Making Natural Soap

Have you noticed how commercial soaps often make your skin really dry? This is partly because manufacturing processes tend to remove much of the glycerin from the soap. So you may want to try making your own glycerin soap to counteract this problem. Or if you want to be really sure that the very best ingredients are included and the glycerin is retained, then how about making natural soap, so you can be sure there's nothing synthetic or artificial at all in the soap you use?

The essential process for making natural soap, or for making any soap for that matter, is to combine a fatty acid with a base, which results in the soap itself. The base is usually soap lye, while the fatty acids are either animal or vegetable oils. For some people, animal fats raise questions about ethics and how the animals are treated, so using oils derived from vegetables, or even grains or nuts is usually preferable and feels more natural. Soap made from those oils also tends to be healthier for the skin.

Natural soap will have more natural ingredients for other things as well, such as the coloring. You may find yourself turning your kitchen into a soap making supply depot, using things like paprika to create a peach color, spinach to make the soap green, or turmeric to make it amber. Preservatives will be another concern in making natural soap, since the ones in commercial soaps are mostly synthetic. Even though there are natural preservatives like vitamin E that you can add, you may have to use your soaps sooner than you would do with the manufactured kind.

Making natural soap means that other synthetics should be avoided as well, so you won't use such things as manufactured dyes, non-toxic crayons, and often not even food coloring. You might add other natural ingredients like hemp or jojoba oil for moisture. And your soap making fragrances, too, will be of all natural products like essential oils. Creating a soap of this quality requires a commitment to natural ingredients, and you won't want to skimp at the final stage of adding coloring and fragrance. You want your soaps to be natural from start to finish.

Related topics about making natural soap
Make Soap And Be Safe
For this reason, when you make soap, it might even be best if you isolate yourself so you're not distracted by a pet or by any kids in the house. Have all ingredients nearby before you start, so you don't have to leave the workspace unexpectedly, and perhaps lay down protective coverings on counters where you'll be working. Keep all your soap making resources, like pots, utensils, and especially the lye, well labeled and separated from normal kitchen supplies.

Experimenting With Soap Recipes
There are soap making supply stores and websites that can point you in the direction of a large number of oils, fragrances and other additives that you might want to use in your own soaps, whether you're fine with synthetic materials or want to go more natural. As you become more experienced in using the soap recipes you discover, you will think of areas to alter things, such as changing oils, adding different colorings, and so on. Many people who begin making soap from scratch discover a real talent for this art and create wonderful new soaps of their own.

Soap Making Recipes And Different Soap Making Processes
Soap making recipes run the gamut from simple to complex, and as you experiment with them you'll find yourself learning several different methods for creating your own handmade soaps. You may start with a kit in which all the ingredients have been pre-measured and pre-packaged for you, yet eventually you are likely to move on to the more complicated ways of making soap. These involve what are known as cold and hot processes.