Homemade Moisturizing Soap

There are countless variations and recipes for making your own soap.  There are also more than plenty tutorials online that will take you through the process.  I see no reason to spend the time adding one more to the masses.  Do a Google search for "soap making tutorial" and you'll see what I mean.  I will however show a batch I made recently and give a few points to consider before diving in yourself. 

I have very dry skin and live in a cold, dry area; so, I decided to make a batch that was as moisturizing as possible.  I took a recipe that apparently got good reviews (called Sherry's Fantastic Soap) and adjusted it to include even more moisturizing ingredients like olive oil, cocoa and shea butters, castor oil, and jojoba oil.  (I call it my Fantastic Variation) I also reduced the size of the batch, also.  This is actually considered a fairly small batch at only 2.25 pounds, or 36 ounces, whichever you prefer. 

I used two, quart size, half-and-half cartons for my molds.  You'll notice that the column on the left is lighter and more evenly toned.  This is because there was some separation after pouring, where large spots in the middle were a lot lighter than the edges, so I "rebatched" the bars where this had occurred too much.  You can kind of see it in the first bar on the right.  Rebatching is also called rmilling, or hand milling.  I'm not sure if it'll be a problem or not, but the re-batched bars came out a bit softer than most soaps I've used in the past.  I guess I'll try one out to find out, but if I need to I can mill it again with some beeswax to harden it.  

Some things to keep in mind before making soap: 

You need to do plenty of reading on the subject before trying it yourself.  Not only are there are corrosive materials involved, but a lot can go wrong pretty easily, even if you feel you followed your guide closely.  So, be prepared and know what's what before getting started.  

A digital kitchen scale is a must.  Ingredients are measured precisely by weight.  You can find a few recipes by volume, but the outcome on those are questionable.  Ingredients also get measured for temperature, so kitchen thermometers are also needed.  

Safety first!  Splash goggles and rubber gloves (marigolds) should always be worn.  I also wear a dust/vapor mask because lye vapors aren't especially healthy.  Keep a bottle of vinegar out during the whole thing just in case anything with lye in it gets on your skin.  

Always use plastic, glass, or stainless steel equipment; never aluminum, and preferably not wood, never if you will be using it for food, ever.  Many people recommend getting equipment (pot, thermometers, bowl, etc) that you'll only use for making soap, which I did for the pot and thermometer, but I still use a glass mixing bowl and plastic mixing spoon that I rinse with vinegar and wash immediately after using them for soap making.   

After removing soap from molds and cutting it, it still needs to cure for 2-4 weeks (depending on recipe) to fully saponify!  Don't use it until then; pH testing is highly recommended (usually between 7 and 9.5). 


A good site that I've read top to bottom, and I've seen recommended often, is Miller's Homemade Soap Pages.  Read the troubleshooting and FAQ sections, as well.  Another good page is http://www.cranberrylane.com/soapmaking.htm.  It has a lot of info on one page.  As mentioned earlier, simply Googling "homemade soap recipe" or "soapmaking tutorial" gives you plenty of other sites to read on the subject.