When it comes to soap making there are hundreds of questions you might want to ask. Most of the answers you can pick up along the way as you progress. There are a handful of questions, however, that you will want to know the answer to now… Or at least before you get too deep into making soap as a hobby or business.
To make this convenient, I will just go down the list of each question followed by the detailed answer. First however, let’s take a look at those questions so you can jump ahead to the answer that most interests you.
- Is homemade soap safe?
- Is it hard to make soap?
- How much does it cost to make soap?
- Is handmade soap better than store bought?
- What are the raw materials needed for making soap?
- How is soap made?
- What is “trace”?
- What tools are needed to make soap?
- What is lye in soap?
- What is saponification?
- What is a true soap?
We will tackle these one at a time. If at any point you have a question, please use the contact form to the right of this article to reach out to me. I’m always happy to help!
1.) Is homemade soap safe?
Yes, homemade soap is safe to use if it is made properly. Homemade soap is at least as safe as store-bought. The main difference is that homemade soap has better ingredients that you get to choose.
Some people assume that making your own soap produces bars that are harsh to your skin or can cause burns. While it is true that any soap that has “free lye” can cause skin irritation, much of this has been exaggerated over the years.
Come on… Really?
If you have an older friend or relative that had to walk 10 miles to their one-room school house, up-hill, both ways – they probably also used Granny’s lye soap that could “strip the paint off a barn door.”
I remember watching reruns of “The Beverly Hillbillies” as a kid and seeing Granny’s giant wooden paddle dissolve in her homemade soap cauldron out by the cement pond. It makes for funny TV, but that’s about it.
What is Free Lye?
Free Lye is extra lye left in the bar because it did not have enough oil to saponify (to turn fat and lye to soap). Or the lye might have been part of a cluster of granules that never fully broke down in the lye solution. A strainer from the Dollar Store can eliminate that problem.
Soap Making 75 Years Ago
Of course, soap and soap making were much different 75 years ago. People used to make their own soap from hog fat and beef tallow without knowing the true saponification rate of either.
This was made worse by the fact that these folks also made their own lye by burning hardwood ashes until they were reduced to the white powdery substance we know as lye.
Knowing exactly what part of the ash was strong lye wasn’t very precise. This meant people often added a little extra to avoid getting “soft soap” that didn’t last long for washing or bathing.
There was a lot of guesswork and trial and error to make an ideal bar of soap. There were no digital scales. Most people would approximate “about this much pot ash (lye) for this much hog fat”.
A few generations ago, you made your soap out of whatever fat was left over from a weeks’ worth of meals.
Soap Making Today
Today, we have it so much easier. We have soap oil and lye calculators to tell us exactly how much of every ingredient to add. Even better, we can choose from dozens of fat and oil types to make the exact blend of soap that we want.
If having better fat and oil selection today is a good thing, then buying lye prepackaged is practically a miracle.
Back in the day, harvesting the lye could be one of the most dangerous parts of the entire process. Now, you can get it sent straight to your front door in a sealed container. And you know the potency will fall within an approved range so you can feel confident when making your soaps.
2.) Is it hard to make soap?
While this question is more a matter of opinion, my answer is Yes. More than opinion, however, I can say that today there are extremely easy ways to make soap. And even the most complex methods become much easier with practice.
If you want to make homemade soap from scratch, cold process is relatively easy. The part that most people struggle with is the fact that you need to work with lye.
A slightly more complicated way to make soap is via the hot process. Most of the steps are identical to those used in cold process. The main difference is that you are working with hot oils and hot lye solution. This heat works to saponify the lye solution and oils very quickly.
There are advantages and drawbacks to each of these soapmaking processes.
Cold Process Soap Making
Cold process soap makes it easy to create beautiful patterns and swirls ending in a smooth gorgeous bar of soap. The downside is it can take four to six weeks for a bar to get hard enough to last a long time in the shower.
Hot Process Soap Making
Hot process made soap is available for use much sooner than cold process. The drawback however is that it is more difficult to control special patterns. It also typically has a rough top to the loaf that gives it a very rustic look. I use this as part of my marketing strategy when selling my old fashioned handmade rustic Lye soap.
