It's That Simple!
.JPG "OffBeatLeaf Soap")
My interest in making soap started a year ago. The Myrtle Beach timeshare I stay in for a yearly Ohio/Florida golf vacation has a wonderful soap. Each year the ladies and I try to get enough soap to take home a nice supply. The scent is a light bayberry.
I tried to find the brand online, but failed. Then I tried to find a commercial or handmade soap with a light bayberry scent, again failed. I even tried to persuade my daughter and son-in-law, Mallory and Mike, to add a bayberry scent to their BRÜ BAR handmade beer soap...still failed. BTW, you can check out their soap on Facebook.
Brian and I decided to try to make our own bayberry soap. We started researching...watching YouTube videos, reading up on the history of soap and visiting soapmaker's blogs.
Soap is made when you mix an alkaline (LYE) with OILS. The chemical reaction is called SAPONIFICATION (I love that word!). Before you get nervous about the LYE...ALL SOAP HAS LYE. The commercial soap hides the LYE in the ingredients by lisiting Sodium Palmitate. That's just a fancy name for palm oil and lye. Any of the "Sodium" ingredients are the oil mixed with lye. That's an advertising trick to avoid using the word LYE.
We use Crystal's Simple Soap recipe, which includes lard, coconut oil, olive oil, canola oil, lye and water. You can pick up all these ingredients at the grocery store. Why, you ask, all the different oils? Each oil contributes different qualities to the soap (hardness, cleansing, conditioning, bubbly and creamy).
.JPG "Soap Ingredients")
Even though making soap is fun and simple, it is very precise. All the ingredients need to be measured exactly. The reason is that if there isn't enough oil, the lye will not be completely converted and the soap could burn your skin. If there is too little lye, the oils will not be converted and the soap will be oily. So it is best to use a proven recipe, like Crystal’s Simple Soap. Also, the recipes we use have 5% extra oil to make sure the lye is converted and the extra oil adds creaminess to the soap.
Then mix the ingredients with a stick blender until the mixture thickens into a pudding consistency. The technical term is "comes to trace".
At the end is when you add the fragrance and color. Each recipe makes enough to for one silicone loaf pan.
The soap needs to stay warm for the next 24 hours. I cover the top with wax paper and wrap it in a towel. The next day it is ready to cut!
The soap needs to air dry for 2 to 3 weeks. This helps harden the soap and guarantees that the saponification is complete (the lye is fully converted).
We started with SIMPLY SOAP, then moved on to some fragrances, SERENITY NOW (lavender) and A DROP OF LEMON (lemon). I found a bayberry fragrance we use in SLIGHTLY SPICY. I will take the SLIGHTLY SPICY to Myrtle Beach soon to see if it measures up the hotel soap.
Even though making soap is fun and simple, it is very precise. All the ingredients need to be measured exactly. The reason is that if there isn't enough oil, the lye will not be completely converted and the soap could burn your skin. If there is too little lye, the oils will not be converted and the soap will be oily. So it is best to use a proven recipe, like Crystal’s Simple Soap. Also, the recipes we use have 5% extra oil to make sure the lye is converted and the extra oil adds creaminess to the soap.
First we measure and heat the oils in a crock pot .
At the end is when you add the fragrance and color. Each recipe makes enough to for one silicone loaf pan.
The soap needs to stay warm for the next 24 hours. I cover the top with wax paper and wrap it in a towel. The next day it is ready to cut!
The soap needs to air dry for 2 to 3 weeks. This helps harden the soap and guarantees that the saponification is complete (the lye is fully converted).
We started with SIMPLY SOAP, then moved on to some fragrances, SERENITY NOW (lavender) and A DROP OF LEMON (lemon). I found a bayberry fragrance we use in SLIGHTLY SPICY. I will take the SLIGHTLY SPICY to Myrtle Beach soon to see if it measures up the hotel soap.
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