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Cold process soap making is an enjoyable hobby, but it does require you to use lye. This can be intimidating for those who are just starting out with soap making, and understandably so! But fear not, because, with the right safety precautions and knowledge, you can make your own handmade soaps safely and confidently. What is Lye? Lye is also known as sodium hydroxide (NaOH). It's a strong alkali that reacts with fats or oils to create soap. It's important to note that lye is caustic—it will burn if it comes into contact with your skin or eyes, so it's important to take all the necessary safety precautions when using it. Safety Equipment Needed When working with lye, it's important to wear protective gear including gloves, eye protection, a face mask, clothing that covers your arms and legs, and closed-toed shoes. Mixing Lye Safely To mix your lye solution for cold process soap making, always add the lye crystals to the water—never add water to lye! Adding water to lye can cause a violent reaction which could lead to burns or even worse. To avoid this situation altogether, add the lye crystals slowly while stirring continuously until all the lye has dissolved into the water (I only use distilled water). Once mixed, allow your lye solution to cool down before using it in your soap recipe. To reduce fumes and soap prep time, generally, my water content is made up of two-thirds ice (made from distilled water) and one-third distilled water. This ensures that my lye solution won’t get too hot, reducing the cooling time. Here is the ice tray that I use. Additionally, make sure that you work in a well-ventilated area when working with lye since its fumes can be dangerous if too much is inhaled over time. Also, do not mix your lye around pets, children, or those that need supervision. Containers for Lye When mixing lye, you’ll want to be sure to use the proper container to prevent injury and damage. Containers with the #5 polypropylene or the #2 HDPE symbols on the bottom are the safest for mixing lye. In addition, I like to use containers that come with lids because I don’t always make my soap the same day that I mix my lye. I no longer use heat-resistant glass to mix my lye because over time the glass can chip or shatter. I also no longer mix in stainless steel containers because they tend to heat up with the lye solution. For mixing utensils, you can use stainless steel or silicone spoons/spatulas but do not use wooden spoons. What happens if Lye gets on me? If your skin comes in contact with lye, run the area under water for 15 minutes. If skin irritation occurs, please seek medical attention. If you ingest lye, drink water, and do not induce vomiting. Also, seek medical attention. If lye gets in your eye, flush your eyes with water for 20 minutes and seek medical attention. If lye gets on your clothing, remove contaminated clothing. Before working with lye, please review the MSDS sheet provided on the website where you purchased your lye. The MSDS sheet will provide more information on safe usage, first aid, storage, and disposal. Making cold process soap at home can be fun and rewarding; however, safety must always come first when dealing with something as powerful as sodium hydroxide (lye). For beginners in soap making, following these tips on how to use and mix lye will help ensure a safe and successful experience every time you make a batch of handmade soaps! With proper precautionary measures taken each time you use it, you can create beautiful soaps without worry, knowing that everyone involved is safe from harm.

Ingredients Phase A 7% | 21g Safflower Oil 13% | 39g Fractionated Coconut Oil 2.4% | 7.2g Rosehip Oil 4% | 12g Shea Butter 9% | 27g Emulsifying Wax NF 2% | 6g Cetyl Alcohol Phase B 5% | 15g Vegetable Glycerin 3% | 9g Polysorbate 20 Phase C 1% | 3g Fragrance Oil 1.5% | 4.5g Optiphen 52% | 156g Sugar 0.1% | 0.3g Rose Clay Directions Prepare a water bath by bringing 1 inch of water to a simmer on medium-low heat in a sauté pan. In a heat resistant beaker, weigh out Phase A and add it to the water bath. After Phase A is fully melted, remove beaker from water bath and add Phase B to same beaker. Mix for 1-2 minutes with stick blender. Once solution's temperature is under 140 degrees Fahrenheit, add Optiphen and fragrance oil then mix thoroughly with stick blender or milk frother. Add the rose clay and granulated sugar and mix again. The scrub may separate after a few minutes of cooling. If scrub separates, mix it with sticker blender for another 2-3 minutes. Note: The Shea butter can substituted with mango butter. The carrier oils can be substituted for other oils such as sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, and sunflower oil.

Ingredients 71g Tart Wax (I use Pillar of Bliss from Nature's Garden) 7g Fragrance Oil 1 pinch Glow In The Dark Pigment Directions Melt wax using melting pot in a hot water bath or double boiler to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are not using Pillar of Bliss, melt wax according to manufacturer's instructions. Remove container of melted wax from heat and add fragrance oil and pigment then stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour wax into silicone mold immediately after stirring. Pop wax melts out of mold after they are completely solid (I let mine sit overnight). Note from Mad Micas: Please expose pigment to light. This activates it and causes it to glow when the lights go out. Using other colorants (including and especially titanium dioxide) will decrease the glow! Any colorant will decrease the amount of light that can be absorbed by the powder. If you plan on using a mica with this pigment, please use very little so the glowing results aren't diminished.

