Example of soap making feasibility

Answer 1

It's actually a fairly easy process. It's cheapest if you make it from scratch, but you can also go to Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's and get soap base that you just melt down, add scents and colors, and pour into molds. I've just recently gotten into it and I made mine from scratch. One recipe yielded about 30 standard sized bars of soap. You can buy lye from Ace Hardware or a similar store. Lowe's and Home Depot do not carry it. You need the following ingredients: 12 oz lye crystals, 32 oz ice cold water, 4 lbs lard, 8 oz coconut oil, and 17 oz olive oil. You can buy coconut oil from any major grocery store, Wal-Mart, or an ethnic food store. It's used in many Indian and Thai dishes. Lard will produce a hard soap that is long lasting. Adding coconut oil helps it to create a good lather, but can dry your skin out if you add too much. The olive oil helps to balance out and makes a smoother, gentler soap. Measure all of your ingredients by weight, not volume. Dissolve the lye in the water. This is an extremely exothermic process, so use a heatproof glass or stainless steel bowl. Never use aluminum. The lye reacts with the chemicals used to process aluminum and will eat right through it. Heat your oils in a large stock pot (at least 15 qt.). You can buy this at Wal-Mart fairly cheaply. Heat the lyewater separately. When they have both reached about 110 degrees (use a candy thermometer), add the lyewater to the oils. At this point you can use a stick blender, a hand mixer, or a whisk to continuously beat the mixture. I used a whisk the first time and it took about an hour of stirring. The second time I used a hand mixer and it took about half an hour. You will be looking for trace. At a thick trace, your soap will look like very thick pudding but not quite as thick as mashed potatoes. When your soap starts to trace (you can lift your beater out of it and the drops stay on the surface for a second), add any colorant you choose. When your soap reaches medium trace, add any scents. Don't add the scent too soon or it will evaporate. At thick trace, pour your soap into molds. You can use purchased molds or you can line a couple of 9 x 13 cake pans with waxed paper. Wait for your soap to harden (sometimes overnight), unmold it, cut it into bars, and let it cure for 2 to 4 weeks. To give you an example of the time required, my first batch took me 7 hours. My second took three.