So I decided to make some homemade soap. It's not difficult if you can follow directions and learn from my mistakes. The recipe I used included just 3 ingredients, soybean oil, sodium hydroxide (Lye) and water. Check out the videos I've linked here and then let me tell you what I did wrong so you don't make the same mistakes.
First, make sure the temperature of your oils are the same as your lye solution. I did it with the oil hotter than the lye and it wouldn't trace (check videos for what trace is). I did some research and found that if after a couple of hours of stirring your solution doesn't trace to go ahead and poor it into your mold (I used muffin molds) and wait to see if it solidify's on its own. I am now waiting to see if after a couple of weeks my muffin shaped soaps work but I am not holding my breath.
Second, ease the lye solution into the oil slowly. Don't just poor it into the oil all at once. I did this with my second batch and I think it didn't quick set correctly.
Third, ensure your soap batter will trace before adding any of your scents, coloring or other ingredients. I added several bags of pomegranate/green tea to the mix which just colored the soap an awful brown color. My kids say it looks like meatloaf ... I placed it into a mini bread tin as a mold. I decided to try and heat up the mixture to a bowl and then pull it off the stove and begin the stirring once again. It didn't take long before this mixture thickened up and I was able to get it to trace. I don't know if it will work yet, but its at least hardened into a nice meatloaf colored and shaped bar of super soap.
Check out these great videos on soap making. The first link includes how to make lye from scratch as well. I haven't tried that yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuzCD7EP1ZM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MtzyxQiqKo
Use the following information to calculate your lye to oil ratios.
To use the following numbers, take the amount of fat you plan to use in your recipe (in ounces) and multiply it by the decimal number assigned to that type of fat. The resulting answer will be the amount of lye needed (in ounces). You can round your numbers up when you finish calculating them, but I'd wait and round up the whole thing after adding the numbers for each fat you are using in your recipe.) If you are combining fats, you can add the results of the calculations and see how close it comes to the standard 12 ounces of lye that come in a can (I don't like measuring lye crystals or having partial cans left over so the ideal recipe for me will use 12 ounces...if you are buying lye in bulk, this will not be a concern for you). Adjust your fats accordingly. At least 1/4 of your fat content should be a fat that is hard at room temperature but this is not written in stone. When designing your own recipe, a rule of thumb for the water used is approx. 1/3 of the total weight of the fats (in other words, add up the weight of the fats and oils and divide that by 3 for the ounces of water needed). Many people like to have a small cushion of extra fat in a recipe for mildness and usually strive for about 5-8%. Here is a list of most of the fats you might think to try in your soap, and a few others you may never want to use! ...
Saponification Numbers for Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
Milder Column with a 5% Discount
| .136 .135 .133 .175 .139 .140 .069 .175 .1619 .1672 .1362 .134 .1286 .1389 .137 .190 .1326 .136 .1386 .136 .1357 .1265 .1356 .1345 .137 .069 .128 .135 .0741 .138 .139 .136 | .129 .128 .126 .166 .132 .133 .069* .166 .154 .159 .129 .129 .125* .132 .130 .1805 .126 .129 .132 .129 .129 .120 .129 .128 .130 .066 .122 .128 .070 .131 .132 .129 |
| .140 .124 .136 .136 .135 .116 .134 .156 .156 .141 .136 .137 .138 .133 .134 .128 .129 .136 .133 .128 .136 .135 .134 .138 .139 .141 .138 .135 .138 .135 .131 .074 | .133 .118 .129 .132 .129 .110 .128 .126 .148 .148 .134 .129 .130 .131 .126 .129* .122 .125* .129 .126 .122 .129 .128 .1275 .131 .132 .134 .131 .128 .131 .129 .124 .070 |
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