the soap once you pour it into the mold to make a beautiful soap. Method 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, To add a natural lavender colour to your safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, soap you can use powdered alkanet. The pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe most effective way t o do this is to infuse shoes. liquid oil, so for this recipe you can 2. If possible, do this step outside or in infuse you canola oil. To the 5 oz. of oil a well-ventilated area. You don’t want add 1 tablespoon of the powdered to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. alkanet. Let it infuse over a week or two, Add the lye to the water. Stir the shaking once a day. solution carefully and thoroughly. Let the liquid cool to 110 F. Before you use your infused oil it is a 3. Add the oils together and melt over good idea to strain it, just use something low heat. Let them cool to 110 F. like cheese cloth or panty hose over a 4. Add the lye solution to the melted wide mouthed jar. oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until trace occurs. If you have a stick blender Citrus Variation: Add 2 ounces of you can dedicate to soap making, it will tangerine essential oil (or any other speed the process. If you are stirring by citrus essential oil you prefer) and 1/16 hand, it could take an hour for the soap teaspoon yellow oxide colorant at trace. to reach trace.

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Ingredients Add the lye to the water. Stir the solution carefully and thoroughly. Let This recipe makes almost 5 pounds of the liquid cool to 110 F. soap. • 16 oz. Olive Oil 3. Add the oils together and melt over • 13.25 oz. Cocoa Butter low heat. Once the oils have melted, add • 13.25 oz. Coconut Oil the clay and use your stick blender to • 8 oz. Sunflower Oil (you can make sure the clay is evenly distributed. substitute other liquid oils like Let cool to 110 F. canola, soybean, or almond too) • 2.5 oz. Castor Oil 4. Add the lye solution to the melted • 2 Tbsp clay of your choice. oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until • 7.5 oz. lye trace occurs. If you have a stick blender • 18 oz. Water you can dedicate to soap making, it will speed the process. If you are stirring by Method hand, it could take an hour for the soap 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, to reach trace. safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, shoes. pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to 5 days and then take it out of the mold. 2. If possible, do this step outside or in If you have one large piece of soap, cut a well-ventilated area. You don’t want it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

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Ingredients to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. Add the lye to the water. Stir the This recipe makes just over 6 pounds of solution carefully and thoroughly. Let soap. the liquid cool to 110 F. • 16 oz. CoconutOil 3. Add the coconut, olive, cocoa butter, • 18 oz. Olive Oil shea butter and tallow together and melt • 16 oz. Cocoa Butter over low heat. Let them cool to 110 F. • 4 oz. Shea Butter 4. Add the lye solution to the melted • 16 oz Tallow oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until • 9.815 oz. Lye (5% superfatted) trace occurs. If you have a stick blender • 23.1 oz. Water you can dedicate to soap making, it will speed the process. If you are stirring by Method hand, this recipe may take up to an hour to trace. 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe 5 days and then take it out of the mold. shoes. If you have one large piece of soap, cut 2. If possible, do this step outside or in it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a a well-ventilated area. You don’t want full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

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Make sure you have mastered the basic • 20.1 oz. Distilled Water, very cold soap recipe before continuing on to cold this advanced recipe. You will need to • 3 Tablespoons French Green be meticulous when measuring and Clay timing while making this soap. This • 0.9 oz. Lavandin essential oil soap uses water reduction to speed the • 0.9 oz. Naiouli essential oil saponification and curing time. It could be ready as soon as one week, but if you Method let it cure longer you will get a better 1. Add lye to water and stir until lather. solution is clear. 2. Let cool to 90 F. WARNING: This soap uses less water, 3. Heat the coconut oil over low heat so the lye solution is stronger than for a until melted and pour over the olive, rice “regular” cold process soap. Be vigilant bran and grapeseed oils. The oil mixture in your safety precautions. If you prefer should be 90 F. to use a weaker lye solution, triple the 4. Whisk together the clay and essential amount of water and use a 6 week oils. curing time. 5. Add the lye solution to the base oils and mix with a stick blender, mix This recipe relies on the gentleness of thoroughly. lavender and the antiseptic nature of 6.At medium trace, add your clay and niaouli to help defend against break- essential oil mixture. outs. Grapeseed oil is an astringent and 7.Pour the soap into a prepared mold. when combined with the olive oil will Keep the soap cool to preserve the make s good lather. lavender scent. 8.Unmold and cut 12 hours after Ingredients pouring. Soap should be smooth and This recipe makes 5 pounds of soap. fine-grained. If you used more water, • 18.5 oz. Olive Oil wait at least 18 hours before unmolding • 18.5 oz. Coconut Oil and cutting. • 5.3 oz. Rice Bran Oil 9. Allow the soap to cure for at least a • 10.6 oz. Grapeseed Oil week, six if you used the extra water. • 7.4 oz. Lye Crystals

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Castile soap is one of the oldest soaps 2. If possible, do this step outside or in still being made today. It is incredibly a well-ventilated area. You don’t want simple to make as well. Because castile to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. soap does not use any solid oils, it is Add the lye to the water. Stir the very soft and will melt if you leave it in solution carefully and thoroughly. Let the shower. Use a face cloth and store the liquid cool to 110 F. the soap in a dish outside the shower. 3. Warm the olive oil to 110 F. 4. Add the lye solution to the olive oil, Ingredients carefully. Stir vigorously until trace This recipe makes 2 1/2 pounds of soap. occurs. If you have a stick blender you • 32 oz. Olive Oil can dedicate to soap making, it will • 4 oz. lye speed the process. If you are stirring by • 8 oz. Water hand, it could take an hour for the soap to reach trace. Method 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, 1. With all soap recipes that use lye, pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, 5 days and then take it out of the mold. pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe If you have one large piece of soap, cut shoes. it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

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Ingredients solution carefully and thoroughly. Let This small recipe makes just under 1 1/2 the liquid cool to 110 F. pounds of soap. You can double, triple 3. Add the olive oil, almond oil and or quadruple the recipe if you wish. cocoa butter together and melt over low • 12 oz. Olive Oil heat. Let them cool to 110 F. • 2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil 4. Add the lye solution to the melted • 2 oz. Cocoa Butter oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until thin • 7 oz. Water trace occurs. Add the avocado oil in • 2.1 oz. Lye now. If you have a stick blender you can • 1/2 oz. avocado oil dedicate to soap making, it will speed the process. If you are stirring by hand, Method it could take an hour for the soap to 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, reach trace. safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to shoes. 5 days and then take it out of the mold. 2. If possible, do this step outside or in If you have one large piece of soap, cut a well-ventilated area. You don’t want it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying. Add the lye to the water. Stir the

