Introduction to Soap Making

Cold Process, Melt and Pour Process and Rebatch Soap Making Process

The soap is an essential part of our everyday lives. It is considered to be a necessity and its basically in every household in every country. Other than making you smell good, soaps are basically a cleansing agent made from salts of vegetable or animal fats. There are two kinds of soaps. One is the kind which you use for washing dishes and clothes, and the other kind is the one you use for bathing.

The soap has been part of our society for at least 2,000 years and up until today, you will still see new soap products being promoted and marketed on TV.

Basically, soap consists of sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids and is commonly obtained by reacting common fats or oils with a very strong alkaline solution. This particular process is known as saponification. This is the very basic of soap making.

If you are planning to make soaps on your own, then you have to have the following chemicals and ingredients. The first is lye. This is a strong solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide. You will need fat, which can be obtained from various oils, such as olive, coconut, cocoa butter, palm, hemp, and shea butter. Each type of oil provides different qualities. For example, if you use coconut oil, you can expect to get lots of lather. Olive oil will be able to provide you with the mildness in soap. You can use a combination of palm and olive oil.

To make soap, there are basically three ways to do it. The first is the cold process, the second is the melt and pour process and the third is the rebatch process. The cold process is the most popular method. As the name suggest, it will not require you to produce heat in order to make soap. The process basically involves reacting lye with the fats to initiate saponification. Then, the soap is allowed to settle for several week s in order to reduce the moisture content.

After this, you will need to purify the soap by removing the sodium chloride, the sodium hydroxide, and glycerol from the soap. These are considered to be the unwanted chemicals and it can be removed by just boiling the soap in water and re-precipitating the soap by using salt. After that, you can dry the soap using vacuum dryers.

After purifying the soap, it is now time for you to compact the soap to pellets and add the fragrances of your choice. You can add a bit of sand or pumice in order to make it a scouring soap, which can remove dead skin cells more efficiently.

Melt and pour is another soap making method that has been passed down from one generation to the next. If you don't want to use lye, then the melt and pour method is for you. This basically involves melting readymade soap base and adding fragrances before you pour it in to a mold.

This method will allow you to make soap at the comforts of your own kitchen without using any caustic substances, which can harm you as well as your surroundings. This method is a lot quicker than the cold process and you don't have to wait for the soap to cure.

If you are afraid of making your own soap because it involves lye in the cold process, you can try making soap by using the melt and pour process as this will not involve any lye.

Another process is the rebatch process. This is a great option as you will be able to get the benefits of handmade soap without ever using lye and other caustic substances. This process will basically involve taking a fresh handmade soap, melting it down and adding the scent and color you want.

It may seem the same as the melt and pour process but the rebatching process has its differences.

These are the basics of soap making. As you can see, there are several ways on how you can make your very own soap. The process you choose will basically depend on your personal preferences. You can use the cold process, the melt and pour process, or the rebatching process. Whatever method you choose, you can be sure that you will be able to reap the benefits of homemade soap.