Making Natural Soaps –melt and pour method

Dr N K Srinivasan

Hi, friends!

I am going to tell you the special qualities and virtues of a “natural” soap
that you can make easily for yourself [and your friends ] and find a new life
for your skin and your health…you can give a new life to your skin indeed.!

Why Natural Soaps?

First let us see why commercial soaps are of poor quality and contain many
harmful chemicals which affect your skin sooner than you can imagine.
They contain preservatives like methyl paraben, other parabens and also
sorbic acid etc. They contain ,most often, paraffin based petroleum products
[Vaseline type] which would clog the pores on the skin…they contain
several fillers which are less desirable on your lovely skin….of course
commercial soaps may contain a few essential oils and fragrances to attract
you…to mask the bad odour …even if they contain natural oils [like coconut
oil, neem oil etc] the quantities added are very small…

If you are buying a soap bar in a western country, it may contain tallowate
[tallow is beef fat] or made from lard [pig’s fat] ---both are cheap products
from slaughter houses and often unhygienic…Ask Pamela Anderson about
it…

Commercial soaps may contain ‘sodium lauryl sulphate’ (an emulsifier,

known to cause cancer) and other harmful chemicals. They contain various
amounts of synthetic fragrances and coloring agents which are harmful on
the skin…
Note that the long term effects on the skin have been rarely studied for all
these chemicals….
Commercial soaps also contain inert substances like titanium dioxide [white
pigment], talc,clays and gums—several fillers—to rub on your skin –some
are abrasives like sand paper---to exfoliate…
What is worse, commercial makers remove useful glycerine from soaps
while making them.!

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Now to natural soaps.

Natural soaps are made from glycerine soaps with addition of essential
[vegetable oils] with other additives like fruit and flower essences and also
such great antiseptic natural stuff like neem oil, cinnamon oil and tulasi
[basil] oil…..Note that most natural soaps are made from olive oil and
coconut oil.
A good natural soap will avoid synthetic fragrances [you don’t need them
at all ] and also artificial /synthetic coloring agents .

The most important in making these soaps is that you control the ingredients
that goes into the soaps and their respective amounts….You can custom-
tailor them----like making designer clothes for yourself and your friends…

How to make natural soaps?

I will now tell you the simplest of the methods to make the natural soaps---
the melt and pour technique…..later on you can try ‘cold process’ for them
—a more tricky method and one that involves using lye solution of sodium
hydroxide [alkali or base] to make.

Melt and Pour method

1.You choose a good base soap,---that is ready-made soap from the shop…
try craft shops…I usually use the “Pears pure and glycerine soap “available
in any Indian shop. You can try less expensive soap or block soap available
on-line.

2 I cut the soap into small chunks or wafers [using a vegetable peeler] , and
weigh about 70 grams for making a small soap bar. [Try also 100 gms bar
soaps.]

3 I collect the ingredients I would like to add…..Typically they are:

Olive oil [5% by weight]
Neem oil [5%]
Aloe vera gel [2.5%]
Cinnamon oil [2.5%]

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Note that you can use other oils such as coconut oil, sunflower oil, jojoba
oil, castor oil ,almond oil, honey,flower petals… …….and try different
amounts….
The basic principle is that these ingredients should not exceed 20 % of the
total weight….
[For a 70 gram soap bar, I measure out 3.5 gm of olive oil, 3.5 gram of neem
oil, 1.8 gm of aloe-vera gel and 1.8 gm of cinnamon oil….
Note that these ingredients are for specific properties, based on your taste on
these things and , of course, the total cost….]

One ingredient you can always add easily is Vitamin E or wheat germ oil. I
take a capsule of Vit E [Evion 400 mg], pierce the capsule with a pin and
squeeze the vitamin out and add to the ingredients. Vit E gives anti-oxidants
to the soap and puts it on the skin.

4 I put the soap chunks/wafers in a large beaker and melt it in a water bath.
(You can use a double boiler.) The water bath ensures slow heating and
controlling the final temperature.

5 You can keep measuring the temperature…Use a thermometer…At about

65 deg centigrade, the soap chunks would start melting and soon you will
have a fully melted clear liquid.

6 You mix all the ingredients in a small beaker or glass jar , slightly warm it
and pour into molten soap in the larger beaker…stir vigorously with a glass
rod or stainless steel spoon.

7 The clear liquid you can pour into a mould…..The mould can be a plastic
container or glass container or just a stainless steel cup or even a cardboard
carton... [You can use a wax paper as coating on the mould,; I don’t use any
coating on the mould surface.]

8 Allow about 30 minutes to cool. You can separate the soap from the mould
with a knife or just by tapping .

9 Keep the freshly made soap on a wooden or porcelain plate and let it
harden for a few hours or a day. Cover the plate with a card board piece.

[The whole process may take only 20 to 30 minutes if you have all the
ingredient bottles ready.]

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Enjoy the soap and share with your friends!

General Notes:

1 Since we are not adding any preservative, use the soap within a month or
two.

2 You can try more exotic and expensive oils like sandal wood oil .

3 To learn this method, always measure the items with a balance . You can
also use volumetric measurement with a measuring jar…this is easy.Most
oils have density of 0.9 gm/ml.

4 Make a note of your procedure and recipe in a notebook….You can share

it with your friends ! Keep trying different recipes based on the general
principles I have given.

5 I use cinnamon oil…you can try other essential oils like patchouli..there is
a whole field of aromatherapy to guide you.

6 Make special soaps with special shapes like a heart for instance using
cardboard or plastic moulds.

7 My experience tells me , under Indian conditions, the cost of natural soap

can be approximately twice that of commercial soaps….even though the cost
of some of the essential oils are very, very low in India--- the home of spices
and essential oil, especially in the southern states----still the cost increase is
substantial….Commercial soaps are cheap because they are mass-produced
in tons in automatic plants..their main cost factor is the expensive ads in
TV!
8 You can make large bars using about 500 gms of material and cut the soap
into smaller bars.This reduces labor and cost as well.
The natural soap has its own quality which can never be obtained even in
the most expensive commercial soap.
Once you start using natural soaps made by this method, you will not touch
commercial soap…you will clean the cupboards and throw the old bars out!

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9 As a soap maker, you are doing your bit to reduce polluting chemicals
which go into wash water and give a lesson to corporate giants who make
cheap soap with harmful chemicals.
10 Be a green soap maker and teach children the art and
craft of soap making at home.