Making Cold Process Soap

Explaining my project: This Instructable is a how to guide in making my fan favorite soap bar: Charcoal and Tea Tree Oil Facial Soap Bar. This bar contains charcoal, which is good for exfoliating but gentle enough for your face. The essential oil is tea tree oil which helps reduce inflammation so it is great for those who are prone to acne. The design is a drop swirl technique that creates unique designs so no two bars look the same.

Supplies

For this craft you are going to need the following supplies and equipment. this recipe will make up to 50 ounces of soap or 1400 grams which will make about 9 one inch bars.

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl (either microwavable plastic, stainless steel, or glass)
• Measuring mixing bowl
• Silicone spatula
• Whisk
• Measuring spoons
• Food grade scale
• Immersion blender
• 2x Polypropylene container with lid (Not PET)
• Stainless steel spoon
• 10 inch Silicone mold loaf (I'm using this one from Brambleberry)
• Cloth
• Thermal heat gun
• Paper cups
• Popsicle sticks
• Non-cerated knife or a cheese wire cutter
• Wooden cutting board
• Ruler
• Microwave

Supplies

• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Castor oil
• Palm oil (ethically sourced)
• Sweet almond oil
• Sodium Hydroxide flakes
• Water
• Activated Charcoal
• Teal mica (I get mine from Madmicas)
• 99% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol

Step 1: Safety First

There is some danger to making cold process soaps, but if you follow these steps you'll be fine.

Firstly, make sure that you clear your area of any particles, objects in the way, or electronics.

It is very important that while making your soap that pets and small children be sent to another area of the house for their own safety.

And lastly you need the following for your own safety. You should wear:

• a long sleeve shirt
• long pants
• closed toe shoes
• safety glasses
• silicone or cleaning grade gloves
• a face mask (when you are making the lye water solution)
• a hairnet or just tie your hair back.

It is very important that you protect your skin from any drops from the lye water solution or the emulsified liquid soap batter as the lye can harm your skin.

If you get it on your skin immediately go wash it off with cold water. If you get it in your eye, please run cold water and check the suggestions on the bottle. Do not ingest the solution.

Step 2: Measure Out Your Lye Water Solution

IMPORTANT: You must be wearing all the safety equipment from the previous step to do this step!

Equipment and materials you need:

• Sodium Hydroxide flakes (also known as caustic soda) do not use the pebble format as it is prone to static
• Distilled Water
• Food grade scale
• 2x Polypropylene container with lid (Not PET)
• Stainless steel spoon
• Thermal heat gun

For this step you'll be making your lye water solution. Your lye water solution is what turns the oils into soap!

IMPORTANT: During this step it is important to have ventilation from the fumes this causes so open a window, door, and run a fan to help this ventilation.

Placing your polypropylene container (without the lid) on the scale, zero out the scale. Measure out each item.

In the first polypropylene container add 4.72 ounces or 133.81 grams of the sodium hydroxide flakes to the container. You must have the exact amount.

In the second polypropylene container add 10.55 ounces or 299.09 grams of distilled water to the second container. It helps to use ice cold water for this step. I will sometimes freeze the water into cubes and use a 50-50 ice to cold water ratio. You must have the exact amount of water (so the total combined ice and water must equal the measurement amount).

Step 3: Make Your Lye Water Solution

VERY IMPORTANT!

ALWAYS add sodium hydroxide to the distilled water. NEVER THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

Pour in small amounts the sodium hydroxide flakes into the distilled water and constantlystirring with the stainless steel spoon. Wait for all the flakes to dissolve before you add more flakes. Stir until all flakes have dissolved.

This process can take up to 10 minutes, so don't rush.

The liquid will heat up quickly. You can check the temperature with the thermal heat gun. It can get as hot as 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 80 degrees Celsius if you only use cold water.

• If you use the 50-50 ice to cold water it will get up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit or 65 degrees Celsius.

Once all the flakes are dissolved place the lid on the container and put it in a place for it to cool down.

Immediately go wash off your spoon in the sink, use the container lid to ensure it does not spill on the floor or you.

Step 4: Measure Your Oils

Equipment and materials you need:

• Food grade scale
• mixing bowl
• spoon
• spatula
• microwave
• thermal heat gun
• palm oil
• coconut oil
• olive oil
• castor oil
• sweet almond oil

Using your food grade scale measure out your hard oils first (those are your palm oil and coconut oil).

Measure out 6.6 ounces or 187.11 grams of palm oil into a mixing bowl. Measure out 9.9 ounces or 280.66 grams of coconut oil into a mixing bowl.

Combine the two oils into 1 bowl and melt them using a microwave on 30 second to 1 minute bursts. Stir using your spoon in between each microwave session until it is completely melted and no longer cloudy.

Again you will use your food grade scale to measure out your soft oils into the extra mixing bowl and then scrape the oils into the bowl with the melted hard oils with your spatula.

Measure out 13.2 ounces or 374.21 grams of olive oil and add to the melted hard oils.

Measure out 1.65 ounces 46.78 grams of castor oil and add to the melted hard oils.

Measure out 1.65 ounces or 46.78 grams of sweet almond oil and add to the melted hard oils.

Check the final temperature of your oils with the thermal heat gun. Set to the side to cool down.

Step 5: Measure Your Colorants and Essential Oils

Equipment and materials you need:

• paper cups
• popsicle sticks
• tea tree essential oil
• activated charcoal
• teal mica colorant

Measure out 1 Tablespoon or 15 grams of activated charcoal into a paper cup. Scoop about 1-2 Tablespoons or 15-30 grams of your oil mixture into the cup and stir with the popsicle stick. Leave the popsicle stick in for later.

