Making Soap
Making soap is a fun and exciting endeavor. Once you start making soap you may find yourself experiment with all of the different methods or means there are for making soap.
There are a few different ways that soap can be made. Making soap through the melt and pour method is very easy. By mixing water, oil or fat and glycerine or lye together, you can make soap.
Making soap has long been something that humans have done. The actual history of making soap is not well documented but we think that people have been making soap since prehistoric times. Of course, the first few people that were making soap were probably not aware of what they were doing. They most likely noticed that the ashes from the meat they cooked outdoors became useful when it mixed with rain water.
Making soap can be done for fun but it also can be a way to save or make money. There is a market for natural soaps and specialty soaps. Many people are searching for alternatives to the soaps that they buy in stores.
There are a few helpful tips that should be taken into consideration when making soap. The best water to use for soap making is rain water or water that has been distilled or de-mineralized. When making soap be sure that the water is about 0.38 of the fat.
If you choose to use lye when making soap, there are a few things you should know about this chemical. First of all, lye is a very powerful chemical that must be handled with extreme care. Be sure to store it in a place where children and animals will not stumble across it. Also, never pour water into lye because it can cause a chemical reaction. Lye crystals will shoot all over the room. Instead you want to ease the lye into the cold water.
The fat that is used in the soap is up to you. Animal fats such as tallow, lard or chicken fat can be used. Chicken fat will give you a soft soap while tallow will give you are hard one.