How to make your own soap at home: the choice of bases and ideas for additives for beginners

Soapmaking can be a very interesting and creative process, and it can also generate a small income. At first glance it may seem very easy, mix the ingredients and it's done.

But in reality it is not so simple, it is a complex technological and chemical process, which must be carried out strictly according to a certain technology.

The advantages of making your own soap outweigh the time and effort involved, since such soap is natural, you can make it any shade, add any herbs or flowers to it, add a variety of flavorings.

Glycerin soap

Glycerin soap can be made in two ways: from a prepared piece of glycerin, or you can make it yourself using lye, but it is a more complicated chemical process for experienced soapmakers.

First it is better to try from a purchased piece of transparent glycerin in a handicraft store. Glycerin is good for the skin and is used in creams and various lotions to moisturize the body.

To make it requires:

1. Glycerin (you can buy it in a solid block at a craft or specialty store, it melts easily).
2. Any essential oils at your discretion, depending on what effect you want to achieve and what fragrance you want the resulting soap to smell like. You can take peppermint, tea tree, juniper, rose, peach or lemon oil. The main thing is to make an allergy test beforehand, so that there will be no bad consequences.
3. Alcohol. It is necessary in order to remove unnecessary air bubbles from hot glycerin.
4. Molds for hardening. These can be silicone or plastic molds; you can buy them in soap making stores or use ordinary molds for baking. But you should take into account that soap gives a specific smell, so you can't use them for baking.
5. Dried flowers. This is purely a moment at will. You can add small dried flowers to add beauty to the soap.

Preparation:

1. First, take as much glycerin as you want the soap to end up with. How the pieces look will be the same amount of soap you get.
2. Melt it in a water bath or in a steamer, if you have one. To make a water bath, you need to take two containers, one bigger and one smaller, and put them into each other, so that the water can boil in the bigger one. Put the glycerin in the upper bowl or saucepan, it will gradually begin to melt. You can also melt the glycerin gently in the microwave for half a minute. It should melt evenly without solid lumps.
3. Next, in the resulting mass is added aromatic oil, it needs very little, because such oils are very concentrated and have a strong smell even in small quantities. At this stage, you can sprinkle dried flowers in the future soap, but they should not be too large and sharp. Mix everything well until homogeneous. Here you can also add a little special dye, if you want to give brightness.
4. Prepare the molds for the soap, put them in advance on heavy paper or a tray, so that later it will be easier to carry them in a cool place without spilling. The molds will need to be spritzed with alcohol, so that later the soap will not bubble. The alcohol cools and dries them out. This is a must if you don't want soap in bubbles.
5. Pour the hot soap mixture as gently as possible into the molds, if it is not convenient directly, you can take funnels. It is desirable to fill the molds completely, without overflowing.
6. Once the soap has been poured into the molds, you need to spritz everything again with alcohol, so that there are no bubbles on the flat side of the soap.
7. That's it! Now it's just a matter of waiting patiently for the curing time of an hour or two, and then happily use the new soap made by your own hands!

Salt Soap

The difference between salt soap and ordinary soap is clear already from its name - it has a large percentage of salt.

It is very useful for people who suffer from acne, with various skin diseases, but we must be careful not to do any harm. After all, sore, festering wounds can become inflamed due to the salt. Everything must be in moderation.

This soap has a scrubbing effect, cleanses the top layer of the skin, gives the skin elasticity and a healthy appearance.

The ingredients can be bought in a craft store, they can also be purchased online.

What exactly to prepare for the salt soap:

1. 260 g of coconut oil, castor oil - 60 g, 40 g each of moisturizing oil (for example, shea, olive, avocado, peach, almond). The total amount of oil you need is 400 gr.
2. For the base: 150 ml of pure water, 58 g of lye, 12-15% of grease, 400 g of sea salt (if there is no sea salt, table salt will do), dyes, flavorings (eg, peach, olive, coconut).
3. I have to make a good mold, preferably silicone molds, but salt soap tends to "jump out" of plastic molds very quickly, so you can also use plastic.

In this list of beginner soapmakers, we came across one strange and incomprehensible word - vinyl. What is it, and where do we get it?

Grease is the remainder of oils, which is obtained after mixing the lye and essential oils. It's what allows the soap to take care of the skin, not just perform the cleansing process.

For different types of soaps and for different skin care, the percentage of soap oil is different.

The average salt soap has 12-15% of this residue.

To correctly calculate this amount, it is better to use a special calculator for soapmakers (you can find it on the Internet and use it online).

It is mandatory to have gloves and a respirator to work with making soap and lye.