Melt and Pour Soap Making
If you want the easiest possible way to make soap, try melt and pour. This is as easy as it gets. All you have to do is cut large blocks of whatever soap base you want to use into small pieces and then melt them and pour them into a mold. Of course, you should add something to make it your own, such as fragrances, exfoliants, botanicals, etc.
Please do not get caught up in the drama of some people saying melt and pour is not really soap making. Using melt and pour soap base absolutely qualifies as soap making – IF you customize it. The more you customize melt and pour soap, the more handmade it will be.
I do a lot of melt and pour soap during the winter months and when I need to turn a batch around very quickly for a special occasion. Although I have not mentioned it yet, one of the greatest advantages of melt and pour soap is that it provides instant gratification.
Once your bar hardens in the mold, it is ready to be used. There is no additional curing time needed. If somebody calls you with an urgent request for 100 bars of melt and pour soap, needed the next day, it is very doable.
Here is a quick video to introduce you to melt and pour soap making. It is basic; however, it will show you all you need to know to help you determine if this might be for you.
How much does it cost to make soap?
Rather than speculate, let me give you some hard numbers based on my own experience and most recent research of June 2020.
Apples to Apples Comparison Parameters
Ingredients:
- Coconut Oil
- Olive Oil
- Palm Oil
- Lye
- Distilled Water
Note: The food grade Sodium Hydroxide lye is purchased from Amazon. This is not something you can typically get at a local store, so I am using the same cost for all samples below.
Bar Size: The final bar size is 4 ounces after curing and losing nearly all water weight.
From a Soap Supplier or Restaurant Food Supplier
If you buy your oils and lye in bulk quantities, you can make high quality all-natural handmade soap for about $0.55 to $0.75 per bar.
These oil prices are based on box quantities from Webstaurant Store
The distilled water was purchased at Publix Market at retail cost.
My cost per bar: $0.62
From a Wholesale Membership Warehouse Stores
If you buy the ingredients in moderately sized batches, locally at a BJ’s or Sam’s Club, you will average closer to $0.65 to $0.85 per bar.
These oil and distilled water purchased at a local BJ’s Wholesale Club
My cost per bar: $0.74
From a Local Grocer
And finally, when purchasing high quality ingredients in low volume, it will cost the most. By this I mean if you go to a grocery store and by the highest quality ingredients off of the shelf in regular cooking sizes, you will likely spend just over $1 per bar to make your own soap.
The oil and distilled water was purchased from local Kroger Grocery
My cost per bar: $1.16
Is handmade soap better than store bought?
For me, homemade soap is always better than store bought. This is because I can control exactly what goes into each bar. But more importantly, I do not use any artificial detergents in my soap.
It’s not obvious, but most bath and beauty bars that you buy at the grocery store or Target, are not really soap. A lot of the big soap manufacturers take the naturally cleansing glycerin that comes from making soap and replace it with cheap artificial chemical detergents.
Why would they swap out high quality all-natural glycerin for a chemical bath? Because glycerin is worth a lot more than the cost of chemical detergents. They can use that glycerin in higher end lotions or even sell it off for many other uses. This allows them to produce “bath and beauty bars“, and “cleansing bars” without having to provide the quality of true soap.
The next time you are shopping take a look at the list of ingredients on any big brand bar of so called soap. Here is a comparison that I have done to save you the trouble.
Compare Beauty Bar to True Soap Ingredients
| Dove White Beauty Bar | Homemade Soap |
| Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate | coconut oil |
| Stearic Acid | olive oil |
| Lauric Acid | sustainable palm oil |
| Sodium Tallowate or Sodium Palmitate | water |
| Water | food grade lye |
| Sodium Isethionate | |
| Sodium Stearate | |
| Cocamidopropyl Betaine | |
| Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate | |
| Fragrance | |
| Sodium Chloride | |
| Tetrasodium Etidronate | |
| Tetrasodium EDTA | |
| Titanium Dioxide |
So, which would you rather put all over your body?
What are the raw materials needed for making soap?
There are only three raw materials needed for making soap. They are:
- Fat or oil
- Lye
- Liquid
That is all you need to make your own homemade soap. In fact, back in the day of making soap on the farm, the only ingredients typically used were lard or beef fat, lye made from hardwood ash, and well water.
