I've read about from-scratch soap-making before. Not the melt, and pour soap, I'm talking the scary lye, and lard kind of soap-making. It piqued my interest, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. It sounded way to complicated, and I'd probably burn my skin off.
Fast forward two years. Here I am, on my farm, with my new-found country homesteader confidence, and another soap making post from my favorite blogger graced my screen. I've taught myself the arts of canning, bread making, cheese making, candle making, sewing, chicken keeping, and wine making, among many other things. Not to mention many personal tribulations that have made me a stronger and more self-sufficient human being. After all that, I knew I could make soap. And as it turns out, its pretty simple.
There are three methods that I know of for making soap:
One - Melt and pour. Purchase a pre-made block of soap, melt, and throw in your own additives.
Two - Cold Process. Combine fats, and lye over a heat source. Stir in additives, then pour directly into the mold. Once dry, cut soap, then let 'cure' (to neutralize the lye) for several weeks.
Three - Hot Process, the method I used (and loved). Hot process and cold process start out very similar, but instead of pouring the fat/lye combination into a mold to let cure, the mixture is cooked to neutralize the lye right before your eyes. The soap is safe to use right away, though if a shape is desired, it will need to cool in a mold before cutting into bars.
The tutorial and base recipe I used can be found here. This recipe makes two pounds, and 8 standard sized bars. The second best part about making your own soap (first being self-sufficiency) is the cost. If purchased elsewhere, an artisan, quality ingredient soap like this might cost anywhere from $5 to $8 per bar, possibly more. This entire recipe costs around $12 to make, which equals out to ONLY $1.50 PER BAR. That's pretty amazing if ya ask me.
Soap:
9.6 oz. Crisco
6.4 oz Lard
9.6 oz. Olive Oil Pomace
6.4 oz. Coconut Oil (76 degree melting point)
12.16 oz. Distilled Water
4.463 oz. Lye
Additives:
1 oz. Maple Syrup Fragrance Oil
0.5 oz Spearmint Fragrance Oil
3 Tbsp. French Green Clay Powder
2 Tbsp. Dried Spearmint
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