The manufacturing process:

1. Take very fine salt, but if it is not, it must be ground very finely in a coffee grinder or in a blender.
2. Melt any oils that are in solid form. Mix the liquid and solid oils together.
3. Next, mix the lye and pure water. The water must be filtered or you can buy prepared pure water. Water must be taken cold.
4. Heat the lye solution and the oils to 40 degrees, then pour the lye solution into the oils and mix gently with a wooden or silicone spatula.
5. Then, you need to beat everything very vigorously, preferably with a blender. It is better to have a separate blender for such purposes, because the smell from the soap stays on the surface. After the mass has become very thick, reached the "trace effect" - this is when, when stirring with a spoon, traces remain on the surface.

When you reach this effect, gradually pour in the salt, stirring it well. At the same time add the coloring and flavoring.

Mix well and carefully pour everything into the molds. To avoid further crumbling of the soap, put the ready mass in a heated oven, not more than 70 degrees Celsius, but the oven must be turned off, so that the soap does not heat up more.

The soap should stand in the oven until it cools completely. It should take twenty-four hours for the process to finish accurately, then you can use your own soap, made under your keen control.

Bath Soap.

The next soap that is easy to make yourself is the well-known bath soap.

Bath soap can be made in the same way as above - using lye, but it's a more complicated version from scratch.

It is much faster to make if you use a ready-made soap base.

Recipe for useful bath soap with oils:

1. Soap base classic 100 gr.
2. Grind in a blender or coffee grinder dried herbs (what kind at your discretion, it can be St. John's wort, oregano, yarrow, as long as you are not allergic to them).
3. 1 teaspoon of a mixture of oils, which will be described below in the text.
4. If desired, add dyes if you want the soap to be brighter, but remember that sea buckthorn oil colors soaps yellow.

For a more pronounced fragrance, it is better to take oils with strong scents, they will contribute to the recovery of the body, to remove colds and various illnesses.

Mixture of oils:

1. Fir essential oil 2 drops.
2. Siberian larch oil - 1-2 drops.
3. Chamomile oil - 1 drop.
4. Juniper oil - 1 drop.
5. Half a teaspoon of sea buckthorn oil.

Actually, the process itself is very simple:

1. Melt the soap base in a water bath. But do not bring it to a boil, so that the base does not evaporate.
2. 1-2 teaspoons of a mixture of aromatic oils are added to the melted mass.
3. If desired, dyes are added, but it is worth remembering that sea buckthorn oil dyes yellow, so it is better to choose dyes in yellow, green or brown tones.
4. And at the end, finely ground herbs 1 -2 teaspoons are added.
5. The mass is then poured into a mold until it hardens completely. It can be either regular individual molds or a large long form of the container type, after hardening, the soap is cut into pieces of desired size.

Such soap is very fragrant and useful. It is very beautiful to give such soap neatly wrapped in parchment or wrapping paper. It is a wonderful gift for people who have a sauna, and it will be popular in the bath.

Laundry soap

The next in line is the household soap, which is well-known and very popular in everyday life and in matters of personal hygiene.

Yes, it is also possible to make it yourself, but it requires caustic soda, which you can buy in online stores for soapmakers or in handicraft stores.

When making such soap, it is convenient to use vegetable oil or animal fat, they will play the role of grease, so you can wash your hands or dishes without gloves.

You should be very careful when making such soap:

1. Keep children, animals and the elderly away.
2. Open windows so that the room is well ventilated.
3. Make room on the table so as not to drop anything inadvertently and not to hurt.
4. Be sure to wear a respirator on your face.
5. Wear clothing with long sleeves, preferably a bathrobe and long rubber gloves.
6. Prepare the forms and utensils. It is necessary to take into account that the dishes will not be able to be used in the future for eating or cooking. As forms you can use either silicone molds, or cut along the juice boxes. But this is more of an economical option, it is better to use denser forms.

Before you start, we should decide whether the soap will be used for laundry or for hand and body washing. This determines how much soap to take.

If you are going to use it only for washing in a washing machine, you should take 0% of the fat content, because even a small percentage of oils may leave traces on the machine walls.

If you are going to wash your body and dishes with the soap, you need to take 1-3% of the fat content so you do not dry your hands when using the soap.

You can calculate the exact amount of soap for certain proportions using the soap calculator, which is freely available on the Internet.

The quantities of all components must be accurately checked on the scales. Small deviations can lead to completely different results: the soap may not sap or be too dry.

You also need to make sure that all the ingredients are the same temperature.

To make laundry soap the hot method requires special ingredients.

These are: sunflower oil - 400 g, coconut oil 50 g, 5 g of vegetable oil or animal fat for the very "lard", castor oil 150 g, lye (caustic soda) - 69 g, pure water 165 milliliters.

