Make Bar Soap

Making bar soap at home is a cost-effective and creative hobby. It can also help you reduce the amount of chemical additives in your everyday life and become more self-sufficient. Be aware that making it fully from scratch is a lengthy and potentially dangerous project. Consider trying out the Make-'Melt-and-Pour'-Soap method first. If you decide to make your own from scratch as detailed below, read the safety instructions thoroughly before you begin.

Steps

Creating a Recipe and Following Safety Instructions

1. Follow this procedure carefully to make soap bars from scratch. This method is called "cold process" soap making but it actually requires a fair bit of heat, not to mention dangerous chemical reactions. It can take over an hour of constant stirring, followed by up to eight weeks of "curing" before it is ready to use.
   • Follow the melt and pour method for an easier, safer, and less time consuming process.
   • Never use this method when around kids.
2. Read every step carefully for safety instructions. Making soap from scratch involves the use of lye. This is a natural product made from wood ash, but it is extremely caustic and can dissolve skin, melt kitchen utensils, and cause an explosion if used improperly.
   • Always wear rubber, plastic, or latex gloves to protect your hands.
   • Always wear safety goggles that protect your eyes from every side. Lye can permanently damage your eyes. Ordinary eyeglasses are not sufficient.
   • Always wear long sleeves and long pants that fully cover your skin.
   • Always work in a well ventilated area. Use a fan blowing out the window to increase ventilation if necessary. To be extra cautious, move all open containers with lye to a well ventilated room whenever they are not in use, making sure everyone in your house knows to avoid it.
   • Always use separate containers and utensils for soapmaking than for food preparation and eating. Make sure everyone in your house knows where your special soapmaking implements are kept so they don't use them for food. The exception is pots and utensils that only come into contact with the oil mixture, before it is added to the lye.
   • Never pour water into lye. Always add the lye to the water, small amounts at a time. Pouring the water on top of the lye will create a lye explosion that spatters everything nearby.
   • Never use aluminum for soapmaking. Lye and aluminum react dangerously, releasing fumes and ruining your soap. Always use stainless steel, heat-safe glass, or heat-safe plastic for all containers and stirring implements involved in soap making. A wooden spoon or stick will work for a while, but the lye will eventually break it apart and put splinters into your soap.
   • Never leave lye or freshly made soap somewhere a kid or pet can reach it. Let everyone in your house know about these safety risks before you begin.
3. Be prepared to treat injuries before they arise. Read this beforehand and become familiar with safety procedures in case of accident. If you do get lye on yourself or someone else, here's what to do:
   • If you get lye on your eyes, take out your contacts if you are wearing them. Immediately rinse your eye under cold water for fifteen minutes. Have someone else contact medical emergency services while you do this, or wait until your eye is rinsed before calling.
   • If you swallow lye or freshly made soap, drink regular tap water. Do not try to vomit. Call medical emergency services immediately, then the poison control center. Look up the number of your region's poison control center before beginning the soapmaking process.
   • If you get lye on yourself, remove any articles of clothing covering it and rinse the affected area in cold water for at least fifteen minutes.
4. Choose your vegetable oils. You can use all kinds of vegetable oils to create soap, but the amount of other ingredients you need varies depending on the type. If this is your first time making soap, make a small batch with one or two types of oil. Even an ordinary kitchen vegetable oil will work.
   • For a simple recipe that's a little fancier than kitchen vegetable oil, try pure hemp seed or palm oil, or mix one of them with or equal parts olive oil.
   • For a creamier soap with more lather, use 1 part coconut oil, 1 part palm oil, and 1 part olive oil. A small amount of sweet almond oil added to this mixture creates a pleasant scent.
   • Whichever oils you pick, the total amount for your first batch should be 16 oz (450 grams) or less. Measure by weight if you have a kitchen scale, since this is more accurate than volume measurements.
   • Read a book about making soap or look at this chart for an idea of how each type of oil affects your soap.
5. Use a lye calculator to determine how much lye you need. If you are following a specific recipe for the amounts and types of oils you chose, you can use the amount of lye specified in that recipe. Otherwise, find an online lye calculator and enter the amounts and types of oils you are using.
   • Try the pine meadows or MMS calculators, or use a search engine to find your own.
   • Be sure to set the calculator to the correct settings. Don't accidentally enter your amount in grams if your recipe calls for ounces.
   • If there is a "superfatting" box, set it to 5%, a good default consistency for soapmaking.

