How did you get into that?

A question I often receive when I tell people I am soap maker is "how did you get into that?"

For myself personally, It began with a collection of essential oils. After buying a bottle of eucalyptus at a health-food store and loving the aroma I had become fairly fascinated with collecting these oils and eventually accumulated more than I could use. Before using the ingredients for soap I would simply blend the essential oils and use them in my diffuser to scent my room. However, once I had amassed an expensive collection I realized I needed to do something with all these oils I collected. This is when I began researcher soap making and utilizing essential oils in handmade products. 

It started out with one small batch of soap from an online recipe made with Crisco, Olive Oil and a few other easy ingredients I had at home. Despite creating some very ugly soap, after making one batch I was hooked. Shortly after I began to research frantically, reading books and gathering all the information I could online.

What happened with me, and many other soap makers is they get the "soap bug". In other words they try one recipe and just can't stop experimenting wondering "how will this recipe smell if I add this or that" and "why did it turn out this or that way, how can I fix it?". Soap making is unique in the fact that it is both an art and a science and it allows you to completely control the entire process. 

Another motivating factor was my experience having severe eczema for most my childhood. After trying and enjoying my own soap, which felt much gentler on my skin, going back to store bought soap was not a possibility. Once my interest peaked, a few supplies here, a few orders there really started to add up.

 Like many soap makers I started my venture as a hobby. When the hobby became too expensive I realized I needed to consider selling my soap to continue paying for my expenses. And then, In a series of unplanned events, my interest and passion turned to starting a small business.. I often laugh to myself because I really had no idea what I was getting myself into and how many obstacle Ive faced and continue to face just to "simply make and sell soap successfully".

With that in-mind the goal of the business has changed as the business and myself have developed. While obviously selling soap is a very important goal of a soap business I have begun to realize the end goal is much bigger than that. Part of what I love in the path of becoming an entrepreneur is having total control of the business. My goal as an entrepreneur is to give back into something I believe in. I haven't yet figured out how or when I will make that happen but I am determined to eventually parter with non-profit and charity organizations to give as much of my revenue as sustainably possible. Whether a charity event or simply built into my business model I want to sell a product with a purpose. Ideally it would be one that supports something near and dear to my heart; such as mental health awareness and research, suicide prevention, or animal welfare organizations.

How to Scent Your Soap: Essential Oils Vs. Fragrance Oils

After you master your first few batches of plain soap, you will likely want to begin experimenting with additives. This includes: scents, colors and an entire realm of different ingredients.

One of the main decisions many soap makers have to make is whether they want to use fragrance oils, essential oils or both.  For those of you who do not know the difference between fragrance oils and essential oils I will briefly clarify.

Fragrance oils are synthetic fragrances that are created from a combination of chemical compounds. Because fragrance oils are not limited to naturally occurring scents such as those from plants or flowers they can mimic a wider variety of scents that may not occur in nature.

In contrast, essential oils are naturally occurring chemical compounds that are concentrated and distilled from plant matter such as flowers, leaves, wood, fruit peels and other organic matter.

The benefit of fragrance oils is that they are more cost effective and they offer a great diversity of scents that cant be distilled from nature such as "fresh rain" or "strawberry lemonade". The drawback of fragrance oils is that their ingredients are not transparent and they can be made from virtually any combination of chemical compounds without a traceable origin. For myself personally, using essential oils better aligns with my all natural products ingredients.This is simply my opinion on the subject.

Moving onto essential oils. The main benefits of essential oils are that both the soap maker and anyone using the soap can know exactly what fragrance ingredients are in the product. Because essential oils are concentrated from natural sources they are often described as having a more "natural fragrance" while fragrance oils can be described as "artificial smelling" by some. Additionally, unlike fragrance oils, many essential oils are said to have therapeutic properties such as tea tree and lavender.  The downside of essential oils are the reverse of fragrance oils. Because essential oils come from natural sources prices vary widely based on many factors of production. Due to this, many soap makers will find only certain essential oils are economical to use in soap.

One of the best ways to find whether you prefer to use fragrance oils or essential oils in your soap and other products is to try them both. Most soap makers find they prefer one or the other based on their experimentation and personal preferences. Whats your take on fragrance oils vs. essential oils in your skincare products?