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Ingredients Add the lye to the water. Stir the This recipe makes 3 pounds of soap. solution carefully and thoroughly. Let • 10.6 oz Water the liquid cool to 110 F. • 4.4 oz Lye 3. Add the oils except the fragrance oil • 8 oz Olive Oil together and melt over low heat. Let • 6.5 oz Coconut Oil them cool to 110 F. • 5.75 oz Cocoa Butter 4. Add the lye solution to the melted • 3.2 Castor Oil oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until thin • 4.8 Mango Butter trace occurs. Add the mango and shea • 3.8 Shea Butter butter, mango fragrance oil and the • 2 oz Mango Fragrance Oil organe colorant in now. If you have a • Orange colorant of your choice stick blender you can dedicate to soap making, it will speed the process. If you Method are stirring by hand, it could take an 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, hour for the soap to reach trace. safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to shoes. 5 days and then take it out of the mold. 2. If possible, do this step outside or in If you have one large piece of soap, cut a well-ventilated area. You don’t want it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

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Ingredients Add the lye to the water. Stir the This recipe makes 2.3 pounds of soap. solution carefully and thoroughly. Let • 6 oz. Olive Oil the liquid cool to 110 F. • 6 oz. Cocoa Butter 3. Add the oils except the wheat germ • 6 oz. Coconut Oi oil together and melt over low heat. Let • 3 oz. Jojoba Oil them cool to 110 F. • 4 oz. Sweet Almond Oil 4. Add the lye solution to the melted • 8.3 oz. Water oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until thin • 3.4 oz. Lye trace occurs. Add the wheat germ oil in • 1 Tbsp Wheat Germ Oil now. If you have a stick blender you can • 0.5 oz. Fragrance Oil dedicate to soap making, it will speed the process. If you are stirring by hand, Method it could take an hour for the soap to 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, reach trace. safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to shoes. 5 days and then take it out of the mold. 2. If possible, do this step outside or in If you have one large piece of soap, cut a well-ventilated area. You don’t want it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

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Both beeswax and honey accelerate Method trace in soapmaking, so you will have 1.With all soap recipes that use lye, to work quickly to get your soap into safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, molds before it solidifies. This recipe pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe uses more water than usual in an shoes. attempt to forestall trace. 2. If possible, do this step outside or in a well-ventilated area. You don’t want Ingredients to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. This recipe makes 4 1/2 pounds of soap. Add the lye to the water. Stir the • 13.5 oz. Olive Oil solution carefully and thoroughly. Let • 13.5 oz. Coconut Oil the liquid cool to 110 F. • 13.5 oz. Beef Tallow 3. Add the beeswax, tallow and oils • 2.4 oz. Castor Oil together and melt over low heat. Let • 4.4 oz. Almond Oil them cool to 110 F. Mix in the honey • 1 oz. Beeswax and make sure it is well-mixed. • 6.8 oz. Lye 4. Add the lye solution to the melted • 14.5 oz. Water oils, carefully. Stir until trace occurs. • 2 oz. of fragrance or essential oil Add the fragrance or essential oil. – but be sure to use one that you 5. Once your soap is at the trace stage, know will not accelerate trace! pour it into your molds. Let it sit for 3 to • 3 Tbsp Honey 5 days and then take it out of the mold. If you have one large piece of soap, cut it into bar shapes and allow it to sit for a full 4 to 6 weeks finish saponifying.

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Ingredients Method 1. Melt the soap bases and combine. This recipe makes one pound of soap. Add fragrance oil and colorant (if you • 8 ounces white or opaque melt are using some). Add the oatmeal and and pour soap base stir in. • 8 ounces clear melt and pour soap 2.If the oatmeal sinks after 30 seconds, base continue to stir until the base is thick • 1/2 cup oatmeal, ground in coffee enough to suspend the oatmeal. grinder 3.Pour the soap into your molds. Spritz • 1/2 ounce fragrance oil of your the top of the soap with alcohol to choice prevent bubbles from marring the top of • Optional colorant your soap. 4.After two or three hours, or even overnight, take the soap out of the molds. Congratulations! Your soap is ready to use.

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Ingredients Method This recipe makes just 1/2 pound of 1. Melt the base. soap. You can scale the recipe up as 2. Add in the essential oil. large as you like. 3. Stir in the cornmeal, pumice and clay. • 8 oz. Melt and Pour Base Continue to stir until the solids stay • 2 T. White Cornmeal suspended in the soap. • 1-1/2 T. Fine Pumice 4. Pour soap into molds. • 1 T. Bentonite Clay 5. Wait one day and take the soap out of • 2 tsp. of Citrus Essential Oil the molds. Your soap is ready to use.

Soap in a Shaving Mug

This soap makes a great gift purchase Method when packaged with a shaving brush. 1. Melt the melt and pour base and add Ingredients to the goats milk base. This recipe makes 2 1/2 pounds of soap. 2. Stir in the fragrance oil and ground • 2 pounds Goats Milk Liquid Soap calendula. Base 3. Pour into mugs and wait 24 hours for • 8 oz. Melt and Pour Base the soap to harden. • 2 Tbs. Ground Calendula This soap does not completely harden, • 1 oz. Fragrance Oil so do not pour it into regular molds.

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Back in the dark ages of soap making, Method soap was made in a giant vat over a fire. 1. Safety first. Put on your goggles, This recipe replicates the process in gloves, long sleeved shirt, pants and your kitchen. The saponification closed toe shoes. process (the lye reacting with the oils to 2. Melt and mix the oils together. make soap) is sped up immensely by 3. If you choose to, add the borax to the heating the solution after the trace stage. water. Borax will soften the water and The soap is cooked until the process is will help the soap work well if you have complete. The soap needs to cure for hard water. much less time. 4. Combine the lye and water – remembering to add the lye to the water The downside to hot processed soap is for safety. that it sticks in plastic molds. This 5. Stir until the soap reaches the trace recipe, however, should not stick like stage. Heat the soap until it has finished most. saponifying. 6. Let the soap cool for 20 minutes and Ingredients only stir it occasionally. Once the soap has cooled, add sunflower oil and your This recipe makes 2 1/2 pounds of soap. fragrance or essential oil. • 15 oz. Cocoa Butter 7. Spoon the soap into the plastic molds, • 5 oz. Coconut Oil a little at a time. Tap the mold several • 2 oz. Sesame or rice bran oil times to disperse air bubbles. Continue • 2 oz. Shea Butter to add soap to the mold until it is full. • 1 oz. Castor Oil Cover the mold with plastic wrap and • 3.49 oz. Lye (6% superfat) use your hand to push the soap down, • 9 oz. Distilled Water making sure the entire mold is filled. • 1/2 teaspoon of Borax – optional 8. In 5 to 8 hours you can unmold the • 1 oz. Sunflower Oil soap. Press the bottom of each mold • 1 oz Essential oil until an air pocket forms. Continue to gently push until the soap pops out. If this doesn’t work, try putting the soap in the freezer for 30 minutes, letting it thaw for 5 minutes and try again.

