Making your own soap is fun and also practical. Soap-making may be intimidating at first but, you will soon get the hang of it as soon as you have made one or two batches of soap. Start out with tested soap recipes and then later on, when you have gained the confidence, you can try creating your very own soap recipe.
For starters, try this simple hand soap recipe: you will need 14 grams of lye, ¼ cup of cold water, ½ cup of fat (lukewarm), and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. To begin, put the cold water in a plastic bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir the lye slowly into the water. Gently add the fat. Keep stirring the mixture until it has thickened a little. Add in the lemon juice, stirring thoroughly. Pour the soap mixture into plastic soap molds and cover them with a plastic wrap. Set the soap bars aside for 25 hours and then remove them from the molds. Allow the soap bars to dry for about 2 weeks. This soap recipe will yield 2 medium-sized soap bars.
As you know, soaps come in other forms. Aside from a bar soap, there is liquid soap, gel soap or powder soap. Here is another easy-to-do soap recipe if you want to make liquid or gel soap. First, prepare the ingredients: 2 cups of grated bar soap, half a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of glycerin. To start making this liquid soap recipe, mix all the ingredients above in a large pot. Set the pot over a low oven/stove fire. Stir the mixture from time to time until the grated soap has melted. Once this is done, transfer the liquid soap mixture to a jar. Make sure to cover the jar tightly. If you want to make the consistency of the soap less thick, increase the amount of water to one gallon.
Scented and colored soaps are very popular. They are pretty things that many people are fond of looking at and using. Here is a soap recipe for Cinnamon Scented Soap: The ingredients are 2 glycerin soaps (unscented), 2 drops of red food dye, and 20 drops of cinnamon oil. Place the glycerin soaps in a large saucepan and melt them well over low fire. Remove the saucepan from the stove. Stir in the food dye and cinnamon oil until thoroughly mixed. Pour the soap mixture into soap molds. Let them set for about 3 hours or until they harden. This soap recipe makes two 14 oz. fragrant soap bars.
Other oils you can try for your soap recipe are vanilla oil, almond oil, coconut oil, olive oil and fruity fragrance oils like peach, citrus, apple, melon and so many more. If you are making your own recipe, start with your favorite scents and what qualities you want in a soap (i.e. extra moisturizing, gentle on skin, etc.) to guide as you make your choices.
