What is a Soap?
A soap is a result of a mixture between an animal or vegetable oil (or fat) with Sodium Hydroxide solution (commonly known as lye or caustic soda).
The chemical reaction creates completely new substances, resulting in a product that is alkali of a fatty acid.
Fat/Oil + NaOH--- Glycerine + Soap
- 1g NaOH produces 0.77g Glycerine in the soaping reaction.
- 1g Oil/fat produces approximately 1g of soap salt.
In the soapmaking process, animal or vegetable fats (made up of fatty acids and glycerine) combine with the lye solution to make a soap. This is called the SAPONIFICATION PROCESS.
Tools to Make a Soap
You don’t need a bunch of expensive specialty equipment when just starting out. You might even have some of these items available in your home.
Keep your utensils and containers that are used for soapmaking separate from those that you use to cook with.
Digital Scale – Most ingredients for making soap, especially the oils and lye, need to be weighed using a scale.
Mixing Utensils – Stick to spoons and spatulas made from silicone, hard plastic or stainless steel. Although mixing soap with a big wooden spoon is a romantic notion, avoid wood as it can splinter over time when exposed to lye. You don’t want splinters in your soap!
Stick Blender – You will need a stick blender or immersion blender to blend the soap.
Mould – Soap is fluid when poured. You will need something to hold it as it hardens overnight. There are many types of moulds you can use for soaping ranging from more expensive wooden loaf and slab moulds to inexpensive “found” moulds including Pringles cans, yogurt cups and shoeboxes. I only use silicon moulds.
Containers for Weighing out Oils and Mixing Soap – Use a stainless-steel pot, a large glass measuring bowl, a bucket or heavy-duty paint mixing containers.
DO NOT USE ALUMINIUM! Sodium hydroxide reacts with aluminium, creating hydrogen gas, so make sure that the only metal you use is stainless steel.
Thermometer – If you’re a beginner, you might need to take the temperatures.
Goggles and Gloves - Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic chemical. Contact with skin and eyes can cause severe irritation, burns and blindness.
When handling lye, you must wear safety goggles to protect your eyes and gloves to protect your hands. One splash of lye solution into your eye can permanently damage your eyesight.
Always make sure your environment is free from distractions including pets, children and other family members.
When making your lye solution, always add your lye to the water- NEVER add your water to the lye or a volcanic eruption can occur. One way to remember this is to say to yourself, ‘snow falls on the lake, lye falls on the water’.
Make sure you mix your lye in a well-ventilated area as it does let off fumes when first mixed with water.
Bottom line: If you get lye on your skin, flush with water. If you get lye on a surface, neutralize with vinegar and rinse/wipe up with water.
Water in Soapmaking - Water is used to dissolve the lye. Distilled water is preferable as tap water can contain minerals, metals and other contaminants.
Keep a copy of an MSDS for sodium hydroxide (your supplier can provide one) nearby
and the number to poison control written on it. An accident probably won’t happen, but if it does, you’ll be ready.
Make sure all your family members (adults and kids) understand the danger of sodium hydroxide and what it can do.
Clearly mark all containers that will hold your lye solution so no one wondering through the kitchen on soaping day confuses it for a beverage.
Again, not likely but anything is possible.
The Basic Cold Process Method
We will make a Coconut Oil Cold Process Soap!
The ingredients are Coconut oil, Sodium hydroxide (lye) and Water.
The cold process method is very simple:
Weigh lye and water into two separate containers.
Gear up in your goggles and gloves before you handle the lye. Do not attempt these steps until you have read the section on lye safety.
Pour the lye into the water while stirring.
Remember, NEVER add your water to the lye or a volcanic eruption can occur, always add the lye to the water!
Never use a glass container to mix the lye solution in, as it heats up quickly and can cause a glass container to shatter. Use either a stainless-steel spoon or a silicone utensil to stir. Stir it, let it sit until it becomes clear (5-10 minutes) then stir again to make sure all the lye is dissolved.
It will fume, so stand back while stirring and stir in a well-ventilated area.
Weigh out the hard oils/butters and melt.
Hard oils are any oils that are solid at room temperature, such as coconut oil, palm oil, cocoa butter and shea butter. The easy way to do this is to melt the oils/butters in the containers where you will make the soap.
Weigh out the liquid oils (this step it’s not applicable in our coconut oil soap recipe). You can either weigh out the liquid oils directly into the melted oils or you can measure them out into a separate container and then add to the melted oils. If you are new, I recommend measuring the liquid oils out into a separate container.
You can add additives to your soaps such as essential oil, colours and fragrances. In those cases, the ingredients must be added to the oil/butter mixture at this stage.
We are making a simple soap for a beginner; we don’t have any additive.
BLEND TIME!
Touch the outside of both the oil container and the lye container. They should feel warm but not hot. If they feel hot, then let them sit for a bit longer.
I don’t usually take temperatures, but you certainly can and it's a good idea when just starting out. Aim for a temperature of 90-110°F for the oils and lye.
If the lye is a bit cooler you shouldn't have any problems, you just don't want it too hot.
Pour the lye solution into the oil/butter mixture. Submerge your stick blender into the soap mixture and pulse for about 10 seconds.
Turn off the stick blender and mix manually for about 5-10 seconds. Make sure you move your stick blender around and are pulling the mixture from the bottom of the container to the top. Repeat until you reach trace.
Trace, in the soapmaking world, is the term used when you can visually see soap sit on the surface of the mixture when drizzled off of a spatula or stick blender.
When you reach TRACE, you’re ready to pour your soap into the mould!
Pour the soap into your mould!
When you pour your soap into the mould make sure you use a silicone spatula to get out every bit of soap that you can from the container.
If you have a bit left over, keep a small container like a yogurt cup or single cavity mould available for overflow. Never pour raw soap down the drain. Wipe all the raw soap from containers and utensils then wash everything as usual with an oil cutting cleaner.
You can clean your containers, and every tool used in the next day, once the leftovers are all turned into soap.
Unmould and cut your soap (or use single moulds)
Most soap can be unmoulded 24 hours after being poured. Soap that is high in soft oils might need an extra 24 hours to harden up enough to unmould and cut. Soap that is high in hard or brittle oils might be ready a bit sooner.
Curing and Storing Your Soap
Cold process soap needs to cure, ideally between 4-6 weeks.
During the cure time, water evaporates making your soap harder and longer lasting in the shower. Also, during this time, the last bit of saponification takes place making your soap less harsh and much nicer to use.
Use a cool dry area with plenty of air circulation.
Do not use aluminium around your soap!
That’s it, you have made a soap!
Coconut Oil Cold Process Soap Recipe
- 200g Coconut Oil
- 37g Sodium Hydroxide/Lye/Caustic Soda
- 75g Water
