Making your own soap is time-consuming but easy. The best part is that you know exactly what ingredients are inside! As a result, allergy suffers can avoid allergens, whereas lovers of natural products can finally get rid of preservatives. How to make a soap? How to give it the desired smell and colour and what ingredients can we add? And finally – how to store such soaps? Check my own recipe for DIY soap.

How to make soap?

Ingredients:

• 200 g of palm oil,
• 185 g of distilled or demineralized water,
• 100 g of rapeseed oil,
• 100 g sunflower oil,
• 100 g of olive oil,
• 70 g of caustic soda,
• 50 g of castor oil.

You can buy those products in online stores with semi-finished, chemical or horticultural products.

You will need:

• protective/ latex gloves,
• apron,
• a large pot,
• molds, preferably disposable (so that you can throw them out if they are destroyed),
• kitchen scale,
• safety glasses or large sunglasses,
• cooking thermometer,
• blanket /towel,
• kitchen foil,
• blender
• jar,
• wooden spoon.

DIY soap step by step

1. I prepare and measure all the ingredients. I decant water to a large jar, oils to separate glasses or other containers. I pour the palm oil into the pot and warm the oil over low heat until melted.
2. I add rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, castor oil and olive oil to the melted palm oil. I slowly mix the ingredients in the pot – it’s temperature should reach 50 degrees Celsius.
3. I prepare a mixture of water with caustic soda. Because of the fact that this is a caustic substance, you need to be very careful with it. For safety, I put on gloves, aprons and glasses which I keep on until the process is finished. 😉 I slowly add soda to the jar and mix it with the wooden spoon until the preparation becomes almost transparent.
4. I pour the preparation to the oil mixture and mix all the ingredients. At this time, the temperature of both fluids should be 50 degrees Celsius.
5. I blend the mixture slowly for 15-30 minutes. After this time it should have the consistency of thick mud.
6. I pour the mass into the molds. Place the foil over the molds, wrap them with a blanket and set aside for a day.
7. After this time, I remove the soaps from the molds. I cut them with a hot, wide knife, but this is not necessary. I wrap my products with a paper towel and set aside in warm place for 4 weeks. After this time the soap is ready for use. This period of time is important because only after 4 weeks the soap will cease being caustic. This effect is caused by sodium hydroxide. Until it’s ready, you should touch the soap with gloves and protect it from children and animals.

DIY soap: fragrance, colour and spices

The choice of spices depends only on you and your preferences. You can choose on the basis of their taste or properties. This way your soap will gain interesting smell and look. To obtain a specified colour, add sweet pepper (red) or curcuma (yellow) before pouring into the molds. For a nice smell, add a few drops of vanilla flavour, two pinches of cinnamon or tea. I usually add petals, almond flakes or dried fruits. Once solid, you can give the soap some shape or engrave any pattern or latters.

How to store DIY soap?

I store them in a soap dish or plastic foil, in dark and cool place far from a heater. If you take care of them properly, you will be able to use the soap for about a year. Otherwise, it will quickly lose its shape and properties.

Have you ever made your own soap? If so, what was the recipe?