Susan at Home

Well, previously, when I made soap, I always made, what is called, cold-process soap. I was never happy with they way it smelled. I can't explain what it was about it that I didn't like, there was always this underlying odor in my soap, under the fragrance, that was unpleasant to me and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why. Well, I figured out why. It's because I was making cold-process soap! I just recently (it's about time!) started hand-milling my soap and this helps to eliminate that underlying odor that I was unhappy with. Basically, handmilling your soap is that you make the cold process soap, then after it hardens, you then grate it, cook it and THEN add your fragrances and additives. This way the fragrance isn't competing with the lye. It has saponified FIRST, before the fragrance is put in. Saponification is the chemical process that occurs when soap is made. You mix together your lye-water and your oils and that saponifys to become soap. If you add the fragrance before it saponifys then the fragrance will mix with the lye-water and can change it's chemical compounds. It's not a bad smell, it's just not what I want in my soap. Recently I ran out of coconut oil, the soapmaker's staple, and I've been using lard instead. Lard makes a perfectly fine soap but leaves a very unpleasant odor. Coconut oil is pretty much fragrance free and makes a GREAT soap, so that's why it's preferred by soapmakers. So anyway, I can use the lard, and in the process of hand-milling, I can eliminate that unpleasant meaty smell the lard has. I couldn't be more thrilled with the results! AND I'm going to share some actual soap recipes HERE!

This is my basic soap recipe. You might be able to find palm oil in an Asian market but in a pinch you can substitute regular shortening. As for the lye, you can get that in almost any grocery store in the country. Go to the isle at the grocery store that has like detergent and various stuff. You'll find lye with drain openers, yes, drain openers and ALWAYS, ALWAYS ALWAYS buy RED DEVIL brand. Don't buy anything except RED DEVIL, because that is pure lye, with no additives. Okay. . .

Before making soap, you'll need some safety equipment. I HIGHLY recommend rubber gloves, safety glasses, and a hospital mask. I believe the masks you can get in most hardware stores or in the hardware department of most discount stores. When you mix the soap, you'll need a bowl that you'll use for nothing but soap. In other words, don't use your favorite mixing bowl to make soap and then turn around and make a cake in the same bowl. When you choose a mixing bowl to make soap, it's for life! I prefer glass or stainless steel, but probably stay away from plastic. You'll also need a saucepan but you can use your regular saucepans since you're just mixing oil in them. And you'll need mixing spoons that you'll use JUST FOR SOAP. I HIGHLY recommend using plastic spoons since my wooden spoons got eaten up by my soap. You'll also need a fairly large container for your soap to harden in before the hand-milling process. I just use a large plastic ziploc container, but remember, don't use this for FOOD! And you'll need soap molds. You can use almost anything you want for soap molds. I have actually purchased soap molds online but you can get them at most craft stores. I have also used old fruit cup containers. I got my sons a huge box of fruit cups at Sam's one time and as we were going through them, I looked at the cup and said to myself, "this would make a great soap mold!" So when we finished the fruit, I washed them out and saved them. Candy molds work too but they can be pretty small so make sure you have enough.

Well, before you start, make sure you have plenty of space and work in a well-ventelated area. I work in my kitchen under my exhaust fan. Put on the gloves, mask and glasses. Now put the lye in the glass container. Take a deep breath and then add the water. As soon as you add the water, you're going to have fumes rising up and they're hard to breath. They won't kill you but it's best not to breath them, because they are pretty caustic. You also need to stir your water solution immediately so the lye doesn't clump up and stick to your bowl. Once the lye is completely dissolved, set aside and start melting your oils. This basic recipe is great because it's all stuff you can find in your local grocery stores. If you want to use coconut oil, that's a little harder to find but well worth the search, because it makes FANTASTIC soap with lots of rich lather. So you put your lard and palm oil in a small saucepan and put it on medium low heat. You don't want to cook the oil but you want to melt it. After the lard and palm oils have melted remove it from the heat and add the olive oil. Once the oils are mixed together well, pour them into the lye solution. You'll immediately need to start stirring so the two won't seperate. Now comes the very long process of saponification. It's much easier to use a mixer or stick blender to mix your soap but you can do it by hand if you're extremely patient. I use a mixer but I have 2 sets of beaters, one for soap and one for food. Once you use your mixer for soap you really shouldn't use it for food, which is why I have 2 sets of beaters. If you want to use a stick blender, get a cheap one and don't ever use it for food, I can't stress that enough! Okay, the reason you need a mixer or blender is because at this point, it's not at all uncommon for the solution to seperate. To completely avoid this you can get 2 candy thermometers and make sure both solutions are the same temperature BEFORE you mix them together then you can mix them by hand. If you're using a mixer or blender, it's not as much of an issue. Once you've mixed your two solutions together it's going to SLOWLY thicken. When it gets to a point when the spoon can leave a "trace" on top, it's ready, this is what we call, bringing it to trace. It should be about the same consistency as uncooked cake batter. Give or take. Then you pour it in the mold and let it sit somewhere, about 24-48 hours. You want it to be hard but it probably won't get real hard. Once it gets hard enough to pop out of the mold, it's ready for hand milling!

