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Making Herbal Soap

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

Making herbal soap is really quite easy to do and it looks and smells wonderful. There are many combination’s you can use when making your own herbal soap.

In order for your herbal soap to have the desired effect you are after it is important to not only learn how to make herbal soap but to also have an understanding of the herbs you are using to make your herbal soap.

Below is a simple recipe for making herbal soap.

What you need:

1. A mild and unscented soap

2. A double boiler (preferably not metal) – If you do not have a double broiler then you can easily boil water in a pan and set a glass bowl on top of the boiling water.

3. The herb(s) of your choosing – see below for a list of herbs and their properties

4. Soap Molds

How to make herbal soap:

1. Start out by cutting the bars of soap into slivers and set aside.

2. Bring about 1/4 cup of water to a lite simmer and add 2-3 tablespoons of chopped herbs of your choice. Remove the pan from heat and steep the herbs for 15-20 minutes.

3. While the herbs are steeping, start melting the soap slivers in the double boiler.

4. When the soap is melted you can either just add the herb water to the melted soap slowly or add the herbs and water slowly to the soap mixture. I usually add the herbs also as it makes for a very pretty soap.

5. Stir the soap and water mixture until the are blended together and pour into a lightly oiled soap mold.

6. Let the soap harden in the molds (the soap will be of a softer consistency then when the bar of soap you started with).

7. After you have taken the soap out of molds let them cure for 3-4 weeks before wrapping them up and using them.

Play around with this recipe until you get the desired consistency and intensity of the herbs that you like.

If you want the soap to be colored add your coloring when you are blending the herb water and melted soap together.

And most importantly, have fun when your making herbal soap!

Herbs have the amazing power to enhance the mood you would like to be in. A variety of common herbs and what they are known for is listed below. Find the perfect ones to suit your needs and have fun experimenting!

Herb Properties (always test the herbs on a small patch of skin for 24 hours before you use them to make soap with to make sure you do not have a bad reaction to them)

Thyme, Tea Tree, and Lemon have antiseptic and antiviral properties

Basil, Hyssop, Spearmint, Rosemary, and Oregano all help invigorate your mind and body

Lavender, Jasmine, Anise, and Myrrh are reduce stress and promote calmness of your mind

Sage, Ginger, and Chamomile relax your muscles

Cedar Wood And Lemongrass are good for oily skin

Another way to decide which herbs to use when making herbal soap is to just use what smells wonderful to you.

Filed Under: Soap Making Tagged With: how to make herbal soap, make herbal soap, make soap, making herbal soap

Making Cold Process Soap – The Process

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

Making household items at home, including making cold process soap, is becoming more and more common. There are a few different reasons for this, and all of them are good. One is that families are doing more things together to encourage learning and bonding. Another is to save money, since making things at home is generally cheaper than buying them in a store.

If you are interested in creating your own soap, there are some easy ways to do it. Some methods require cooking the mixture, but you can make it without heat. Making cold process soap does require some caution, but it can be done relatively safely and in a fairly short period of time.

If you are looking for a comprehensive guide on making handmade soap I would recommend you check out Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process. It’s a video that walks you through the cold process soap making method. Perfect for the visual learner.

Click here to visit the Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process website.

The first thing you need to do is to gather everything you will need for this project. For the first step, creating the lye mixture, you need to have an accurate scale. Digital is best, especially if it can measure tenths of an ounce. Put an empty pitcher on the scale, turn the scale on, and then pour distilled water into it. This way you get the perfect amount.

Since different recipes will call for different amounts of ingredients, you need to follow the recipe. But it is very important to follow the instructions for making cold process soap exactly. If you don’t your soap won’t come out properly.

Once you have the water measured, take a clean jar and place it on the scale. Then pour your lye into it. If you can, do this outside or open the windows in the kitchen to get the most air-flow possible. Be very careful whenever you are working with lye, even if it is dry! Lye is hazardous, and even dry grains of it getting into your gloves or sleeves is bad!

With gloves and safety goggles on, slowly pour the lye into the pitcher of water. Take all precautions not to make splashes, and never add water to the container of lye! This can cause a violent chemical reaction. Once you use a pitcher for this, label it clearly with “LYE, DANGER” and only use it for making cold process soap in the future.

Gently stir the mix until the lye is dissolved. You may hear some fizzing or boiling, and this is normal. Lye is useful, but it is an acid, so don’t be surprised when it acts like one. The chemical reaction will bring the mix to a high temperature, sometimes to over 200 degrees F, so make sure the container will stand up to this. Set the mix aside in a safe place to cool while you prepare the rest of the soap.

