Why Make Soap at Home?

What is Lye and why do you need it?

Chemically, lye is Sodium Hydroxide, a caustic alkali. It can eat holes in fabric and skin and cause severe reactions with other chemicals. For soap, the crystal form of pure Sodium Hydroxide is used (this is important!) and the lye must be added to water, not the other way around.

Sounds dangerous… right? Not if you do it correctly. After all, table salt is made up of sodium and chloride, both dangerous on their own but edible once combined.

You Can't Make Soap Without Lye

Soap by definition is an alkali mixed with fats. When combined, a process called saponification happens, creating soap. This not only allows the liquid and oils to mix (they don't do this naturally, as you might remember from grade school science class), but also creates the action by which soap has its cleansing properties.

In other words, without Lye, you just have a bucket of chunky, fatty oils floating in water.

The important part is to make sure that the correct amount of Lye is used for the particular soap you make (more on that below) as different oils and fats require different ratios of lye. There is no lye remaining in soap that has been properly made and no reason for concern when using lye appropriately and in the correct ratio for soap making.

How To Create Your Own Soap

For this specific recipe, I used an equal mix of olive oil and coconut oil, but just pure coconut oil can be used or just olive oil can be used. If just olive oil is used, you'll have a pure Castille soap (named after that region in Spain) which is very moisturizing but can take longer to cure.

Gathering Equipment

I personally keep separate equipment to use for soap making. I found all of my equipment at a thrift store and keep it in the garage with the soap making ingredients.

Every source I've seen says that it is fine to use regular kitchen equipment for soap making as long as you wash it carefully afterward (see my notes at the bottom of this post on that). At the end of the process, you are just dealing with soap, so it isn't toxic, but cleanup can be messy. To simplify, I just keep separate tools for soap making.

I have:

• A slow-cooker (I got an older one at a thrift store)
• A digital scale (this is important for making a soap that is not too harsh or too oily)
• Glass jars and bowls
• A stick blender 
• plastic cups (optional)
• A metal spoon
• A wooden spoon
• A spatula
• Soap molds (or an old cardboard box lined with parchment paper).
• Gloves and sunglasses or eyewear
• A large bottle of white vinegar for neutralizing the lye mixture if it spills on anything.

Soap Recipe Ingredients

• 1 pound (16 ounces or 453.6 grams) coconut oil
• 1 pound (16 ounces or 453.6 grams) olive oil
• 0.303 pounds Lye (4.844 ounces or 137.339 grams)
• 0.760 pounds water ( 12.16 ounces or 344.73 grams)

Soap Recipe Instructions

Note: Make sure that your work area is clean, ventilated and that there are no children nearby.
This is not a good recipe to let children help with since Lye is caustic until mixed with water and oils.

1. Measure the oils in liquid form (by weight) and pour into the slow cooker. Turn on high just until oils heat up and then reduce to low heat.
2. While oils are heating, carefully measure the lye and water separately. TIP: This is the only thing I ever use disposable plastic cups for. They don't weigh anything on the scale so they make measuring easy and I keep three separate cups labeled:
• Water, Lye and Oil to use for this purpose only. I reuse them each time so they aren't wasted and I don't worry about anyone drinking out of them since we don't usually use these types of cups.
3. Carefully take the cups with the water and the lye outside or to a well ventilated area. Pour the water into a quart size or larger glass jar. With gloves and eye protection, slowly add the lye to the water. DO NOT ADD THE WATER TO THE LYE (this is really important). Stir carefully with a metal spoon, making sure not to let the liquid come in contact with your body directly.
• As you stir, this will create a cloudy white mixture that gets really hot. Let this mixture set for about 10 minutes to cool. It should become clear and not cloudy when it has cooled.
4. When the oils in the crockpot have heated (to about 120-130 degrees F), slowly pour in the water and lye mixture and stir.
5. Quickly rinse the container used for the water and lye mixture out in the sink. I rinse well and then re-rinse with white vinegar to make sure all Lye has been neutralized.
6. Use the metal or wooden spoon to stir the lye/water mixture into the oil mixture in the crockpot. Once it is evenly mixed, use the stick blender to blend for about 4-5 minutes or until it is opaque and starting to thicken.
7. Cover and keep on low heat to thicken. I set a timer for 15 minutes and check it every 15 minutes until it is ready. It will start to boil and bubble on the sides first. After about 35-55 minutes (depending on crock pot) it will thicken enough that the entire surface is bubbly and the sides have collapsed in.
8. At this point, turn the heat off and remove the crock. If you are going to use essential oils for scent, add them now. I added lavender and orange.
9. Quickly and carefully spoon into molds. I've often heard of people using empty Pringles containers but haven't tried it. I have used empty boxes lined with parchment paper.
• Cover the molds with parchment paper and set in a cool, dry place.
10. After 24 hours, pop the soap out of the molds. It can be used right away, but I prefer to let it set for a few more days so that it lasts longer.

Clean-up Tips

As I mentioned, keeping separate tools for soap making simplifies the process since things don't have to be cleaned enough for food use. I still clean all tools carefully with dishwashing soap and water and rinse with vinegar just to be sure.

Since we are making soap, I typically soak the crock from the slow cooker with all tools in it for 8+ hours to dissolve and use the soapy water to help clean all the tools.

How to Customize Your Soap

You can also decide on any add-ins for your soap to customize the color, scent or texture. In the past, I've used:

• Essential oils
• Dried herbs (for texture or color)- my favorites are dried lavender flowers, chamomile flowers or calendula, though any dried her could be added.
• Colors– natural color options I've tried are spices and plant materials like spirulina, turmeric, cocoa, ground coffee (my favorite), hibiscus, beet root and others.
• Texture add ins– like dry freshly ground coffee, healing clays, salts, oatmeal or any other ingredient.