I am happy to start this thread and I hope will we all enjoy it.

I was just wandering if people know how much they are destroying their skin by some useless and unhealthy soap available in the market today.

This is Nigeria. A country where most of the product we buy in the market don't follow due process.

Just like the advert of one popular soap in Nigeria. If you don't care for your health and your loved ones health who will?

Parents, I think it is high time we start doing things for our self because most of the soaps out there lacks healthy ingredients. This they did deliberately because they want to maximise profit.

Do you know that soap can curse some of diseases common in the family now a days?

Here on this thread we shall be talking about everything about bar soap.

1. I will also be helping people correct their recipe.
2. I will also be telling you what and what you need to do in making special soap - the recipe and their ratio of combination.
3. I shall also be answering any questions on bar soap.

Leave your comments below and let the learning begins.

Healthy soap; healthy family!!!!

Bar Soap is a very form of soap that we have available everywhere. They are commonly used for bathing or washing other things like dishes, cloths and many more. Just anything you can think of bar soap can be use to wash it.

It is called bar soap because it is solid (rigid) - I mean, it can be hold.

Basically, I will be dividing Bar soap into different parts. Mind you this categories or part was guided by my choice and nothing more. So, if you Google or ask someone; you might not be getting my stated categories.

1. Laundry soap
2. Toilet Soap
3. Medicated Soap
4. Non-Medicated Soap
5. Antiseptic Soap
6. Special Soap

All the above categories follow the same process be it cold, hot or melted. But are different in recipe.
By this, I mean whatever, the kind of soap you might be doing (Here I will be using soap in exchange for bar soap). You will follow the same process but the ingredient will be different.

There are so many methods buy which you can produce a bar soap but these four are very common.
1. Cold Process
2. Hot process
3. Melted Process
4. Soap Rebatching

There are so many methods for making soap. But there are basically four ways in making bar soap. Of course, each method has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and they have variations as well.

Melt and Pour Method
This method is probably the most straightforward of all the soap making methods, as the instructions involve:

Buying a pre-made soap as a base
Melting the soap and turning it into a liquid
Adding ingredients of your choice
Pouring the soap into a mold
Designing and decorating the soap (optional)
Leaving the soap batter to harden
As this method is quite simple, this is probably the best way for beginners to start out soap making at home. However, you don’t have much control over your ingredients, and the soap product will mostly be based on the soap you bought. It also won’t be as natural as the products of the other methods.

Cold Process
Cold process method is more complex than the melt-and-pour method because this time, you will have to come up with your own recipes from scratch. The resulting soap will be a product of what is known as the saponification process, and it usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to complete. This method is highly popular among home soap makers, because it allows them to tailor their recipe according to their preferences and needs.

However, the cold process method makes use of a corrosive substance called lye, so you will need to learn how to work safely around it. It also takes a lot longer to complete before you can finally use your soaps.

Hot Process
The hot process method is a variation of the cold process method, as this time heat is utilized to facilitate the saponification process. You stir the mixture at various times and the batter is heated at various temperatures to let excess water evaporate. This will make your soap ready for use once the batter cools. Although the waiting time is greatly reduced, soaps made from hot process method can sometimes be difficult to remove from their molds.

Soap Rebatching
The soap rebatching method is also called the milled soap method. This method is very similar to melt and pour method but this time, the soap base is your very own soap creation. Basically, you will need to create soap using cold or hot process method first before you can create something from soap rebatching. This is usually done to reuse unsuccessful soap batches or to preserve the healing properties and scents of essential oils.

Now that we know the types of bar soap available and the common methods in producing them. Can we quickly talk about what exactly is a soap?

Interested!

Soap is a cleaning product that is made from natural substances such as castor, olive oil, coconut oil, tallow, and vegetable oil. It is basically a combination of vegetable oil (or animal fat) plus caustic soda, and throughout time it has been used for washing wool in the textile industry, for curing skin diseases and other skin breakouts.

Before you try out soap making for the first time, it is essential to learn about the jargon of soap making first. This will make it easier for you understanding what you will be doing during the process, and it will also help you to better understand the logic behind the instructions. In this piece, some of the most common soap making terminologies will be discussed.


[size=14pt]Terminologies Used in Soap Making[/size]

Making your own soap at home can be really fun and exciting especially when you are very particular with details. When you finally decide to try it for yourself, you will probably encounter words or phrases that you are not familiar with. Here are the most common terms that you will encounter when you read soap making recipes and instructions:

Additives

Additives are optional ingredients. They are not really mandatory in the whole soap making process but they may be added to enhance the soap. Ingredients such as oatmeal may be added for its exfoliating properties, while flower petals may be added for fragrance. These should be added to your soap recipe at a light trace.