Now you need to weigh your oils. For the liquid oils, most people use olive oil when making cold process soap, but you can also use such things as sunflower or canola oil. For the solid oils, coconut oil, palm oil, or cocoa butter are popular types. Measure the oils carefully and slowly, since you can always add a little more, but once you have put them into the mix you cannot take them back out.

Melt your solid oils in a stainless steel or enamel coated pot, stirring gently as they melt. Use a thermometer to keep track of the oil’s temperature, and shut the heat off when it reaches about 110 to 120 degrees F. Continue stirring until all the oils are melted. Once no more chunks are present, add the room temperature liquid oils into the pot. This should bring the mix down to about 100 degrees.

The next step in making cold process soap includes the lye mix, so get your gloves and goggles on. Again, do this outside or with all the windows open in order to clear out any fumes. The lye mix should either be room temperature or just be a little warm. If the container the mix is in feels hot, it needs more time to cool.

Put the lye mixture carefully into the fats and use a slotted spoon to mix it in. When it is all mixed switch to a stick blender. This can be done without a stick blender, but stirring with a spoon will take upwards of an hour, and the blender can achieve the same results in a few minutes. Use short 5 second bursts with the stick blender, keeping your face well away from the pot.

While you are making cold process soap your fragrance mix should be sitting to the side. This should be added once the oils and lye are fully blended but aren’t getting too thick. Slowly add the fragrance in and stir the mixture gently until it really begins to thicken. When a little mixture dropped from the spoon onto the top of the mix leaves a little dent, it is ready to be put into the molds.

There are a couple ways you can mold your soap. If you want, you can go to an art and craft store and find some inexpensive soap molds to use. There are many that are for making cold process soap, and many people like the convenience on this option. The other way is to line a flat box with a trash bag and pour the mix onto the bag.

Let the soap sit in a warm room for about 24 hours, and then it should be done! Once it is cool, pop the soap out of the molds, or pull the block of soap out of the box and cut it into bar-sized pieces.

As you can see, making cold process soap takes a little care, but it isn’t difficult to do. You can add just about any fragrance or color into it that you want, and with just a little bit of work, you and your family will be able to enjoy your homemade soap!

If you are looking for a comprehensive guide on making handmade soap I would recommend you check out Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process. It’s a video that walks you through the cold process soap making method. Perfect for the visual learner.

Click here to visit the Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process website.

Filed Under: Soap Making Tagged With: cold process soap making, how to make cold process soap, making cold process soap

Cold Process Soap Making – An Overview

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

Cold process soap making can be a very rewarding process because you will know exactly what is included in your mixture. Because of this, you will not have to worry about chemicals irritating your skin because you will be responsible for everything that is in the soap.

The first thing you will want to do when making your soap is weigh out 32 ounces of cold water. You must be very careful and make sure that the water is cold enough because the lye that you will be using does not react well with hot water and it could be dangerous.

If you are looking for a comprehensive guide on making handmade soap I would recommend you check out Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process. It’s a video that walks you through the cold process soap making method. Perfect for the visual learner.

Click here to visit the Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process website.

Also keep in mind that the lye will react with the cold water and will get very warm. It will also give off some gas, so make sure that you do not breathe this in because it can be very harmful to your health.

You will want to make sure that your lye and water mixture has enough time to cool off before it is handled and this will take about three hours. Make sure that this is kept in a safe place because ingesting lye can potentially be fatal.

Once the lye is back to room temperature, you can begin the actual cold process soap making. You will want to carefully measure out the fats that you will use because this is how to shape the soap.

Heat these fats in a pot, but make sure that you keep a close eye on it because once it reaches about 130 degrees, it is ready to come off the stove.

You will need a thermometer to keep track of the temperature because once the fat reaches the desired temperature, it must be removed from the heat and poured into the lye solution.

Stir these two solutions together very carefully, while ensuring that you do not splash yourself during this cold process soap making.

Once these two solutions have been mixed, you will want to blend them in together for about five minutes.

You will end up with a thick soapy substance at this point and it will continue to thicken as time goes on. This is how the cold process soap making is finished, as the two solutions will bond together and will slow turn into a solid, as long as you have the correct amount of everything.

Once the soap is extremely thick, which will take about an hour of mixing, you can add your own scent. You can purchases these scents separately and it will definitely allow you to customize your soap.

Once this has been completed, it is time to pour your soap into a mold and wait for it to solidify.

It will take about 24 hours for your cold process soap making to be completed and for your soap to turn into a usable substance but once that time is up, you will be able to remove the bar from the mold.

You can then cut the soap into any shapes that you want and use it to wash your body. This is an extra gentle soap recipe, so it should be very kind to your skin and will allow you to shower without skin irritation.

