Soap Making 101

[aggieterpkatie]

Ok, here's the recipe I'm going to start with:

9 oz (255 g) coconut oil
21 oz (595 g) olive oil
9 oz (255 g) fluid milk
4.1 oz (116 g) lye


We need to go to Sam's Club this weekend so I'll get some olive oil then. They've got fairly good prices. I'm not sure where I'll find coconut oil....hopefully I can find it somewhere locally. I'm guessing it's sold near the cooking oils section of stores?

I also need to pick up a postal scale and a thermometer. I think I've got everything else.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Since I'm allergic to so many soap products, thought hard about how to make my own. I don't want to use lye or anything else harsh like that. I don't have any soapwort either. Then I heard about those pumps that make liquid into a foam.

So ... if I use one of those pumps, could I must mix boiled/cooled water with some tea tree oil, vinegar and my favorite scent, rose, then put it in one of those bottles? Do you think that would work?

Here's a link: http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin14f.html .. just called them and they aren't sure if what I want to do will work. So they are mailing me some samples to experiment with. Wow! Really nice people.

Has anyone else used those pumps before?

 

[freemotion]

Since I'm allergic to so many soap products, thought hard about how to make my own. I don't want to use lye or anything else harsh like that. I don't have any soapwort either. Then I heard about those pumps that make liquid into a foam.

So ... if I use one of those pumps, could I must mix boiled/cooled water with some tea tree oil, vinegar and my favorite scent, rose, then put it in one of those bottles? Do you think that would work?

Here's a link: http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin14f.html .. just called them and they aren't sure if what I want to do will work. So they are mailing me some samples to experiment with. Wow! Really nice people.

Has anyone else used those pumps before?

I'm fairly certain it won't work in the foaming pump. I use them with watered down liquid soap.

No need to worry. There is NO lye left in cured soap. None. It is not caustic once cured. There is a chemical reaction between the lye and the oils that turns the oils into soap....it is called saponification. As long as your ratios are correct, the soap will be mild and soothing. The artificial rose scent will be far more irritating than home made soap will be, really. You will LOVE your homemade soap. I am very sensitive to many chemicals and have no issue using or making unscented soap.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I wanted to make a soap that didn't use lye because I don't want to worry about making it or buying it in the future. That ole SS thing.

Essential oils don't bother me. I would never use fake rose scent instead of rose essential oil.

Maybe I could try with soapwort. Gonna see if I can find some before I start to grow some myself. I already have seeds but didn't have the time or energy this year.

 

[freemotion]

Lye comes from hardwood ash, so it can be an ss thing! (Are you aware that rose eo is several hundred dollars per ounce???? Egads!) You run water through a lot of hardwood ash and into something to collect it, and float an egg in it. If the egg floats so that a spot the size of a quarter is above the liquid, it is strong enough to make soap. Or so I've read and committed to memory.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We have one rose bush and plan to add a lot more.

I guess certain things have always scared me a little, and that includes lye. Thinking I should do some reading about it. If I understand it a little better, maybe I'll be better with it.

 

[me&thegals]

Ok, here's the recipe I'm going to start with:

9 oz (255 g) coconut oil
21 oz (595 g) olive oil
9 oz (255 g) fluid milk
4.1 oz (116 g) lye


We need to go to Sam's Club this weekend so I'll get some olive oil then. They've got fairly good prices. I'm not sure where I'll find coconut oil....hopefully I can find it somewhere locally. I'm guessing it's sold near the cooking oils section of stores?

I also need to pick up a postal scale and a thermometer. I think I've got everything else.

Good luck! I think I used a thermometer the first few times, but it's not really that necessary. Heat the oils until melted, then cool to nearly room temp. Blend lye into liquid, then cool to nearly room temp. Then mix the 2 It should work fine with the recipe above. For really, really hard things like beeswax things need to be warmer.

Have fun

 

[savingdogs]

We have one rose bush and plan to add a lot more.

I guess certain things have always scared me a little, and that includes lye. Thinking I should do some reading about it. If I understand it a little better, maybe I'll be better with it.

While lye can be a very dangerous thing, so can bleach, so can oven cleaner, so can gasoline, so can lots of things we use every day. I second what freemotion said about there not being lye in finished soap after saponification. In addition, I have read on soapmaking forums the question, "can you make soap without lye?" the answer is no, you cannot, you have to have Sodium Hydroxide (lye) or Potassium hydroxide (what you get using plain wood ashes and using free's method described above) in order to make soap. Potassium hydroxide is used to make liquid soap, which might work well in your soap pump.

If you are not afraid to use bleach or gasoline or oven cleaner, it is the same concept. You get it out when the children are not around and keep it where they cannot reach it, you are careful not to spill on your skin or eyes, and you carefully close it up and put it away carefully and completely when you are done. You use protective eye gear and gloves. We bought it in a crystalized powder dry form so it is very stable and easy to store. Soapmaking should not be attempted while taking care of small children or intoxicated people, that sort of thing so I just make it when there isn't too much going on and I have time for quiet concentration.

I have seen coconut oil for sale in several markets, the cheapest was wallmart.

 

[valmom]

Yes, lye is nothing to be that afraid of. Cautious, but not afraid. All the lye ideally gets used up in the chemical reaction that makes soap- and to make sure it is, I use a superfatted recipe (more fat than is needed to use up the lye in the reaction). This also makes the soap deliciously mild and moisturizing . Saponification requires, by definition, the reaction of a base and a long-chain fatty acid. You can't get to soap without both.

I order my lye from AAA chemicals. I discovered I can't buy anything that is NaOH around here. KOH, yes, but not sodium. In fact, I have a bottle of drain opener that I bought without looking at the label and it is potassium. Maybe I will try liquid soap, since we do use that diluted in those foaming dispensers. (it's amazing how far they stretch your soap!)

Good luck with your first soap, Aggieterpkatie- and unscented soaps smell great! I did my first many batches without scent so if I messed up there was that much less expense involved. I still make a batch without scent once in awhile because a co-worker buys it from me because scents trigger migraines for her.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Ok, it says at Walmart.com they sell Lou Ana brand 100% pure non-hydrogenated (not that I'm eating it anyways) coconut oil. I just hope I can find some local lye because I want to make it this weekend.