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Instructions plastic wrap and secure with a large This recipe makes just under 12 pounds rubber band or bungee cord. Cover the of soap. pot again, with a second piece of plastic • 25 oz. Distilled Water and another cord. This is important • 12 oz. Water because the alcohol cannot be allowed • 40 oz. Cocoa Butter to evaporate out of the soap while it • 16 oz. Coconut Oil boils. • 25 oz. Castor Oil 7. Put the soap pot in another pot filled • 28 oz. Ethanol with three inches of boiling water. • 8 oz. Glycerin 8. In five minutes, the soap should be • 15 oz. Distilled water with 20 oz. boiling and the plastic wrap will rise up. sugar dissolved in it Lower the temperature of the burner to keep the soap gently boiling. Method 9. Keep the soap boiling for two hours, 1. Safety first. Put on your goggles, making sure the plastic doesn’t shift and gloves, long sleeved shirt, pants and allow the alcohol to evaporate. closed toe shoes. 10. After the two hours are up, add the 2. Mix the lye and water. Remember to glycerin and sugar solution. Stir for 3 add the lye to the water for safety. Let minutes. cool until it is between 135 to 145 F. 11.Test the soap: Put a spoon of soap on 3. Heat the oils to 135 F. a glass. If it is not clear once it cools, 4. Mix the lye and oils for five minutes. add 2 oz. alcohol. 5. Add the alcohol and stir for another 12.Cover and let sit for 15 minutes five minutes. The solution should be before adding color or fragrance. clear at the end of five minutes. 13. Mix in color and fragrance and pour 6. This next part is not difficult, but into molds. complicated so read the instructions 14. Leave the soap in the molds for before beginning. Cover the pot with about 36 hours, until it has solidified.

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One of the easiest ways to make hot quart crock pot, leaving room for the process soap is to use a crock pot. Of soap to bubble up. course, you must have a crock pot Many recipes can be made in a crock dedicated to soap making, and not use pot, but the ones who are most the pot you use for food. A four pound successful have a high liquid to solid oil batch of soap will fill half of a 6 1/2 ratio.

Gentle Avocado Crockpot Soap

Ingredients 4. Pour the lye solution into the oils in This recipe makes 2 1/2 pounds of soap. the crock pot and stir with a long • 12 oz Avocado Oil handled spoon until the lye mixture is • 3 oz Coconut Oil 76 deg incorporated. Use an immersion blender • 9 oz Jojoba Oil to mix the liquid until you see a light • 2 oz Cocoa Butter trace. This should be about 5 minutes. • 2 oz Shea Butter 5. Put the lid on the crock pot and • 10 oz Distilled Water measure the moisturizing ingredients • 3 oz Lye into a small bowl. 6. About an hour after you put the lid on Moisturizing ingredients the crock pot, add the moisturizing • 1 Tbs Glycerin ingredients and stir well. • 1Tbs Avocado oil 7. If you want to add a color to the soap, • 1Tbs Vitamin E take 1 cup of soap from the pot and mix • 1tsp Lavender essential Oil the colorant. Add it right back into the • 1 tsp Vanilla Fragrance Oil soap and stir enough to make swirls in • 1 tsp Pear Fragrance Oil the soap. 8. Pour the soap into the mold right Method away because it will solidify and 1. Safety first: put on your safety gear: become hard to pour quickly. The crock goggles, gloves, long sleeved shirt, pot is hot and heavy, so if you can get pants and closed toe shoes. help, that will be good. 2. Weigh the oils and put them in the 9. When the soap if cold and solid, tip crock pot. Turn the crock pot on low the mold upside down and remove the heat. soap. If it does not come out, freeze if 3. Weigh the water and put it in a for a few minutes and try again. pitcher. Mix the lye into the water, 10. Cut the soap within a couple of days stirring constantly. Be careful not to and let it cure for the next week or two. breathe in the lye fumes. In fact, if you can do this outside, that’s best.

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Ingredients speed. Make sure to mix all the oil and This recipe makes 5 1/2 pounds of soap. scrape the sides as well. • 38 oz. Olive Oil 6. After the soap gets to the trace stage, • 14.4 oz. Coconut Oil put the lid on the crock pot and turn the • 11.6 oz. Cocoa Butter heat to high. • 8.7 oz. Sodium Hydroxide 7. Measure out the essential oils. • 17.5 oz. Cold Distilled Water 8. After fifteen minutes remove the lid • 3 oz. Rosemary & Mint Blend and mix the soap around with a rubber Essential Oils spatula or potato masher. It should look • 2 Organic Peppermint Teabags like vaseline and feel like wax (only touch with gloved hands). Method 9. Now is the time to add any the 1. As always – safety first. Put on your ingredients of the tea bags and mix well. protective equipment: goggles, gloves, After the tea is thoroughly mixed add long sleeved shirt, pants and closed toe the rosemary mint oil and mix in shoes. thoroughly. 2. Measure cold water and lye in 10. The soap is ready to mold now. Put separate containers. Pour the lye into the the soap into the mold with a large pitcher and stir until it is dissolved. spoon, firmly tapping to ensure the 3. Measure the solid oils and put them mold packs tightly and there are no air in the crock pot to melt. Make sure the bubbles. Flatten the top to make sure the crock pot is set on low. soap fills all the corners of the mold. 4. Measure the liquid oils and pour into 11. Let the soap sit overnight. Unmold the crock pot. it and slice it into bars. Let it cure for a 5. Pour the lye mixture into the melted week and then it’s ready to use. oils and mix with a stick blender on low

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This recipe makes one bar of soap the boiling water. Cover and wait for 20 to same size as the bar you grated up. 30 minutes. 3. After the soap has melted, it will look Ingredients translucent. At this point, add whatever • Bar of soap for remilling herbs, essential oil or colors you’d like • Large Bowl to add. Mix it all up in the bag, but be • Grater with handle careful because the soap is hot. If the • Boil-Proof Bag soap begins to harden, just put the • Soap mold sealed bag back into the water for • Any herbs, essential oils and another 10 to 15 minutes. colorants if you’d like 4. Once the soap is fully melted, cut off one corner of the bag and squeeze the Method soap into your mold. 1. Grate the bar of soap with a grater. It 5. Wait for 3 or 4 day s until the soap will melt easier if it is in small pieces. hardens fully. 2. Put the grated soap in the plastic bag and zip it up. Put the bag in a pot of

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This recipe makes 3 bars of soap slightly boiler, making sure to stir frequently to larger than the ones you grated up. make sure the soap doesn’t stick to the bottom and it doesn’t make suds. Add Ingredients more liquid if the soap appears to be • 3 bars of plain soap drying out. • Double boiler 3.Once the soap is melted and • Grater translucent, remove the soap from the • Water or coconut milk heat and add your other ingredients, • Saucepan blending well. • Wooden spoon 4.Ladle the soap into molds and tap • Additive (essential oil, natural them gently to remove any air bubbles fragrance oil, oatmeal, lavender, and to force the soap into all corners of colorants etc.) the mold. • Plastic container or candy molds 5.Let the soap sit on the counter for a few minutes and then freeze for an hour. Method Take the soap out of the molds and cut, 1. Grate the three bars of soap into the if necessary. top of a double boiler. 6.Set the soap on a cooling rack until the 2. Add 1/2 cup of liquid (water or soap cured. This can take up to three coconut milk) to the grated soap in the weeks and depends on how much liquid double boiler, just enough to wet the you used in step 1. flakes. Melt the soap in the double