Creating the Soap Batter

1. Do not skip part I. Some of these instructions may not make sense if you have not read part I. You also risk serious injury if you skip the safety instructions before handling lye.
2. Pour the water into a safe container. Using the amount in the recipe or derived from the lye calculator, measure your water into a heat-safe glass or plastic container such as a Pyrex measuring cup. Metal will get hot and may corrode when you add the lye, so even stainless steel is not recommended for this purpose.
   • If you halved a recipe to make a small beginner's batch, remember to halve every ingredient, not just the oil.
3. Measure out the lye into its own container using a kitchen scale. Carefully measure out the lye into a heat-safe glass or plastic container. If using a small amount of lye, you can measure it in a paper "cup" formed from half an envelope. Handle with caution regardless, to avoid spills.
   • Lye is usually sold at hardware stores or online.
   • Measuring by weight is more accurate than measuring by volume and will produce better results.
4. Pour the lye into the water a small amount at time, while stirring. Stir continually with a stainless steel or heat-safe plastic implement. Let the mixture grow warm and turn white before you add more lye. Continue until all the lye is mixed into the water and the mixture is scalding hot.
   • Never pour the water into the lye or dump the entire packet of lye into the water. This can cause a massive lye explosion that will splatter everything nearby with dangerous chemicals.
   • Do not breathe near or directly above the mixture, as it releases dangerous lye fumes.
5. Put a thermometer into the lye water and let the mixture cool. You should let it cool to at least 125ºF (50ºC) but 110ºF (43ºC) or less is ideal. You should move on to the next step while you wait, since you'll need to heat the oils up to a similar temperature before the lye is ready.
6. Heat your oils together until they reach the desired temperature. The goal is to get the oils about 10ºF (5.6ºC) cooler than the lye or less, so get the oils to roughly 110ºF (43ºC), or about 125ºF (50ºC) if the recipe you're using specifically says the mixture can handle the higher temperature.
   • This mixture of hot oils is referred to as "fixed oils" in some recipes.
   • Do not heat the oils hotter than the lye mixture.
7. Add the hot oils to the lye and water mixture. Think about whether you need a larger container first, but only use Pyrex or stainless steel. Pour the oils slowly into the lye and water mixture.
8. Stir until the mixture is significantly thicker and the stirring implement leaves light trace marks in the soap batter. This could take fifteen minutes to half an hour or even longer, depending on the type of oils you used. If stirring by hand, use a stainless steel or heat-safe plastic implement, and be aware that it will probably corrode after long use.
   • Only use a stainless steel electric mixer or stick blender if you have the soap batter in a deep container to prevent splattering. They will greatly speed up the stirring process, but you should not use them again for cooking. Be aware that they will corrode after multiple batches.
   • If using a stick blender, fully submerge it in the batter before turning it on. Tap it against the side to release air bubbles, then set it to low. Once the mixture is much thicker, you can set it to medium or high.
9. Add fragrances or other additives (optional). If you have any essential oils, herbs, or thickeners such as colloidal oatmeal, stir it into the batter at this time. Typically, a soap contains no more than 6% additives by volume, so go easy with them.
   • Read the label on essential oils to see if they are safe for skin.
   • Stir them in thoroughly to spread them evenly throughout the soap.
10. Continue stirring until the mixture is much thicker. The result is called a "trace" after the lingering trace lines left by the movement of the stirrer. Another way to test it is to lift the stirring implement up. The soap batter should clump to it, and when it falls, the drop should stay supported on the batter's surface.
    • If it is taking a long time to thicken and your arms are getting tired, you can take a fifteen minute break after at least fifteen minutes of stirring.