Well, hand-milling is the final process. It's during this time that you can add all the things you want to add to your soap. First thing you'll want to do is put your rubber gloves back on. Now, take a cheese grater, again, one that you won't use for food, and grate your soap into a large pot. Once the entire batch is grated, add 1 1/2 cups of water, or the equivalant of whatever additives you want to add, such as aloevera gel, or tea tree oil, or lemon juice, or whatever. Put the pot on your stove and put it on medium low heat. Again, you don't want to cook it, just heat it. Stir it only occasionally while it's heating. Your goal is to melt the soap entirely, and this could take up to an hour so be patient, don't turn the heat up. Once the entire batch is melted now is the time to add your fragrances, colors or whatever. When coloring soap, you'll want to use specific soap colorants or you can also use candle dyes. Candle dyes usually come in wax blocks so you'll have to melt it down before you add it to the soap. Anyway, once you have your soap fragranced and colored the way you like it you can now pour it into your soap molds. Once you have it evenly poured into the mold you can pop it in the freezer for an hour or two. This will cool the soap down, cause it to harden, and contract enough so you can easily pop it out of the molds. The freezer is not required but it just speeds up the process a little. When looking for soap fragrances, you should go to a craft store and find fragrances that are for soaps or candles. I know you'll be tempted to spritz your favorite perfume in there but unfortunately that won't work. Most perfumes have alcohol in them and the fragrance will just evaporate. You have to use your fragrance in an oil form. Now, if you choose not to use any colorants, you'll end up with a beautiful creamy white bar of soap.

NOW REMEMBER! When your soap comes out of the molds it's still not ready to use. It needs to set out for about a month to cure. This is so it is gentle on your skin. If you used it immediately out of the molds it would be a little harsh.

Here are some ideas for additives. If you want to make a great complexion soap for oil skin use lemon juice. When you're hand milling the soap add only 1 cup of water to the grated soap, let it melt and then when it's time to add the fragrance add about 1/2 cup of lemon juice. You might want to also add a drop or 2 of yellow soap colorant and some lemon fragrance oil. You'll have a very fragrant lemon soap that has a built in astringent for oily skin!

If you want to make a kitchen soap instead of lemon juice, add about 1/2 cup of very strong coffee and maybe 1-2 tablespoons of coffee grounds. This will make a very abrasive soap that can help get rid of strong onion and garlic odor on your hands.

Here's another great recipe! It's called castille soap and it's made with just olive oil!

Castille Soap

17 oz. olive oil (one small bottle)
2.3 oz lye
3/4 cup cold water

It's made with pretty much the same process as the basic soap but this might take a very long time to trace. Be patient and use your hand mixer or hand blender. It will get to trace eventually. Then hand mill it the same as before. This is an extremely gentle soap and makes a great soap for little ones. I use it on my own sons at bathtime.

Basic Soap 101

1 Cup Coconut Oil
1 cup soybean oil
2.6 oz sodium hydroxide
3/4 cup COLD water

This uses the exact same procedure as all those recipes above. This will probably get to trace faster though. For those of you stressing over where to find soybean oil, let me tell you. . . Soybean oil is nothing more than your garden variety vegetable oil that you get at the supermarket. Just look at the list of ingredients on the bottle you have in your pantry right now. Like I said before about coconut oil, it might be hard to come across but WORTH the search. It produces such a great lather that you'll want to find it. I have seen it at a couple different health food stores in the skin care isle but it can get a little pricey if you buy it like that. I have found it in jars of 14oz at around $4. I get a gallon at a time from my online catalog company and it's only about $10 for a gallon. That's considerably less so if you want a lot of it definatley buy the gallon tub like I do. I also had a brief conversation with a lady in line at the health food store one night who gushed about how that coconut oil must smell wonderful. Actually, it has little or no scent at all. That's one of the things that makes coconut oil such a great oil for soap, it has almost no odor at all so you can add whatever fragrance you want without any interferrence.

Susan At Home