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This goat’s milk soap recipe will make mixture will turn light yellow and heat about two pounds of soap. up again. Let it cool down until it reaches 80 F. Ingredients 7. When the oils reach 85 F, slowly pour • 16 oz. Olive Oil the lye mixture into the oils, stirring • 4 oz. Coconut oil constantly. Use a rubber spatula to make • 4 oz. Cocoa Butter sure you get all the lye out of the • 2 oz. Castor Oil container. • 3.5 oz. Lye 8. Quickly rinse the lye container and • 4 oz. Distilled Water start stirring the soap mixture. If you • 4 oz. Goats Milk have a stick blender you can dedicate to soap making, this process will be much Method easier. 1. This is a cold process soap, so safety 9. Stir until the soap mixture reaches first. Make sure you wear goggles, a trace. long sleeved shirt, pants and closed toe 10. Pour the mixture into your shoes. mold. Tap the mold on your work 2. If possible, do this step outside. Put surface to release any air bubbles. the water in a 2 quart container. Slowly 11. Let you soap sit for 24 to 48 hours pour the lye into the water, stirring before unmolding. gently until it is dissolved. Be careful 12. Remove the soap from the mold, cut not to breathe the fumes. into bars and stack them in an out of the 3. Put the container in a pan of ice water way area for 4 to 6 weeks to cure. Turn to cool. You can bring the container and them a couple of times a day so they can ice bath inside now. dry evenly. If you don’t want to turn 4. Measure out the oils. them, place them on cooling racks so air 5. Melt the oils on a stovetop or in a can reach all sides of the soap. microwave. 13. Your soap will be ready to use in 4 6. When the lye water has cooled to 75 to 6 weeks. to 80 F, mix the goat milk into it. The

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This recipe makes 3 1/2 pounds of soap. 2. Melt the coconut and olive oils and coconut butter together. Ingredients 3. Make 8 ounces of double strength • 17 oz. Coconut Oil coffee using the distilled water. • 17 oz. Olive Oil 4. Once the coffee has cooled, pour the • 8 oz. Cocoa Butter lye into the coffee. Be careful not to • 8 oz. Frozen Goat’s Milk (by breathe the fumes. Stir until the lye is volume) dissolved. • 8 oz. Coffee with Distilled Water 5. After the lye mixture has cooled to (by volume) 150 F, add it to the frozen goat’s milk • 6.2 oz. Lye (by volume) and mix until it has cooled to 120 F. • 2 oz. Vanilla Essential oil (by 6. Add the melted oils and blend with volume) your soap-only stick mixer. Once the • 1/3 cup Coffee Grounds (by soap reaches trace, add in the coffee volume) grounds and essential oil . Continue to mix until the grounds stay suspended in Method the soap. 1. This is a cold process soap, so make 7. Pour the soap into your molds and let sure you follow all safety precautions. set for 48 hours. Wear goggles, gloves, a long sleeved 8. Take the soap out of the molds, cut shirt and closed toe shoes. and allow to cure for six weeks.

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This is the richest soap recipe I have hand, it could take an hour for the soap found, because it uses heavy cream to reach trace. instead of milk. 7. Once your soap begins to trace, add the essential oil and mix it in You can add the cream in either the completely. Pour the soap into your first or second method detailed below. molds. Let it sit for 3 to 5 days and then This recipe makes 1 3/4 pounds of soap. take it out of the mold. Cut the soap into bars and allow it to cure for 4 to 6 Ingredients weeks. • 5.3 oz. Cocoa Butter • 5.3 oz. Coconut Oil Method 2 – Replace half the water with • 5.3 oz. Olive Oil cream • 1 oz. Castor Oil 1. With all soap recipes that use lye, • 2.75 oz. Almond Oil safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, • 2.9 oz. Lye pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe • 5.8 oz. Cream or Cream and shoes. Water 2. Freeze the cream and then let it thaw • 0.9 oz. Essential Oil to slush. 4. If possible, do this step outside or in Method 1 – Replace all water with a well-ventilated area. You don’t want cream to breathe lye fumes if you can help 1. With all soap recipes that use lye, it. Add the lye to the water. Stir the safety first! Wear a long sleeved shirt, solution carefully and thoroughly. Let pants, gloves, goggles and closed toe the liquid cool to 110 F. shoes. 5. While the lye solution is cooling, mix 2. Freeze the cream and then let it thaw and melt the oils together. to slush. 6. Add the lye solution to the melted oils 3. If possible, do this step outside or in and slushy cream, carefully. Stir a well-ventilated area. You don’t want vigorously until trace occurs. If you to breathe lye fumes if you can help it. have a stick blender you can dedicate to 4. Add the lye to the cream. Stir the soap making, it will speed the process. solution carefully and thoroughly. Let If you are stirring by hand, it could take the liquid cool to 110 F. an hour for the soap to reach trace. 5. While the lye solution is cooling, mix 7. Once your soap begins to trace, add and melt the oils together. the essential oil and mix it in 6. Add the lye solution to the melted completely. Pour the soap into your oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until molds. Let it sit for 3 to 5 days and then trace occurs. If you have a stick blender take it out of the mold. Cut the soap into you can dedicate to soap making, it will bars and allow it to cure for 4 to 6 speed the process. If you are stirring by weeks.

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Copyright 2015 Which method works better? They You can compensate for the extra fat by both produce a nice, creamy bar of either: soap that lathers well, but method two • Calculating the recipe using 0% will give a smoother pour and final superfat and realize the cream soap. will add several percent. Notes on making soap with cream: • Calculate the fat you are adding Be aware of the extra fat content in a in the cream and add it to your recipe using cream. Heavy cream has lye calculation. In method 1 you between 30 to 36% fat, whereas goat’s added 2.1 ounces of milk fat. In or cow’s milk has only 4 to 6% fat. The method 2 you added half that, or heavy cream can throw the superfat 1.05 ounces of milkfat. percentage off. Method 1 increases the superfat to 14%, and method 2 increases If you don’t chose to adjust for the extra the superfat to 9%. milkfat, be aware that the soap may spoil over time.

Liquid Soap

To repeat information from earlier in Clear liquid soaps are created by adding the book: there are many ways to make an excess of potassium hydroxide to the liquid soap. You can remill already soap solution and after the made (or even already purchased) saponification process is complete you soaps. Liquid soap can also be made must neutralize the excess by lowering ‘from scratch’ with a liquid oil (like the pH by adding an acid. Creating a olive) and potassium hydroxide (caustic liquid soap this way is difficult and is potash). suited for an advanced soap maker.

Potassium hydroxide is as dangerous to you, your pets and your family as lye is, so use the same safety precautions.

