As a hobby, soap making is becoming more and more popular. This is really a very interesting, exciting and rewarding activity. We offer some useful tips that will definitely come in handy for a novice soap maker.
When starting to work with soap, follow these steps.
There are several techniques for making homemade soap: The last two can be considered the most simple and acceptable for a beginner.
Let's sort everything out in order.
Soap "from scratch"
For making, you will need: caustic soda (it can be purchased in various online stores dedicated to soap making), coconut, castor, palm oils and olive cosmetic essential oils, dyes at will. Required tools: mask, gloves, goggles (you need to work with sodium hydroxide very carefully), thermometer, water bath (or microwave), soap dish.
You should be very responsible when choosing oils, they must be fresh, so when purchasing them in a store, keep an eye on the expiration date of the product and the integrity of the packaging.
- First, you need to put on a mask and gloves, and also make sure that your hands are covered with clothing.
- Heat palm oil (280 g), cosmetic olive (210 g), coconut refined (175 g) and castor (35 g) oils, without boiling, to about 50-60 degrees.
- Pour 230 g of purified cold water into another container, then add 100 g of caustic soda to the water (and not vice versa), mix everything carefully, not forgetting about safety precautions. Remember, skin contact with alkali can cause severe burns.
- When the temperature of the melted oils reaches 50 degrees, mix them with a sodium hydroxide solution. Whisk the mixture with a blender for a few minutes.
- After that, pour in your chosen essential oils, pour the soap into the mold and wait for it to harden.
Novice soap makers are advised to use Russian or Belarusian soap bases, because their curing time is somewhat longer. You can also recommend an English soap base for use, because it does not have an extra odor, takes oils and dyes well, does not dry the skin and does not irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes, nevertheless, it quickly hardens.
But whichever base you choose, there is one rule: during melting (in a water bath or in a microwave oven), the base should not boil, because future soap may be spoiled.
Using prepared soap
If you use ready-made soap, then it must be cut into small pieces and melted in a water bath or in the microwave, then pour the mixture into a mold and wait for it to thicken.
The soap made should be healthy and nutritious, and on this basis you need to choose an essential oil. An example of which oils are best for certain skin types can be found in the detailed table below.
Short tips for soapmakers on various topics:
- After making soap, many people have a question: how to get it out of the mold. If it is difficult to do this, then put the dish with ready-made soap in the freezer for a few minutes, after which it will be easy to get your product.
- To prevent the soap from winding up and spoiling, wrap it in thermal film or cling film, moreover, the soap must be stored in a dry place.
- If you decide to make a soap consisting of several layers, do not forget to sprinkle each layer with alcohol and scratch it, then the layers will adhere better and the soap will not disintegrate. Also, alcohol is used to remove bubbles from the surface of the soap.
- It is better for a beginner soap-maker to acquire simple shapes, for example, a circle, an oval or a rectangle. Having learned to work with such forms, you can acquire more complicated ones.
