SIMPLE SOAP
If you've never made natural soaps at home before, you'll need to make sure you have the utensils before you start.
YOU'LL
NEED.....
1) Two good sized stainless steel or enamelled saucepans
2) One heat-proof glass measuring jug
3) Accurate kitchen scales
4) Utensils for stirring etc. i.e. Wooden or stainless steel spoons, a
balloon whisk or rubber/wooden spatular, or similar
5) Two (preferably) cooking/brewing thermometers (although 1 can be used
fairly successfully)
6) A mould to pour the liquid soap into whilst it sets. A wooden or cardboard
tray or box lined with grease-proof paper or siliconised baking sheet
is great
7) Eye and hand protection (safety glasses and rubber gloves)
8) A blanket or large towel
INGREDIENTS
12 oz (340g) of cold, clean water
125g of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) beads or pearls
1lb (454g) olive oil (preferably pomace grade but virgin or extra virgin
will do)
10oz (284g) coconut oil (hard variety)
6oz (170g) palm oil (hard variety)
1/4 tsp Grapefruit seed extract OR vitamin E (optional
preservative). Note... Grapefruit seed extract will speed up the time
it takes for your soap to 'trace'.
NOTE: If using higher grades of olive oil it will usually take
longer to reach a trace.
If adding colour and/or fragrance note the following...
Essential
oil/s 20ml in this recipe size (avoid fragrance oils until you're more
experienced)
Suitable and simple-to-use colourants... Ultramarines (any): Oxides (any):
Lakes (any): Food-safe colours (sold as water soluble powders)...Tartrazine
yellow: Sunset yellow (orange): Amaranth red: FCF blue (will turn crimson):
many types of ground spices i.e. Turmeric: Paprika: Cinnamon.
HOW
TO.....
Measure out 12 oz (340g) of cold clean water into the jug
Weigh (accurately) 125g of sodium hydroxide beads (or pearls)
Carefully add the sodium hydroxide to the water, pouring slowly and stirring
with a spoon or spatular. Be careful not to breathe the vapour that is
initially given off, so hold your breath and stir until all the sodium
hydroxide has dossolved and there are no lumps stuck to the bottom of
the jug. The solution will heat up to nearly 200oF and will need to be
left to cool. Place one of the thermometers into the solution and leave
to one-side. If you want to speed the cooling, place the jug in a large
bowl of cold water, being careful not to 'float' it.
Meanwhile, measure out exactly 10oz (284g) of coconut oil and 6oz (170g) of palm oil into one of the saucepans (the smaller if there is one) and gently melt it on the stove. Don't overheat it, just melt it. When there are tiny pieces of solid oil still left to melt, turn off the heat and leave until completely liquid. If using a Lake or similar to colour your soap, add a little to the warm oils now. As a guide, Lakes aprox 1/8th tsp. Spices aprox 1/4 tsp.
Whilst the solid oils are melting, measure out 1lb (454g) of olive oil (pomace grade is best) into the other saucepan (this will be the soap-making pan). If adding optional preservative, add it to the olive oil now.
Once melted, pour the combined coconut and palm oils into the olive oil and place the other thermometer in the pan.
NOTE: What you now need to do is keep watch on the temperatures of both the oils and the sodium hydroxide solution (lye). If you haven't two thermometers you'll need to move one between pans ensuring it is washed between each pan. Depending how fast you are working it may well be beneficial to make use of the hint above about placing the jug of lye in a large bowl of cold water. This is because it starts off hotter than the oils and has more cooling to do. Once both oils and lye are at near similar temperatures they can be combined. Don't let everything get too cool. As a guide a minimum of around 80oF and a maximum of around 130oF are ideal limits of temperature. As long as oils and lye are both at similar temperatures between these limits your soap should turn out just fine.
