#diy soap

Tried making another dish soap with 100% coconut oil (500g of oil and 88g of lye to 160g water)

So, I messed this one up, I mixed the oils and lye while they were too hot. They volcanoed and turned translucent once it finally calmed down. Nothing spilled, the container was tall enough so luckily nothing got on me or got anywhere.

It cooled really quickly so i had to scrape it out of the container and i stuffed it into the mold and added some water to melt everything together - it worked out - somehow.

Note: Do not do this, it heats up like crazy and as the name for it implies, it volcanoes and expands. Not to mention it's got lye.

Soap #9

Tried to make soap for my friend again, but I'm not sure what went wrong this time.

Scaled up the recipe properly this time.

I took my time to add colors to everything and to scoop it into the mold. I stick blended too much again and I had to scoop it rather than pour it in.

For some reason it came out really brittle, and I'm not exactly sure why. The pH (after a couple weeks of laying around and lack of motivation, was slightly basic and zap test didn't really do much, so I assume the lye amount I measured was correct. (I measured in two batches cause I was using some paper shot glasses to measure, so I thought I might've messed it up somehow) Maybe it was cause i blended it for too long.

Can be used to wash dishes, clothes, and everything else. Its soap!

Ingredients:

A bar of soap (coconut soap, homemade soap, any soap bar for cleaning, but preferably natural ones) - its about 200g/7oz

3 liters/ 101 oz of water

3tbsp of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

50ml/2 oz of cleaning alcohol (preferably 70°)

How to:

Pick a pan with capacity over 3 liters and pour your water, let it boil on the stove. While you wait, grind your soap.

When the water is boiling, add your soap and stir slowly until its fully dissolved, when it's done, turn off the stove.

Add the alcohol and the baking soda and stir it slowly (it might foam, a lot). Now, let it cool down and then put it in your containers. You may use glass ones or plastic reused ones. I reused detergent bottles that were around, specially because of that tip that helps me pour small quantities.

Most likely the detergent will get cloudy and very liquidy, which is fine, that's the way its supposed to be. However, if it turns thick, gelatinous or hard, probably your soap had more than just oil in it, but it's fine, it works the same, you just have to melt it when you use it.

If you want it to smell nice, you can either use lavender (or any other smell of your liking) tea made with the water you're using or you can add a tsp of essential oil to the mix when its warm (not hot, otherwise it'll evaporate).

I was watching this hilarious video on soap making mistakes (dO NoT USE CINNAMON lmao) and got really interested in how would you actually make a herbal soap? Because I will be making my own soap, and I know it's made from oil and base, and I can create a base using wood ash so I'm sure all of that will work out (after a few tries, probably). But I will also want to make chamomile scented soap, and lemon balm soap, so how would I make sure my soap is really taking the properties of these plants?

Ingredients:

Soap base (I used goat's milk!)

Lemon Essential Oils

Lavender Essential Oils

Lavender buds (optional)

Lemon zest (optional)

Steps:

Melt soap base in a bain-marie, setting a glass or metal container in a pot with water. Let water boil and melt the soap base.

Once melted, allow the soap base to cool a little. Add the essential oils and a little bit of the lavender buds and lemon zest. Mix.

Pour soap mixture into molds. (I use plastic ones I bought at my local craft store. Though, silicone molds are better!)

(Optional!) Add extra lavender buds and lemon zest onto the mixture while it is still liquid.

Allow to set, preferably overnight.

Enjoy your homemade bar soap!

Tips: The reason I use lavender buds and lemon zest (even adding the little at the end) is for my own exfoliation purposes. I like to use the soap as body soap, though you can use it for hand soap as well!