Cold process soap making is one of the methods that is usually used at home.
The first thing that a novice should do is to understand what soap is.
This is vital to be successful in the soap making endeavor.
The next thing to do is to choose a recipe.
This can be your own or from the soap recipe library available on the net.
Before proceeding make sure to review the safety guidelines in making soap to avoid problems during the process.
When you are done, start gathering the equipment, tools and ingredients needed and prepare to start.
Are you wearing the safety gloves and goggles already? Wear this all throughout the process.
Here are the basic steps in cold processing: 1.
Prepare the lye solution.
Weigh the dry lye accurately according to the recipe together with the appropriate amount of water.
Never use hard water for this may result to water reaction in cold process.
When measuring dry lye make sure to place it in a sealed container in case interruption occurs and keep it safe.
Always be accurate in measuring ingredients.
Remember to pour lye into the water and not water into the lye.
Mix the lye and water until it is completely dissolve.
Place a thermometer in the lye solution and set aside.
Make sure to place the solution in a safe place away from pets or children.
2.
Melt the solid oils in the pot over medium heat.
Gently stir the oils and slowly melt it.
Always monitor the temperature.
Make sure to turn off the heat when it reaches 110 degrees.
Continue stirring until the oils are completely dissolved.
Once the solid oils are melted add the liquid oil to the soap pot, which will surely bring the overall temperature down.
The oils must be at 100 degrees when adding the lye-water mixture.
3.
Prepare all the fragrance oils, additives, and colors as well as the spoons, spatulas and whisks before continuing the cold process of making soap.
Now slowly add the lye and water mixture to the soap pot and you will notice a cloudy reaction of the oils.
Use the blender stick turned off to start mixing the lye water into the oil manually and then set aside in a safe place.
4.
While mixing the lye-water-oil mixture, turn on the blender shortly once in a while until the mixture is completely mixed.
When this happens you are almost reaching trace.
5.
Before the mixture begins to get too thick, gradually add the fragrance or essential oils to the mixture.
Use the stick to blend all the ingredients.
6.
If you have additives this is the perfect time to add them in and gently stir them into the mixture.
Before adding the colorants, use the stick blender to make sure that the additives are well blended before pouring in the colorants.
7.
Colorants can be added in two ways, either in unified color or in a swirling effect.
8.
Once the colorants are poured in according to the desired effect and the soap has already thickened a bit, you may now pour the soap into the mold with a back and forth motion.
Make sure to evenly spread out the soap.
Use a spatula to scrape off all of the soap mixture.
Level out the top of the mold with the spatula.
9.
Set the soap in a warm place and set aside for curing.
The soap will start to get hot as the saponification process starts.
Covering the soap with a towel helps to keep it warm.
10.
Allow 24 hours to harden and keep it in a safe place before removing it from the mold and cut it to your desired size.
11.
Allow another four weeks to completely cure the soap before actually using it.
Cold process soap making is so easy to do at home.
Discreetly follow these steps and enjoy using your own homemade soap.