After going on a homemade beauty courses where I learned how to make facial serums and moisturising lotions, I became more and more interested in the world of handmade beauty products. I initially started making these products for my own use after enduring problematic skin for years and saw an improvement in my skin. That led me to look into other products, particularly soap!
The Saponification Process
Soap making is quite a scientific as well as a creative process. One of the first things I learnt is about the different oils and fats you can use and how the saponification process works when you add lye which is a mix of water and sodium hydroxide.
Once the lye is mixed and cooled, you then mix it with your chosen oils. This is where the saponification process happens. It is the mixing of the oils with the lye into a batter consistency that creates soap. It is then poured into a mould and left for about 2 days. Once this time has passed, you can unmould your soap, cut it into bars and leave it to cure for 4-6 weeks (we prefer around 6 weeks).
Of course there’s a lot more to it than this and a huge amount to learn when it comes to choosing the ingredients you want to use in your soap. This is a very short summary of how it works and just one of the ways of making soap as there are other methods you can use as well.
A History of Soap Making
Bearing in mind that people have been making soap for millennia and sodium hydroxide didn’t exist back then, how did they make soap in the past?
It’s likely that soap in its earliest form was discovered when meat was cooked over a fire and the fats dripped into the ashes below and saponified. The resulting product was found to clean the area it dripped on! The first soap was probably made with animal fats and combined with ash (lye) to make soap. The ancient Egyptians combined animal fats and vegetable oils with alkali salts to create a soap like substance they could wash with. With the abundance of olive trees in the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean regions, olive oil became a popular oil to use in soap making and it became an industry in Spain, France and Italy.
Aleppo soap is one of the oldest olive oil soaps associated with Aleppo in Syria. It is perfect for those with sensitive and dry skin as the olive oil and bay laurel are very soothing and hydrating.
Thanks to these websites for helping me with my research.
The Dirty History of Soap - The Conversation
What is the history of soap? And where did cleaning come from? - American Cleaning Institute
History of Soap & Soap Interesting Facts - Soap History
What Ingredients to Use in Soap Making
The combinations you can use in soap making are pretty much infinite! When it comes to oils, the popular oils used by soap makers include palm oil (which we do not use), olive oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, castor oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, hemp seed oil, rice bran oil, tallow, avocado oil, argan oil… the list goes on!
Beyond the oils, other ingredients that can be included are milk (goat, cow, oat etc), honey, clays, herbs, coffee, oats, seeds, natural colourings and micas which produce brighter colours. You will find that each and every soap maker will have their own spin on what they prefer to use when creating their bars of soap.
To scent soap, essential oils or fragrances are used. Fragrances can be stronger and give you access to a much wider variety of scents, but of course aren’t natural. We prefer to use essential oils, many of which also have skin care and aromatherapy benefits.
Soap is very alkali and for that reason I prefer not to use regular bars of soap to wash hair as the PH is too high. That’s why if you do use soap bars for hair washing, you have to go through a stage of rinsing your hair with vinegar afterwards. If you want to avoid buying shampoo in plastic bottles it’s best to use solid shampoo bars (also known as ‘syndet bars’) which are PH neutral and you then don’t need to use a vinegar rinse after hair washing. This is also much kinder to your hair!
As you can see soap making is quite a scientific process and not just a creative craft!
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