The Real Soapmaking Process

As mentioned in my previous blog, soap is formed by a simple chemical reaction known as saponification. Saponification occurs when a fat reacts with the alkaline solution, "sodium hydroxide" or lye. Lye is a caustic ingredient that can burn your skin "I'm sure many haves seen the fight club scene", however, no lye remains in the finished product. Think of lye as a necessary ingredient to make soap but not a final ingredient in soap. When properly made and measured, the fats or oils in your recipe completely neutralize the lye.

If your anything like me, all this chemistry jargon can be confusing. I hated chemistry class but I love soap making. So don't worry about it, all you really need to know is that soap is a simple chemical reaction. I will break down the basic process in a few simple steps with visuals. 

1. The first step to soap is melting your recipe of fats or oils together. Nearly all recipes will consist of both hard oils such as coconut and palm oil and liquid oils such as olive oil. If you're starting out, I recommend you use a recipe from a creditable book before developing your own recipe. The book I started with and highly recommend is Smart Soapmaking by Anne L. Watson.


2. The next step will be to measure your lye. Remember lye turns the oils or fat into soap through saponification. Accurately measuring your lye and oils is very important. Use a lye calculator such as the one from www.soapcalc.net. 

1. Melt Your Hard and Liquid Oils Together

2. Measure The Lye Needed 

3. Once the lye is measured it must be mixed with water. Always add your lye to water and never the other way around. The amount needed will be stated in your lye calculator from www.soapcalc.net or from a recipe you are using. Add the lye slowly and stir with a stainless steel utensil. The solution will get hot and give off fumes so be cautious. Always wear protective equipment on your eyes and a fume mask to avoid inhaling fumes.

3. Add Your Lye To Water Slowly

4. Once the lye has been completely dissolved you must wait for the solution to cool. Lye water can reach a scorching 180 degrees! Check the temperature of both the lye solution and water. A common temperature range is to have both temperatures between 130 degrees although there is much variation among soap makers.

4. Check Temperature of oils and lye solution


5. Once both solutions are both between the desired temperature range they will be ready to mix. To do this, you will need an immersion or stick blender. Blend the mixture until you reach what is known to soap makers as "trace" or when the mixture is completely combined. At this point any additives such as scents or colors will also be added.

6. Once your soap batter has reached the proper pudding texture it is ready to be poured into the mold. If you're a beginner, a small silicone mold works great. Leave the soap for at-least 24 hours before removing from the mold. Once the soap is removed from the mold you can cut it into bars! At this point you have soap! I hope you have enjoyed this simplified breakdown of real soap making. 

Washing Up With Roadkill?

Before moving on to talk about all things old-fashioned or "cold process soap making" I wanted to address one more controversial ingredient most consumers do not understand hides in their commercial soap. This ingredient is "sodium tallowate", which equates to animal fat from cattle, sheep or any other combination of animals scraps. They combine this fat with lye or "sodium hydroxide", a necessary ingredient to make all soap. 

Many people, myself included who have used commercial soaps have always assumed that their soap does not contain animal ingredients. 

The first soaps were made from animal fat as long as 3,000 years ago. When economies were more dependent on agriculture, "lard soap" was actually very sustainable and efficient because it provided a great way to use every part of the animal that would be discarded otherwise.  

However; even when soaps were made by farmers left over animal fat, they differed from nearly all commercial soaps today. Commercial detergent soaps with animal ingredients (a large majority) are manufactured and created far differently to the old style farmer soap which contained a few ingredients: left over animal fat, lye and water (more on this later). As seen below, most commercial soaps contain "sodium tallowate" in addition to a whole other slew of detergents and chemicals little known by the average consumer. 

While large soap manufacturers are not going to publicly acknowledge the source of animal fat in their soaps I think its safe to assume its not very pretty. The most likely possibility is that massive soap companies find the cheapest by-product from massive meat producers or "factory farms". It is speculated the quality of fat can even be likened to the disgusting quality of roadkill.

"According to Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, the process of rendering animal fat consists of boiling animal carcasses in a pot to create fatty byproducts. The decaying animals used come from every source imaginable: lab animals, deadstock (animals that die before they reach the slaughterhouse), euthanized zoo and shelter animals, expired meat from grocery stores and -- wait for it -- road kill."

In short, if you don't want to lather up from sketchy animal by-product you may want to check the label of your soaps. Because most consumers don't think twice about the ingredients in their products I believe its important they have the knowledge to make an informed decision.