soap making

Article by Jen Hopkins

Herbal soap is being used by a lot of people because of its supposed healthier properties compared to normal soap. Herbal soap contains the added beneficial effects of the specific plant that is incorporated within the soap. It is usually a lot milder on the skin as well and fewer irritations will occur. You don’t have to go stores that specifically sell these herbal soaps just so that you could use one. Specialty stores usually have overpriced soaps because of the special properties of their soap. Some of their soaps may have herbal properties which cannot be found in normal soap so they can add to the price of their soaps. Other may also have beautiful designs which also bring up the price of the soap. In reality, these soaps are very easy and cheap to make so you don’t have to buy in these stores just to get the special soaps that you want. You can easily make herbal soaps or soaps that have beautiful designs in them right at your own home. soap making is an excellent way to spend your free time and even small children can take this up as a hobby. The first thing that you need to do is to procure the ingredients that you will need to make soap. The basic ingredients that you will need are caustic soda, cooking oil or any other type of oil, and some herbal leaves of your choice. Coloring dyes may also be used to add to the color of your soap. Utensils that you may need in soap making are a bucket, some mixing tools, a pail, cups, a cheesecloth, a knife, molds, chopping board, a cooking pot and some gloves and face mask. You can choose to have different molds to give your soap a more interesting design, while the gloves and face mask are needed to protect you from the harmful effects of lye. First thing you need to do is to prepare your herbal mixture. This is done by chopping up 1 glass of your leaves and boiling them in 2 glasses of water for 15 minutes. Once this is done, you can strain them using the cheesecloth and set aside to cool. After you have prepared the herbal mixture, you can bow mix 3 cups of this mixture with 1 cup of lye. Stir continuously until all of the lye has dissolved. Next, add 5 cups of oil and mix until it attains a condensed milk like consistency. Dyes may also be added during this point of the procedure. The mixture will then be poured onto molds and allowed to cool for at least 5 hours. Once this is done, you may take the soaps from the molds but will still need to age them for 30 days before they can be used. Now wasn’t that very easy to do? These ingredients are very cheap and easy to find so you won’t have any problems in buying and getting hold of them. You can also choose what kind of herbal leaves you want to use, and you may also design your soap in any way that you like. This might even be a good gift idea to give to your friends and relatives.

soap making