I've been making soap for about 6 years now, and I absolutely love it. Haven't bought soap from a store since I started making it, and love the way it makes my skin feel.
Before starting, read as much as you can. You'll want to be familiar enough with the process so that you're comfortable with it before you start making a batch. There are plenty of good books, and loads of informational websites, plus sites with recipes. There are also soapmaking elists that you can join. If you need book titles, websites, or elists, let me know and I'll post some.
Learn about the ingredients that you want to use. You'll want to know what qualities and/or benefits they impart to soap. You'll want to know how these ingredients may affect the skin, and/or what they can do for the skin. There are many different oils, fats and butters that you can use to make your soap base, plus there are many extras you can add to give additional benefits to your soap. Even after 6 years, I'm still learning!
Start with small, 1 pound batches. Small batches are easier to work with as you learn, and of course, use less ingredients so that if you make a mistake, you don't waste as much.
Don't invest a lot of money on expensive equipment until you're sure you want to continue doing this. You can use Rubbermaid drawer dividers (or similar) as molds. You can also use sturdy plastic shoe boxes, cat litter pans, and even sturdy cardboard boxes for molds. Line your mold with freezer paper. If you don't, you'll either have a mess (like with cardboard boxes), or you won't be able to get the soap out of the mold (like with drawer dividers). Ask me how I learned this!!
For mixing your soap batch, you can use almost anything: Rubbermaid or other heavy duty plastic bowls; heavy, tempered glass bowls; ceramic bowls; stainless steel bowls. I use the ceramic insert for my crockpot, which is dedicated to soapmaking. Don't worry, I have another that I use for cooking.
For mixing your lye solution, you'll need either a Rubbermaid (or other heavy duty plastic) pitcher, a tempered glass container (Pyrex measuring cups work well), or a stanless steel container or pitcher. Do not use untempered glass since the temps of the lye solution can reach above 200 degrees, which can cause the glass to shatter.
You'll also need a thermometer for checking the temps of your lye solution and oils. I use a quick read one that I got from Wal-Mart for about $5. And you'll probably want a plastic or stainless steel whisk for mixing your lye solution and soap. I find them much better than using a spoon or spatula.
WARNING: Never, ever use anything made of aluminum for soapmaking. Lye and aluminum do not mix.
Start with a simple "recipe" using oils readily available at local stores. While there are many different oils, etc that you can use to make soap, many are expensive and are best left until you are ready to move beyond a basic recipe. You can easily, and inexpensively, make a "grocery store" soap using oils and fats found where you buy food. It may not be *the* best soap for your skin, but it will be a good, functional soap that doesn't contain all the chemicals of store-bought soap. To me, any homemade soap without all the chemicals is a vast improvement over store-bought. I don't recommend you start with Castile (100% Olive) since Castile is notoriously tricky. Also stay away from Pomace Olive Oil until you've gained some experience since it can, and usually does, accelerate trace.
Always run your lye recipes through a lye calculator before making them. I can give you a some websites with online calculators if you need them. You need to make sure that you have enough lye to saponify the oils properly, and you need to figure in a lye discount or superfatting percentage so that the soap isn't too harsh because of excess lye.
Make sure you write your recipe down. Also keep notes about when you made a recipe, how it lathered, how it turned out, color, scent, any probems, etc. These notes will help you formulate better recipes as your knowledge increases and you gain more experience. They can also sometimes help you pinpoint a problem or cause if the soap didn't turn out right.
What I do when I go to make a batch is this:
1) Line the mold
2) Gather all the equipment
3) Gather all the ingredients
4) Measure water and lye, then mix lye solution and let it start cooling
5) Measure out hard oils, put them in pot to begin melting over very low heat
6) Meaure out remaining oils, add to pot with hard oils
7) Measure out any extras and have them ready to add at the proper time
8) Once lye solution and oils have reached the proper temps, begin making soap
9) Once the soap has traced and is finished "cooking", pour into mold
10) Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the soap, smoothing as much as possible (this helps prevent the formation of ash)
11) Cover mold, then wrap in a towel to insulate, put it in a draft-free spot
12) Wait until soap is ready to unmold (this is the hard part)
13) Unmold soap, cut, put on wire rack, cover with linen cloth (keeps dust and cat hair off), put in draft-free place to cure
14) Wait at least 4 weeks before using (this is hard too, although you can test a small piece 24-48 hours after unmolding)
When I first started, I wrote down the steps to follow/instructions and taped them at eye-level to a kitchen cabinet above my work space. All I had to do was look up if I became momentarily confuzzled during the process. I do the same with my recipes, which keeps them clean and out of harm's way while I work.
From my experience when working with small batches, you should begin heating your oils before mixing your lye solution. I find the smaller amount of lye solution cools much quicker than larger amounts. When I made my first batch, I followed the instructions to a T. Was I ever shocked when my lye solution was ready, and I hadn't heated my oils yet! It's easier to cool and reheat oils if necessary than it is to reheat the lye solution.
I know this is a lot of info to digest, so please ask questions on anything I haven't made very clear, or that I didn't give a detailed explanation of. Also feel free to ask questions on anything I haven't covered, or whatever comes to mind.
Carol
