What is saponification?
Saponification is a chemical reaction that turns fat, or oils, into soap. It is the process of making soap from scratch using lye carefully measured and mixed with oil or fats. When you saponify something it means to turn it into soap through this chemical reaction.
Soap manufacturing starts with the process of saponification in which a triglyceride is converted to soap and glycerin. What’s interesting about this process is that all fats are not created equal, as each fat or oil has its own unique properties that contribute to how well it works for making soap and how specialty soaps made from different oils might be used.
How do you make soap without a stick blender?
One of the best tools to use for making soap without a stick blender is a stainless-steel wire whisk. The trick is to whisk for one to two minutes then let the batter rest for one to two minutes. In my experience it takes about three two-minute rounds to attain a thin trace while upward of six whisking cycles to get a thick trace. It also depends on the types of fats or oils used, the temperature of the oils and the amount of liquid in your lye solution. Just “beat and repeat” until it has the consistency you want.
You can also do this with a spatula, wooden spoon or even a stick. I prefer the stainless-steel wire whisk because it does a much more thorough mixing job for me in shorter time.
By the way, the whisk does not have to be stainless-steel. Just make sure it is NOT aluminum. Aluminum does not get react well to lye solution.
What type of blender do you use for large batches of soap?
If you are making large volumes of soap in 5 and 10-gallon pots, you might burn out a stick blender quickly. Batches this size are also a lot of work to blend with a large whisk. Your best bet is to use a paint stirring bit made for, and attached to, an electric drill.
I bought one for $7 from Walmart years ago and it still works great. You can easily find them at any big box hardware store like Home Depot and Lowes or most large department stores like Target and Walmart. Paint stores are also a natural place to offer the most variety.
How long does homemade soap last?
The longevity of homemade soap really depends on several factors, including:
- The type of fats and oils used
- The method used to make the soap; cold or hot-process
- The amount of superfat in the bar (the unsaponified fats)
- How the soap is stored before it is used
- How the soap is taken care of between uses
For example, cold process soaps with a medium to high superfat content can be kept for about 3-6 months if properly stored away from sunlight and heat sources like ovens or radiators. Factors such as those can accelerate decay in the unsaponified oils and cause those oils to go rancid. It has been my experience that you can add up to one month to those estimates for hot process made soaps.
For soaps with a low superfat, you can expect them to work as a cleaner for years. However, it is likely even strong scents will fade over time as well as any bright colors. The soap will also continue to dry and harden resulting in a rock-hard bar that is a bit smaller than when it was first taken off the curing rack.
Regarding the oils used, I find that the harder the oil – the longer the bar tends to last once cured. Oils that are normally liquid at room temperature tend to spoil faster in my experience. Olive oil is a good example of one that is liquid at room temperature. Oils such as coconut tend to last longer – for me at least.
Once the soap is in the shower, you can prolong its life by keeping it as dry as possible between uses. A simple draining soap dish or pad that keeps the bar elevated above water will help a great deal.
How can you harden homemade soap?
There are many methods and oil types for making homemade soap and not all of them will lead to a firm bar. If your goal is to make a firm bar of soap, try one of these bar hardening tricks:
- Add sodium lactate to the soap batter and blend well before you pour it into the mold. A typical ratio of sodium lactate is about 1% of the weight of the oils in the soap.
- Add a bit of salt to the batter and stir it in before the batter goes to the soap mold. Unlike oils, you will measure salt in teaspoons. You only want about ½ teaspoon of salt per pound of oils in the soap (1/2 tsp per 16 oz).
There are also a couple iffy methods folks use with varying degrees of success. Let’s take a look…
- You can add different types of wax to harden soap, but it can be risky. The two most common types are bee’s wax and soy wax. The problems I se most often with bee’s wax is that it tends to make the soap feel tacky to the touch if even a tiny bit too much is used. I have also heard of instances where it softened the soap bar. My advice is to use about 5% to 10% less than is called for just to be sure you don’t overdo it.
- Another method to “harden” bars is to use a water reduction in your lye water. The less liquid you have in the soap batter, the thicker it will be. But that does not meaner harder overall. It just means harder, sooner. Eventually that extra water would have wicked out while the bar cured. I am all for speeding the process by reducing a small amount of the water, however, do not ever use less than the lye calculator tells you to. That can be dangerous.
In general, making soap from scratch will present a hard bar if you use the traditional cold process or hot process. And the longer it is allowed to dry in a dry open-air environment, the harder the bar will become.
