Monday, January 24, 2011

Making Soap!

 

I mixed together the olive oil and the lye /water mixture with a hand held
blender until it was the consistency of pudding. I then left it to cook in the crock
pot on high, stirring several times until it reaches the applesauce/mashed potato stage.
 

 

This is what the soap looks like when it's done -- that applesauce/mashed potato
 stage I was talking about.
 

I smashed the soap into the greased mold, which is just a plastic
container, and smoothed the top out as best as I could. The
mixture is very thick and hardens quickly so I move fast.


This is the soap a couple of hours after I put it into the mold. It pops
out easily enough. I let it sit this way for an hour and then I cut it
into bars.


The finished product! Many bars of beautiful, pure soap without
any fragrance added. It has its own clean scent which I love.
It lathers up gorgeously and leaves no residue on your skin.



 I have been making my own soap for years. I started making it because we didn't like the strong scent of a lot of the store bought soaps and the hand made  soap was too expensive to buy. So, I bought a book on soap making at the second hand book store and I taught myself how to make it. It's one of the simplest things in the world to do. Really! I use the hot processed method to make the soap, and it's ready to use the next day.

3 comments:

Magic Love Crow said...

Gina, I love the soap!! Maybe I should try it?? I don't like the strong perfums either and everything else that's put into them. And, you are right, the natural ones, are really expensive! I really love how your sketch of your dad is coming out ;o)

NLNature said...

Cool posting on soap. It's my first visit to your blog - beautiful art!

Lisa Cohen said...

I've always wanted to make my own soap too!! I'm greatly simplifying my skincare routine and I don't like lots of heavy fragrance and additives. Which book was the one that helped you learn?

There's a place nearby that makes all kinds of great soaps and although they don't teach classes they said I could come by sometime to make it with them and watch the process. My little one is only in half-day kindergarten because that's what they have in my county so I'm hoping their offer still stands when he's in first grade this fall.