Before you start making handmade cold process soap, you'll want to make sure you have everything you need. I have listed everything that I think is important to creating your first batch of soap. Supplies Needed Scale: An accurate scale is essential for measuring lye, oils/butters, water, and other additives. I recommend getting a scale that can measure both ounces and grams. Also, getting a scale with 0.01 gram accuracy definitely doesn't hurt. Mold: There are so many soap molds out there to choose from but here is a kit of the most popular loaf mold recommended for beginners and a cavity mold as well. And if you want to start off with small batches, this set is great to start with. Immersion Blender/ Stick Blender: I find stick blenders to be the most effective tool for blending lye solution with oils for the saponification process. Lye-Safe Containers: Containers with the #5 polypropylene or the #2 HDPE symbol on the bottom are the safest for mixing lye. Masks, Gloves, Safety Glasses: Keeping yourself safe from lye splash-back is paramount. Spoons & Spatulas: Stainless steel spoons are great for mixing lye and silicone spatulas are perfect for stirring and scraping. Small Containers or Beakers: These are handy for measuring fragrances, colorants and other additives. Microfiber Cloth or Paper Towels: These are 2 great solutions for inevitable messes. Knife or Soap Cutter: If you are using a loaf mold, a knife is the most cost effective tool to use in the beginning to cut your soap but after awhile you may want to upgrade to a cheese slicer or soap cutter or even a multi-bar cutter. Thermometer Gun: An infrared thermometer gun is best used for monitoring your lye solution and oil temperatures. I also keep a digital thermometer for backup. Bowl/Container for Mixing Soap: A heat safe bowl or container is ideal for melting butters and oils and a lye safe container or stainless steel bowl is great for mixing soap batter. Proper Attire: Wearing long sleeves, pants, and closed toed shoes help keep your skin protected from lye. Curing Space: A designated space for curing your cold process soap is highly recommended. This could be a shelf, cabinet, table, bakery rack, etc.

Ingredients Water Phase 31.5% | 15.75g Water 16% | 8g Rose Water 7% | 3.5g Vegetable Glycerin Heated Oil Phase 9% | 4.5g Sunflower Oil 2% | 1g Cetyl Alcohol 9% | 4.5g Emulsifying Wax NF Cool Down Phase 1.5% | 0.75g Optiphen 2% | 1g Rose Clay 22% | 11g Kaolin Clay Directions Prepare a water bath by bringing 1 inch of water to a simmer on medium-low heat in a sauté pan. In a heat resistant beaker, weigh out the water phase and add it to the water bath. Repeat this in a different beaker with the heated oil phase. After 20 minutes in the water bath, your oil phase should be fully melted and you can now remove both beakers from the water bath. Due to evaporation, your water phase will have lost a few grams, so you will need to add that back by putting your heated oil phase beaker on the scale, taring/clearing the scale, then pouring the water phase into the oil phase. The total amount of the water phase should be 27.25g, if this is not the case, pour hot distilled water into your mixture to bring it to 27.25g. Mix with milk frother or milk forther attachment for 1-2 minutes. After mixing, slowly stir in rose clay and kaolin clay. When your mixture is under 140 degrees Fahrenheit add optiphen. Your mask will begin to thicken as it cools. I typically scoop mine into a small glass jar about 2-4 hours after I have finished making it.

Ingredients 1lb White Melt & Pour Soap 3/8tsp Isopropyl Alcohol 1Tbsp Fragrance Oil 1/8tsp Pink Mica Directions Cut melt and pour soap into small pieces, add to a microwave safe container then microwave in 30 second bursts until the soap is fully melted. To a separate container, add mica and isopropyl alcohol and mix until mica no longer has clumps. Add fragrance oil to melted soap and stir. Pour half of melted soap into the container with mica and alcohol and mix until color is fully incorporated. Simultaneously pour uncolored soap and pink soap into soap mold by holding one container in your right hand and the other container in your left and pouring at the same time. Let soap sit until completely solid and unmold. Note: In order to get rid of air bubbles, spray isopropyl alcohol on soap before letting them dry.