Prepare a container in which the soap will be boiled. In the future you will not be able to use this container for cooking, so choose some old cups or buy new ones specifically for soap-making:

1. Prepare two containers, one larger and one smaller, so that you can put one in the other. Pour water into the big one to make a water bath.
2. Put the coconut oil in a smaller container and melt it.
3. It is necessary to mix all available oils. Overfat: vegetable oil or animal fat is added at this stage. Next, carefully, using protective gloves and a respirator, pour caustic soda into clean water at room temperature, remembering to stir it constantly.
4. The water will have to warm up due to the chemical reaction. Such a solution must be stirred gently with a silicone spatula or wooden spatula until the soda is completely dissolved. The lye solution is obtained.
5. Then strain the lye solution to get rid of any lumps. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the lye solution and the oil mixture. It should be at the same level.
6. Mix the lye and oil solution using a blender or stainless steel spoon. But it is worth remembering that the blender is not suitable for food preparation after this procedure, so you need to take this into account and specifically buy a blender specifically to work with soap to use an ordinary stainless spoon. The mixture should resemble sour cream.
7. The next step is to boil the mixture in a water bath for three to four hours, stirring occasionally so that no crusts form. The soap should become a gel. It should be checked with litmus paper, the acidity should be in the range of 8.5 to 10. Then you need to take silicone molds or a cut juice box and pour the soap there. The soap will harden for about two to three days. It can be cut with thick fishing line.

The soap is ready! Now you can use it for its intended purpose.

If you decide to wash it in the washing machine, gently rub it or cut it into pieces and put it in the drum of the washing machine. But it needs 0% moisture in it, otherwise the oil will remain on the walls of the machine.

If you use it to wash your hands and dishes, wash yourselves, then the fat content should be from 1-3%. You know exactly what the soap is made of, what it contains and in what proportions. You do not have any doubts about its naturalness.

Laundry soap (cold method)

There is a faster way to make it, but when working with him, all the ingredients must be prepared in advance, in the process you can not add anything.

For work we need: vegetable oil (for example, sunflower) - 500 gr, caustic soda (caustic soda) - 75 gr, pure water at room temperature - 190 gr.

All ingredients must be exactly the same amount as in the recipe.

All work must be done in strict compliance with all safety measures: respirator, gloves, ventilated room, the absence of children and animals nearby:

1. The oil should be warmed a little.
2. Carefully dissolve caustic soda in water.
3. Wait until the temperature is the same in all components, stir everything with a wooden, silicone spatula or spoon.
4. Intensively whisk the entire mixture with a blender or whisk until it is as thick as sour cream.
5. Spread the soap into the molds and cover tightly with a towel.
6. Leave to harden for 4 days, then, if necessary, cut and leave for another 3 weeks for full readiness.

Soap with coffee

An excellent option for an unusual gift is a coffee soap.

It has beneficial properties for the skin, as caffeine speeds up the process of regeneration of the skin surface. It activates the metabolism and helps to fight with the well-known problem of all women - cellulite.

Coffee soap acts as a scrub and the particles contained in the soap clean dead cells, thus softening the skin.

It is better to use coffee beans for soap, but they must be very finely ground and constitute a fine crumb.

Do not add whole beans to the soap mass, as they are too large and will interfere with washing. You can use them at the stage of decorating the soap.

Soap with coffee can be made quickly from soap base or even from neutral children's soap without a certain smell.

To make it you need:

1. 100 grams of soap base or baby soap.
2. 3 tablespoons of freshly ground coffee, this amount depends on how concentrated you want to make soap.
3. Cocoa butter one teaspoon.
4. Coffee flavoring. If you want the soap to have a very strong aroma, as the coffee beans themselves in the soap do not have such a strong effect.
5. You can use brown dye or replace it with natural chocolate, literally 1-2 pieces of the bar will be enough.

The manufacturing process:

1. Initially you need to melt soap base, or baby soap in a water bath. How to make a water bath is explained in the article above.
2. Add coffee, cocoa butter and mix very well.
3. Add the coloring and flavoring in the final step, mixing everything thoroughly.
4. For more creativity, you can buy soap molds in the form of large coffee beans. Pour the soap into the molds and decorate the top with natural coffee beans.
5. Patiently wait for the soap to harden for 3-4 hours, and you can use it or give it to your loved ones in beautiful gold or brown wrapping paper.

Chocolate soap

From the category of sweet dessert soaps we can distinguish another chocolate soap, which also has beneficial properties for the skin and activates positive therapy, as the aroma of chocolate has a very positive effect on a person's mood.

To make it you will need:

1. Colored or white soap base 400 gr.
2. Bitter chocolate 50 gr.
3. One tablespoon of cocoa powder.
4. Half a tablespoon of coconut oil.
5. 20 ml wheat germ oil.
6. 5-10 drops of peppermint essential oil (at your discretion - you can not add, it is added for a fresher flavor).

