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Homemade Soap Products
You
can make your own lye soap at home; it’s not
hard to do! All you have to do is combine fat with some sort
of caustic agent, using water as your catalyst, and you have
soap. ‘Saponification’ is the technical
name for the chemical process between lye and fat.
And you won’t need anything exotic to make your own
soap; most of the ingredients you need may be as close as
your grocery store. What will you need? For a basic soap,
you only need water, lye, and some kind of fat and oil.
For a more luxurious soap, you might want to add coloring
dyes and scented fragrance oils.
 You probably have water as close as your kitchen tap; some
people prefer to use rainwater or distilled water in their
soap. And what’s lye, anyhow? It’s chemical name
is sodium hydroxide; it’s a very strong base, so when
you handle it. Make sure that you read the directions on the
package of lye carefully, and following them scrupulously.
The first step is to dissolve the lye. Never pour the water
into the lye; instead, pour the lye into the water. If half
the water is ice, that’s even better. Stir; as you stir,
watch for the reaction. The lye can even boil the water; if
this happens, stop stirring until the bubbling stops, and
let the lye water cool down to room temperature.
So what about the oil? Just about any fat or oil can make
soap, from plant oils to animal fats. Coconut oils
will give a rich lather. Olive oil will yield fine, silky
bubbles. If you use animal fat, make sure it’ is clean,
not rancid, has no salt, and is free of solid particles. You’ll
find tallow or lard will give you a denser soap.
When you batch starts to thicken, that’s the time to
add coloring and perfume oils. Pour the ‘traced’
soap into shape molds, and let it harden. It will have to
‘cure’ for one to three days, and then dry a bit
longer before you can enjoy it.
Homemade, natural and specialty soaps are perfect
truths for bath and body treatments. So if you are
looking for a way to relieve your tension, forget about your
bad day and just feel good, well treat yourself with some
homemade soap products. They’ll
make your skin soft improve any skin conditions you have and
help you connect with yourself.
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