So yesterday I was posting on how I challenged my readers to learn a new skill...this oxymoron was not lost on me as I was very interested in learning to make my own soap but, as many of you experience sometimes, I was fearful of failing and a little confused and intimidated by the process so I put this one off for years. However, if I was going to challenge my readers to do this I had better get a jump start. Well, I made this first batch of soap right before Christmas and it is all gone because it was washed down the drain after a glorious lather or given away as Christmas gifts.
I started by scouring the internet for recipes, I wanted something I could make from ingredients that I mostly had on hand and something that was rather simple for my first go of it. I found a fantastic tutorial here from mommypotamus.com. She made it look so simple I thought that "I can do this!"
I was only missing one ingredient, the lye. It really wasn't hard to find and it was only around $4 if I remember correctly. However, the crunchy side of me now wants to make my own lye much like our great grandparents would have done (Lye is made from wood ash and water) though my grandmother has warned me extensively about how dangerous this can be with little children around (lye will burn your skin on contact...to combat this, keep a bottle of vinegar on hands to pour over any spot that you would splash your skin as Lye is a base and Vinegar is an acid so the two cancel each other out)
Okay, I had my supplies and mommypotamus said I could do this in a crock pot. For a moment I was worried about this but then I remembered, the end result is....soap. So far as I have read it would still be safe to use my crockpot for cooking after, still not sure if I will or not.
The ingredients are: Coconut oil, Lye, Distilled water, and essential oil of choice.
I started by scouring the internet for recipes, I wanted something I could make from ingredients that I mostly had on hand and something that was rather simple for my first go of it. I found a fantastic tutorial here from mommypotamus.com. She made it look so simple I thought that "I can do this!"
I was only missing one ingredient, the lye. It really wasn't hard to find and it was only around $4 if I remember correctly. However, the crunchy side of me now wants to make my own lye much like our great grandparents would have done (Lye is made from wood ash and water) though my grandmother has warned me extensively about how dangerous this can be with little children around (lye will burn your skin on contact...to combat this, keep a bottle of vinegar on hands to pour over any spot that you would splash your skin as Lye is a base and Vinegar is an acid so the two cancel each other out)
Okay, I had my supplies and mommypotamus said I could do this in a crock pot. For a moment I was worried about this but then I remembered, the end result is....soap. So far as I have read it would still be safe to use my crockpot for cooking after, still not sure if I will or not.
The ingredients are: Coconut oil, Lye, Distilled water, and essential oil of choice.
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- 33 oz coconut oil
- 4.83 ounces lye (NaOH)
- 12.54 oz water
- .5 – 1 ounce essential oils (optional)
This was the original recipe but since I was worried and didn't want to use up all my ingredients I decided to make a very small batch and use 1/3 of what the recipe called for. I busted out my kitchen scale and my old mixer that is missing one arm and went to town.
I added the lye to the water outside as it produces some pretty noxious fumes while it is combining. The water becomes cloudy when you add the lye but you stir until it is once again clear. (don't laugh at my wooden kebob skewers, I didn't want to use good utensils!
I was melting the coconut oil in the crockpot while mixing up my lye, when I came back in the house about 5 minutes later I just added all the ingredients to the crock pot.
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This is what is called the "saponification process" the ingredients go from soup-like to sour-cream like and they make a "trace" if you look really closely at the creamy picture you can see where my beater was pulled out of the mix, when this happens you put on the lid and just let it cook for about 30 minutes. Do this until there are no puddles and the mix favors a vaseline type look.
After you reach this point you let the soap cool just a bit and then add your essential oils.
After you reach this point you let the soap cool just a bit and then add your essential oils.
I didn't spend the money on some fancy soap mold so a friend had advised me to save my cartons from the milk we use as they are already coated with a no stick material and since this is something we buy already...they are free!
Many other soap bars require "curing" time before they can be cut but this is not so with coconut oil soap, if you wait too long it will be nearly impossible to cut the soap. I found that an hour was perfect.
To say that I felt like I had REALLY accomplished something was an understatement. I mean this was REALLY cool! The best part was that this soap was super moisturizing and even my hubby loved it!
So, what have you been holding off on trying? Comment below and let me know~
So, what have you been holding off on trying? Comment below and let me know~
