A Handmade Soap Recipe For BeginnersHandmade soap has been around for centuries. Nothing could be simpler – a combination of alkali and fat – and yet nothing could come in more complex forms, colors and shapes or provide us with such satisfaction and pleasure. Soapmaking ThenIn earlier times, when you couldn’t buy lye from the grocery store for your handmade soap, folks put ashes in a large wooden barrel that had a plugged hole at its base. They kept a thin layer of stones in the bottom of the barrel, piled ashes in the middle and then topped it off with straw. Then they set the barrel near a house or barn where it would collect the runoff from the roof when it rained. Once the ashes were completely soaked, they would remove the plug from the bottom of the barrel and drain off enough lye-water for a batch of soap.To see whether the lye water was strong enough, they would dip a feather into the liquid. If the feather dissolved, the lye-water was sufficiently strong. Otherwise the water was poured back into the barrel to seep a while longer. This method did produce soap, but it was soft and it stunk. It wasn’t until the invention of caustic soda in 1791 that soap-making really improved. Soapmaking NowToday making soap is a multi-billion dollar industry, but unfortunately, most of the soap produced today is made with synthetic ingredients and chemicals that aren’t the best for your skin. It almost makes you want to go back to building a barrel and making your own – except for the smell, of course.Fortunately, there are some great handmade soap recipes out there that not only get the job done, but also look great, feel nice and – yes – smell good, too.
Today, we have a wide range of options for making soap, including these simple glycerin soaps. Soap Making For BeginnersIf you’ve never made handmade soap before, you will want to start with a simple recipe. The ingredients in the following recipe couldn’t be any simpler: Lye, water and lard. This is a basic soap good for both bathing and laundry. If you wish to add essential oils to your soap, you can later mill this soap and add the oils then.Try this simple recipe first, and then when you get the hang of making handmade soap, try one of the trickier vegetable oil recipes. About The Lard...Don’t use leftover grease from your bacon or try to recycle other used fats for this handmade soap recipe. It will make soap, but will stink. Instead, buy your lard from the supermarket or render your own fat.Lye - A Few Words of CautionFor each batch of soap, you will need 12 ounces of pure sodium hydroxide. This is available in most grocery stores in the cleaning section. Read the label to make sure you have nothing but pure sodium hydroxide.Sodium hydroxide – or lye – is a caustic agent that can burn you and be harmful or fatal if swallowed. That means that if you have small children around, you shouldn’t be making soap. Always wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when working with lye. The last thing you want is for the lye to splash onto your skin or into your eyes. The fumes are toxic, so be careful not to breathe them in. Work in a well-ventilated area, preferably near an open window. Buy utensils specifically for soapmaking and never use them for food preparation. Lye mixed with fat does not turn completely into soap for 48 hours so once you have made your soap be sure and clean all your utensils and countertops thoroughly to remove all traces of the mixture. Pure Lye Is No Longer Available At The SupermarketA few years ago, Red Devil Lye - the source of pure lye for making soap, was taken off the supermarket shelves because of potential storage hazards. That's the bad news. The good news is, you can still purchase it online. Here are a couple of links to get you started:What You Will NeedA glass measuring cup 16- ounce or greater2 spoons, either plastic or stainless steel 1 2-quart stainless-steel saucepan – use this to mix the lye 1 8-quart stainless-steel pot – use this to melt the fat 1 plastic spatula 1 plastic ladle 1 paring knife 1 scale Plastic wrap and newspaper – to cover your working area Glass candy thermometer – crucial for accurate temperature control Mold – this can be as simple as a cardboard box lined with plastic Spray-on corn oil, mineral oil or petroleum jelly Never make handmade soap in aluminum containers. If you do, both the container and the soap will be ruined. Also, don’t use a wooden spoon; as eventually the lye will eat away at the fibers in it. If You Have Hard WaterIf you use hard water in your handmade soap recipe, your soap will not lather as well. If you don’t have access to soft water, add one ounce of borax to your soap recipe, or save rainwater for your soap recipes.Easy, Basic Soap RecipeThis recipe comes from the book, Milk-based soaps by Casey Makela. 6 pounds of rendered animal fat Heat The FatPrepare The LyeWhile melting the fats, pour four and a half cups of soft water into the stainless steel saucepan. Carefully add the lye to the water, stirring gently with a plastic spoon. Be careful not to inhale the fumes. Set the mixture aside to cool to 85 degrees.Mix 'Em TogetherMake sure the fat is 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and the lye-water mixture is 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Then slowly pour the lye and water into the fat, stirring constantly. You want to pour the lye and water slowly into the fat. That keeps it from splashing and also helps it to mix better.Continue stirring for at least 30 minutes to one hour. The mixture will begin to thicken and resemble a thin pudding. When your spoon feels like it can stand on its own and a few drops leave a pattern on the surface of the soap, pour the mixture into the mold. Set it aside in a draft-free area for 24 to 48 hours. It will take up to two days for the entire mixture to convert into soap. After 24 hours, check your soap. When you can easily make a dent in the soap by pressing firmly with your finger, the soap is ready to cut. Don’t wait until your soap is too hard or it will be impossible to cut. When your cut bars are hard enough, remove them from the mold and allow them to cure for six weeks.
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