If you are looking for a comprehensive guide on making handmade soap I would recommend you check out Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process. It’s a video that walks you through the cold process soap making method. Perfect for the visual learner.

Click here to visit the Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process website.

Filed Under: Soap Making Tagged With: cold process soap making, how to make cold process soap

Soap Making Ingredients

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

There are a few very common soap making ingredients and then there are the additives you can use to make your soap unique and yours.

Common soap Making Ingredients:

Lye – used in most soaps but you can make soap without using lye

Base Oils and Fats – There are a multitude of oils you can use for making soap. When starting out use what ever oils and fats are recommended in the recipe you are using. Once you have been making your own soap for a while you will become comfortable with the different oils and how to use them.

Almond Butter, Almond Oil,Vegetable Shortening,Apricot Kernel Oil,Avocado Butter,Avocado Oil,Canola Oil, Castor Oil,Glycerin Soap Base, Grape-seed Oil, Jojoba, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the list goes on and on can all be used for base oils and fats

Botanicals and Essential Oils – Used to make the soap smell good

Coloring – This is optional but you have many choices when it comes to coloring your soap.

Synthetic Coloring – Synthetic coloring is the most common food coloring and can be use to achieve just about any color you could want when making soap.

Natural Coloring – Slightly harder to find but is still readily available. This is good to use if you would like to make your soap all natural. The colors achieved by using natural coloring are not as vibrant as when you use synthetic coloring but they are most certainly better for you.

Making your own coloring – Making your own coloring using colors found in nature is more for fun then anything else since natural coloring is readily available.

Extra Soap Making Ingredients

There are many extra things you can add to your soap to make it more unique.

Moisturizers – Adding moisturizers to your soap is a good idea especially if you are trying to make luxury soap.

Exfoliate – Many soap makers like to include little things to add exfoliating properties to there soap. A few things you can add are almond powder, jojoba beads, or even coffee grounds and ground oatmeal.

No matter what you choose to use for your soap making ingredients always stay safe and have fun when you are making your own soap.

Filed Under: Soap Making Tagged With: soap ingredients, soap making ingredients

Natural Soap Making

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

Natural soap making is great way to make sure you and you family are not exposed to the harmful chemicals that are often present in store bought soap. Using natural soap goes a long way to reducing your daily exposure to harmful chemicals. When you use natural soap it can help you build up your natural immune system. It is also a great money saver.

Most times you can use ingredients right out of your kitchen to make your batches of natural soap.

I have found a great guide for making completely natural soap that is beautiful, unique, and good for your family.

Click here to visit the Natural Soap Making Ebook website

There are many ways to make soap but if you want to do truly natural soap making I would recommend using the cold process soap making.

Cold process soap making is a more challenging way to make soap but if you use the easy methods (like melt and pour) you will basically be using store bought soap which is not really natural at all.

Click here to learn more about Cold Process Soap Making

The Benefits of using natural soap

1. When you use natural soap on a daily basis your skin will have a much healthier appearance. Your pores will be smaller and your skin will be more supple. You will no longer have skin that feels tight and dry after you use soap.

2. Using natural soap can provide a clearer complexion. If you are an acne sufferer then you should definitely look into using only natural soap. Because the soap does not have any harmful chemicals it is less irritating on your skin. Many acne suffers notice a great improvement simply from using natural soap instead of store bought soap.

Coloring your natural soap

The most common way to color soap is to use food coloring. Unfortunately, if you are using the natural soap making method it is not recommend that you use food coloring. Food coloring is not exactly natural. However if you really want to add coloring to make your natural soap stand out you do have other options.

The first option available to you is to buy natural dye. Natural dye is available at many specialty stores.

The second option you have is to make your own natural dyes. This is not as hard as you might think.

pink – beet powder/beet juice, berries (non-poisonous) like strawberries, cherries, etc

brown – coffee

Green – Leaves or grass. Take some grass and put it in a pot with a little bit of water and let it simmer for an hour or so. Then you can either use the water as a dye or blend the water and grass together to make a pasty dye.

Nature will provide you with basically any color you could wish for. The most important thing is to make sure that you so not use anything that is poisonous or irritating to your skin.

If you would like to learn how to make beautiful and completely natural soap I would recommend you check out the Natural Soap Making Ebook. It is a comprehensive book on natural soap making.

Click here to visit the Natural Soap Making Ebook website

Filed Under: Soap Making Tagged With: making natural soap, natural soap making, Soap Making

Making Handmade Soap

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

There are actually a few different ways to make handmade soap. They range from very easy to more advanced.

The easy method:

The easy method of making handmade soap is the heat and pour method. What this is is exactly like how it sounds. You take regular bar soap and heat it up and pour it into molds.

Why would anyone do this?

There are a few reasons.

