6 - How to make soap: equipment

- Safety equipment, specifically gloves, is absolutely necessary (read this about caustic soda). You should also use safety glasses, a mask, and old newspapers to cover your workspace.

- An electronic scale. A kitchen scale with 1g precision is fine if you make batches over 400 g of oil.

- A hand blender; without it, it could take hours for the saponification to start. It's up to you ;)

- Containers; at least 3.

One to weigh caustic soda and one to weigh oil and in which you will pour and blend the lye solution with the hand blender. For these two, I just reuse large yoghurt pots (or crème fraiche pots) that I then throw away.

It’s fine to have a simple, thin pot to weigh the lye, but it's better to have a more solid container to blend the oil and lye solution; I use hard plastic yoghurt pots.

In the last container you will weigh water. It's in here that you will prepare the lye solution by pouring in the already-weighed caustic soda. Doing so will produce an exothermic (heat producing) reaction, that is why you must use a container resistant to high temperatures. I use a glass jar.

Read safety precautions!

- A stainless steel spoon.

When pouring caustic soda into water, you will have to stir the liquid at the same time. You cannot use just any utensil. Wood or metals other than stainless steel will react in the solution, producing a volcano effect. You need at least a stainless steel spoon that you can also use later in the process (scraping the dough out of the containers), but it's ok to use a wooden spoon once the lye solution has been poured into the oil.

- A mold

Again, I reuse food packaging. It can be yoghurt pots or, to make soap bars, milk/juice cartons. You don't need to grease the mold and the soap will be easy to unmold since you can just tear the carton. You may also use silicone molds (I bought second hand ice cube molds) but from that day on they will be only used for soap/cosmetics making.

- A knife, to cut the soap once it has hardened.

7 - How to make soap: tutorial

Comments

1 - How: the saponification process

0 - Why and how to make your own soap? 1 - How: the saponification process Soap is the result of a chemical reaction between fatty substances (oils, lard, vegetable butter) and sodium hydroxide also called lye or caustic soda (NaOH). Caustic soda is a dangerous substance and is to be used very carefully, but it is totally transformed through the process: none of it remains at the end of the chemical reaction...if you used the right quantity of lye. If you use more lye than required your soap will be "caustic" and irritating. Therefore it's recommended that you use less soda and more oil than the exact amount required for total saponification. Firstly, it's a safety precaution: using more oil than necessary for the chemical reaction is a guarantee that the lye will be entirely transformed through the process. And more than that, with extra oil (nonsaponified - remaining oil), your soap will be even softer on the skin. This extra oil is called "sup

How to recycle a fleece jacket?

Fleece is a very useful material and there are many things you can turn an old jacket into, like make up pads ( see previous article ), baby wipes, dusters and so on. Every piece of fleece is reusable, so the first step is to remove all the threads. It's even more interesting because where the fleece was folded (hemline) or inside the pocket, the fabric has remained very soft, perfect to use on the skin. I think, other parts, more "exposed" are still soft enough. You might see the different textures by clicking on the picture. Once the fleece is ready, there is nothing easier: you just have to cut the shape you want, and it's done. Small squares for facial pad s, bigger pieces for baby wipes ...or duster . I didn't expect it the first time I tried but fleece is a very efficient dust catcher. As efficient, maybe more than microfiber cloth . That's why I use it to clean the floor too. I cut a long rectangle so I can tie it on my specia

Why and how to make your own soap?

As I explained it in a previous article, I came to home-made soap because I wanted to control the ingredients (no palm oil) and their origin (as few kilometres as possible), so as to use the most ecological soap for my laundry liquid . But there are other valid reasons to make soap for yourself: some oils are naturally soft and good for the skin, others you will choose because they give extra lather and foam to the soap, or even because they just give a special colour you like. In a word: home-made soap is very good for the skin (also because it naturally contains glycerine, which is otherwise removed from industrial soaps) and it's even better because it's customized to your needs. Another good reason to make your own soap is the price. Finally, it's a very creative (and addictive!) activity, which may explain why soap makers make more soap than they can use. Soap making is a complex and very rich art. It’s a great hobby, and you probably won't offer anyth

The Green touch

Search This Blog