How to Make Homemade Soap

Whether you'd like a natural alternative to store-bought soap or you're a crafty person looking for a new creative venture, making soap is fun and not too difficult.

To learn how to make soap, the first step is to choose which process to use. The two most popular methods are the "melt and pour" and the cold process. Melt and pour involves melting pre-made soap blocks and adding a fragrance while with the cold process, you make soap from scratch using oils and lye. More advanced soap makers might want to try the hot process or rebatching.

Here we have outlined the process for the melt and poor and the cold process methods, plus the pros, cons, and variations.

Making Soap: A Basic Chemical Reaction

Soap results from a basic chemical reaction between fats or oils and lye. The process of achieving the chemical reaction is called saponification. By carefully choosing a combination of quality oils, adding your favorite fragrance or essential oils, and swirling in a lively colorant, your handmade soap suddenly takes on a charming, rustic character.

Melt and Pour Soap Making Method

Making soap with a melt and pour base is safe, easy, and convenient. The base has already undergone saponification, so you won't need to handle lye. First, purchase pre-made blocks of uncolored, unscented soap "base" from a craft store or soap supplier. Then, melt the soap base in a microwave or a double boiler. After you fully melt the soap, you can add fragrance, color, and additives. Finally, pour the mixture into a mold, and the soap will be ready to use when it hardens.

To start with melt and pour soap making, you'll need a few tools after purchasing a soap base.

• A microwave or double boiler
• A heat-resistant bowl for the microwave
• Measuring spoons and whisks
• Fragrance, color, or additives, as desired
• A mold

The most popular soap bases are white or clear glycerin. Try a base made with goat's milk, olive oil, or Shea butter for a more luxurious soap. You'll cut the soap base into chunks to help it melt faster. If you use a microwave to melt the chunks, put the base in a microwave-safe bowl and stir at 30-second intervals until the chunks are liquid and smooth. Or melt it in a double boiler over low heat, stirring until it is liquid and smooth. Then, allow the base to cool to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, stir in colorants, fragrances, and additives of your choice. Finally, pour the mixture into your soap mold, wait a day until the soap is hardened and dry, remove it from the mold, and your creation is ready to use.

There are a few tricks to know when making melt-and-pour soap. The melted base will be thin, which means additives may sink to the bottom unless you wait until the base cools a bit before adding them. Melt and pour soap cools and hardens quickly, so you'll have to learn to time the hardening right when using additives. If the base is too hot, it can burn and become gloppy and tough to work into a mold.

Some additives work better than others in melt and pour soaps. For best results, try sandalwood powder or dried calendula flower petals. Many herbs tend to change color in the soap. Other additives you can work with include exfoliants, fruit seeds, and milk powders.

Cold Process Soap Making Method

The cold process method is a little more complicated and takes longer than melt and pour soap. It also involves using lye, which is a caustic substance. To make cold process soap, heat your choice of oils in a soap pot until they reach approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, slowly add a lye-water mixture and blend the soap until it thickens to trace. After the mixture reaches trace, add fragrance, color, and additives, then pour it into a mold. The raw soap takes about 24 hours to harden and a few weeks to cure before it's ready to use.

To start making cold process soap, be prepared to need more equipment and clean-up time than you would with melt and pour soap. Work where there's a heat source and access to water. There are several tools you'll want to have on hand for this method of soap making, but begin with the basics:

• Animal fats or vegetable oils
• A pitcher of lye-water
• A soap pot
• Fragrance or essential oil, as desired
• Natural or synthetic colorant, as desired
• A mold to pour the raw soap into
• Safety gear

You'll need a cool, dry place where the soap can cure. Since this soap-making method includes saponification, you can use fresh additives such as milk and fruit. The high pH environment of the saponification process preserves the ingredients and prevents the formation of bacteria or mold. The texture of cold process soap is also thicker, which means you can use heavier additives that won't sink to the bottom.

Note that any vanilla ingredient might not be a reliable additive in cold process soap making because of the potential alcohol content and it may turn your soap brown. Once you learn how to make cold process soap, take your talents to the next level and make homemade shampoo soap bars.