Of course, today we have almost limitless options. Get creative and blend multiple oils, add colorants and fragrances, essential oils, etc.
Also use different liquids such as goat milk, coconut water, aloe vera juice, beer (boil out carbonation and alcohol first) and wine (boil off alcohol first).
Insider Advantage
You can make “beer soap” by replacing the water you would normally use for the lye solution, with beer (carbonation and alcohol removed). The same is true of wine.
In fact, the natural colorants of the beer or wine will add to your soap’s color and any sugars can help with increasing lather.
And, feel free to use milks, cactus juice, fruit juices and ciders. There are so many possibilities!
How is Soap Made?
This is a good time to describe the soap making process. Also, on this site is an extensive article that goes into deep detail about how to make soap using all four soap making processes: Cold Process, Hot Process, Melt and Pour, and Rebatch. Visit How to Make Homemade Soap – Step by Step with Video when you are ready to make soap.
Answering the question of how soap is made, however, is a much shorter conversation. The basics are listed below but please do NOT use these as instructions to follow. These are just general steps and processes that occur to result in the making of soap.
The detailed instructions for soap making can be found here.
The Principals of Soap Making
DANGER:
Do not work with lye or hot oils until you have learned how to do it properly – and NEVER without wearing proper safety gear!
- A specific amount of lye is added to a certain amount of liquid and gently stirred until the lye crystals dissolve. This results in a “lye solution”.
- Note: When lye is added to water it becomes exothermic, which means it gets super-hot, extremely fast (+/- 200 F degrees in seconds).
- Fats and/or oils are combined in specific amounts according to the recipe. These can include fats such as such as lard and beef tallow, and oils including coconut oil and olive oil among many others.
- The lye solution is added to the oils and blended until “trace”.
- Trace is when liquid becomes thick enough that when droplets that fall from the blending tool remain visible on the surface of the “batter” for a discernable time. The longer the drips appear as surface texture, the thicker the trace.
- The oils are then heated until all solids melt, and all fats and oils are thoroughly combined in a liquid state.
- It does not take much heat. Just 95 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit is generally hot enough to melt even the hardest oils.
- And finally, the batter is usually covered and insulated to trap in heat that increases the speed to the saponification process.
- Saponification is when the lye solution and oils react and turn to soap.
- After all of this comes cutting and curing. It can take from several days to six weeks for soap to cure depending on the process used (hot or cold process, respectively).
What is Trace?
Trace is the point at which the oils and lye solution have emulsified. This is just a fancy way of saying when two ingredients, that don’t normally combine easily, blend thoroughly. Think about it… We are mixing oil and water here and normally “oil and water don’t mix”. We have to make them.
There are different degrees or levels of trace. These include thin (aka light), mid (aka medium) and thick (aka heavy).
Thin or light trace is a similar consistently to a rich bisque or thin cake batter. If poured into a mold it will become as smooth as glass within a few seconds without any tapping or spatula work.
Thick or heavy trace is a consistency closer to a rich creamy pudding. When placed in a mold you will need to tap the mold or use spatula to smooth it. But why ruin a good texture? Embrace it and make the top of your loaf look like an ocean wave captured in time!
As you’ve probably guessed, “mid” or medium trace is somewhere between the two. It’s a similar consistency to a thickened cake batter. If you have ever beaten cake batter for an extra-long time or added a couple extra tablespoons of flour you know what I mean 😉
What tools are needed to make soap?
The tools required for soap making are relatively simple and inexpensive. They also vary by the type of soap making process used.
Below is a chart that outlines typical tools of the trade along with what process each is recommended for.
- CP = Cold Process
- HP = Hot Process
- MP = Melt & Pour
- RB = Rebatch
Please Note:
These are just recommendations based on my personal experience.
For example: This does not mean you cannot use a plastic spoon to stir hot process soap. I choose not to because I have had them melt in the past.
It also does not mean a slow cooker won’t work for melt and pour soap. It’s just too easy to burn this way so I only use water-jacketed melting pots (like a double boiler) or no touch heat like a microwave.
Be Aware!
