Soapmaking is fun!!! Let's make Natural Lavender Soap!

Hi friends! I just wanted to introduce all natural soapmaking to the community! This is a great way to add to your "preps" or just make some really great, all natural soap that you can use yourself! If you have always wanted to try to make soap, well, I will help you make your first batch!!! We will make COLD PROCESS SOAP.

First of all, you will need some really great All Natural Ingredients: Sodium Hydroxide (Lye), Distilled Water, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Sweet Almond Oil, and some Lavender essential oil .

Try to locate some Lye at Ace Hardware, or order on Amazon. Always keep LYE away from children and animals. It's CAUSTIC until after it is made into soap.

The best place to buy your soap oils for your first batch will be walmart, or Winco Foods. After you fall in love with soap making you will want to buy in bulk from other places. I get my essential oils from Wholesale Supplies Plus online. Go to the Health Food Store and buy some lavender buds. Just about 4 tablespoons. You will want to crush these and set them aside. I like to add them to my lavender soap. It looks so nice. If you want your soap to have a purple tint, you will also want to buy some Lavender Mica from Wholesale Supplies Plus too. But you can still make the soap without the lavender color, it will just look more natural!

You will need the following tools: A plastic bucket that will hold approximately 2 gallons or a large stainless steel pot, another plastic container that holds about 32 oz, an emersion stick blender, a digital scale, a few scrapers, paper towels, latex gloves, and some butcher paper or newspaper to cover the counter, a candy thermometer, and a plastic mold of some sort that will hold all your oils at once. The first time I made soap I used a dollar store shallow plastic tray about 4" deep.

The first thing I do is lay everything out. Get organized! Put your gloves on. Put on some goggles to protect your eyes. Wear a long sleeve shirt because Lye can burn your skin!

Then I get my scale. I put my plastic dish on the scale and zero it out. Then I add my Lye. Measure it perfect. Do not spill it. It is caustic. Set the Lye aside. Then get your bigger taller plastic container (I use an old yogurt container). Place it on the scale, and zero it out. Add your distilled water. Use it cold or room temp. Measure it exactly. Then pull it off the scale. Now, get a stainless steel spoon and slowly add your lye to your water. YOU MUST NEVER ADD WATER TO LYE..... IT WILL EXPLODE. ADD YOU LYE SLOWLY TO YOUR WATER. Slowly.... stirring it and pulling your face away from the fumes. They are powerful! Be careful! I usually open my kitchen window for air flow. Keep stirring to mix it thoroughly. I mix until it is almost clear. Then carefully place your spoon in the sink. Set your Lye Water aside. It has to cool down because it is really hot now. The mixing of the Lye and water creates a very hot concoction.... It's doing it's thing and you have other stuff to do while it cools down.

Ok now, take your bucket or stainless steel pot. Place a Extra Large measuring cup onto the scale. Zero it out. Add your Olive oil. Measure all these oils perfectly. Making soap is a science. It must be perfect. Zero out the scale and Measure out your next oil, zero it out and measure each oil. You do not have to melt the shea or coconut oil before you measure it out. Leave the fragrance oil for later. Do not add it yet.

Then take your bucket of oils and melt them all together. If you are using plastic, you can zap them in the micro wave. If not, use the stove top. Don't let it get too hot, just warm enough to melt. Once all melted, set it aside.

Now, take your candy thermometer and test the oils. You will want them to be between 95 and 120 degrees. Test your Lye water you will that to also be between 95 and 120 degrees. You want to be sure that between the two the temps are no more than 5 degrees difference. You may have to wait longer for the Lye Solution temp to drop to match the oils. In the mean time make sure you have 2 oz of Lavender Essential oil or Fragrance measured out and set aside. And make sure you have 3 Tablespoons of Lavender buds crushed and fluffy and set aside.

Once the oils and the Lye Mixture match close to 95-120 degrees you can start to soap. Slowly pour your lye mixture into your oils. Gently stir them with your spoon or scraper. Mix them and watch the saponification begin! Then grab your stick blender or what ever kind of mixer you have and start stick blending it. You will be mixing it all around watching it go from being really shiny oils to getting duller. The sheen wears off and it begins to "trace". Stop every once in a while to check your "trace". You want it to drip off the beater and leave a mark in the top of the oils as it joins the oils. That is considered "trace". If you keep blending, it will cool down and start hardening, so only do the blending until it starts to get thicker and leaves a "trace trail" when you let it drip off the beater...

Now grab your fragrance and lavender buds. Pour in the 2 oz of fragrance or ( .50 oz of Essential Oil. ) Using the stick blender, just quickly mix it up but not too much, you don't want it too thick. Add one teaspoon of lavender mica if you want it to be lavender, otherwise, once mixed up, set your stick blender aside and get ready to pour.

Pour it all into the mold, scraping every drop out of your container into the mold. Tap the mold on the counter to remove bubbles. Exciting isn't it? Gently set it where it can stay for 24 hrs. Don't touch it, it is still saponifying and is very caustic.

Now, be sure to wash your dishes with your gloves on to protect your hands. Once washed run them through the dishwasher to ensure they are clean.

In 24 hrs you can test to see if your soap is hard enough to cut. If not wait 6 hrs and try again. Once hard enough, turn it out onto a cutting board, and cut with a knife to desired sizes. It will need to "cure" in the air in a card board box or or a plastic tray in open air for a minimum of 4 weeks before you wrap it or use it. The longer it cures, the harder the bar will be and the longer it lasts in the shower.

I just love Lavender Soap. It's my favorite! I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Below is the recipe and list of ingredients. I will try to show you a few of my favorite lavender soaps. You can find my soaps for sale at catalinascottage.com

This recipe makes about 12 bars of soap at 5 oz ea.

Distilled Water - 21.56 oz
Lye (NaOH) - Sodium Hydroxide - 7.46 oz

Olive Oil - 32 oz
Coconut Oil - 17 oz
Sweet Almond Oil - 2 oz
Shea Butter - 1 oz

If you use Fragrance add 2 oz. if you use Essential Oil use only .50 oz its stronger.

The attached photo has both whitener and lavender mica. Natural Lavender Soap looks darker olive color with specs of lavender in it.