How
Soap is Made
Here
at The Soap Kitchen we make all our own soaps using what is known
as the 'Cold Process' method.
The
phrase is slightly misleading in that the process is not actually
cold, although following the initial melting of any solid oils such
as coconut and palm oils, no further external heat is used.
Soap
is made by chemical reaction. Many people have the picture in their
mind that soap is made by endlessly stirring a bubbling mixture
in a large pan over heat and although there is a 'hot process' method
which might have similarities to this, most books and instructions
on natural soap-making only cover the 'cold process' method which
is by far the easiest and simplest method.
Without
going into the precise chemistry of soap-making, basically, soap
is made from combining an acid (oil/s) and an alkali (sodium hydroxide)
in precise proportions. It is easy to see what oils and fats different
soaps are made from. For instance, if you make soap from coconut
oil the name for the soap which will appear on the ingredients list
will be 'sodium cocoate', palm oil is 'sodium palmate' and so-on.
If you look at the ingredients listings of soaps you can fairly
easily see what oils they were made from.
We
choose only to use pure vegetable oils in our soaps, although animal
fats can be used. One popular animal fat used in many soaps is Beef
Tallow, seen on the label as 'sodium tallowate', so any vegetarians
amongst you will now be able to spot whether you are happy using
your current soap or not.
Some
first-time soap makers are wary of the fact that sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda) is used in soap making. Please be assured that once
chemically reacted with the oil/s in correct proportions, absolutely
no caustic properties remain in the soaps. All soaps start out this
way, hence the scientific words for the different soaps all beginning
with 'Sodium', i.e. sodium palmate (soap made with palm oil).
If
you've ever wanted to try soap-making for yourself, you'll find
everything you need here at the Soap Kitchen. You may even want
to come to one of our regular soap-making workshops. For details,
go to our 'Workshops' page where
you can send us your request for information.
Making
your own recipes? You'll need the SAP values of all the oils you're
likely to use. Click here to go
to our 'Guide to SAP Values' page.
Buy
a good book on Cold Process Soapmaking
Click
here for advice about certificating your soaps for sale.
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