Preparing the Soap for Use

1. Prepare your soap molds. Soap molds are simply boxes for the liquid batter to set in. Any clean, dry plastic container will work, or you can buy a silicone mold. If using a wooden container, line it first with a silicone lining or freezer paper. The latter is available in supermarkets.
2. Pour the soap batter into the mold. Fill each mold to near the top; you'll be cutting it into smaller bars later. Use a rubber spatula to scrape out the remaining batter.
   • Drop the mold from two inches (a few centimeters) above the counter to jar any air bubbles out of your soap. Do this several times if your mixture looks frothy.
3. Cover the mold with cardboard and towels. Tape a piece of cardboard over the mold to cover it. Wrap a towel around the entire mold to insulate it and ensure proper setting.
4. Wait 24 hours before cutting into bars. The "saponification" process that results in a solid bar takes about a day to reach a good stage for cutting. Remove from the mold after that period has passed and cut into more convenient, smaller bars.
   • Keep your soap at room temperature and out of reach of children. It is still dangerous to touch when freshly made.
   • Wait an additional day or two if it is still soft.
5. Let it dry further for several weeks before using. Leave the soap bars out in the open to dry somewhere people won't move them. Put them on top of wax paper or a similar disposable material to prevent the oils damaging the surface they are sitting on. They will form usable soap after 3 to 8 weeks, depending on the oils used.
   • Wait for at least four weeks if you are not following a specific recipe.

Tips

• You can use almost any type of fat in your homemade bar soap. Palm oil, shea butter or cocoa butter are popular choices. Lard or shortening can be melted for use also.
• You can substitute milk or herbal tea for water to make soaps with different consistencies or scents.
• The "hot process" soap making method is similar to the cold process method described under Making Soap from Scratch, but involves moving the thickened "trace" into a crock pot and heating until is waxy and lumpy. This soap will take less time to cure, but many soap makers dislike it due to the lumpy, unattractive bars that result.
• Do not touch soap made from scratch with bare hands until it is cured.(You can get burnt by the fresh soap as it is quite alkaline while setting.)
• If you cannot find lye at the hardware store, check the label on drain cleaners. Some of these, but not all, are 100% lye.
• Play around with different mixtures of oils once you have the hang of soap making from scratch. There are many soap making books and online communities for sharing recipes and teaching you about the properties of each oil.

Warnings

• Please run all recipes through a soap calculator before using to check you have the quantities correct - a wrong recipe can result in a dangerous soap that will burn your skin.
• Lye can cause severe pain, injury, or death if mishandled. Read every step carefully if making soap from scratch to learn all safety procedures. Keep lye out of the reach of children at all times, whether in use or not.

Things You'll Need

• Lye (must be 100%)
• Vegetable oil(s)
• Safety goggles
• Long sleeve shirt or coveralls
• Long pants
• Rubber, plastic, or latex gloves
• Pyrex or other heat-safe non-aluminum container (that you won't ever use for cooking food)
• Stainless steel, heat-safe glass, wooden, or heat-safe plastic stirring or electric mixing implements (nothing you care too much about)
• Two thermometers that can handle high temperatures (a candy thermometer works well)
• Pot or pan for heating oil
• Silicone or plastic containers (or wooden lined with freezer paper)
• Cardboard
• Towel

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Make Calamine Soap
• Make Lye
• Make Your Own Soap
• Use Castile Soap
• Make Homemade Liquid Dish Soap
• Make a New Bar of Soap from Used Bars of Soap
• Make 'Melt and Pour' Soap
• Make Glycerin Soap
• Make Handmade Soap
• Make Organic Soap

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