Handmade soap at home is a fascinating and useful thing. It is an individual approach to skin care, an original gift, a kind of earnings. Handmade soap contains natural components and combines cleansing procedures with skin care.

It is not difficult to make our own soap, but, as in everything, there are subtleties. To avoid disappointment, the novice soapmaker should delve into some of the nuances of the process in advance and explore different options for the detergent.

Materials for self-created soap-making

The first thing a beginner soapmaker should learn about the ingredients for making soap. The right selection of ingredients will allow you to make a quality product. Here is its composition:

• soap base;
• dyes;
• fragrances and essential oils;
• additives;
• base oils;
• alcohol;
• molds.

Depending on what kind of soap you want to get, the right elements are used. You will need plastic spoons, wooden sticks, and rubber gloves.

Soap bases

Ready-made soap base is a semi-finished product, with which you can create exclusive soap without much effort. It consists of alkali, vegetable oils and a little water. Factory bases can not be called a 100% natural product, because the additives are present in it, but in much smaller quantities than in store products.

Trade offers a creamy, white and clear base. The white base is dense in consistency, cures quickly and dulls the colors. Transparent base produces bright colors. Cream soap is used to produce scrub soap, cream soap, and soap in the form of cake.

The basis for self-made soap can be made from scratch, and it will be a completely natural product. Beginner soapmakers can use baby soap instead of the base, but in this case, you should understand that the final product will always be matte.

Dyes

Dyes are divided into three kinds: natural dyes, food dyes and pigments. Natural dyes include coffee, sea buckthorn oil, vegetable and fruit juices.

Food dyes do not clouding the base, but are capable of migrating – transferring to neighboring layers. Food dyes in dry form are concentrated, they should be pre-diluted in water.

Cosmetic pigments are available in a wide palette of colors, but obscure the base. They can be liquid or dry. Pearlescent pigments are introduced into the soap and used for exterior decoration.

Flavorings

Flavoring of soap is carried out with the help of essential oils, fragrances (ready fragrances) and food flavorings.

Essential oils have a positive effect not only on the skin, but also on the body as a whole. At the same time they should be used with caution, as some of them can cause allergic reactions.

Essential oils are volatile compounds. Because of this, you should be prepared for the aroma to disappear after a few weeks. Sealed packaging will help to slow down the process.

High temperature increases the volatility of oils, so it is advisable to add this type of flavoring to the soap mass at the end of the process.

Cosmetic fragrances please the richness of choice and give the finished product a lasting fragrance. Floral, fruity, composite, feminine and masculine – everyone will find his or her own scent.

One peculiarity should be taken into account – the presence of a certain percentage of vanilla in the selected fragrance, is fraught with a change in color of the finished product. To prevent such trouble, use a special stabilizer (preservative).

Food flavorings are less resistant than fragrances, but their price is lower.

Additives

Additives greatly improve the quality of soap. Depending on their type the product acquires the desired skin care direction, saturates it with minerals and vitamins, has a scrub effect. Additives give the soap an interesting texture and serve as a decoration.

The list of additives is impressive: chocolate, oat flakes, herbs, vegetable and fruit juices, spices, cocoa, mummy, egg yolks, dairy products.

Base Oils

This can be sunflower oil, olive oil, sea buckthorn oil or coconut oil. The oil is added to the soap to achieve a certain effect – moisturizing, nourishing or softening. The amount per 100 grams of base – 1-2 teaspoons.

Alcohol

Alcohol 96⁰ is used to process the forms before pouring, to bind the layers and remove bubbles that form on the surface of the soap mass.

Glycerin

Glycerin is a substance with pronounced moisturizing and softening properties.

Moulds

Moulds come in wood, plastic, and silicone. Wooden ones are strong and have smooth edges. Plastic can not boast of durability, but will please you with a low price.

Silicone are convenient in every way, varying in form, but their cost is high. As an alternative to them are baking molds.