Ingredients Heated Oil Phase 5% | 10g Shea Butter 7% | 14g Apricot Kernel Oil 24% | 48g Sweet Almond Oil 2% | 4g Cetyl Alcohol 8% | 16g Emulsifying Wax NF Cool Down Phase 1.5% | 3g Optiphen 0.5% | 1g Essential Oil 0.7% | 1.4g Turmeric 51.3% | 102.6g Granulated Sugar Directions Prepare a water bath by bringing 1 inch of water to a simmer on medium-low heat in a sauté pan. In a heat resistant beaker, weigh out the heat phase and add it to the water bath. After your oil phase is fully melted let solution cool for about 5-10 minutes or until the temperature is under 140 degrees Fahrenheit then add optiphen and essential oil and mix thoroughly (I use a milk frother to mix). Add the turmeric and granulated sugar and mix again. If the scrub separates, continue mixing. Note: The Shea butter can substituted with mango butter. Sweet almond oil can be substituted for other lightweight oils such as fractionated coconut oil, grapeseed oil, and sunflower oil. Lastly, you can use fragrance oil instead of essential oil.

Ingredients 1 cup Epsom Salt 1/3 cup Himalayan Salt 3-7 drops Essential Oil (I used Geranium) 1/4 c Calendula & Rose Petals (total) Directions Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix thoroughly.

Ingredients 1/4c Epsom Salt 1c Coconut Milk Powder 1Tbsp Colloidal Oats 1/8c Baking Soda 5-10 drops Essential Oil (I used Chamomile) Directions Combine essential oil and Epsom salt in medium bowl and mix by hand. Add coconut milk powder, colloidal oats, and baking soda to Epsom salt bowl. Breakdown all clumps down by hand and mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into an airtight container and store in a cool dark place.

Ingredients 80g Granulated Sugar 17g Fractionated Coconut Oil 3g Shea Nut Oil 0.8g Cranberry Seeds 0.1g Fragrance Oil Pinch Pink Mica Directions Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix thoroughly. Note: Because sugar scrub does come in contact with water, you may want to add preservative. I recommend adding 1.5 grams of optiphen.

After completing my first experiment with coloring soap with clay, I decided to take it a step further and try a few powdered colorants as well. The powders that I tested for this experiment were indigo, paprika, activated charcoal, madder root, turmeric, wheatgrass, alfalfa, spinach, chlorella, spirulina, matcha, green tea, cranberry, hibiscus, beetroot, and celery. The soap recipe included 67% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, and 8% castor oil with 5% superfat. Although olive oil and other oils/butters naturally change the color of my soap, I was more focused on not having fragrance oil play any part in the color so there was no fragrance added. After mixing my soap, I first poured my "control" soap so that I would know what the soap would look like with no additives. For these bars, I settled on 1 tsp of colorant per pound of soap and to make them disperse easier, I mixed together 1 tablespoon of sweet almond oil with each teaspoon of colorant. Below are photos of the soap when it was first poured. Spirulina and indigo were definitely my favorite colors to start with. Of course I read that some of the powders I chose would not work but I wanted to see just how bad they might turn out. Three of my favorite powder colors (cranberry, hibiscus, and beetroot) did not have the effect that I hoped for as seen in the photo below. I would call the powders above "mild failures" but Matcha and green tea were by far the most disastrous. I don't see myself ever using these powders in soap again. Once all of the soaps were poured, I let them sit uncovered in the mold for 48 hours then waited the full 6 weeks of curing time to see what the final colors would be and here are my results: Note: You can also achieve different hues of the colors shown by simply adding more or adding less colorant.

I absolutely love adding color to my soaps and recently I've been getting into using natural colorants such as purees, powders, and clays. I decided that I wanted to test a few different clay colorants but of course that got expanded to almost every clay I could find. For this experiment I tested rose clay, kaolin clay, red Moroccan clay, French green clay, bentonite, purple Brazilian clay, dead sea clay powder and rhassoul clay. The soap recipe included 67% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, and 8% castor oil with 5% superfat. Although olive oil and other oils/butters naturally change the color of my soap, I was more focused on not having fragrance oil play any part in the color so there was no fragrance added. After mixing my soap, I first poured my "control" soap so that I would know what the soap would look like with no additives. For these bars, I settled on 1 tsp of colorant per pound of soap and to make them disperse easier, I mixed together 1 tablespoon of distilled water with each teaspoon of clay. The only clay that came out clumpy with the distilled water was bentonite so I mixed it with 1 tbsp. of isopropyl alcohol instead. Once all of the soaps were poured, I let them sit uncovered in the mold for 48 hours then waited the full 6 weeks of curing time to see what the final colors would be and here are my results: In conclusion, I am super happy with how these soaps came out but I really love the dead sea clay, rose clay and purple Brazilian clay. Note: You can also achieve different hues of the colors shown by simply adding more or adding less clay.