By DoItYourself.com Staff
Intro to Processes - Safety and Materials - Herbal Soaps
What is so Great About Homemade Soap?Let me count the ways. First of all, next time you are at the grocery store looking at what you assume are bars of soap, take a closer look at the name on the containers. You don't see the word "soap" at all, do you? You probably see "beauty bar" and "detergent bar," because those companies cannot legally claim that their product is soap - because it's not!
Glycerin, which you'll learn more about later, is an ingredient that locks in moisture into the skin and is created by a method of soapmaking called cold process. As you can imagine, glycerin is a desirable and powerful ingredient, and knowing its worth, most "beauty bar" manufacturers extract it from their bars and sell it at a higher price elsewhere. As savvy consumers learn and understand this, they seek out healthier alternatives for their skin.
How is Soap Made?
Ever wonder where soap comes from? What the ingredients are? How it is made? More and more Americans are turning to homemade soap for its beneficial properties. But most don't want to make soap, they just want to buy it - from people like you.
You can make soap using several methods depending on your resources, time, level of involvement and workspace. Think of making soap like making cookies: you can make them from scratch, add a few ingredients to pre-made dough, or buy cookies off the shelf and heat them up in the microwave before serving. The same goes with soap. Learn more about the soap making process in the section below.
Cold Process
Cold Process is the process of making soap form scratch. This is a time-consuming process that involves time, chemicals, a well-ventilated work area, and safety precautions. CP requires more of an investment in safety and equipment, but in the end your cost per bar is less than if you were working with a pre-made base. Another benefit of CP is that it is gratifying to make soap from scratch.
Ingredients are combined in a certain order and mixed for a certain amount of time, triggering a chemical reaction called saponification, which results in soap.
The chemical used in cold process soapmaking is called lye (sodium hydroxide). Lye should command your attention as it can be fatal if ingested and burn your skin if contact is made. Always read the container, instructions and warnings of all products you use, but especially lye. Ironically, the chemical reaction, saponification, turns the chemical from something harmful to the skin, to something good for it.
You'll know saponification took place as you stir the liquid, because the mixture will become thick, and continue to thicken as you stir it until it reaches a stage called trace. Trace means the mixture is thick enough that you see a "trace mark" of your spoon on the surface. Trace means you have soap now, and it is time to pour the liquid into your soap molds.
The soap will be hard enough that it takes the shape of the mold after a couple of days, but it is still soft enough to be cut easily. After cutting the soap into slices or removing it from the mold, it will need to remain in a cool, dark place to cure for about four weeks.
As you learned earlier, it is rewarding to make soap from scratch using the cold process, and in the end, your cost per bar will be less than the next two methods we'll discuss. Another economic benefit to the cold process is that you have another market to sell your soap, and that is to other soap makers who opt to buy their soap base as opposed to making it.
As far as time goes, set aside two hours when you're just starting out. This gives you time to properly set-up, review the recipe and safety guidelines and make the soap.
Rebatch Method (Hand Milled)
The rebatch method is making soap using a premade base. This can be base you made and now want to craft, or a base you purchased from a wholesale supplier or soap maker. Since you're dealing with a premade base, the materials are safe to use and you won't need those goggles and gloves!
To rebatch soap, simply cut or shred the soap base and melt it down. This can be done in a double burner or a crock pot. When the soap shreds turns to liquid, add any oils, scents, butters, herbs, moisturizers, exfoliators, and colors to the soap and then pour it into a mold.
Rebatching allows you to take a large batch of base made with cold process and turn it into many different varieties of soap. Rebatching also makes a firmer and longer lasting bar of soap than cold process, which is attractive to the consumer.
Time-wise, you can create a batch this way in about a half and hour.
Melt and Pour
The Melt and Pour method is the easiest, but not the least expensive. This method of making the soap is exactly like rebatching, except the base is glycerin-based soap, which creates a more nourishing, moisturizing end product. As with rebatch, the soap base with melt and pour is melted down, ingredients are added, and the soap is poured into a base. Soaps made using the rebatch and melt and pour methods can be sold immediately and do not have to cure for four weeks like cold process soap. Melt and pour soap can take merely seconds, since unlike rebatch you can melt this base down in the microwave.
Intro to Processes - Safety and Materials - Herbal Soaps
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