Soapmaking OR An Idiot’s Guide to Handling Sodium Hydroxide
Supplies:
Scale (Measuring ounces)
Safety Goggles
Safety Gloves
Respirator/Mask
Silicone Mold*
Glass Bowl, large
Plastic Pourer
Immersion Blender
Whisk
A Good Spoon
*Bread mold works fine, as long as you 1.) don’t want to use it for bread ever again, and 2.) are okay with misshapen bars! Ideally, recipe designed for 10” soap mold
Ingredients:
Lye/Sodium Hydroxide*, 4.7 oz.
Distilled Water, 10.5 oz.
Soap Oil Mix**, 33 oz. or 2 lbs.
Sodium Lactate, 2 Tbsp.
Fragrance Oil, 2 oz.
Exfoliant, 1.5 Tbsp.
*Be mindful of all the warnings on your container! Sodium Hydroxide is a corrosive chemical and can mess you up pretty good. ❤
**If you don’t have your own soap oil mix, storebought is fine. It’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for you!
1.) Apply safety goggles, gloves, and mask! Be careful not to fog your goggles too much, if you can help it.
2.) OPEN YOUR WINDOWS. GET FANS GOING. TURN ON EXHAUST FANS. You want MAXIMUM air circulation and ventilation for the immediate future. If you can, set up shop for step 3 close to a window, or do it outside!
3.) Once space is ventilated or in an open area, measure lye and distilled water. Once measured, mix together in a plastic pourer using your Good Spoon. WARNING: MIXTURE WILL BECOME HOT. Do not breathe in directly at ANY POINT. Let mixture cool.
4.) Once dissolved and combined, add Sodium Lactate to plastic pourer, mix via immersion blender.
5.) Measure fragrance oil. 2 oz. has been a good standard; use more for a more powerful scent, less for a less pronounced scent.
6.) Melt the soap oil mix in 30 second intervals. Mine usually comes in a bag designed for microwaving. Regardless, melt it down, then pour into a large, glass bowl.
7.) Using immersion blender, combine lye mixture into oil. Pour fragrance into mixture, then switch to whisk.
8.) Add exfoliator (if desired), whisk into mixture.
9.) Pour soap into mold, place somewhere with good air circulation (or just point a fan at it). Wait 2–3 days, them remove from mold, and cut into bars. Allow bars to cure for 4–6 weeks, maximizing air exposure on the bars.
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“Why do you make soap when you can just buy it?” My mom hit me with that zinger while I was living with her last year, between jobs, and in the middle of planning a soapmaking adventure. For me, it was fun just learning how to make something. It was a new craft, something to experiment with and get better at. It was practical: I was making that which was designed to be used. More than anything, it was something that I discovered in the opening throes of the pandemic, and I wanted as many distractions as I could get. Might be she was just (reasonably) concerned about the fragrance scents that were about to blast through her house. Rightfully so, Dragon’s Blood might’ve been a bit too strong.
I’m the first to admit, I really did pick up on soapmaking when the pandemic was kicking off. I don’t have a lot of experience, my bars aren’t pretty, but they work. I’ve gotten compliments on how they smell, and how I smell, from all range of people, so I’m clearly doing something right. Unless they really like my deodorant. I’m going to assume it’s the soap.
What thrills me the most about soapmaking is how accessible it is. Are there chemical reactions? Yes. Are people literally handling dangerous, corrosive chemicals in order to make the stuff? Yes. Do I need to know or understand any of it to make soap? No. All I need to know is what to do, how much to measure, and how to prevent the chemicals from rocking me from the inside out. Corrosive chemicals can be fun, but only if you’re not a dingus with safety precautions!
There’s a bit of curve to get into soapmaking, especially if you don’t have the supplies handy, let alone the ingredients. But once you get the ball rolling, you’ll get a decent amount of bang for your buck, and you can tell everything that goes into your soap! And don’t worry about the lye, it’s all fizzled out by the time your bars are done curing and won’t melt your skin. I mean, it hasn’t done that to me. Yet.
