I made my own soap and its great (pic heavy)

I've been thinking about making my own soap for awhile now and have done a couple of different test batches. The first is a stearic acid based and turned out very well.


But what I really wanted was to recreate Arko, a tallow based soap. So test 2 was just that and it turned out better than I could have imagined. Here is a picture 15 minutes after I lathered up my brush

The lather was thick and creamy. I had enough lather in my brush for 3 full passes and probably could have done 3 more. It has been curing for about a week, and is still pretty soft, I am hoping it will harden quite a bit more than it has. More testing will be coming for sure, but so far this will be my new soap.

 

Great job. When you have time, please post details of the steps involved, along with pictures.

 

I'm guessing HP? I've made a batch or two of shave soap myself, but don't enjoy test batches. It really sucks when I'm stuck with a subpar pound of shave soap.

 

That's pretty cool, @kc1ble .

 

Very cool! Would love to learn.

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Please share how you made it!

 

It would be interesting to make homemade shaving soap. A good recipe would save a lot of time, agrivation and irritation.

 

that lather looks top notch...well done

 

What about using a melt and pour soap unscented and then adding fragrance and maybe some glycerin for slickness is that the same thing as making your own soap? I've seen goats milk melt and pour soaps but I don't know if it's the right type of soap for lathering.

 

Good job I am jealous?

 

Excellent. Subscribed...


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Ok, thanks for the great comments. I'll see if I can write this as a bit of a tutorial for those that are interested. It really is pretty easy to do.

The recipe is as follows:
33% Beef Tallow
33% Stearic Acid
20% Coconut Oil
14% Castor Oil
35% NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide)
65% KOH (Potassium Oxide)
2t Bentonite Clay per lb of oil
.5 oz. Fragrance Oil per lb of oil

I began by organizing my ingredients:


Next carefully measure out all of the ingredients:




I made an 8 ounce test batch so my ingredients are as follows:
75.9g Stearic Acid
75.9g Beef Tallow
46g Coconut Oil
32.2g Castor Oil

11.34g Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH)
29.53g Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)
87.4g Distilled Water

1 t. Bentonite Clay
.25 ounce Eucalyptus Spearmint fragrance oil
Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide are extremely caustic and proper protective equipment should be worn at all times while handling them. Safety Goggles and latex gloves are a must. Long sleeves and an apron are highly recommended as well.



Stearic Acid should be melted next. Because stearic acid melts at a rather high temperature, I prefer to melt it on the stove in a glass measuring cup submerged in boiling water. While this is melting, I add my tallow and Coconut oil to the crock pot and begin melting it on low. I also add about half of the castor oil.




While the oils are melting, mix the lye solution. Place distilled water in a heatproof container as the reaction will cause temperatures to rise to near boiling. Now add pre- measured Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide to the distilled water. NEVER add water to the lye, it is always lye to the water. This is best done in a well ventilated area as the reaction will cause fumes as well as heat. Do not breath the fumes. They will subside rather quickly. I usually mix my lye solution outside.




Now mix the remainder of the castor oil with the Bentonite clay. I use a mini mixer to blend them together smoothly. Pre-mixing will prevent the clay from clumping when you mix it in the soap at the end of the cook.



As soon as the oils in the crock pot are melted, add the lye solution, making sure to wear your protective equipment. Pour slowly so you don’t splash. Mix the lye solution and oil thoroughly . Then mix in the castor oil/bentonite clay mix. Keep cooking the mixture and stirring until you reach a light trace, then add your stearic acid to the mix. You will notice the mixture thickens up a lot now, but it is still easy to mix.



Let it cook, it will go from a mashed potato like stage to a Vaseline like stage, being semi translucent. Now you can perform a zap test to see if the soap is fully saponified. Touch a little bit of soap to the tip of your tongue, if you feel a zap like when you touch your tongue to a nine volt battery, continue to cook. If you are not sure if it zapped, then it probably didn’t because you can clearly tell when it does. If there is no zap, you can let it cool a bit to add your fragrance oil.




You can see here it is cooled to 142 degrees. My fragrance oils flash point is 200 degrees so I can safely add the fragrance now. The picture on the bottom is after the fragrance is mixed in. After it is mixed in thoroughly, you can spoon the soap into your mold to harden. I used a piece of 3″ PVC pipe

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Let it stand in the mold for 24-48 hours. I unmolded mine after 24 hours, it was still a bit soft. I hope it will cure and harden significantly, time will tell.




Tip: I used a can of corn to push my molded soap out of the mold, it worked quite nicely as the can is almost the perfect diameter.
Slice into 1" thick pucks and put them on a rack where they will get good airflow. I'm not sure how long t will take to harden or if they will any more than they have, but as you can tell from my first post, the soap lathers well and provides excellent slip while shaving. I would be curious to hear your opinions if you try this recipe.

 

I would be curious to buy some of yours

 

Awesome. That's what I was wanting. I might give it a go now.
Where did your order your supplies?

 

Thanks for the info...

Just curious which scent did you go with?

 

Sorry, I am not prepared to circulate my soap until it had been properly tested and I feel comfortable doing so. I will also be doing some more batches trying to make improvements to the firmness of the puck.

I ordered all of my supplies from www.Brambleberry.com

I used a Eucalyptus Spearmint scent and I really like it. I may need to increase the amount in my next test as it seems a little weak.

 

I've never tried any of the melt and pour bases, but I remember reading about them somewhere and they may not be the best choice. More research would have to be done to make it a viable trial.

 

Tip:
I use one of those thin, nylon cutting mats to line my cylinder molds. Roll it up and let it spring open inside the cylinder. Makes extraction incredibly easy.

 

Thank you, something for my shopping list.

 

excellent post