When at the correct temperatures, slowly and carefully pour the lye into the oils, stirring (preferably with a hand (balloon) whisk) all the time. Once all the lye is poured, put the jug aside and concentrate on stirring your solution. You should stir throughout the mixture fairly briskly. You will notice the solution start to turn more opaque and as the minutes pass it will start to thicken. The stage in the process you have to wait for is known as the 'Trace'. This is when you can drizzle the mixture from the whisk (or spoon/spatular) onto the surface of the solution and it leaves a trace before sinking back into the rest. If adding colour with ultramarines, oxides or food-safe water soluble powders etc., make them up in a little water and add them now (before or at the trace).
To pour
the soap too early will probably end up in the mixture separating, which
will ruin your efforts. Once the mixture traces simply pour it into your
lined mould. To reach a trace may take just 5 minutes or as much as 60
minutes depending mainly on the grade of oils you use and whether you
use grapefruit seed extract as preservative. Other factors that vary the
time are... the temperature of your mixture AND the room temperature and
air moisture content. Remember, don't pour the mixture until it traces.
Once poured, the mould needs to be covered and insulated to keep in the heat. Towels or a blanket work perfectly well. Don't let the towel or blanket touch the surface of the soap, put something over it first. Then leave aside for around 24 hours for it to set solid.
After around 24 hours, remove the soap slab or block from the mould. It should be hard enough to cut into whatever shapes you have in mind, although it still has some hardening to do. Whether you choose to cut it now or later it needs to continue 'curing' for somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks to be absolutely ready. During this time it gets progressively harder and looses some of the water that was put into it in the making.
NOTES: If you're using this recipe as a base for a soap you're adding your own colours and fragrances to, take a note that in your early attempts at natural soap-making it is far easier to fragrance a soap using pure essential oil/s. Avoid most fragrance oils as they are almost all alcohol based (something like dipropylene glycol) and virtually all forms of alcohol will cause 'siezing' in a soap mixture. This is when the mixture starts to set solid very rapidly, before you have a chance to pour it, ruining all your efforts. Also, bear in mind that many 'pretty' additions to a soap such as dried flower heads etc will very possibly turn brown and discolour the soap if added to the mixture whilst it is a liquid. This is because of the high water content and caustic nature at that stage. Additions that work well are dried pulses, spices and dried herbs. Some spices achieve good colour as well. Turmeric (yellow) and paprika (salmon-like) are two examples. Petals etc. (like dried lavender) can be successfully 'pressed' onto the surface of the soap after pouring, before covering and insulating, although keep your gloves on when doing this as the mixture is still caustic at that stage. Generally food-safe colours are not suitable for natural soap-making (some yellows are fine). There are colours that work well and are simple to use (see list at top) procedure as follows...
All ultramarines and oxides require mixing with a little water and can be added at any stage after all ingredients are in the soapmaking pan together, up to the trace.
Lakes are NOT water soluble and give colour best in warm oils. Add powder to melted coconut/palm oil and whisk in very thoroughly to avoid 'spotting'.
Ground Spices are basically in 2 varieties. Those that will add colour to the oils (Turmeric and Paprika) which can be added to the warm oils similar to Lakes and those that simply add colour by suspension (i.e. gound cinnamon) which are best added near the trace in a little olive oil as a runny paste.
Others listed above are water-soluble food-safe colours that require mixing in a little water and are added similarly to ultramarines and oxides.
With ALL colours/pigments, the depth of colour will vary with the amount added. Keep colours subtle to avoid bleeding of colour into the lather when using the soaps. Mix up enough in a little water (except lakes) and add a bit at a time until the depth of colour you want is apparent. Guide... All ultramarines/oxides max 1 tsp (5ml). Most food-safe water soluble powders max 1/4 tsp (1.25ml). Lakes max 1/4 tsp (1.25). These are a guide only.
If you want to enrich your soap with specific oils for their properties (i.e. hempseed or wheatgerm etc.) use aprox 1 Tbsb (15ml) at trace. Honey, also aprox 1 Tbsb (15ml) at trace. Exfolients, i.e. oatmeal or similar, up to 1/4 cup (60ml). at or before trace. Take care to ensure your soap is thick enough to 'support' any exfolient additions before pouring or they may sink or float (depends what they are).
HAVE FUN........
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