Try this recipe at home or, just buy my DVD for video instructions for just $10.00!

BASIC COLD PROCESSED SOAPMAKING

In cold process soap making, oils and/or fats (our soaps are made soley with vegetable based products) are combined with lye without adding heat and saponification (the chemical process that produces soap) takes place slowly, over several weeks. Using different combinations of oils and additives, you can produce many different soaps at home.

Water: Distilled.

Lye:You should know about the dangers of handling lye, or sodium hydroxide. Be sure to store lye where kids or pets can NEVER get at it. Stainless steel or Pyrex containers should be used when mixing and handling lye. Use wooden or stainless steel spoons.Lye is not to be used with aluminum as it will act as a corrosive and ruin your utensils. Also, lye instantly and permanently takes the shine off Formica.  You should always wear eye protection and rubber gloves when handling the lye crystals or the lye solution after you have mixed it into the water.

Dissolve lye in cold water. Never pour the water into the lye as ddoing this could cause the mixture to bubble up and spill out of the container you are mixing in. Rather, always pour the lye into the water.Use protective eye wear and heavy rubber gloves when pouring lye in the water.  I mix the lye and water in a well ventilated area, usually outside. I wear a protective mask when mixing my lye and water.  Try not to breathe in the fumes as the fumes are caustic.  If you don't stir it immediately as you pour the lye into the water, the lye will settle to the bottom and quickly solidify.  The lye is dissolved when the water becomes relatively clear. Before using, the lye water must now cool down to about 100-110 degrees F before adding it to the fat.

Fats and Oils used in soap making.  The oils for our soap making include Vegetable Oil, Coconut Oil,Olive Oil, Safflower Oil and Soy Bean Oil to name a few.  There are a multitude of oils and they each bring their own unique qualities to soap. If you want to know what a particular oil will do, make a small batch of only that oil and see what kind of bar it makes.   Whatever type of fat or oil you use, you must ensure it is clean and free of impurities. 

Saponification (Sap) Value:Each oil requires a different amount of lye to change the oils to soap.   I use Soap maker Professional Software to calculate all of my soaping recipes.  The temperature of the oils is important. It needs to be a bit above it’s melting point. This is 110 degrees F. The hotter your oil, the faster the chemical reaction between the lye and the fat. But the hotter the oil, the easier the soap separates into layers during the mixing stage.

Mixing:With the lye water 100 – 110 degrees F and fat 100-110 degrees, very gradually pour the lye water into the oils using a very small stream. Stir gently the whole time you are adding the lye water. This helps it to mix.  

Saponification and its role in the mixing process: Simply stated, saponification is the name for the chemical process that happens between lye and oil as they turn into soap. It doesn't happen all at once, but actually takes days to complete. There are different levels of this process, and the most important one for you to know about is the"Trace"stage. This is the point at which your soap has thickened up somewhat. As you let the soap run off your mixing spoon back into the mixture, the falling soap stays on top and doesn't blend in, but leaves its "trace" mark on top. Its thickness is another way to know when trace occurs. Its consistency is much like the thickness of pudding after it's cooked but before it has setup.  With stirring only, it can take a long time to get your soap to trace stage depending on many variables. Does this mean you need to sit and stir your soap for several hours until it traces? I don't. After mixing in the lye, I use a stick blender (intermittently on and off) until I get to the trace I want.


When your soap gets to its trace stage, the saponification process is around 90% complete. Fat added at this point makes your soap softer. There is a reason why the superfatting oil is added after tracing instead of at the beginning with all the other fats. If it was added at the beginning you wouldn't have any control over which fat or oil ended up as your 'free fat' as all fats would saponify together. This is presupposing you are going to superfat with a different fat or oil than you used to make your soap with. Exotic oils are generally used in superfatting.They are added at trace.  A good rule of thumb is to use 1 oz. per pound of total fat used in the recipe. That's one part superfatting oil to 16 parts total fat. Let me list just 2 of the more common superfatting oils:

Coloring Dyes:Several things are used to color soap. Approved items are clays, mineral pigments and spices.   Natural herbs and Soap Colorants are used in our soaps.

Scenting Oils:There are two types of scenting oils, FO's(fragrance oils) and EO's (essential oils). EO's are much more expensive and harder to find than FO's but also have better scent retention.  FOs can often be used safely at trace however. Make a small test batch first to see if your FO is going to work before making a big batch.  FO can trace a batchof soap VERY quickly.

Molding:  We use pre-made molds for our soaps.Birchwood soap molds are wonderful!  The soap is poured into the specific molds, covered/insulated for 24 hours.  The soap is then unmolded and cured.  Your soap should be below a pH of 10 within 36-72 hours after ithas traced. The closer the pH of the finished soap is to 7 the better but don't expect normally made soap to reach this. If your soap is over a pH of 10, let it sit around for a week or two.  Your soap should be below a pH of 10 beforeyou use it. Below a pH of 9 would be better.

Final Curing and Storage: With the soap out of the tray or molds, set each bar on-end and set it in a cool dry place for at least four to six weeks depending on the soap recipe.  You might notice a thin, white powdery layer on the outside of your soap. This is soda ash, and forms as a result of the carbon dioxide in the air interacting with the lye in the soap. This outer layer quickly washes off the first time you use it. If this is a concern, cover your setting soap with plastic wrap so the air can't get to it. After saponification nears completion, you can remove the air barrier to let your soap dry out. After all this, if there is still a thin layer of soda ash on your soap after it has cured, wash it off, then let the surface of your soap dry before storage.