The soap making process is a fun one that the whole family, children, and grandparents can get involved in.
The soap making process is something that our ancestors have been familiar with for hundreds of years. However, modern methods are much easier and more fun.
There are four distinct methods of making soap in the soap making process.
There is the cold process method, hot process method, rebatching method, and the melt and pour method. These four methods collectively comprise the four soap-making methods that are in common use today.
The cold process method is probably the method that your grandmother used. It combines fatty acids and lye together. You can use almost any oil for this method.
There are endless combinations for making your own recipe using this method. Cold process soap making is part art and part science. The certain amount of lye and water that you use in combination with fatty acids forms a chemical reaction that is called saponifaction. The oils and lye essentially mix together and become soap. This process takes a good six weeks to complete. Lye and other safety equipment is needed so this is the least popular method.
The next method is the melt and pour method, and it is used by beginners. This is basically a soap base that is melted down with your own fragrances added in. It is glycerin soap. All soap is glycerin soap. This is the most straightforward way for getting involved in the soap making process, and people don’t need to do a lot of work just to get their soap off the ground.
The hot process method is basically a variation on the cold process method. Your stir the melted soap, fragrances, and essential oils in a pot that is on high heat, and you continually heat it up until it is perfect.
Rebatching is the fourth and final method. Rebatching is just a variant on the cold process method.
The soap making process can be fun, but you need to take some precautions if you’re working with lye. Lye can be dangerous and can cause a lot of problems if you’re not careful with it. You also need to sterilize all equipment so you don’t introduce microbes, germs, and other foreign adulterants into the soap base mixture.
If you follow all these steps, the soap making process can be fun, easy, and energizing.
