Homemade soap makes an ideal gift for your friends and family.
Soap bought from many stores often contains artificial colors, fragrances and a variety of strange ingredients. If you want to know what is in your soap, you may want to consider making your own. Soap making allows you to control every ingredient that goes into your finished product. Using a base of lye and olive oil, you can choose the shape of your soap, as well as any beneficial additives, such as cocoa butter, rosemary or vitamin E oil.
Instructions
1. Line the mold you want to use for your soap with freezer paper. You may use a container of any type, such as a plastic storage bin. Wood, cardboard and glass also work. Do not use metal containers.
2. Measure out all of the ingredients you plan to use in your recipe, so you have them on hand when you need them. Put on your gloves and safety glasses. Working with lye may be dangerous if you get it on your skin.
3. Add the amount of lye needed for your recipe to the correct amount of distilled water. Pour the lye into the water slowly to avoid splashing, and stir. The lye causes the water to heat up. Let it cool to 110 degrees.
4. Heat the olive oil to 110 degrees, and maintain this temperature. Slowly add the cooled lye mixture to the oil.
5. Use a stick blender, without turning it on, to gently blend the lye and oil together. After a few minutes of this blending, turn the blender on for three seconds, then back off. After each three-second blend, stir the mixture more. Continue doing this until the mixture becomes thick and stringy. This is called "tracing."
6. Put any additives you want to use for your specific recipe into the mixture. This can be colorings, fragrances, abrasives or spices. Blend the additives well.
7. Pour the soap into the mold. Smooth it down using a spatula, then cover the mold with a lid or piece of cardboard. Wrap the mold in a towel to prevent it from losing heat.
8. Wait for approximately 24 hours for the soap to harden, then slide it out of the mold. Put on gloves, and cut it into blocks or any other desired shape. Wait for at least 48 hours before using the soap.
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