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Are you also interested in home soap making? Know that it is possible to make beautiful homemade soaps in your own kitchen using traditional techniques without the use of soap masses, i.e. directly from hydroxide and a mixture of fats and oils. You don't have to worry about homemade soap being difficult to make, thanks to the detailed procedure you can do it too!
The list of ingredients is given in grams and not in percentages, because each oil requires a different amount of hydroxide to saponify it, so if you substitute a given oil or change the ratio, you need to re-read the recipe. You can find the correct amount of hydroxide for homemade soap by entering your chosen oils into a soap calculator, such as Soapcalc and others available on the internet. Using 200g of oils will yield approximately 4 cubes of soap.
Working with hydroxides requires a degree of caution and also the necessary use of protective equipment, especially goggles and gloves. Find out more about how to handle hydroxide or how to check the safety of your finished homemade soap.
If you do happen to get homemade soap on your skin while making it, wash it off immediately with cold water. You can also rub it with lemon juice or diluted vinegar to remove unreacted hydroxide. Do the same for cleaning containers and surfaces - soak the containers and utensils in diluted vinegar to react with the hydroxide residue and then wash the containers. Containers and utensils used in the production of soap should not be used for food.
Checking the pH of homemade soap is important to make sure that the soap is safe and that no mistakes have been made in its manufacture. This is because there may be a weighing error or the homemade soap mixture may not have been mixed properly. This can then create spots with a higher concentration of hydroxide, which can injure the skin.
Check the homemade soap after about 3 weeks using litmus paper. Moisten the paper with distilled water and place it on the soap. It is necessary to test several spots on the soap to make sure that the homemade soap does not contain islands with elevated concentrations of hydroxide. the pH of the soap should be 9-10. If you measure even a few spots higher than this, the homemade soap is not safe to use.
You can also use a pH meter or phenolphthalein solution or papers containing it. When using phenolphthalein papers, follow the same procedure as with litmus papers; the papers should not turn pink. If you use a solution, drop it on different parts of the soap, it should not turn pink anyway. A pink color indicates high pH values and thus unreacted hydroxide, such homemade soap is not safe to use.
When making homemade soap, there are little tricks you can use to make the job and handling of the soap mass easier. This includes choosing a suitable mould. Silicone moulds for homemade soap are very useful as they are easy to remove the soap from. You can also use moulds made of other materials, but line them with baking paper to make it easier to remove the soap.
When making homemade soap from multiple layers, as in this case, it is a good idea to premix the bottom layer to make it slightly thicker than the top layer so that it can hold the weight of the top layer.
Homemade soap can get a white surface over time, forming what is known as soap dust. This is an aesthetic flaw that can be prevented by spraying the soap with IPA - isopropyl alcohol.
For better dissolution of the dyes in the soap mass, it is a good idea to set aside a small amount of oil, e.g. two tablespoons, at the beginning and dissolve the powdered dyes in it . Then add this oil to the homemade soap, which will make it easier to dissolve the dye and prevent lumps from forming.
When creating the recipe for the homemade soap, an 8% defatting was also included. This means that the oils are in 8% excess to the hydroxide, and it is this portion of unreacted oils that will provide care and nourishment to the skin.
Below we will go through the different active ingredients of homemade soap and their effect on the skin.
Coconut oil is a popular oil in soap making due to the hardness it provides to soaps when saponified. At the same time, such homemade soap is foaming and dissolves well in water. The advantage is that coconut oil is very stable and contributes to the durability of the soap. On the other hand, its strong cleansing effects can overly degrease dry skin, which is why it is also combined with other oils.
Due to its high content of castor acid in the fats, castor oil helps to soften homemade soap and, in small quantities, however, promotes the stability and creaminess of the lather. However, if it were present in large quantities in a recipe, the soap would not lather well and would have a short shelf life (the residual oil would oxidize quickly). This is also why castor oil is worth using in small amounts in homemade soaps.
