You Can Start With Soap Making Right In Your Home
Herbal soap has been the choice of some people because they believe that it has better properties compared to regular soap. Aside from the cleaning effects of regular soap, it also incorporates the healing properties of the plants that was included in the making of the soap. More often than not, herbal soaps are also milder and safer to use on the skin.
You don't have to go stores that specifically sell these herbal soaps just so that you could use one. Specialty stores usually have overpriced soaps because of the special properties of their soap. Some of their soaps may have herbal properties which cannot be found in normal soap so they can add to the price of their soaps. Other may also have beautiful designs which also bring up the price of the soap.
But you don't have to spend a lot of money just in buying soaps. This is because soap is very cheap and easy to do, that you can even make it right at your own home. Its materials are very cheap and easy to find, and even small children can make soap due to the ease of the soap making process. Just be sure that children are properly monitored as soap making may also have some harmful effects.
The first thing that you need to do is to procure the ingredients that you will need to make soap. The basic ingredients that you will need are caustic soda, cooking oil or any other type of oil, and some herbal leaves of your choice. Coloring dyes may also be used to add to the color of your soap.
As for the tools that you need, you have to have a pail, some mixing tools, some cups, a mortar and pestle, a cooking pot, some molds, a chopping board, a knife, cheesecloth, gloves and a face mask. These last two are needed for you own protection as caustic soda can cause skin and lung irritations when it comes into contact with these surfaces.
The first thing you need to do is prepare your herbal mixture. The leaves need to be washed thoroughly and chop up enough that will fill 1 glass. Boil these leaves in 2 glasses of water for 15 minutes and then strain it afterwards. Set this aside and let it cool.
After you have prepared the herbal mixture, you can bow mix 3 cups of this mixture with 1 cup of lye. Stir continuously until all of the lye has dissolved. Next, add 5 cups of oil and mix until it attains a condensed milk like consistency. Dyes may also be added during this point of the procedure. The mixture will then be poured onto molds and allowed to cool for at least 5 hours. Once this is done, you may take the soaps from the molds but will still need to age them for 30 days before they can be used.
Now wasn't that very easy to do? These ingredients are very cheap and easy to find so you won't have any problems in buying and getting hold of them. You can also choose what kind of herbal leaves you want to use, and you may also design your soap in any way that you like. This might even be a good gift idea to give to your friends and relatives.
Jen Hopkins has worked in the skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about soap making, and soapmaking. If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.
Published August 9th, 2010
Filed in Hobby
