Making soap can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. You can make simple recipes or delve into the chemical composition and details of each fatty acid. You don’t need a lot of fancy or expensive equipment to start making soap. Most of what you’ll need is probably already in your kitchen. Of course, in addition to some basic ingredients whether you’re using a pre-made base or raw ingredients to make soap from scratch; and you’ll need items to measure and stir your ingredients, something to heat them in, any additives you want to include, and, finally, something to mold your soap in. Anyhow it is good for you to understand the basic concepts before you start making your soup.
8 basic concepts to know:
1. No lye, no soap. Although you don’t leave any lye in your soap, the lye is needed to make soap. Even the most basic melted and dumped soap is made with lye.
2. The oils in the formula are the main factor that determines the quality of the final soap. So please use a good quality oil in making soap.
3. Water is the matchmaker that allows lye and oil molecules to mix more easily.
4. Try to weigh everything. While you’ll often see a small amount of ingredients measured with a teaspoon or spoon, it’s best to weigh as many of your ingredients as possible, even liquids.
5. Get to know your ingredients. Do not assume that just because an ingredient comes directly from nature, it doesn’t mean safe to add to soap. On the contrary, just because something is synthetic does not mean that it is harmful.
6. Tracking-that “point of no return”-is not as important as it used to be. Then hand-mixed soap, traces is an important point. Traces can really be called emulsification, where lye and oil are completely mixed and will not be separated.
7. Always be safe and cautiously handling the ingredients. The Lye in your eyes is a trip to the emergency room. Don’t take risk.
8. When making soap from scratch, always run your recipes via the online lye calculator, such as www.soapcalc.net – even recipes you that found in a book or online; as error occurs or typo might happen on your source. In addition, by examining it carefully, you will learn more about the recipe.