1.This method is very good to use if you are on a time limit. For example, if a holiday is coming up or it is someones birthday and you want to give them some handmade soap this is the way you want to do it.

2. You can still add the extras that you want to the soap without the hassle or danger of making real soap.

3. Your making soap with children. Lye can be very dangerous because it can severely burn you so if you are planning on making soap with kids then this is definitely the way you would want to go.

Is there a special method for making homemade heat and pour soap?

What you do is take a bar of soap, preferably a plain white non-fragrance soap, and cut it up into slivers. On a double boiler (or a pot with a bowl place over it) melt the slivers of soap.

After it is melted you can add fragrance of your choice, coloring if you want it, and basically anything else you would like to put in the soap. Stir it all together, making sure you only stir in one direction.

Once it is stirred up how you would like it, pour the melted soap into molds and let set. The soap will be a softer set when it is done then it was before you started.

What else would you put in the soap besides fragrance and coloring?

Lots of things like Jojoba beads, ground oatmeal, ground almonds, specks of vanilla, flower petals, poppy seeds, fruit seeds (like strawberries and blueberry), apricot meal, loofah slices, and basically anything that you can think of!

A harder method of making handmade soap:

A harder method of making handmade soap is to do cold process soap making. What that is is basically making your soap from scratch using lye. You can make some wonderful soap once you learn how to do cold process soap making.

I’m not going to get into great detail about how to do it here because I have step-by-step instructions elsewhere on SellCraftsOnline.org.

If you are interested in learning how to make cold process soap here is the link to the step-by-step instructions – http://sellcraftsonline.org/soap-making/making-cold-process-soap

The hardest method of making handmade soap:

The hardest process for making handmade soap is using the hot process soap making method. It is not recommended that you try this process unless you have a good understanding of the cold process soap making.

What this process is is that you make a cold process soap but you add heat to it. This makes the soap process much quicker and the soap also sets within a week instead of 3-4 weeks like when doing the cold process method.

If you are looking for a comprehensive guide on making handmade soap I would recommend you check out Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process. It’s a video that walks you through the cold process soap making method. Perfect for the visual learner.

Click here to visit the Soap Making Fun: Your Visual Guide to the Cold Process website.


Filed Under: Featured, Soap Making Tagged With: how to make soap, making handmade soap, making soap

Soap Making

April 15, 2010 By Crissy

Soap making is a wonderful hobby that can actually be turned into a very lucrative business if done right. There is nothing more wonderful then being able to make your own soap and bath products. You can have the best of the best for a fraction of the cost it would be if you went to the store and bought them.

There is a variety of different kinds of soaps you can make. The first step in soap making is to figure out which kind of soap you would like to make. Here is a list of the different types of soaps you can make and from there you can better decide which types of soap you are interested in making.

1. Herbal Soap – Herbal soap making is great for having wonderfully scented soap that makes an impact on how you are feeling. Depending on the herbs you use to make your soap, you can experience a sense of relaxation, calmness, or even alertness. Herbal soaps make a great gift for anyone who could use their spirits lifted and a little pampering.

2. Natural Soap - Making your own natural soap is great if you are concerned about the different chemicals that are normally found in commercial soaps.

3. Organic Soap – Organic soap (not to be confused with natural soap) is soap that is made with only organic ingredients.

4. Cold Process Soap – Cold process soap making is the method you think of when you think about a grandma making soap. It is the traditional method of making soap.

5. Hot Process Soap – Using the hot process soap method is when you add heat to the soap making process to speed up the process of completion. The benefits of using hot process soap making is that the soap will cure anywhere from one day to three weeks. This method is a bit trickier then using the cold process soap making method.

6. Milk Soap – Milk soap is a great soap to make if you are looking to make a soap that is creamy, has a natural exfoliation ability, and will make your skin super soft.

7. Goat Soap – Using goat’s milk in soap instead of regular milk provides your skin with 3 times the hydrating power. It takes a bit more effort to make goat soap but if your looking to make a super hydrating soap then this is the one for you.

8. Glycerin Soap – Glycerin soap is the soap most people are thinking of when they think of clear soap. It is very mild so it is good for people with delicate skin.

9. Transparent Soap – Transparent soap is perfect for adding little details, like flowers, etc to really make the soap stand out as unique and beautiful. There are a million ways to add interest to transparent soap. The only limit is your imagination. Making true transparent soap is quite a process and very tricky to do.

10. Olive Oil Soap – Olive oil soap is not only mild (suitable for sensitive skin) but it can help relieve many skin conditions. It is also been said to help with keeping your skin looking youthful.

Filed Under: Soap Making Tagged With: how to make soap, making soap, Soap Making, types of soap to make