How did I start making homemade soap?

I'm a little ashamed, but I'm more proud of myself. After much deliberation, I started making soap, and since your site helped me a lot, I would like to write to you in return how it turned out.

I'm a perfectly normal middle-aged guy, and I give the cleanliness of my body just the right kind of boyish attention. Unfortunately, I was forced to pay more attention to soaps than before, mainly due to the fact that nasty, pink pimples popped up on the back of my hand out of nowhere. After my and the doctor's efforts in vain, I could not get rid of the rash. So I started searching on my own. When I found out what the soap I was buying contained, I decided not to use it, but I didn't want to wash with just water. And so an idea was born in me and I started making my own homemade soap. I bought a soap making kit and started cooking.

What will be needed?

- 565 grams of coconut fat

- 340 grams of palm oil

- 900 grams of olive oil

- 236 grams of sodium hydroxide

- 1 gram of grapefruit seed extract

- 681 grams of distilled water

How to do it?

I took the pot, put it on the scale and weighed out the coconut, palm and olive oil. I put this mixture of oils on a low flame to melt my fat cubes.

I poured distilled water into the measuring cup and started adding sodium hydroxide, they are such tiny balls, it worked well for me. So we pour hydroxide and mix. Just a moment, it's dissolved in no time. The reaction of hydroxide with water is a bit pungent, so I would probably recommend not breathing the steam. I was quite surprised that the reaction significantly increased the temperature of the water.

I filled a pot with cold water and put the measuring cup with the dissolved hydroxide in the water to cool the hydroxide.

I put the pot with the melted fats in a second cold bath and added the grapefruit seed extract. I just threw it in the pot, but I strongly do not recommend that, because then I spent half an hour chasing bits of undissolved extract. So avoid this mistake and first dissolve the extract in a teaspoon of oil before pouring it into the pot with the dissolved oils. Then I went from one to the other and took the temperature. When the oils and hydroxide were at 27°C, I took the immersion blender and placed it in the pot with the dissolved oils. I turned on the lowest speed and slowly began to pour the dissolved hydroxide into the pot. It is a good idea to stir the immersion blender thoroughly so that the hydroxide dissolves well in the oils. After a while, the mass started to solidify and become creamy, I stirred for a few minutes. When the mass was solid enough to hold a drop on the surface, I stopped stirring and poured the mass into the soap mold.

I used two, one an original soap mold and the other a box made of sturdy paper that I lined with baking paper. I scraped the soap into molds, covered the molds thoroughly under a pillow and blanket and let them rest on the windowsill. The soap should be stored in a warm place for 24 hours. The next day, I flipped the soap out of the molds, which surprisingly went perfectly, and cut it into slices. I chose the size so that the soap would hold well in my hand and I spread it out again on baking paper on a tray. The soap is less than a kilo and a half. I put the soap tray up on the cupboard and now the worst phase of production has come, the month of waiting. After four weeks, I took one bar of the manufactured soap and went to the bathroom.

Well, how did it turn out? I managed to make soap, I threw out all the soaps I bought and replaced them only with this one. It lathers just right and leaves a pleasant feeling on the skin. The pimples are slowly receding, maybe because I stopped using one unnamed cream and threw away all the soaps I bought. I'm satisfied.

Martin