One easy soap making technique is making use of soap scraps. What do you usually do with soap scraps in your bathroom? Some would just throw away soap scraps or let them melt in the soap dish while others would try to use the soap scrap until they crumble and fall down the drain. Well now you can save this soap scraps in a container and use them later to make your own homemade soap.
Making your own soap from soap scraps is easy and practical using everyday kitchen equipment and ingredients. Here is the basic recipe to make your own soap:
Equipments:
½ cup oatmeal (finely ground) or
½ cup cornmeal (finely ground) or
½ cup green tea (finely ground)
Procedure:
1. Get your soap scraps or a new bar of soap and cut it into small pieces. Put the soap pieces in a blender until they turn into crumbs.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients well. Initially use 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 tbsp of boiling water but if the soap crumbs are too dry, add 1 tbsp each of the vegetable oil and boiling water.
3. Use food flavorings, such as cinnamon, vanilla, lemon or ginger, for your soap's scent so that it will not harm your skin. Since food flavorings are edible then it will not cause skin irritations or body reactions when used as a scent. You can also use finely grated orange or lemon rind.
4. Press with cookie cutters or candy molds to make different shapes. You can even join two shapes together (ex: star on top of a circle or a flower on top of circle) or you can also shape the soap with your hands.
5. You can also add other ingredients to make different soap varieties.
6. Set aside for a minimum of 24 hours for the soap to harden before using. It is best to let the soap harden for 2 to 3 weeks.
The basic recipe provided here can be doubled or tripled depending on the quantity of soap you would like to produce. This is also one way of helping the environment by recycling your soap scraps as well as a possible income generating endeavor.
Skin health problems make people who concern start to seek for alternative for their skin treatment. The chemical substances contained in so many skin care products, including soaps, make people start to use handmade soap that is safer than the industrial soap. However, it doesn't mean that industrial soap is not healthy for your skin. In fact, there are several differences that make handmade product is better than the industrial product.
Before we discuss about the differences between handmade and industrial soap, we need to define the term of handmade and industrial soap first. The term handmade refers to the soaps that can be made at home and mostly are made of natural ingredients like olive or jojoba oil. The making process is also simpler because the supporting tools are unadorned. On the other hand, the term industrial refers to the soap that is made by companies in large quantities. It usually contains little amount of oil and limited amount of vitamin since it is made mainly for commercial purpose.
Those two kinds of soap are also different in the making process. Handmade soap is made in cold process while industrial is in hot process. Cold making process is implemented in cold room temperature. So, it makes the oil nutrients useful for the skin is still intact. The hot making process needs 80-100°C until the saponification phase occurs. Saponification is the process of mixing the water, lye and fat or oil. One thing that cannot be denied is that both kinds of soap are using lye or sodium hydroxide in the making process; it is the substance that can turn oil into soap. But when the making process is done, there is no lye left in handmade soap because in the first moment of saponifying reaction, nearly 90% of the lye is eliminated and in the next process the lye is totally gone.
The significant difference between handmade and industrial soap is the glycerin content. Glycerin is the clear liquid that absorbs water from the air. It can soften the skin and keep its health. In handmade soap, the glycerin is kept and formed naturally during the saponification process. As in industrial soap, soap companies usually reduce the glycerin and put it into lotion products. Handmade soap is more skin-friendly than the industrial soap. Therefore, handmade soap is more effective for skin treatment.