The cold process of soap making is fairly easy to do, even for beginners or advanced soap makers. Before starting the soap making process, be sure to have all of your ingredients ready. Aside from fats and lye solution, you will also need fragrance oils, dyes, soap cutters and mixers, soap making herbs and wooden molds as these are much easier to extract soap from. Once you have your ingredients ready, you can now start with the soap making process.

The first thing that you need to do is wear protective equipment as lye is a very dangerous substance. It can corrode the skin when it comes in contact with it, and it fumes can also cause damage to the lungs when inhaled. Wearing gloves, goggles and face masks are a must when handling lye.

When you are ready, you can start by adding lye into water while continually mixing the mixture until all of the lye is dissolved. Be careful as this can heat up significantly even without fire so use a container that will be able to withstand large changes in temperature. Generally, lye is added to water in a 1:3 ratio.

Oil is then added to the mixture to complete the process of saponification. This is the part when the mixture becomes soap. Always note the right ratio to use for the soap base. Too much oil will soften the soap so it will not cure and harden. Too little oil added will not react with all the lye so the soap will become too basic.

Once saponification has taken place, it is now time to add the other ingredients to your soap. Dyes, fragrance oils and soap making herbs can be added depending on what properties you want your soap to have. Mix all the ingredients until the mixture becomes homogenous.

The mixture can now be poured into wooden molds or other shapes of molds that you can think of. Be creative in thinking of ways to design your soap. Afterwards, you can still use your soap cutters to carve and create additional designs on your soap.

Curing the soap may take a long time. You need to cover the molds with towels for 18 to 36 hours. This will insulate the molds preventing heat from escaping. After the curing time, the soap must solidify. But you have to expose the soap to air for 8 weeks at the most before it completely hardens and be used.

Handmade soaps are not that difficult to do. Even in your home, you can now start doing them. Start experimenting on the different types of soap that you can make. With constant practice, you will eventually enjoy the art of soap making.