Soap making is a very exciting experience. Having learned, you can make home cosmetics not only in the form of soap, but also in the form of shower gel, shampoo, body scrub, bath bombs.
What materials do beginners need:
To make soap, you need a minimum set of materials and accessories.
- Soap base
- Flavors, fragrances, essential oils (base oil)
- Dyes, pigments
- Forms for filling
- Alcohol in a spray bottle
- A glass for melting, a spoon or stick, wooden or glass, rubber gloves
Now let's take a closer look at each material:
-
Soap base - available in the form of a bar. It contains alkali, vegetable oil and water. It happens white and transparent, it is basic and it also happens for swirls. The basis can be from different manufacturers, which one is better to take, you will understand for yourself by trial and error.
Image - Fragrances and Fragrances - Gives the soap a pleasant scent. As well as the base, the fragrance is from different manufacturers, and from this the price is different.
- Essential oils - Gives soap a pleasant scent, but not as harsh as perfume. It is important to know that you cannot add a lot of essential oil to soap, in order to avoid allergies and skin burns.
- Base Oil - Added to soaps to moisturize the skin. To make it more nutritious, emollient. (But if you're using an oil-based soap base, you don't need to add the base oil.)
- Dyes, pigments - Dyes are water-soluble and gel. But I recommend taking pigments and explain why. Dyes are suitable if the soap is monochromatic, and if the soap is colored, the dyes migrate. Pigments are pasty and liquid. The pigments do not migrate and are therefore suitable for multi-colored soaps. There is also such a substance called "titanium dioxide", it is harmless, and it does not really color, but makes the transparent base matte. There are also mother-of-pearl, they add shine and shine to the soap. And there are glitters, these are ordinary sequins, they do not stain the soap, they are needed for beauty. But it is also important to know that glitter will settle in a hot base.
- Soap molds - they come in silicone and plastic.
- Alcohol - you need to pour it into a spray bottle and it will help get rid of the formation of small bubbles in the finished soap. Be sure to spray the mold with alcohol before pouring and the surface of the chalite soap. If the soap is multi-layer, then you need to spray each layer. Medical alcohol can be replaced with boric alcohol, formic acid and salicylic acid. However, they can leave a white coating and irritate the airways. Be careful not to inhale the vapors!
- Accessories include plastic or glass cups for melting the base, wooden or glass stirring sticks, pipettes for pouring small parts, and a toothpick for scraping out layers of soap when making multi-layer soaps. And of course, you need to work with gloves.
Now we come to the question "How to make soap?"
There are many recipes for soap making, but all recipes boil down to a few simple steps:
- First you need to cut the soap base. Then this base needs to be melted. You can heat in the microwave or in a water bath. Make sure that the soap base does not boil.
- Add dye (pigment), flavor. And if you add base oil, then so does that.
- Stir the soap mass thoroughly.
- Sprinkle the mold and mass in a glass with alcohol. And pour the base into a mold and sprinkle with alcohol again. (do not fill with alcohol, just spray so that there are no bubbles)
- Leave the product to harden. After pulling it out of the mold. If you are not going to use it right away, then it is better to pack it in cling film or thermal film.