Grapeseed oil is a very usable all-purpose oil that is well absorbed by the skin and helps to care for it by making the soap thicker. It is an alternative to olive oil in recipes. On its own, it provides a softer homemade soap and a mild lather, so it is combined with oils and butters that provide harder homemade soaps and a richer lather.
Shea butter is a great choice for homemade soap among butters because it contains a relatively large amount of unsaponifiable substances that contribute to skin care. Since it is a solid fat (at room temperature) with a high content of stearic acid in the triacylglycerols, shea butter provides a firm and solid homemade soap and contributes to its durability.
Himalayan salt on the surface of homemade soap not only serves as a decoration, but homemade soap also contains it for its positive properties that help care for the skin. The pink colour of this salt is due to its high mineral content, including iron. In addition, it has detoxifying and antibacterial properties.
Although homemade soap with Himalayan salt has a given list of ingredients, it can be varied to some extent. Find out how to do it on the following lines!
First of all, before changing the type or representation of oil or butter from a recipe for homemade soap, it is important to realize that each fat (oil or butter) requires a different amount of hydroxide to saponify it. Therefore, there are soap calculators where you enter the amount and type of oils used and the calculator will give you the amount of water and hydroxide needed for saponification.
Therefore, if you are going to substitute the type of oil or butter or the amount in a recipe for homemade soap, always recalculate the recipe. Otherwise, you run the risk of making a soap that contains too much hydroxide and is thus dangerous to the skin, or, conversely, not enough hydroxide will cause the soap to saponify and the homemade soap will not set and will be greasy. On the other hand, almost any oil or fat can be saponified.
When choosing colorants, definitely let your imagination run wild. Mica powders are popular soap colorants because they provide vibrant, long-lasting colors. Use a dose of mica powder to achieve the desired shade.
Another option is to use activated charcoal for black color. The brilliant white color in this recipe was achieved by using oil-soluble titanium dioxide.
Other colouring oxides can add more interesting colours to your homemade soap. Ultramarines have similar properties to oxides. There are also dyes directly designed for soaps in liquid or powder form.
You can also dye your homemade soap with various natural substances such as turmeric, coffee, cocoa, fruit powders. Another option for homemade soap is to reach for clays, you can use for example pink or other clay. Herbal powders or ground seaweed are also used for colouring. Likewise, some CO2 extracts can also cause the soap to discolour, for example paprikaCO2 extract .
Himalayan salt is not the only salt you can use to decorate your soap. If you don't have Himalayan salt on hand, reach for ordinary coarse sea salt, which can spice up your homemade soap. You can also try Dead Sea salt or omit it altogether.
The distilled water in the recipe can also be replaced with floral hydrosols. However, there is a risk that the high pH and the strength of the hydroxide will destroy some of the valuable ingredients in these waters and may also take away their fragrance.
Carrot or beetroot juice can be substituted for some of the water and also used as a colouring agent. However, again, partial discolouration due to hydroxide may occur during saponification.
As mentioned above, you can experiment with homemade recipes to achieve the desired properties. However, many factors such as humidity, temperature, quality of ingredients and storage can affect the final result.
Before using any raw material to make a cosmetic product, familiarize yourself with its properties, recommended dosage, storage conditions or safe handling. Any raw material may have the potential to cause an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, so before using a product, we recommend that you find out if you suffer from an allergy to any of the raw materials or the overall product, e.g. by a skin test.
If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or other skin and health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professionalbefore applying a new product to your skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure raw material or a commercially available product.
Hands up whoever makes homemade soaps.
Here at Handymade we love making soap, we are always delighted with a new creation from our soapmaker friends at Musk.sk.
We always most look forward to the creative process of mixing the coloured soap and decorating, and can't wait for the soap to set.
Do you enjoy making soap as much as we do? Have you tried making some natural soap at home? Show us off here in the comments, or on Facebook. Let's inspire each other.
We wish you a beautiful creation.
Until the saponification, my friends.
