How to Make Soap: Cold Process with Oatmeal

Have you been wanting to make your own soap at home but not sure how to do it?  Well I’m going to walk you through soap making using the cold process.  Now, the name “cold process” is a bit misleading.  Things still get hot as you’ll see.  But we’re not stirring everything together in a big pot over an open fire like grandma (called “hot process”).  We’ll try that another day.  For today, we’re making cold process soap.  It’s pretty easy, and the soap is so much better for your skin than commercial soaps.  Plus you can make any variation you want!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 20 oz. olive oil
• 8 oz. coconut oil
• 16 oz. lard (the original recipe called for 8 oz. of cocoa butter and 8 oz. of almond oil.  I’ve made it both ways and it works.  Lard is just cheaper and easier to find.)
• 16 oz. water
• 6 oz. lye (sodium hydroxide)  I got mine at The Lye Guy
• Optional additives of your choice like oatmeal, flower petals, essential oils, ground cinnamon, dried herbs, orange peel, fragrance oils (mine are from Wellington Fragrance).
• Cooking thermometer
• Scale (I use a postal scale like this one)
• Soap molds or cardboard box or glass pan approximately 9 x 13 size
• If you’re using a box or pan, parchment paper to line it with
• Eye protection, rubber gloves, apron
• Immersion blender–not 100% necessary, but it cuts your soap mixing time down from hours to about 20 minutes.

Important stuff to know

This is not a melt and pour soap.  We are using lye and lye is extremely caustic.  It will burn your hands and eyes on contact and corrode some metals.  The protective gear at the end of the list above isn’t optional.  If you spill some lye, pouring vinegar on it will neutralize the chemical.

All ingredients are measured by weight.  Just because 1 cup of water is 8 oz, doesn’t mean 1 cup of oil or 1 cup of lye is.  Use the scale for happy soap.  I’ve tried estimating when my scale was broken and it just didn’t work.

Let’s get started

Gather your ingredients.

Get your lining in your pan.  I had a kid do it for me, so it’s not straight, but as long as the pan is lined without holes, it’s good. (Of course I didn’t get a photo of it by itself, but you’ll see it later in the post.)

Combine the oils

Measure the oils by weight using your scale, and put them all in a double boiler.  I put them in a pot and put that pot in a larger pan of water.  Heat them on low heat to melt and blend them together.

Mix the lye water

While the oils are heating, measure the lye and water in separate GLASS or plastic bowls.  Not metal–remember, lye eats some metals.  Stainless steel is okay if you need to, anything with aluminum is not.

Slowly add the lye powder to the water and stir to dissolve.  You may want to do this step outside.  It gets quite hot and releases fumes that probably aren’t great to breathe.  I just opened windows opposite each other to air the room out.

Now, check the temperatures of the lye water and the oils.  You want them both within a degree or two of 110 F at the same time.  The lye water will be hotter than that to start with, so your job is to get the oils to 110 F at the same time the lye water cools down to that point.  If your oils get too hot and need cooling off, remove them from the double boiler, replace the hot water in the large pot with cold water (add ice if necessary) and put the oil pot back in, stirring until it reaches the correct temperature.

Be sure to get a photo of yourself in your protective gear.  I probably should have gone one step further and worn long sleeves!

If you forgot to line your pan, now is a good time to do it.  You’ll thank me later.

Combine the oils and lye water

When the oils and the lye water are both at 110 F (within 1 degree either way is okay), it’s time to combine them.

Slowly pour the lye water into the oils, and stir.

Mix to trace

Using an immersion blender, pulse and stir for a minute or two, then blend for another 20 minutes or so until the soap reaches “trace”.

Trace is when you can drip a string of soap across the top and it leaves a scar.  This is when the oils and water have been emulsified and won’t separate again.  Light trace leaves a thin scar that sinks back in.  Mine is a heavier trace, but here’s what it looks like:

Add extras

When your soap has reached trace, it’s time to add any extras you want.  1-3 oz. of essential oils or fragrance oils, up to 1 cup dry ingredients like crushed or whole flower petals and oatmeal.

I blended up 3/4 cup oats in my blender and added them plus about 1/4 cup (a little on the high side) Victorian Christmas fragrance oil from Wellington Fragrance.

Blend the additives in, and be ready to pour.  Some additives will make your soap want to set up faster, so if you notice it getting very thick, get it poured into the mold as soon as possible!  Mine didn’t cause any trouble.

Pour, wrap, and wait

Once the soap is thoroughly blended, pour it into your mold.

Cover it (not with foil-the lye is still somewhat caustic at this point) and wrap it up in towels or a blanket so it will cool slowly.  Set it somewhere it won’t get bumped and wait 24 hours.

Cut and cure

At the end of 24 hours, your soap should be set up but soft.  Now is the time to lift it out of the mold and cut it into pieces.

If you want them to look a little prettier, you can trim the wrinkly spots and bevel the corners with a potato peeler.  Square and ugly is fine, too, especially if you don’t plan on giving them as gifts or entering them in your county fair.  Soap is soap.

Now they need to cure.  This usually takes between 4 and 8 weeks.  Leave them open to the air–I set mine on top of a cupboard, out of reach.  As a bonus, it smells really nice by that cupboard while they’re curing.  Turn the bars over occasionally so all the sides get aired out.

Once they’re cured, they are ready to use!  Enjoy washing with your own homemade soap!

Keep preparing!
Angela

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