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This recipe makes about 20 ounces of 2. Once the water boils, take it off the liquid soap. stove and add the grated soap. Stir the mixture until it is fully combined. It will Ingredients be very thin, but don’t worry. • One four ounce bar of soap 4. Let the soap mixture cool for fifteen • Grater minutes and stir again. It will be thicker, • Water but not right yet. • Pan 5. Check the consistency anywhere • Essential oil (optional) between a few hours to the next day. If • Soap coloring (optional) the soap still seems too thin, reheat and • Empty soap dispensers add a bit more soap. If it’s too thick, reheat and add more water. Method 6. Once the soap is the right consistency, 1. Set four cups of water to boil and add a few drops of essential or fragrance grate the soap. oil and coloring if you prefer. 7. Pour into dispensers and enjoy.

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Liquid soap does not use lye (sodium 3. When the oil is almost heated, mix the hydroxide), rather it uses caustic potash caustic potash into the distilled water. (potassium hydroxide) because the 4. When the oils are heated to 160 F and caustic potash does not cause the soap to the potash has cooled to 140 F, slowly crystalize and become hard like a bar of pour the lye into the oils, stirring soap made with lye does. constantly. 5. Turn the crock pot down to low and Caustic potash is only slightly less use a stick blender to mix in small reactive than lye, so all safety bursts. Trace should occur in about 20 precautions must be followed. Make minutes. sure you have your safety equipment on: goggles, gloves, long sleeved shirt, • A note about liquid soap trace: pants and closed toe shoes. liquid soap traces differently than solid soap does. First it will look This recipe makes 1 pound of soap. like applesauce, then pudding. It This recipe does not calculate a lye gets thicker and then very quickly excess, so you do not need to neutralize it turns to a taffy consistency. it with acid at the end. Once the blender cannot mix the soap anymore, it’s done. Ingredients • 3.2 oz Coconut Oil 6. Let the soap sit for ten minutes. If the • 12.8 oz Olive Oil Pomace soap separates then you have not hit • 9.4 oz Distilled Water (3:1 trace yet so continue to mix. Water:KOH) 7. Once trace is reached, cover the • 3.1 oz Potassium Hydroxide crockpot and turn it on high. (KOH) 8. Stir the soap every fifteen minutes • Fragrance – 2-3% diluted soap and bring the dilution water to a boil. weight (optional) One pound of liquid soap will take about • Dilution water – 3 times paste 70 ounces of water. weight (optional) 9. In about 45 minutes, the paste will look like a combination of Vaseline and Method mashed potatoes. 1. Weigh your crock pot. You will need 10. Test the soap for neutrality. You can this information to calculate the dilution do this with the tongue-zap test or with water in step 11. phenolphthalein. 2. Set the crock pot on high and heat the coconut and olive oil in the crock pot • If you use phenolphthalein, take a until they reach 160 F. small bit of soap from the pot and 57 naturalhealthblogger.net | facebook.com/Natural-Health-Blogger | pinterest.com/annieneeds | twitter.com/AnnieNeeds

Copyright 2015 put one drop of solution on it. If dilution ratio, so multiply the weight of the solution turns pink at all, it is soap paste by 3. not neutralized and you must 13. Weigh the boiling water and pour it cook it longer. into the crock pot. Stir well and break up • The longer you cook the soap the soap paste. paste, the clearer the final liquid 14. Cover and let the soap sit for a few soap will be. It will be clearest minutes. Stir again. when the soap paste looks like 15. If you want to add fragrance to the Vaseline. soap, add up to 3% of the diluted soap weight of fragrance to the hot soap. 11. Once the paste reaches your desired 16. Once the soap is fully diluted it is end point, weight the crock pot (with the quite thin. You can thicken it or leave it soap in it) and subtract the beginning as it is. weight from step 1. This is the amount 17. To thicken the soap, heat it over the of soap paste you have made. stove until has reduced 25 percent. 12. This recipe, and any liquid soap Don’t forget to scrape the sides and recipe that uses a large amount of olive bottom of the pan oil, needs a 3:1 water to soap paste

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The recipes in this book are a great place stone. Refer to the Characteristics of to start making your own soaps at home, Oils used in Soap Making chart to but once you master them you will want choose the properties you want in your to experiment with your own recipes. soap. The first thing to remember is that soap recipes are written in weights and not Since lye is often sold in 12 ounce volume, unless specified. containers, it is handy to develop your recipe to use 12 ounces of lye. How Much Lye to Use? It is critical that the ratio of lye to fat is Discount and Percentages correct in your soap. If you have too To make a soap that is nourishing and much lye, your soap will be harsh and creamy, you do not want to completely can burn your skin. If you have too little saponify all the fat. Most soap makers lye the soap may not trace, or if it does like soap with at least 5 % excess fat. To it will be too soft and melt away when do this, you use only 95% of the lye, and you use it. we call this a discount.

There are several lye calculators on the If, for example, a recipe said 12 ounces internet, and I prefer to use the of lye would completely saponify all the following calculator because it produces oils, you would multiply 12 ounces by a milder product: .95 (95 percent) and get 11.4 ounces of https://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc lye. 2.php. You can also use the If you get carried away with this saponification chart in a previous technique, called superfatting, you soap chapter. No matter what method you could be soft or spongy. use, always calculate your lye requirements for each recipe. There are several saponification charts Exchanging one oil for another can and they are not all the same. You may result in a different amount of lye need to experiment a bit with small necessary. batches until you get a soap you truly like. The Mystic Mountain Sage lye Measure your lye accurately to ensure calculator gives a range of numbers for the best soap batch possible. both complete and incomplete saponification and you can choose What fat combinations make a good bar which number you want to use. of soap? You can use any combination of fats you like. Some people Recipe and Mold Size recommend at least one quarter of your You have a soap mold and a recipe you fat content to be a solid at room want to use, but how will you know if temperature, but that is not written in the mold is too big, too small, or just

