SOAP DISH: HOMEMADE SOAP BROUGHT UP TO DATE
 By Niki Hayden
Just as bread bakers yearn for the impeccable crust and wine sommeliers
search for the right bouquet, soap makers attempt the perfect bar. Gentle or
astringent, perfumed or unscented, soap is an ancient craft.
If making soap is a reminder of pioneer women stirring giant vats of lard and
wood ashes, you’ve studied history. Soap making has a messy past based on a
chemical reaction that appeared magical. Fat combines with lye (wood ashes
contain a simple lye) resulting in saponification. The substance no longer is
fat or lye, but a new product capable of cleaning dirt from skin and clothes.
Saponification remains the basic chemistry. But modern soap makers experiment
with exotics like avocado or walnut oils. Although tallow and lard are
available, the mixture of vegetable oils like olive, palm or coconut has become
a favorite.
Homemade soap is nothing like the chalky bars of pioneer days. It may look
like stained glass or be studded with oatmeal. Modern soap makers have turned
soap into a hobby that produces the finest, silkiest bars. Perfumed with
essential oils such as lavender, clary sage, citrus or rose, home soaps look,
and feel, luxurious.
In commercial soap, one of the by-products, glycerin, is siphoned and sold to
cosmetic companies. That simple emollient will remain in your home made soap.
You can design a creamy soap for dry skin, tingly for oily. Have a skin allergy?
You can decide exactly what goes into soap.
TAKE PRECAUTIONS
Soap contains lye. With that comes a caution: lye will burn your skin and
blind you if it splashes in your eyes. Vinegar is an antidote, but it cannot
undo the damage of spilled lye. In soap making, few accidents happen because
soap makers are cautioned extensively to wear goggles, long sleeves, long pants
and rubber gloves. Never use lye around children or pets. Once this basic lesson
is taught, the rest of soap is easy.
Unlike bread, where you can dabble with the basic ingredients, soap isn’t
cooking. It’s a complicated chemical reaction. You measure just the right
amount of lye and water. Those are mixed outside or in a well-ventilated room
then added to oils and stirred until a trace is formed. A trace is when the
mixture has thickened. When a little is dribbled over the surface, the dribble
line sits on the surface without sinking into it. An essential oil is stirred
into the mixture. The mixture is poured into trays, wrapped in a blanket for warmth and
allowed to sit for about 24 hours. Saponification continues for several days and
the soap will feel warm to the touch. The soap is not suitable for use until at
least a week later and possibly longer. It will cure and harden in a few weeks.
GETTING STARTED
If you’d like to begin making soap, find a good book, like "The
Soapmaker’s Companion" by Susan Miller Cavitch. It’s by Storey Books.
Or, get in touch with the Denver Botanic Gardens. They offer a number of soap
making classes. Call 303-370-8019 or 303-370-8020 for information or visit the
website: www.botanicgardens.org
The advantage to taking a class is that you’ll have all the equipment right
there to try a first time experience. Most soap makers keep their soap equipment
separate from their cooking equipment to avoid mixing chemicals with food.
And, soap making instructors usually offer a variety of essential oils to
choose from, so you have the opportunity to try out what you might like. If you
love aromatherapy, you’ll want to experiment and create your own scent. (See
our interview with Mindy Green on aromatherapy).
Instructors will watch you closely to see that you’re taking safety
precautions—the most important lesson. And if your soap doesn’t quite look
right, they can usually tell you why.
Soap isn’t difficult to make, but everyone will have at least one batch
that doesn’t turn out. If the bars are streaked with chalky lines, then either
too much lye was added or the ingredients were not mixed long enough to create a
trace. This is a common beginner’s mistake. When the oils and lye are mixed,
the liquid changes consistency before your eyes. It thickens, turns whiter,
almost like a cream. But it’s not truly mixed enough until a clear tracing
line is formed. A rule of thumb is to dribble a circle or star on the surface.
If the outline floats clearly on the surface and forms a pattern, you’ve got a
trace. Then you can add the essential oils, stir vigorously and pour into molds.
Here’s another beginner’s mistake. The ingredients must be measured
exactly. That means that using a chemist’s scale is far more accurate than a
simple kitchen scale. Measurements are usually in grams, again for accuracy.
Longtime soap makers know that investing in a high quality scale will make the
difference between many lost batches and a successful batch each time.
The lye you choose must be pure—Red Devil is available at most stores. Don’t
use products like Drano that have lye as one of several ingredients. And water
should be distilled, again so that there are no natural chemicals that will
alter the saponification.
To make soap, you’ll need a non-aluminum pan, something like an enamel or
stainless steel pot, plastic spoons, and thermometers (to check the temperature
of the oils and the lye). An electric mixer is the easiest way to mix well. A
series of plastic food containers will serve as molds. Leftover plastic yogurt
cups make round soap if they are filled half way. Molds must be plastic, or a
wooden tray lined in plastic wrap. Lined with freezer paper, the hardened soap
will be easy to life out. Peel away from the paper and cut into bars. About 24
hours after the soap starts to harden, it has the consistency of half frozen
butter and will be easy to cut.
A SIMPLE RECIPE
Most soap recipes make about 15 bars of soap. But to start out, think small.
Here’s a recipe for one bar of soap:
- 17.9 grams of lye (.5 ounces)
- 45.4 grams of distilled water (1.5 ounces)
- 42.2 grams of olive oil (1.4 ounces)
- 36.2 grams of coconut oil (1.2 ounces)
- 42.2 grams palm oil (1.4 ounces)
- ¼ teaspoon of essential oil
Both coconut and palm oil are usually ordered from soap making or chemical
firms. In a pinch, you may substitute Crisco shortening. Again, the advantage to
taking a course is that you will have all the appropriate ingredients for your
first bar of soap.
Measure the distilled water. Measure the lye. Take both outside to a safe
place and pour the lye into the water. Never pour water into lye; it’s highly
dangerous. Next, it will heat up—to 175 degrees. Leave it alone to cool in a
place where it will not be touched by anyone or, if safer, place in a sink.
Measure the oils and pour them into an enamel pan. Warm the oils to 90
degrees. Wait until the lye cools to 90 degrees. Pour the lye slowly into the
oils and begin stirring. Here’s where a mixer becomes handy. But for this one
bar, mixing by hand will be fine. Mix until a trace is formed. Add your
essential oil and stir well. Pour into a mold, like a yogurt cup. Insulate with
an old blanket for 24 hours. Then you may remove the bar and allow it to cure
for two weeks.
GIVING GIFTS
If you’d like to give your soap as a gift, here are a few ideas. Cut thin
strips of wrapping paper; wrap around each bar and tape the back. Or, use raffia
and thin satin ribbon as a tie around each bar. In our photo, dried pansies,
violas and violets are pressed into the soft soap. Press flowers such as pansies
or violets between the leaves of a thick book until they are dried and flat.
Dampen a side on the soap and the dried flower will stick.
Helpful web sites:
To reach Storey Books, call 1-800-793-9396.
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