Handmade Vegan Soap

I love to make handmade fresh cold-process soap. Cold-process is the term to describe making homemade soap using lye (sodium hydroxide) and fats, and is the technique used here. You can use many combinations of fats (vegetable oils, nut oils, waxes, butters, and animal fats). The recipe here is one where you can find the ingredients easily at your grocery and hardware stores.  This recipe makes about 4 pounds of soap

Equipment Needed:

Safety goggles and rubber gloves (lye is dangerous; wear safety equipment and use caution!)

Digital scale that measures in ounces and grams

Candy thermometer

Large stainless steel pot

3 large glass, stainless steel, or plastic bowls (or large glass measuring cups)

Stick blender

Rubber spatulas

Freezer paper
Tape

Large mold (shoe box will work)
Several large towels

Coffee grinder or blender (optional)

Ingredients:

Olive oil - 25.6 oz

Coconut oil - 19.2 oz

Crisco (with Palm oil) - 19.2 oz

*Sodium Hydroxide (lye) - 9.15 oz

Distilled or spring water - 24.32 oz

**1/4 cup of ground oatmeal

Notes: 

*Sodium hydroxide or lye can be found at Ace Hardware stores under the brand name Rooto 100% Lye Household Drain Opener. I used to find it on the same aisle as other drain cleaners, but unfortunately lye is an ingredient used in making meth and not always available on shelves. You may have to ask an employee for it. 

**The ground oatmeal is an optional additive and adds a nice touch. Use it if you want. If you omit the oatmeal, you can also omit the coffee grinder or blender (but not the stick blender). 

Let's get going:

Get all of your equipment and ingredients together (unmeasured)

Suit up with your safety goggles and rubber gloves

Begin with the lye solution:

First, measure out your lye in one of the bowls. 

Second, measure out the water in another bowl

Next, pour the lye into the bowl with the water. DO NOT pour the water into the lye! This will create a volcano effect and can be dangerous.

Mix the lye/water mixture for several minutes. Move your head away from the direct fumes. It will be fumy for a few minutes so make sure no children or pets are around. The lye/water solution is mixed when the mixture becomes almost clear (it will still be slightly cloudy). 


Your lye/water solution will heat up to around 150 degrees. Insert your candy thermometer to measure and put the solution aside. You will want your lye/water solution to cool down to about 105 - 110 degrees.


While your lye/water solution is cooling, prepare your fats (oils). Weigh separately the coconut oil, Crisco, and olive oil and put them in your stainless steel pot. Warm on low on the stove until the solid fats liquify. Using your candy thermometer, measure the temperature of the oils. Warm (or if too hot, wait to cool) to 105 - 110 degrees. 

While your oils and lye solution are cooling to 105-110 degrees, line your mold wax side up with the freezer paper. Let the paper overlap to the outside of the mold and tape it in place. 


Once your lye solution and oils are both between 105 - 110 degrees, your ready to start blending. 


Get your stick blender ready. Remove the oils from the stove. SLOWLY pour the lye/water solution into the warm oils. Without turning on the stick blender, give it several manual. Stirs. Flip the stick blender on and give it few blasts. Alternate between manual stirring and stick blending until the mixture reaches TRACE. Trace is when the soap mixture becomes a thin pudding like consistency and leaves a very TRACE thickness. See below:

Your soap is now ready to pour into your mold! If you are adding the ground oatmeal, pour it in now and stir it evenly throughout the soap mixture. 


Pour the soap mixture into your mold. Cover with another sheet of freezer paper, wax side down. Cover with a couple of towels to insulate. 


The soap will  need to insulate for a day or two. I always wait two days. During the first 24 hours, it will go through the gel phase, where it will heat up from the middle out. The soap will cook itself. 


After two days, the soap should be ready to pop out of the mold. If using a shoe box, you will have a large loaf. Turn it upside down and carefully unmold the soap. The soap is still very caustic and you may need to use your rubber gloves. Cut the soap into bars and let rest on the waxy side of a piece of freezer paper. Leave your soap bars to cure for 4-6 weeks. They must fully cure before using them to complete the saponification process. During this time they will harden into usable soap. 

• After the 4-6 week cure time, you will have made enough bars of natural, vegan soap free of additives and detergents!