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Copyright 2015 right? It’s tough to figure out, Method 2: Round or Cylindrical particularly if you’re a beginner soap Molds maker. The method is the same here, but the calculations are different. To find the All you need to do is find the volume of volume of a round mold, you multiply the mold, calculate the amount of oil the pi by the radius of the circle squared and mold can hold and , if necessary, then multiply that by the height of the recalculate the amount of oil with a lye mold. calculator to get a recipe that will fit Are you having flashbacks to High your mold. School Geometry class? Don’t worry, it’s not as difficult as it seems. The Use one of these three methods to make radius is half the width of the circle. sure your soap will fit the mold you Measure the circle through the middle have properly. and divide that number by 2. So, if your circle is 6 inches across, your radius is Method 1: Rectangular Molds 3. A rectangular or square mold is the Use 3.14 for pi. simplest mold to calculate volume Let’s say your radius is 3 inches and for. Measure the length and width of your height is 12 inches. The volume of the mold. Determine how tall you want this mold is pi times the radius squared the soap to be as well. (which is the radius times itself) times the height: Let’s say your mold’s length is 20 3.14 x 3 x 3 x 12 = 226.08 cubic inches inches, its width is 4 inches and you So far, so good, right? To find the want the soap to be 3 inches tall. First, volume of oils to use, multiply your multiply those three numbers together: cubic inches by 0.4: 20 x 4 x 3 = 240 cubic inches 226.08 x 0.4 = 90.432 ounces of oil Take this volume and multiply it by 0.4 You can round that down a bit to 90 to get the ounces of oils to use: ounces to make it easy on yourself. 240 x 0.4 = 96 ounces of oil And now, just like in Method 1, you If your recipe calls for 96 ounces of oil, either use percentages or the soap you’re all set. If it doesn’t you can use calculator to adjust your recipe to fit the percentages of oils called for in your your mold. recipe to calculate how much of each oil to use. If this is too much math, or if you Method 3: Irregularly Shaped Molds just want to double check your There are some truly lovely molds for calculations, you can use the Summer making soaps – leaves, flowers, shells – Bee Meadow’s Lye Calcuator and but calculating their volume could be a Recipe Resizer. You can enter your nightmare. The easiest way to determine recipe and resize it to work with the their volume is to simply use water to mold you have. fill the mold and then measure the amount of water.

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Copyright 2015 Fill your mold with water and then, 8 x 1.8 = 14.4 cubic inches carefully, pour the water into a And the oil needed is: measuring cup. Multiply the number of 14.4 x 0.4 = 11.52 ounces of oil ounces of water by 1.8 to determine the And now, just like in Method 1, you cubic inches of the mold. either use percentages or the soap If the mold holds 8 ounces of water, the calculator to adjust your recipe to fit calculation will look like this your mold.

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As you experiment with your soap making stimulates skin cell regeneration and you may also want to try different can help to improve combinations of essential oils & botanicals, circulation. Clary sage when added here are a few suggestions to get you with ground sage forms a neutral going” scent. • Sandalwood + Allspice essential • Rosemary + Peppermint + Poppy oils: bears a resemblance to the old Seed: two of the most relaxing spice perfume. It has that musty and essential oils can be combined spicy scent which evokes a feeling together in soap. This maximizes of sensuality and seduction when the feeling of rejuvenation and worn by men. This serves as a great relaxation. It provides the benefit of substitute in absence of old musky relieving stress and anxiety. Poppy colognes and is an organic seeds add an exfoliating effect to the derivative as well. soap. • Eucalyptus + Spearmint: can • Lemon + Lemon Grass: lemon provide a clean, invigorating and bears a strong citrus scent while refreshing feeling especially during lemon grass has that lingering citrus hotter seasons. Also helps with scent which serves as a neutralizer. mental clarity. When combined together in soap, it • Pettigrain + Bergamot + Sweet evokes the feeling of freshness and Orange: evokes a citrus scent which vibrancy. It is an ideal scent used is neither too strong nor too weak, it first in the morning to get you up is sweet and sugary. and going • Eucalyptus + Petitgrain + Lime + • Eucalyptus + Ground Thyme + Dill Lemon + Tangerine + Weed: A more masculine soap. Honeysuckle: provides a scent that Eucalyptus has a relaxing scent is both refreshing to the senses which evokes the feeling of comfort while at the same time and warmth. citrusy. Honeysuckle provides a • Sweet Orange + Eucalyptus: This sweet smell which also tingles the soap and provides antiseptic senses. properties while at the same time it • Rosemary + Thyme: rosemary can be used as an antibacterial soap. essential oil increases mental clarity • Orange Essential Oil + Ground and can aid in reducing mental Orange Peel: provides and uplifting fatigue and help to improve citrus scent which lingers even after memory. Thyme is a natural anti- the soap has been used. bacterial and anti-fungal it can be • Bergamot + Coriander Essential used to sharpen the mind. Fantastic Oil: an ideal soap to soften skin or as a mood lifter if fatigued or for feminine scents in with a floral depressed. Like thyme it can also under note. help to improve memory function. • Dill Weed + Calendula Petals: • Clary Sage + Ground Sage: clary when used together, these serve as a sage essential oil cleans the pores,

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Copyright 2015 delicate component to exfoliate of which promote which reduces skin. any potential feeling of stress. • Rosewood + Bergamot: If you want • Green Tea + Green Clay + a soap that has that heavy rose scent Mandarin Essential Oil Soap: this but does not leave a cloying fume refreshes your senses and promotes that irritates your nose, then this the feeling of being uplifted, combination definitely does well in cheerful and relaxed. Infused with soap making. cleansing and purifying green clay • Ginger + Jasmine Essential helps promote softness of the skin. Oil: ginger is warming leaves a • Aloe + Green Tea: the soothing strong scent that remains in the effect of aloe when paired with senses, while jasmine essential green tea essential evokes the oil has anti-depressant, anti- feeling of relaxation. This can be inflammatory, anti-septic, anti- used for everyday use to reduce spasmodic and aphrodisiac feelings of stress. properties. It is also beneficial for • Chamomile Tea + Lavender + anxiety, depression, dry skin and Eucalyptus: all of these essential headaches. Best to avoid this oils promote the feelings of combination during pregnancy. relaxation and can be of ideal use • Lemon Essential Oil + Finely during night time baths in which Ground Cornmeal: this is an ideal your main objective is to wash all combination for face soaps. Since your stresses and worries away. lemon has antiseptic and acidic • Lemon + Chamomile Tea: the properties which promote clear citrus scent of lemon and the skin. Finely ground cornmeal helps relaxing scent of chamomile make make the skin soft and supple. an excellent soap combination since • Coconut Oil + Tea Tree Oil: an it promotes the feeling of invigorating combination which can revitalization. be used for both body and the hair. • Asian Pear + Red Tea: asian pear Coconut oil provides the has antioxidant properties which moisturizer needed for dry skin. Tea make it an ideal combination with tree oil doubles as an antiseptic red tea. It is ideally used as a face agent which helps reduce the soap to promote skin smoothness occurrence of oily skin and hair. and reduce ageing • Spearmint + Peppermint + • Cocoa + Nutmeg + Vanilla + Rosemary: another invigorating Coffee: luxuriously decadent and combination which can help smells good enough to eat. If you revitalize and rejuvenate the senses. love the smell of coffee and Its mint properties also enhance chocolate, this is one you might mental alertness. want to put on your list to try. • Lavender + Cedarwood + Ylang- Ylang: a relaxing combination

