Soapmaking

Yesterday I made soap.

It is a rare occasion that I make soap anymore. According to my Soap Log the last time I did it was 2-16-2003.

This was a batch of plain veggie soap.

26 ounces olive oil
20 ounces coconut oil
18 ounces palm oil
20 ounces water
9.2 ounces lye

Scented with 5 ounces orange essential oil and 2.5 ounces tea tree oil

No fancy or exotic oils. The orange and tea tree oils are for scent, not for any particular qualities they add to the soap.

I make soap in a crock pot in my kitchen. I mix the lye and water in a container I have just for that purpose, I weigh the oils, melt them in the microwave, put it all into the crock-pot, whip it with my hand held blender until it begins to thicken and cook it until it's done. Finished soap reminds me of what hot Vaseline would look like. There is a fine line between over done soap and not cooked enough; overcooked and it doesn't hold together well, undercooked and it's soft and takes a long time to harden up. It takes somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes for soap to cook depending on the temperature of the oils and the lye water when the cooking begins.

Soap making is a source of solace; mixing lye, water and oils is creative and assuasive.

Making cold processed soap isn't very different. You have to be much more careful with the temperatures of the oils and the lye and water when you mix them; too hot and it seizes without really mixing and you have a glob of a mess, too cold and it takes forever to thicken enough for pouring. Soap, before it becomes soap, is temperamental.

Cold process tends to make a harder bar of soap. It takes about six weeks for the soap to cure and all the lye to bond with the oils and make soap. The amount of lye and water depends on what oils you are using; it takes different amounts of lye to convert different types of fat to soap.

Cold process also makes a prettier, smoother bar of soap. It's not like what you buy in the store, but it's a dense, smooth, heavy bar of soap. I've read soap you buy in the store has had most of the natural glycerin removed. They sell the glycerin and reform and reprocess the soap. That's why some soaps dry your skin.

Lard makes a nice bar of soap. It hardens up well. It lathers up nice. It isn't too drying. Because the lard is white, it tends to make a whiter bar of soap that is esthetically pleasing. Lard is made from rendered pork fat.

I've made tallow soap; tallow is made from beef, or in some places, sheep fat. Tallow isn't very readily available. You have to buy the fat, cook it and cook it and cook it and finally you have tallow. It stinks while it's cooking and honestly is too much work for me.

I've made pure olive oil soaps. The lather is weak and the bubbles are small. It feels kind of slimy to me though it the would be very gentle to the skin.

Milk soaps are supposed to be the ultimate beauty bar. I've not had much luck with them. The milk tends to burn and turn the soap a yucky baby shit yellow. I don't think it affects the soap, but I don't like bathing with yucky looking soap.

I learned to make soap from books and the internet. Actually I credit Barnes and Noble with my soapmaking proclivity. I used to go to the "crafts" section of B&N to look at the needlepoint books. While I was there one time I came across a soap making book. I thought "I could do that" and I did.

Is that the power of positive thinking?

Peace,
M&Co.
11-3-2003