Soapmaking
Tips
- You will need gram scales, measuring cups, a nontoxic cast iron or stainless steel cookpot you fully plan to ruin forever and use only for making soap, an immersion blender, chemistry goggles, rubber gloves, protective clothing, soap molds such as a wooden block mold with a cover, a Pyrex measuring cup (larger is better if you're making big batches), a thermometer, a wooden spoon with a long handle, a heavy blanket, and a lot of courage. Working with lye or potassium hydroxide is dangerous. Realistically though you can make soap with a lot of different stuff: homemade lye made from rainwater poured repeatedly through a bucket of wood ash, possibly replacing the ash with fresh if needed, until it's the correct pH (find this with strips) or use the hot process method in a crock pot or Dutch oven to boil it down enough, with the fat of your choice (coconut oil is fantastic for soapmaking and I recommend it), to become a gel-like soap, Rooto brand sodium hydroxide (lye), potassium hydroxide (find this online), coconut oil, lard, basically any oil or fat. The hot process method is done with a crockpot or a Dutch oven, both which you will also ruin if you use it. Years ago people used cauldrons over an open fire, as you can see in the Foxfire books, and that is a pretty good way of giving yourself alkali burns. Yikes.
- It's generally far better to use granular sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide than it is to use liquid lye from rainwater. Works every time and with the amount of labor soapmaking requires, you want the stuff to come out right the first time.
- Please, follow a recipe and follow it carefully.
- Never add water to lye or potassium hydroxide. Add the dry stuff to the water, and gradually, outside with good ventilation, wearing goggles and rubber gloves and protective clothing, stirring with a wooden spoon as you add it, and in a safe container. A Pyrex measuring cup works well. It will heat up. For cold-process soap, hopefully you've heated up and then cooled (to the proper temperature) the oil or fat mixture you've got going on. Then you can incorporate the lye mixture slowly into the oil/fat with the immersion blender held well below the surface.
- For cold-process soap, the directions to leave it alone in the mold for a good week or two and then cut it and leave it for several months are not typos. Really. You have to do it. Your soap will suck if you don't.
Books
- Smart Soapmaking by Anne L. Watson
Links
Home Ec
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