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Just because a recipe is on the internet into round soap bars. It is also a good or even in a book does not mean it will idea to test a new fragrance oil on a work. Before making a batch of a new small sample of the soap before adding recipe, it pays to double check the recipe it to the entire batch. with a lye calculator. You could save yourself some time and ingredients with Overheating just a minute of research. If the soap has a crack then it was too You can run into trouble if you use a warm. If you notice it right away, you recipe that does not use weight can take away any insulation and put it measurements. in the fridge. It will cool down and stop Make sure your scale is accurate. The cracking. You can also use a spatula to smaller the batch you make, the more flatten down the crack. fine-tuned your scale must be. A scale If the soap looks like lava escaping from that measures to a tenth of an ounce is the mold, then it is too warm. You can necessary for lye, fragrance and scoop up what you can and put it back essential oils. in the mold. Sometimes you will just forget an If the soap has a layer of oil on the top, ingredient. In that case, you need to the soap is too warm. If it’s just droplets, figure out what you missed, remelt the you can leave it and the soap will soap and add in the missing ingredient. reabsorb it as it sits. If there’s enough oil If the soap has orange spots on it during to pool then you can rebatch it the curing phase, it was either overly immediately in a crockpot. superfatted or was stored in high heat or Milk or honey soaps can separate if they humidity. To prevent this, keep the have too much insulation. It is not superfat to a 4 to 5 percent range. Also, always obvious, and a huge puddle of try to cure the soap in a cool, dry oil may separate in the center of the soap environment. and you won’t know until you cut If your soap is lighter around the edges through it. As soon as the soap gels to then the soap did not gel around the the edges of the mold you should allow edge of the mold. To prevent this, make it to lose heat as soon as possible. It’s sure the soap gels completely before best to put the mold on a cooling rack to you uncover it. You can also warm the allow cool air to circulate under the mold before pouring the soap in. mold as well. If the soap mixture seizes it can be a problem with synthetic fragrance oils, Poor Texture or improper temperature or too much If your soap has poor texture, this could saturated fat. You can try to force it into be due to heat issues. You could have: the mold or you can put it in a ziplock • Too much heat loss during bag and kneed it. Once it is workable stirring you can roll it into a log and then cut it

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Copyright 2015 • Using a stick blender in short stir to true trace so save your arm and bursts, and also stirring with the purchase an inexpensive stick blender. blender off will prevent a false A stick blender will cut your mixing trace by the soap being whipped time by at least a factor of 5 and will up. cause less wear and tear on your arms. • Inadequate saponification at time If the soap has watery pockets, you have of pour a separation of the lye solution. If it’s a • Soap can thicken when it gets tiny amount, it can be absorbed through cold and you can think it’s at curing. If it’s large you should melt and trace, but it hasn’t yet. rebatch. Experience will help you If the soap has small oily pockets it may determine when the soap has be reabsorbed as the soap cures, but if reached a true trace. it’s a large amount you can remelt the • Poor insulation during the initial batch. To prevent this in the future, setting period consider adding all the oils in at the beginning instead of adding the Once the soap is poured it is critical that superfatting oils in at trace. it retain its heat to continue the If the soap is crumbly and soft, you have saponification process. inadequate mixing and saponification. Grainy soap is generally caused by If you hand-stirred it, you were not improper heat, synthetic fragrance oils vigorous enough or did not reach real or not enough stirring. Often if you heat trace. If you were using a stick blender, the soap and stir it well with a stick you may have over mixed without blender it will go back to a good taking breaks and only reached a false consistency. trace. If the soap has developed ash, a white Mixing and Emulsion Issues powder on the sides or top, there was If the soap has separated in the mold, inadequate mixing and the soap did not then the soap did not hit a real trace or go through the gel phase. Using a stick is not reaching a steady state of blender will help, and using a deeper saponification. You can fix this easily mold will help the soap retain more heat by dumping it back into the container and go through a gel phase. Also, and stirring it more. covering the top of the soap during the If the soap has a soft layer and then a first day or so will prevent ash from hard layer it needs to be rebatched. Cut forming on the top. the soap into small pieces, put it in a crock pot or pan and heat. Once the soap Fragrance Oil Issues is loose, stir vigorously and then pour Fragrance oils can cause problems in back into the mold. cold process soap making. Make sure Inadequate mixing is solved by using a your oils are compatible with cold stick blender. It can take up to an hour process soapmaking, or at least make a to mix soap by hand with a wooden small test batch before committing to spoon and as it gets thicker, it’s harder using the oil. to stir. It can be easy to give up or not

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Copyright 2015 If your soap has pockets of fragrance oil Check the recipe and make sure to add or waxy scented blobs you can either the separated water when remelting. use it yourself or rebatch. If the soap is crumbly and dry, the batch If your soap seizes once you add had too much lye added. Trouble shoot fragrance oil, the easiest thing to do is the recipe, add the missing ingredients put it into a crockpot and heat it for a and add them back when remelting. couple of hours like a hot process soap. If the soap is soft or putty like, you used If your soap heats up and goes through too much water or not enough lye. The gel phase as soon as you add a fragrance batches will become firm enough to oil, that’s okay. Let it gel completely slice if you cure them for several extra and then pour it into your mold. Next weeks. time, use lower heat and make sure you If the mixture curdles, or forms small use full water. pebbles at the bottom of the pan, the lye In cold process soap, using the wrong or oil were too warm when mixed. You fragrance oil can lead to separation of can continue mixing with a stick blender the soap, and it will wind up looking like and pour the batch. If it has white flecks rice. You can save the soap by or pebbles in it, do not use it. remelting, but it’s much easier to make sure you use a fragrance oil specifically Other Issues tested for cold process soap making. If your soap is soft when unmolded, you A soap can sometimes have oil ooze in may have too high a percentage of soft droplets on the outside of unmolded oils or used too much water. Next time soap. This could be due to some reformulate your recipe to use a higher fragrance oils. If it is a small amount, percentage of solid oils or less water. If you can just wipe the oil off. If soap you wait a few extra days before oozes inside the soap you may need to unmolding it will be usable. If the recipe remelt the batch. is well-balanced, you may have mismeasured the lye. Let the soap Issues with Lye Balance: harden and use for personal use. If the soap is brittle or has cracks, there IF the soap doesn’t unmold from a was too much lye in the recipe. You can silicone mold, you didn’t use at least remelt and add more oil to fix 60% hard or brittle oils. If you put the this. Some soaps can seem brittle due to soap in the fridge for a couple of hours the base oils used and you may need to it should unmold. add more water to the recipe If the soap is slow to trace or does not If the soap doesn’t set, you may not have trace at all there are a few reasons this added enough lye or the soap may not could be: have saponified enough during the first • You used a high amount of olive 24 hours. Run your recipe through a lye oil – trace could take a long time, calculator, make ingredient adjustments keep stirring. if necessary and remelt the soap. • You may have used too much If the soap has a layer of water under it, water – heat the soap and this is separation and you must remelt it. continue stirring.

