Essentially, by mixing a liquid fat or oil of some kind with a strong alkali, such as lye, and heating the mixture. The resulting soap base is then colored or scented as desired, and allowed to cool and harden. Because of the potential for injury from the corrosive chemicals used, you should seek detailed information and instructions before trying this. Putting "soapmaking" into Google would be a good place to start...
Smell like you? Please explain.... I was under the impression that people used soap to get the smell OFF of themselves. Anyway, the usual scenting ingredients used in soapmaking would be essential oils or perfume oils.
yep dont just jump into it, you need to be really careful if you decide to make it from scratch... of course a quick fix would be to do melt and pour ~ you can still scent it how you like it. you can even get it at joanne's.
you can go to craft stores, they often have kits to make your own soap, with all the oils and dyes and glitter for it if you wish...
I just buy bars of veg glycerin soap and add my own stuff. It is the same soap in the melt n pour kits, but cheaper.
soap isnt that hard to make. you do have to use a bit of caution with the lye, but c'mon people! ~~ before the age of the supermarket, *everyone* made their own soap. it only takes a couple of hours to make a batch of soap that'll last for ages. essential links if you're going to make soap (this is where i learned how to do it and i make some beauuuuuuuuutiful decadent luxurious yummy soaps) http://millersoap.com/ http://www.soapcrafters.com/makebase.htm http://www.soapcrafters.com/rwriter.html
still, i think it's good that anyone looking to start making some soap definately read up on it a little bit first. as long as you realize what you are working with and take precautions, everything should go fine but it really doesn't hurt to be prepared. i put my animals in another room and everything ~ and good thing i do cuz i've had an accident that would not have been good had one of them been under my feet. just be careful, that's all.
yes, definitely do be careful--do your homework before you touch any lye. there's a story on the net somewhere about a soapmaker who didnt have her lye labelled properly. her husband drank it and ended up in reallly bad shape with holes in his esophagus.
An easy way is to buy some plain soap, grate it up and add oils and everything then press it together to make bars.. its not the same as making it from scratch but you can personalise it with whatever fragrances, bits of herbs, flowers, whatever..
You have to make sure you let it set up long enough for the lye to cure. Otherwise your sweetheart can get a nasty burn when she tries to use it. I agree that for a beginner I would use the melt and pour stuff. Be very careful. Kathi
I think I am afraid of the lye. Melting Glycerine soap and adding sandal wood oil seems acceptible. thank you all.