CP
CP stands for Cold Processing, a soap making method.

Curing

Curing is the time needed for your soap to just sit in the open for the completion of its saponification process. This allows excess water and moisture to evaporate, creating a harder bar that is milder on the skin and produces better lather.

Degrade

This is the breaking down or deterioration of a substance chemically.

DOS (dreaded orange spots)

Discount

This means that you will have to reduce the amount of a particular ingredient. Most of the time, lye is discounted to make sure that it will all be used up. Discounting certain ingredients also allows the addition of excess oils and other substances (additives). Usually, discounts are shown by percentage.

EO

EO stands for Essential Oils. These are usually extracted from plants through distillation or chemical solvents. These oils may be added to the soap recipe to create scented soaps.

Flashpoint

Essential oils and fragrance oils have a flashpoint, or the temperature in which they begin to evaporate. Do not add oils when the temperature of the soap is higher than the oils flashpoints as it will only make the oils evaporate from the soap immediately. Generally, fragrance oils have higher flashpoints compared to essential oils.

Fixed Oils

These oils can withstand high temperatures without evaporating. Some commonly used fixed oils include palm oil, olive oil, and coconut oil.

FO

FO stands for Fragrance Oils, and they are also known as aromatic oils. These come from the combination of synthetic aromatic chemicals and carrier oils like mineral oils or vegetable oils. Like essential oils, these are added to soap recipes to produce scented soaps.

Gel Phase

Gel phase is a phase that occurs in the early stages of the saponification process. In this stage, the soap becomes shiny and translucent, and this usually happens within the next few hours of pouring the soap batter into molds. Not all soap batters undergo this phase.

HP

HP stands for Hot Processing, another soap making method.

SAP Values

SAP value is short for Saponification Value, and it is also known as saponification number or SAP number. This is basically the amount of lye or potassium hydroxide that is needed to saponify one gram of a particular fat. Making your own soap means that you need to know the SAP values of the oils that you are planning to use to balance the amounts of oil and lye (or potassium hydroxide). Of course, the SAP values of oils will be different depending on the hydroxide that you will use, so make sure you specify if you need it for a solid (lye) or liquid soap (potassium hydroxide).

Saponification

Saponification is a chemical process that occurs when an alkaline base such as lye (sodium hydroxide) or potassium hydroxide reacts with oils and fatty acids to produce soap.

Seize

Seizing is an indication that something went wrong during the soap making process. This happens when the soap consistency starts out as a smooth liquid and then becomes very thick and nearly solid like cookie dough. It can be because of the addition of fragrance oils, temperature or ingredient issues, or the problem could be the batter itself.

Shelf life

This is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or just no longer on a supermarket shelf (unfit for sale, but not yet unfit for use).

Superfatting

In order to use up all the lye, sometimes you will need to add more oils to the soap. This is what is known as superfatting, and it has two purposes. First, it allows you to have a margin of error in the amount of lye you put in your soap, making sure that all the lye will be saponified. This reduces the dangers of lye burning you. Second, this produces soap that is moisture-rich, as the extra oils serve as skin moisturizers. It is worth noting that many soap recipes would suggest superfatting when a lye discount of 3% to 8% has been applied. Be sure that you don’t put too much oil as it can create a rather unpleasant and greasy soap.

Trace

The trace is the beginning stage of saponification. This is the stage when the chemical reactions between lye and oils have started, and they can no longer be separated. The soap batter starts out as thin and creamy, which later on becomes thicker as you stir the mixture. You will know that your soap batter is at this stage when you drip a little liquid soap onto the mixture, and the drizzle lines will stay for a while before it fully melts.

Volcano Effect

Volcano effect happens when you pour water to lye as you make lye-water solutions. This is because as water is added to lye, pressure tends to build in the bottom lye layers until it ruptures the upper lye layers, causing the solution to spray up like a volcano. To avoid this, NEVER add water to lye; add lye to water instead.

A nice thread without continuation

samueltoski:
A nice thread without continuation

Thanks man! I will continue this thread soon. Thanks for following; have been very busy lately.

Any hope for continuation?

Please help me find a place where I can buy PKO at cheaper price. I stay in Abuja and the price is too expensive. Thanks.

I like this trend, please don't stop I am seriously following

Why did this thread die?