My First Attempt at Soapmaking

Over the course of the past year, I have developed a Pintrest addiction. Maybe some of you understand what I am talking about. There are just SO MANY great ideas for DIY projects and the like! I have tried many. some have failed (e.g. cutting wine bottles for use as drinking glasses), while others worked fabulously (e.g. the self-watering pot made from an empty 2 liter soda bottle). Well, my recent Pintrest-fueled obsession has been soap-making. There are so many recipes. And they look so pretty! I have been DYING to try it. After 5 months of talking about, thinking about it, and obtaining the items I would need to actual pull it off, I made my very first batch this past weekend. 

I looked at several lye calculators before I found the one I wanted to use and plugged in the types of oil I had purchased: Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Shea Butter, and Sunflower Oil (except for the Shea Butter which I bought on Amazon.com, I purchased all oils at Wal-Mart). 

I read that more than 35% coconut oil can be drying; and too much olive oil makes a soft bar, so I tried to use both to even one another out. Then I added the shea butter for conditioning and some sunflower oil 'cause I had it.  I decided to start small and only use 16 oz. of oil total. You can see what my recipe looked like when I plugged it in:

 And here is what it looked like once I clicked on the view/print recipe:

This was what I used to know exactly what to measure out for each oil, and then how much water and lye I would need.

***Just a note on buying lye. I didn't want to pay the hazmat shipping fee, but Lowes, Home Depot, etc. in this area have stopped carrying 100% lye because of its darker uses (thank you, Breaking Bad, for teaching us such things). If you live in NoVA, the only store I found that still sells it is the Ace Hardware in Centerville. For those outside VA, I have been told Ace and True Value hardware stores are usually your best bet.

I measured each oil, beginning with the shea butter (that was the only one that needed to melt) and poured them into a pot on the stove, which I kept on "low" until the shea butter was completely dissolved (the oil heated to approx 120 degrees on the candy thermometer).

I made several mistakes in this first batch, which I will not try to hide from you. Mistake #1 was in adding the water to the lye, instead of the other way around (despite reading the cautions multiple time over). My only saving grace was that I made a small batch and used a large bowl, so despite the sizzling and smoking, the water/lye mixture didn't come anywhere near overflowing. I placed the sizzling bowl in a cold water bath (in the kitchen sink), and stirred the mixture until all the lye was dissolved.

Mistake #2 was not getting the temperature of the lye water before adding the oil. I didn't have any major problems with it, but it did take a LONG time to get to trace and I didn't know if it was because the lye water was too cold or if it was just because I had used so much olive oil in the recipe.

On the issue of tracing... after using the electric beater for 20 minutes, I began to think something was wrong. I let the blended oils/water/lye mixture sit for about 5 minutes while I read soap-making FAQs online concerning my trace issue. One recommendation was to add honey. I added approx 1 Tbs. honey, along with the essential oil (for scent) and beat it for another 10 minutes. It was still thinner than I would have liked (only because I was using a wax-paper-lined cardboard box as my mold), but I went with it anyway.

I wrapped the box in a towel and left it on the kitchen counter. 24 hours later, it was in the perfect state of hardness for cutting!

I cut the block into 6 equal rectangles and put them down in the basement to cure for the next 4-6 weeks. I will let you know how well they work (or don't work) in about a month. In the meantime, I am planning my next soap recipe... I'm thinking oatmeal honey chamomile...