There are however some definite “do not do’s”. For instance, lye has a nasty reaction when it comes into contact with aluminum so do not use any aluminum pots or utensils when working with lye. Also never try to force a wire cutter through melt and pour soap. Wire-type cutters typically work great on hot process, cold process and rebatch – but NOT on MP. Melt and pour soap will snap wires when forced. And those wires can lash back and cut you deep!
Soap Making Tools Tables
| Soap Making Tool | CP | HP | MP | RB |
| Safety Gear: Goggles, Mask, Gloves, Sleeves, etc. | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Heat Source (stove, burner, etc.) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Stirring Spoon (stainless steel = sst) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Silicone Spatula | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Wire Whisk (plastic or stainless steel) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Measuring Cups (plastic or glass) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Precision Digital Scale | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Large Bowl; Blending (sst, silicone, plastic, ceramic) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Small Bowl; Weighing and Holding Ingredients | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Double Boiler (stainless steel) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Large Melting Pot (stainless steel) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Soap Mold/Liner (wood, plastic, silicone, etc.) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Stainless Steel Knife or Cutter | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Spray Bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol | N | N | Y | N |
| Stick Blender (aka Immersion Blender) | Y | Y | N | N |
| Stirring Spoon (wood) | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Stirring Spoon (plastic) | N | N | Y | Y |
| Lye Water Pitcher (high-temp. plastic or glass) | Y | Y | N | N |
| Slow Cooker | N | Y | N | Y |
| Wire-type Cutter | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Microwave Oven | Y | N | Y | Y |
This table is also available as a spreadsheet download. There is a “Cost” column to the far right of the download version so you can price out your equipment as you go.
What is lye in soap?
Lye is the alkali that mixes with water to form the lye solution. This, in turn, is combined with plant oils and animal fats to initiate saponification.
That’s the correct answer, but probably not exactly what you want to know. Here’s how I think of it…
When lye is added to water, it has a chemical reaction that is exothermic – meaning it gets very hot, very fast. Even after the water cools, the lye water is a strong natural solution that reacts with fats and oils. It does not “cook” them, like cooking a burger with a charcoal grill. The lye gets used up as the fuel that transforms the oils into soap.
What is saponification?
Saponification is an organic biochemical reaction that naturally occurs when a lye solution is added to fats and oils under specific conditions. Simply put this is how the fats and oils and lye and water combine to make soap as the end-product.
If you would like a more detailed and technical answer, here you go…
Saponification is the process of converting fats and oils into soap and/or alcohols. This is accomplished through a bio-chemical reaction resulting from heat in proximity to an alkali (lye). The end result is “alkali salts of fatty acids” and glycerin (a trihydric alcohol) – or what we refer to simply as soap.
What is a true soap?
True soap is a designation recognized by organizations including the US Food and Drug Administration. According to the FDA, there are three criteria that must be met for a product to qualify as true soap…
Primary Composition: To be recognized as “true soap”, it must be made mostly of “alkali salts of fatty acids”. This is what you get when you add fats or oils to a lye solution. This makes it got through the process of saponification (turning oils and lye solution into soap).
Cleansing Ingredient: True soap can only use the alkali salts and fatty acids for cleaning. In other words, no chemical detergents are allowed. Interestingly, this is why most store bought “soap” are labeled as “cleansing bars” or “bath bars”.
Although they can use the designation “soap” on the label, I believe the companies realize it is easier to just brand it with a more luxurious title, such as “Moisturizing Beauty Bar”. These companies know that if labeling regulations change it would cost a fortune to rebrand and probably be hard to explain to the buying public that their “soap” is not really soap. This is just my opinion having spent 20 years+ in marketing.
Purpose: True soap must clearly be marketed for use as soap – and nothing but soap. If there are any claims of medicinal properties or extras such as “deodorizing” it can no longer be treated as true soap – even if all other requirements are met.
Why do we care about the “true soap” designation?
True soap is considered so pure that the word ‘soap’ is the only ingredient you need to legally list on the labels for your bars. When people realize that the other stuff they buy has chemicals used to strip paint and remove rust, the ability and RIGHT to use the “True Soap” designation is a big deal.
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Happy Soaping!