How to start making homemade soap?

Are you attracted to making homemade cosmetics, especially soap, and you don't know how to start? I am a creative soul who likes to try various techniques. I came across soap making a long time ago. At that time I bought soap base, a colourant and an essence, mixed everything together and it was done.

When I returned to the idea of making my own soap after years, I started to study various options on the internet. Soap making charmed me, I wanted to try absolutely everything. Soap making reminded me of baking a cake, with the difference that you don't gain weight from soap :)

Soap can be made in three ways, I would briefly like to introduce them to you.

Soap making from soap base

Basically, it is about melting a pre-prepared soap base. Soap bases are available in various compositions, clear, with goat's milk content, glycerin,... You can add essences, colourants, herbs to the melted base as desired. You pour the prepared mass into a mold and let it harden. The soap is immediately ready for use.

Soap making by cold process

This process is already relatively more demanding. It is a reaction between fatty acids (oils) and an alkali (lye solution). The advantage of such production is certainly the possibility of selecting oils, i.e. the possibility to influence the final properties of the soap. The mixture is easy to colour, therefore this method of production is preferred for the production of soaps with various patterns. Oils and the lye solution react together at room temperature, the process proceeds more slowly. The soap must cure for several weeks so that it reaches the desired pH value and hardness.

Soap making by hot process

The hot process is very similar to the cold one with the difference that it takes place at an elevated temperature. The soap has the required pH immediately after the saponification process. Therefore, a shorter curing time is sufficient before its use. A minor disadvantage is colouring, since the resulting mass is relatively thick and hardens quickly, we cannot create such nice patterns as with the cold process.

In the coming days we will introduce all methods of production to you.

Yours, Lucia.