Cold Process Soap Making
Soap Making Instructions
Prepare the work area:
- Before starting, set up your work area with equipment and soap molds.
- Prepare your soap molds. Check out our section on Working with Soap Molds for detailed instructions.
Mixing the key ingredients:
- Measure out the soap oils that you will use and set them aside. If using a soap kit, soap oils are pre-measured and ready to be heated later.
- Put on glasses or goggles if available and rubber or latex gloves. Weigh the lye and set it aside.
- Place measuring cup on scale and weigh out amount of soft or distilled water required. If using a kit please note that the weight and volume of water are the same. (ie: 500 grams of water is also 500 ml on the measuring cup so no scale is required).
- Slowly add the lye to the water while stirring with a small whisk or fork. The fumes may be quite strong after 10 seconds, so hold your breath. Leave the area for one or two minutes and then return and stir again to be sure the lye is fully dissolved. The lye solution will be heated to approx 180 degrees F, so set the cup aside to cool down to the soap making temperature.
- While lye is cooling, prepare the oils. Place Kit bottles in the microwave with the tops off. Heat until the soap oils have liquefied and are at or slightly above the soap making temperature.
Making your natural soap:
- When the soap lye solution and the soap oil mixture are both at the soap making temperature, you are ready to make natural handmade soap. Wearing your gloves, slowly drizzle the lye into the soap oils, stirring quickly and carefully by hand. Once the lye has been well mixed into the soap oils, you may use your stick blender, being sure to keep the blender submerged in the soap mixture to avoid any splashing and run for only 15-20 seconds at a time. Alternate between hand whisking and stick blending for equal amounts of time to ensure your soap is getting thoroughly and evenly mixed. Always hand stir just before putting soap into your soap molds. Only using the stick blender and not alternating with equal amounts of hand stirring can cause your soap to mix unevenly, causing pockets of lye to remain and eventual cracking of your soap.
- Stirring must be maintained until soap reaches the trace stage. Trace is identified in the soap mixture when it is slightly thickened or when you lift some of the mixture and let it drizzle back into the bowl, and a trace or trailing is left on the surface to slowly blend back in to the mixture. If the trace or trailing stays on the surface you may have over mixed the soap and will have less time to add fragrances and pour into the molds.
- After incorporating final additives such as fragrance oil, soap colour or exfoliates (ie: oatmeal, etc) and stirred to fully incorporate these added items, the soap is ready to pour into the soap molds. Quickly pour the soap into the soap molds. The mixture should be smooth, with no lumps or unmixed watery liquids.
Check out our section on Colouring Soaps and Scenting Soaps for further information.
- Cover the filled soap mold or soap molds with a piece of cardboard or with brown freezer paper and cover this with a towel or blanket to retain the heat in the soap mixture. Leave undisturbed for 24 to 48 hours. During this period saponification (the process of becoming soap) is completed. On a balanced formula such as used in our kits, at this stage all of the soap oils and all of the soap lye have been fully converted into natural soap.
- Remove from soap molds after the saponification period. If using a wooden soap mold, turn out onto a piece of brown paper or cardboard. If using smaller plastic soap molds, it helps to place the molds in the freezer for 15-30 minutes, remove from freezer and rest for 5 minutes before tapping the soap out of the mold. This prevents any crumbling of edges, etc.
- Place soap on storage shelf for 2-3 days to begin drying out (curing). After 2-3 days, cut larger blocks of soap into bar sized pieces.
- Place all soap back on storage shelf to continue curing (drying) for three to four weeks, turning handmade soap once a week to expose all sides to the air. After curing your natural handmade soap is ready to use. Enjoy.
Soap Making