The Basics of Making Hand Soap
If there’s one substance that can be found in every home in the country, it’s soap. This magical substance is used every day for various purposes, from washing your hair to washing your dishes. Of course, the most common purpose of soap is to clean the hands. Now more than ever, it’s critical for every family to promote regular, extensive hand washing before meals and before and after leaving the house.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with focusing more on hygiene. That said, washing your hands over and over can have some pretty damaging effects on your skin. Repeated hand washing can cause your hands to dry out. Painful cracks form. Itchiness becomes prevalent. Of course, there are hand soap options that will preserve your delicate skin, but they tend to be pricy. When you’re washing your hands 10 or 15 times a day, you can hardly afford to break the bank on hand soap.
Perhaps it’s time to think about making your own soap. If you’d like to know how to make hand soap, we’ve got you covered.
Gathering the ingredients
Making your own soap can take as little as a few minutes or as long as six weeks. It all depends on the soap you use. You can start with a pre-made fragrance-free soap, like Castile soap, or you can make your soap from scratch. Traditionally, handmade soap was made from a combination of water, lye and animal lard. If you are concerned about using animal lard, it can be swapped for a blend of natural oils like avocado oil, almond oil, shea butter, coconut oil and others.
Be careful
If you’re going full DIY with your hand soap, be aware that, when mixed with water, lye can be very caustic. When working with lye, be sure to wear gloves and exercise caution during the mixing process. It’s also important to use the correct amount of lye in your recipe. To help with that, there are several free lye calculators online.
The mixing process
Once you’ve collected the correct amount of water, lye and natural ingredients, it’s time to mix the soap. Carefully pour the lye into your water solution (NEVER pour the water into the lye). Stir until the lye is dissolved. Remember, do not touch this liquid. Allow your lye to cool down under a vent while you melt your oils in a slow cooker on low heat. Once they’re adequately melted, add the lye-water mixture to your slow cooker and stir.
Blend the mixture until it resembles a pudding. Then, add your fragrance ingredients (whatever you want!) and let the mixture cook on low heat for an hour. Finally, pour the mixture into a mold and let it sit for 24 hours to harden.
The finest quality soap
Even though you now know how to make hand soap, you just might not have the time to wait several weeks for your new, nourishing soap to take effect. Or perhaps all of this sounds like an awful lot of work. That’s when it’s time to visit Soaps & Scents. For more than 25 years, we have provided high-quality bar and liquid soaps in a variety of fragrances that you’re bound to love. Stop by and see us today!
