Getting soapy!

The following information is exactly that, information, I have gathered through experience. I assume no responsibility for what you do with the information contained in this blog. Some of the processes discussed can be dangerous without proper precautions. It is your responsibility to take precautions for your safety and that of those around you. While the hot oil can cause minor burns, the lye is dangerous and needs proper handling procedures.

I have made quite a bit of soap before and figured I would do a little DIY on my process of making soap. I ordered the materials today and am hoping to start making batches of soap next weekend (Feb. 25, 2012).

I use the cold process/oven process method. Cold process formula finished with 2 hours of low temp cooking in the oven. This replaces the 4-6weeks of curing for cold process soaps. The soap is usable as soon as its cool, but is far far better a week later after the reactions have stopped.  I have discovered several tricks to getting the product I want, which I will be sharing including a basic soap recipe, and tools to point you towards designing your own recipes.

I will also demonstrate making pine tar soap which is a particularly tricky one to batch since it has a working time of about 22 seconds. That's 22 seconds from starting to add the lye to the oils until it is an unstirrable mud that's even thicker than bad oatmeal. The oils in the pine tar speeds the reaction of saponifying the oils. Many citrus and pine/evergreen oils have similar but less drastic effects.

There are a couple of common misconceptions about soap I would like to address. 

The FDA's definition of soap is "Ordinary soap is solely made up of fats and an alkali." Most things we buy today are actually detergents or cleansers, and not soap. They are made from petrochemicals and byproducts of other industries.

Many people think of handmade soaps as being harsh. Well, grandma's soap probably was harsh, but that's a function of having to much lye in the batch. Properly measured soaps can be emollient or cleansing depending on what recipe and additives you use. 

Many people think glycerin soaps are good, they come in clear colors! The clear is made by adding alcohol, or an alcohol sugar to the soap. They are galled glycerin soaps because you have to add glycerin to them to make them less drying. Handmade soaps produce glycerin, you will see some on top right after the oven processing, I stir this back into the soap.

This is chemistry so exact measurements are key to success. Slop will ruin a batch of soap.

A word about Lye.

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or Lye, is used in the soap making process. When you mix the alkaline Lye with the oils (fatty acids), the lye breaks off the end of (up to) 3 fat molecules and attaches to them. This makes a polar molecule that's sort of salt and sort of oil. This allows for it to be absorbed by water and precipitate out onto dirt and oils.  When enough soap has attached to cover the grime its carried away by the water.

Lye is caustic and will cause chemical burns with exposure. After the lye has processed the fats, there is none of the chemical remaining in a batch of soap. The OH- has broken off and formed water with a H+ liberated from the fat. 

I will talk about safety before the process of handling Lye.