Cold process requires more time to cure into a usable bar (4 to 6 weeks) but it’s also less finicky. Hot process takes less time to cure (2 days to 2 weeks) but involves some risk factors such as overheating and excessive stirring which may lead to cracking.
Another factor to be aware of is the hardness of the fats and oils being used to make the soap. As a rule, the more solid a fat or oil is at room temperature, the harder the bar it will produce. For example, beef tallow and pork lard make very firm bars. So does solid coconut oil. There are exceptions, however. For example, olive oil has an SAP value that makes for a nice firm bar.
What is a saponification value in soap making?
One of the most important elements in soap making is understanding saponification values. The word “saponification” may sound a little weird, but it actually refers to the process of combining fats or oils with an alkali like lye (sodium hydroxide). Following is a straightforward definition of saponification value, or SAP.
An SAP is the numeric value that lets us calculate the exact amount of lye, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH) required to fully saponify a given weight of fats and/or oils. These numbers are generally given as ranges. For example, typical organic coconut oil (INCI Name = Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil) generally has an SAP or 250 – 265.
These numbers can be used with multipliers depending on the type of lye used to provide the exact amount of lye needed to saponify a specific weight of that oil.
What Exactly is Melt and Pour Soap?
Melt and Pour soap is fully cured soap that has been made in advance of when you get it. As the name implies, all you need to do is melt it in microwave or on a stovetop and then pour it into whatever mold you wish to use. To accomplish this, it has additional glycerin and alcohols added so it will melt smooth and reharden without losing cleaning power or overall stability in the finished bar.
It’s typically crafted from oils, butters, water, lye, and possibly milks. It basically includes all the ingredients needed to make soap but leaves as much room to your imagination as you like.
You can get it with fragrances and colors already added or add your own custom concoction of fragrance or essential oil (depending on your desired scent), colorant or mica powder (to create different shades), and any additional ingredients to give it some extra pizzazz like glitter!
This type of soap making process is perfect for people who enjoy crafting their own soaps at home but don’t want to work with lye or wait weeks for the finished bars to be ready to use. The soap is already fully saponified and safe to use the moment is has cooled enough. MP soap can provide instant gratification in the most beautiful of ways.
Is homemade soap a good business?
This is more of a personal preference type of interpretive answer – but for many people the production and selling of handmade soap is a good business to get into. It was for me and at least fifty soapers I stay in regular contact with.
It comes down to making sure you have a good understanding of what you are getting into. Here is my friend Beth’s story as she told me… “I started my handmade soap company with a few cute soap molds I bought on Amazon, essential oils from my local yoga studio, and some blocks of melt and pour soap. I really just did it for fun and to give it away as gifts until gift recipients started asking if I could make orders for them to give away. The next thing I knew I was sharing a booth with a homemade jewelry maker at a craft show and was making enough money that I had to put on my business hat.”
“The hardest part of turning my soap making hobby into a profitable business was realizing making the soap was only a small part of the job. I had to become the sales, marketing, accounting, shipping, and customer service departments too.”
Pro Tip
If you are interested in starting or enhancing your own homemade soap business, you may want to take a few minutes to read this free guide on this site: How to Start a Homemade Soap Business (with pics and tools).
How do you clean up after making soap?
How you clean up after making homemade soap cab vary by the process used to make the soap. Here are the three most common soap making methods and how to safely and effectively clean-up for each type.
- Melt and Pour Soap
- Melt and pour, or MP soap, is by far the easiest to clean up after. Because the soap is already fully saponified, and you are not working with any lye, you can simply rinse the containers with water and scrub as needed. The left-over soap in the bowls is usually enough to get those same bowls clean.
- Hot Process Soap
- Cleaning up containers used for making hot process soap is the second easiest. As long as the soap left over in the Crockpot is fully saponified, you can treat it like the melt and pour mentioned above. However, be sure to treat anything with possible active lye with great respect!
- To safely neutralize the lye solution left on your stick blender or your lye solution container, rinse it with some white distilled vinegar. I like to remove the immersion head of the stick blende and set it in the lye solution container with whatever other utensils I use with the lye. Then I fill the bottom of the container with an inch or so of white distilled vinegar and add enough water to cover the parts of the tools that touched lye. I then use one of the semi-immersed tools to stir the water/vinegar mix and let it set for five minuets before carefully cleaning it.
- Cold Process Soap
- The same exact method is used for cold process soap as for hot process; however, you treat the soap making pot like the lye solution container because it still contains active lye.
And always be sure to wear your safety goggles and gear when cleaning or otherwise working with soap and soap-making supplies.