Measure out 1 teaspoon or 5 grams of teal mica colorant into a different paper cup. Scoop about 1 Tablespoons or 15 grams of your oil mixture into the cup and stir with a different popsicle stick. Leave the popsicle stick in for later.

Measure out 0.96 ounces or 28.39 milliliters of tea tree essential oils into a paper cup.

Set all three of these cups aside for later.

Step 6: Combine Your Oils and Lye Water Solution

Equipment and materials you need:

• Immersion blender
• Lye water solution
• melted oils
• thermal heat gun
• tea tree essential oil
• whisk
• spatula

IMPORTANT!Your lye water solution and melted oils need to be around 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 26 to 30 degrees Celsius.

If your lye water solution is still hot, place it sealed in the fridge or an ice bath. If your oils have cooled down too much put them in the microwave on 30 second bursts. If they are too hot, just let them sit out in the open.

Keeping the temperatures at this level will help you pour your design and prevent glycerin rivers.

Place your immersion blender into the oils. Make sure to burb your blender by tilting it to the side to get out all the air from under the blender.

Open the lye water solution container and gently pour the mixture onto the stick of the blender into the melted oils. By doing this you are preventing any extra air from getting into the soap batch.

Pulsing the immersion blender on 1 second intervals, start stirring the soap batter. You'll do this for about a minute until you don't see any more separation of the oil.

This is called coming to trace. You want a light to medium trace for this soap design so it just be the consistency of liquidy pudding (not firm pudding).

Once your soap has come to trace, scrape off the soap batter that is on your immersion blender back into your batter with your spatula. Set your blender to the side.

Pour your tea tree essential oils into your batter and mix it with the whisk until it is completely incorporated.

Step 7: Separate Your Soap Batter

Equipment and materials you need:

• Extra mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Food grade scale
• Charcoal colorant cup
• Teal colorant cup

Using your scale pour half of your batter or about 24 ounces or 680.39 grams into the extra mixing bowl.

Pour your charcoal colorant into one mixing bowl and pour your teal colorant in the other.

Using the whisk stir in the teal colorant first, using the spatula to scrape the sides to make sure all the color has been mixed with the soap batter.

Then using the whisk, stir the charcoal colorant in the other bowl. Again, scrape the side of the bowl with the spatula to make sure the charcoal has mixed with all the soap batter.

Step 8: Pour Into the Silicone Mold

Equipment and materials you need:

• Silicone loaf mold
• Popsicle stick
• Spatula
• 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol

Now you have your two colors, it is time to pour it into the mold!

Pour all of the charcoal batch into the silicone mold. Scrape all the contents with your spatula into the mold.

The Drop Swirl Technique

Take your teal batch and pour it from a high point back and forth over the charcoal batter. Do this continuously and make sure you get the teal even in the corners and you go in a back and forth motion.

When you get to the end of your teal batter, drizzle it on the top and scrape all the contents into the mold.

Using your popsicle stick create a swirl patter on the top. Lastly spritz the top of the soap with the rubbing alcohol.

This prevents soda ash which is just a greyish/white layer on the soap. It is not harmful, but just doesn't make the soaps look nice. (You can see some soda ash on the last photo of the singular soap).

Congrats you've made a batch of soap!

Step 9: Let It Sit!

Equipment and materials you need:

• Towel

Note about the picture above. This is the same recipe as my tea tree oil, except I used an orange colorant and grapefruit essential oil.

Now that you have textured the top of your soap, gently place it on a shelf. Cover the top (I used a piece of cardboard that I bent so it wouldn't touch the top) and cover it with a towel. Leave it there for 2-3 days.

This will help the soap go through gel phase which will help make the colors pop and be super vibrant.

If you are making soap in the winter you can place the soap loaf on a heating pad on high for 30 minutes.

Step 10: Time to Cut!

Equipment and materials you need:

• Wooden cutting board
• Non-cerated knife or cheese cutting wire
• Ruler

Now that your soap has sat in the mold for a few days it is time to take it out and cut it.

IMPORTANT! The soap will still be a bit soft so to avoid fingerprints, wear your silicone gloves (make sure they don't have grooves or it will be imprinted on the soap bars).

Gently open the sides of the of the silicone mold to brake the vacuum seal on the mold. Tilting it to the side onto the cutting board, push from the bottom to get the soap to release. If the soap is still soft, let it sit for another day.

Once the soap is out of the mold, using a ruler measure out 1 inch or 2.5 centimeter sections on the soap and using your knife make a notch so you know where to cut.

Applying even pressure on both sides of the knife press down and cut the soap. It will still be a bit sticky so you might have to slide it off the knife.

If you are using the cheese wire cutter apply even pressure as you cut.

Wipe your cutting tool down with a rag or paper towel between each cut so you don't smear the design. Please each cut to the side.

Congrats you've cut your soaps!

Step 11: Let It Cure

At this point your soap is ready to use. However, because of the excess water in the soap, you need to let it sit.

The thing about cold process soap is that the excess water in your soap needs to evaporate over time. We call this the curing process. During this time you'll notice the soap will shrink a bit and it will get much harder.

All you need to do is sit your soap on a shelf in a dark room at room temperature for 4 - 6 weeks and then you will have a bar of soap that lasts months of washing.

Happy soaping!