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Copyright 2015 • You may not have added your lye although if you let the soap harden for a – add the lye and continue to couple of weeks it will last longer. process. It is easiest to rebatch a soap using a • You may need to warm the crockpot. Break the soap into small solution to get the saponification pieces and add a bit of moisture (water, reaction going. milk, or whatever you used to make the • If your lye was clumpy it had soap). If you omitted or undermeasured absorbed water. Unfortunately, an ingredient you would also add it. If you have to throw the batch out. you need to add lye, dissolve it into a bit of cold water first. Turn the crock pot on When to rebatch the soap high. Blend the soap occasionally and If a soap fails, you can always try recover it. The soap will take between rebatching it. The texture will not be the one and two hours to be ready to pour. same as a cold processed soap, but it You can also rebatch a small amount of will still be quite usable. The good news soap in a microwave. Use a high setting is that the heat used to rebatch the soap for between one and two minutes, will complete the saponification process keeping your eye on the soap to make and the soap can be used right away, sure it doesn’t boil.

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• Make the lye solution first and set Continue making the soap aside to let it cool while you melt according to the recipe. the oils. • Put ingredients away as soon as • Melt half the solid oils and then you use them so you will not miss add the rest of the oils, solid and any ingredients. If this is not liquid – they will melt and also convenient, you can put all reduce the oil temperature so you weighed ingredients on the left can move on to mixing more and then as they are added to the quickly. mixture, move them to the right. • Some people mix the lye solution You will still be able to easily see and then add the hot solution to if you have forgotten any the combined (but not melted) ingredients. oils. The heat from the lye • Small drink containers, single- solution will melt the oils. size yogurt and pudding • Use small wooden craft spoons as containers all make great molds splints to level molds if your for sample bars. house is old and the floors are not • You can be creative in using what level. you have around the house for • Use half frozen liquids when molds. Pringles cans lined with making your lye solution to keep wax paper make great round bars the temperature down. of soap for rebatched soaps. • Keep recipes in a plastic • If you purchase lye in large protector. Check off ingredients quantities, set it in the bathtub with a dry erase marker to make and weigh out smaller amounts sure you don’t forget any. When and keep them in air-tight you’re done with the recipe, wipe containers. When you are done, up the marker and put the recipe you can easily wash any spills away. You never have to worry down the drain. about making a mess on the • Small plastic condiment recipe or forgetting any containers are great for mixing ingredients. colors. It’s not easy to clean the • To make your soap very sudsy, pigments so you can just toss the add 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar per container when you’re done. pound of soap. Mix the sugar into • Popsicle sticks are great to scoop the water very slowly and make pigments and mix them in with sure it is completely dissolved. small amounts of soap.

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Now that you have read through all this, 5 Open a business bank account to you’re inspired and probably thinking keep your personal and business how great it would be to start your own banking separate. business making soap. You may feel 6 Look into business insurance. excited and overwhelmed. Excited is 7 Put together a business plan. This great, and following a plan to develop can be a big job, so here are a few your business will keep you from resources to help you out: feeling overwhelmed. The most important thing is to do 1 Anne-Marie Faiola (aka adequate research and not rush into “The Soap Queen”) has a anything. Make a business plan and vast array of valuable don’t spread yourself too thin. Make a business information on list of things to do and break any large her blog including this task down into smaller, easy to series of posts on Building accomplish tasks. a Business Plan. This is a link to the final post in the Here is a list of things to do to get you series…it contains a list of started: links to the remaining 1 Register your business name and posts purchase your website. Even if 2 you don’t plan to use a website 8 Set up inventory, sales and immediately, it’s best to own the recipes tracking programs. You domain name. Also, make sure could use written logs, but that’s the name you want hasn’t been very time consuming and trademarked. difficult to find things after a few 2 Determine if you need a business years. You could use a license and a tax ID number. You spreadsheet or purchase may wish to talk to a local soapmaking software from attorney for advice on starting http://soapmaker.ca. It is and structuring your business. important to be disciplined in 3 If customers will come to your your recordkeeping. Don’t’ leave house to buy soap, you need to yourself a large pile of paperwork check into your town’s zoning to do all at once, you’ll be more regulations. likely to avoid it for even longer. 4 Check with your state or province to see if you need a special So that’s the business information, but license or inspection to sell your it’s no good to have a brilliant business handmade soaps. plan if your product doesn’t appeal to customers.

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Copyright 2015 You need to make soap that is visually or ingredients. You can develop appealing, smells good and cleans well. novelty soaps for kids, gentle soaps for Practice making batches you want to babies, organic soaps, beautiful guest sell until you have them perfect. You soaps or even soaps that resemble can use the soap yourself and give it gemstones. Make sure you love creating away to friends and family. You can the soap you choose for your business. also give the soap away to get good Find reliable and reasonably priced reviews and some constructive suppliers. Make sure you have a system criticism. for placing orders and making sure you have the inventory you need. Decide what process or processes you Determine your pricing scheme. Don’t will use to make soap. Cold process undersell your work and make sure to takes weeks to cure, hot process cures factor in the amount of time you spend more quickly but both use lye. You can making the soap. remill soap for an easier method or use Once you’ve done all this, it’s time to melt and pour or glycerin soap kits if start selling your soap! You can design you want a faster method. a simple website or sell through Etsy, Purchase the equipment you’ll need for eBay and other online stores. You will your chosen process. also want to sell at local shops, farmers Choose your specialty and your market. markets and craft bazaars. You want to be able to set yourself apart Create business cards, a brochure and from all the other handmade soaps catalogs to advertise your soap. Send available for sale. You can do this with updated catalogs and newsletters to unique base oils, molds, scents, colors existing customers for repeat business.

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United States http://www.brambleberry.com/ http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/ http://www.soap-making-resource.com/ http://www.soapequipment.com/ http://www.oregontrailsoaps.com/

Canada http://www.saffireblue.ca/shop/ http://www.cranberrylane.com/ http://www.sudsandscents.com/ http://thesoapgoat.com/ http://www.canwax.com/

UK http://www.gracefruit.com/ http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/ http://www.soapbasics.co.uk/ http://www.justasoap.co.uk/catalog/index.php http://www.soaposh.co.uk/

Australia http://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/ http://www.simplynaturalsoapmakingsupplies.com.au/epages/auau9075.sf http://www.southernskiessoapsupplies.com.au/melt-pour-soap-making-kit- australia/cat_9.html http://www.southernskiessoapsupplies.com.au/ http://www.aquasapone.com.au/

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Conclusion

Soap making can be anything from a fun past time to a full-blown business. Whatever level you choose, have fun, be safe and use your creativity to make fantastic soaps.

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Alkali – In terms of soap making, this is either lye (sodium hydroxide) or caustic potash (potassium hydroxide)

Base Oil – The oil or oils that make up the largest proportion of the soap.

Cure – The time after cutting soap, four to six weeks in cold process soap, when the soap becomes milder and harder.

Fragrance Oil – an oil added to soap specifically for its scent.

Saponification – The chemical process that converts lye and oils into soap.

Tongue Zap Test – a test to see if soap has finished saponifying. You touch your tongue and if it feels like you’ve touched your tongue to a 9 volt battery, it’s not done saponifying.

Trace – Trace is when the oils in the soap have mixed with the lye and you are now making soap. You can tell you’ve hit trace when the soap is as thick as cake batter.

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