Foam out !

Crafting soaps "like grown ups"

The recipe has been tested and verified with Irene: we'll be crafting a body soap from olive oil, coconut oil, baking soda, water, white clay and lavender essential oil.

The equipment has been bought: big crock-pot, ladle, spatula, scale, blender, mask, thermometer, goggles, spoons and a variety of bowls.

The room has been booked, here come the wanabee chemists!

The recipe is displayed on the wall, we listen for safety advice: you have to pour the baking soda INTO the water, not the other way around! Those who will use the baking soda will keeps masks and goggles on when mixing them. You have to throughouly wipe each tool you use, first with absorbent paper so you don't clog the plumbery when doing the dishes, and those tools will only be used for soap-making!

We gear up, have a deep breath (not above the baking soda) and we get to it:

We weight the soda and water, then one is being pour into the other (nothing exploded? You had it right!), we stir and plunge the thermometer to follow the rising temperature, then all this stuff is put aside to cool down while we mix the oils (olive and coconut if you remeber well). The oils are warmed up so that the to mixtures blend at the same temperature (45-50°C). Meanwhile we keep an eye on the water-soaked mix cooling gently after reaching 70°C.

The two solutions are now at the same temperature: time to mix them. We slowly pour the oil-water-soda mixture into the blender and the blades start dancing in an infinite 8 movement in the crock-pot, alternating on and off states so it doesn't overheat. Maximum tension is reached: every pair of eyes is set on the pot, looking for the "tracing point" which will tell us the saponification stage has actually began and that we can add the additives (white clay and lavender essential oil for us).

Our arms are getting sore as we wait for another few minutes, so is the blender, then we see it, THE trace! We carefully add the additives we have already weighted, stir one last time and then it's time to mold our soaps (wrapped in baking paper).

Experiencing soap-making has been intense, exciting and empowering and we're looking forward to craft some more on rainy/cold winter days!"

Once the molds are filled, we put a plastic wrap on top of the soaps so to avoid "ash" to appear, and we top it off with a layer of towels and blankets: the reaction actually goes on for at least 12 more hours and the preparation needs to keep warm.

Now we wait for the end of the chemical reaction, with quick glances at the "icing" stages, and time to wash everything up!

Our soaps quietly wait for the night to harden some more. We meet with excitement on the next day : they have taken a nice yellow-greenish color. we take them out heir mold and cut them into smaller soaps with extra care, and a sturdy pair of gloves!

We'll leave them in a box for a month, in a dry and ... place so that the reaction comes to an end. And if all is well in a month (at least) we can finally get soapy!

"Experiencing soap-making has been intense, exciting and empowering and we're looking forward to craft some more on rainy/cold winter days!"

However, there was one conversion mistake we did make: a kilo of oil does NOT equal a liter!