Introduction to Different Soapmaking Methods
Contrary to what most people believe, soapmaking isn't that hard to do if you are equipped with sufficient information about it. As chemists would put it, soap is what you get when you combine oils or fats with a strong alkali solution (more popularly called lye). This process is what soapmakers call saponification.
So why is soap fit for cleaning dirt off our bodies you ask? Ask yourself this question. What happens when you use soap on a soiled surface? The soap "loosens" the dirt particles and makes it easier for rinsing. By analogy, soap molecules are like two-poled magnets. One end holds on to water molecules, the other end holds on to grease particles. The latter end makes it possible for those grease molecules to be dissolved in water, which under normal circumstances would be near impossible because water and oil don't mix.
Back to saponification. When people hear the word soapmaking they immediately associate it with lye. Quite frankly, essential soapmaking does involve the handling of lye but there are actually 4 basic methods of crafting soap. Two of which will require you to handle lye solution while the other two won't. Allow me to give you a quick overview of those methods.
Cold Process
This is probably the most commonly used soapmaking method. This involves making soap from scratch using fats or oils, and lye. It takes more time to create cold process soaps than it is to make soaps through the other methods. This method provides for a certain degree of freedom when designing recipes. The following are the Pros and Cons of cold process soapmaking:
• You have control over which ingredients to use in your soap.
• Your soap is made from scratch.
• You can create recipes that serve various purposes, like anti-acne soap or whitening soap. |
• This method requires that you handle lye. You'd have to learn how to create lye solution and how to handle or store it safely.
• May not be so appealing to beginners since this process requires a LOT of utensils and materials to start.
• This method takes time to complete. Especially since you will need to wait for 2-6 weeks before it's safe to use your soap.
• More cleanup to do afterwards.
• You need to use EXACT measurements of fat and lye and you also need to compute the right ratio between them. You'll need to learn how to use SAP charts and lye calculators to make sure that your soap is skin-friendly. |
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Hot Process Method
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