Are you looking for a method for crafting soap while at home? Then keep reading...
There's no better way to understand something than to make it, but without background knowledge you can sometimes feel a bit lost. Which is why I can't teach you how to make soap without first answering the fundamental question: What is soap?
Put simply, when lye water is added to oils, there is a chemical reaction called saponification. Just as your elementary school vinegar and baking soda volcano eruption demonstrated a chemical reaction when two ingredients came together to make something completely different, the saponification process is a chemical reaction between fatty acids (oils, butters, fats) and sodium hydroxide (lye) that makes something new: soap. Recipes are developed with the goal of using all the lye during saponification so that no lye remains in the final soap product.The benefits of from-scratch soap
Before you dive into any new project, it's helpful to understand the benefits of what the project will provide. When it comes to soapmaking, there are huge benefits to making your own from scratch.
This is the most important benefit for me and my family. When you make your own soap from scratch, you know exactly what is going into it. You make the decisions on what is healthy for your skin and for the skin of those you love. No processing procedure or ingredients (ingredients that the government determines to be "generally recognized as safe" and thus do not need to be listed on a label) are getting into your soap because you are in full control.
If you want to be healthy, buying premade organic and premium products can become really expensive. When you make your own, there is an initial cost to the ingredients, but once you have them on hand, you can make enough soap for family and friends and still have ingredients left over to make lotions, lip balms, and other bath and body products.
One of the reasons I started my company, simple life mom, was because I wanted to learn how to make more of what we use on a daily basis. I value being able to have the choice to buy or make my own products. Soap, shampoo bars, shaving bars, laundry bars-these are all things that we use on an almost daily basis and that we can create ourselves.
There is something very exciting about making a beautiful batch of soap with your own hands. It'll get you hooked, in a good way. My first batches were made with makeshift molds, and the results were funky shapes and sizes. I still coul...