Before you begin the process of soap making, you must have the necessary tools and equipment:

• Scales with accuracy to a tenth of a gram – for weighing lye.
• A container for weighing lye. Disposable cups will do.
• Immersion blender.
• Liquid thermometer.
• A heat-resistant pot for dissolving the lye and boiling the soap.
• Glass sticks and spoon for mixing.
• Personal protective equipment: respirator, goggles, rubber gloves.

The equipment should not be used for any other purpose.

There are a great many compositions for making soap at home, but beginners should start with the simplest, without the use of additives.

Handmade handmade soap on a ready-made base: a basic recipe

To get 100 grams of soap you will need:

• base – 100 g;
• oil – 3 tsp;
• fragrance – 3 drops;
• glycerin – 1 tsp;
• dye – 2 drops;
• a little water.

Before use, the soap base must be melted. This can be done either in a water bath or in a microwave oven (microwave). The base should be pre-cut into small cubes.

The base should not boil. To avoid this, in the process of heating the substance should be stirred. In the microwave, 100 g dissolve for about 30 seconds. With a larger volume of base, the treatment is carried out in several stages – until complete dissolution.

Algorithm of making handmade soap

• Dissolve the base.
• Heat oil and glycerin on water bath.
• Combine the ingredients 1 and 2, add water. The mass should have the consistency of sour cream.
• Add dye and fragrance.
• Pour into forms and spray with alcohol.
• When it cools, take out of the molds and leave to dry for 2 days.
• Soap from bast bones
• Scum can be used as a base. They are ideal for the first experiments in soap-making at home.

Grind leftover soap on a coarse grater. Add water and melt in a water bath, without allowing it to boil. Pour into molds and let dry.

Soapmaking safety rules

Often beginners in soap making are afraid to work with lye, but without it there will be no saponification reaction and the soap will not work.

Clothing with long sleeves and protective equipment will be needed. Work must be done with an open window or turned on the hood, without the presence of bystanders. It may also be advisable to keep an open bottle of vinegar on your table for washing any spots where lye may come in contact with your skin or clothes.

Soap Scrub at Home

Scrub soap is good not only for removing dirt, but also for removing the dead layer of epidermis. To make it at home, prepare the following ingredients:

• 100 grams of soap base;
• 1 tbsp. finely ground coffee;
• 5 grams of cacao butter;
• 3-5 drops of chocolate fragrance.
• Procedure:
• brew coffee and select coffee grounds;
• crush the base and melt it in a water bath;
• add the coconut oil;
• let the base thicken a little and pour the coffee grounds into it;
• add fragrance to the mass and mix;
• transfer the resulting soap into forms;
• after hardening, the scrub soap can be used.

If you add water, the consistency will be a creamy mass.

Making transparent soap

To make transparent soap, prepare the following ingredients:

• Coconut oil – 150 gr;
• Castor oil – 120 gr;
• Glycerin – 210 gr;
• Water – 90 gr;
• Alkali – 45.7 g;
• Pork fat – 30 g.

Prepare it this way:

• Add lye to cold water.
• Melt the coconut oil together with the fat, and then add the castor oil.
• When everything has cooled down, add the alkaline solution to the mass.
• Mix the ingredients until homogeneous with a blender.
• The resulting mass is placed in a water bath, where to simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• At the end of 2 hours add glycerin and continue to stew until homogeneous.
• When finished, pour the mass into molds and leave to harden.

Where to get the ingredients for soap

All the necessary ingredients for making your own soap can be found in specialized stores, but in small towns you will hardly find any. Of course, you can buy everything separately. Dyes are sold in grocery stores, fragrances in perfume stores, and soap base in hardware stores. As an option, you can use children’s soap instead of the base, but in this case, you will not get a transparent product.

If there is no possibility to buy the base for soap, you can buy it in online stores, as well as everything else – flavorings, dyes. It is more practical to order a complete soap making kit. It will have all the necessary elements for making soap from scratch.

A beginner soapmaker should not be afraid of possible failures and mistakes – skill comes with experience. And then boundless horizons of fascinating creativity will open. There will be confidence in their abilities, author recipes, skill and the ability to monetize the hobby. And this is one of the components of happiness – earning money doing what you love.