Before making, you need to prepare all the materials:

1. Soap molds.
2. Two pots (one larger, one smaller for the water bath).
3. A measuring scale.
4. A spoon or blender (you can't use a blender after making soap for food purposes).
5. Knife.

Process:

1. Initially, the soap base is cut into small cubes or grated. Then it is put into a small saucepan, which is placed in a large pot on a water bath. The base should melt completely to a homogeneous mass to about the consistency of sour cream.
2. While the soap base is melting, you need to prepare the chocolate: grate it on a grater or pulverize it with a blender, then melt it on the stove.
3. Add coconut oil and wheat germ oil to the liquid base and mix well. Then the melted chocolate is gently poured in, and everything is mixed until smooth.
4. Next, cocoa powder enters the process, its particles will become the basis for the scrub and give the main flavor to the soap.
5. At the last moment we add peppermint essential oil, the main thing is not to overfill it, so as not to interfere with the smell of cocoa powder.
6. The ready mass will need to be poured into molds or pour into one large mold, and then you will need to cut the soap. Soap hardens for about 3-4 hours. After this time the soap can be used immediately, even children can use it.

The shelf life of handmade soap is different from that of manufactured soap. It is 3 months. After that time the oil wears out and the soap loses its useful properties, and it may even begin to dry your skin.

It should be stored at room temperature, wrapped in clingfilm. Chocolate soap is great for a gift for both child and adult.

Lavender soap

This soap has a very pleasant appearance, a beautiful lilac hue and an elegant look due to dried lavender.

Also lavender provides excellent antibacterial and bactericidal effect and has a soothing light fragrance.

To make 1 piece of soap you need: soap base - 100 gr, dried lavender flowers, 5-7 drops of scented lavender oil (natural).

For more usefulness, you can add a teaspoon of soap, but be careful, honey is an allergenic product.

To begin, you need to cut the soap base into small cubes and melt it in a water bath. Next, you need to add lavender flowers, mix well. Wait for the mixture to cool a little, then add essential oil and honey, if you decide to add it.

Stir everything well and pour it into the mold, for extra finesse of the soap you can add lavender flowers on top without stirring. Wrap in clingfilm and cool in a cool place or in the refrigerator away from food.

After curing, you get a very pretty, fragrant soap with a purple hue.

Soap Flowers

Flowers from soap look very beautiful and unusual. Masters can achieve such an effect that such flowers look like live and nothing can distinguish them. Flowers of soap are often used to decorate the finished soap.

Separately, they are almost unusable, as they quickly soap and lose their shape. Soap flowers can be made at home with gelatin.

To quickly make flowers from soap you will need: soap base or grated baby soap without flavorings - 200 grams, one tablespoon of food gelatin, 8 tablespoons of water, soap dyes, essential oils and flavorings optional.

You will also need a vegetable peeler and a regular smooth knife:

1. At the beginning of the production of flowers from soap, you need to prepare a tablespoon of gelatin, pour cold water on it and leave it to swell for 40 minutes.
2. While the gelatin is swelling, you will need to melt soap base or grated baby soap. The base should reach the consistency of sour cream.
3. Cosmetic oils are added to the base, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the soap will be too fatty and will not wash. At this stage we add flavorings. Then swollen gelatin is added. Stir everything.
4. Soap is poured into molds, not necessarily into beautiful molds, just into some caps or small cups. The molds should be plastic or silicone, so that the soap can be easily taken from there.
5. You should wait for 20 minutes until the soap hardens in the fridge. Then you take out the soap pieces, they should still be a little warm, but already hold their shape.
6. Then you need to take a vegetable peeler, cut thin slices in the form of petals. You need to cut several of these slices, they should be of medium thickness, so that they do not melt in your hands.
7. The first petal should be rolled up in a spiral, a little diagonally. This will be the core of the rose. The next petal is superimposed on the previous and also rolled in a spiral. So you have to wrap all the petals until you get a lush flower shaped like a rose.
8. If the lower part of the flower - the base is too long, you need to cut the lower part carefully with a knife.
9. With the help of green dye, you can make petals and stems. The leaf is made using the same technique as the petals, only after you have cut off part of the soap base with a knife, you will need to use a toothpick to draw veins on it and try to make it an oval leaf shape.

Due to the gelatin soap flowers will be very good to keep the smell and fragrance of the whole bathroom. It is a natural ingredient, so you can wash with this soap without fear.

If you can not buy gelatin, you can use glycerin or honey. Proportions: glycerin 10% of the weight of the entire soap base and honey - one tablespoon per 200 grams of soap base, but you should keep in mind that honey is allergic and may not be suitable for everyone.

These are such masterpieces of soap you can create yourself, the main thing is not to forget about the safety precautions and take your time. Experience will come in time and you will surprise your loved ones with new unusual types of soap.

Photo ideas of homemade soap