Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Does anyone know how to make cream soap without lye? Especially whipped soap that I have seen on freshwhipped.com.
Lye is not difficult to work with if you use your common sense and take precautions. Lye combines with oil to make a salt called soap. But I can understand that making soap using lye is not everyone's cup of tea. If you don't want to buy cream soap there is a way to make it without making it from scratch. I do not guarantee the quailty of it but here it is if you still want it.
1 1/2 shredded soap (please use soap and not detergent/beauty bars. look at the ingredients, it should say sodium palmite, sodium ...)
5 oz distilled water
1 tbsp glycerin
1 tbsp olive oil
I use one of those small crockpots, melt all ingredients in crock pot on low until all is liquid and melted. add a EO if you want to have fragrance. Beat until creamy and airy. Enjoy. HTH
Editor's Note: The shredded soap bars were previously made with lye but it has been converted.
There are "melt and pour" soaps at JoAnn Fabrics, Michael's, etc., you just portion it out, melt it in the microwave, add color and Essential Oils, pour in your molds and let it cool (you can speed it up in the freezer).
I enjoy the "old time" method of making soap with Lye and fats, it's like a science project and there are wonderful books out there that gives you all the portions, to make beautiful soap. Red Devil has been taken off the shelves, but you can find pure lye at Lowes. Make sure there is nothing else in the bottle but lye. If you are careful, there is nothing to fear with lye, I have yet to get burned. And, if you would happen to get some on you, use vinegar to neutralize it, just pour it over the skin that's been affected.
Any of you people saying soap can be made without lye are flat out wrong. Yes, there are natural plants and such out there that contain saponin, a soap-like substance, but they are NOT soap. Here is the definition from dictionary.com-
Soap (noun):
a substance used for washing and cleansing purposes, usually made by treating a fat with an alkali, as sodium or potassium hydroxide, and consisting chiefly of the sodium or potassium salts of the acids contained in the fat.
If you are scared to use lye for whatever reason, as other people have already stated, you can buy melt and pour soap from any craft store. Any of the good brands are made with (surprise) lye. The not so good products are made from synthetic detergents, and are classified as "syndet" bars. They are not soap, and they are not good for your skin at all.
Again, going back to natural saponin products, you can find things like soapnuts (soapberry tree) to do your laundry with, etc.
When you make lye-based soap, the final product does not actually contain lye. It's used to force a chemical reaction with the oils to trigger saponification- which is what makes soap. Another reference is wikipedia (look for soap) and it will detail the chemistry behind the process itself.
Solutions of baking soda and oils do not a soap product make. Sodium Bicarbonate (aka Baking Soda) does have cleansing properties of a sort (that's why it is contained is several toothpastes). It can also be used with sugar as a pesticide or to clean tarnish off of silver.
Anyway, my final thoughts would be to further research saponin plants on your own if you're looking for a non-lye soap-type product.
I am looking for hand soap recipes that do not require lye.
By EL from Phoenix, AZ
Hi! I have been making soap for many years now. Unfortunately you can not make handmade soap without lye. What you can do, is purchase what is called Melt & Pour soap which is usually a block of clear or white glycerin based soap that you melt in your microwave, add fragrance and color to it, then pour into moulds.
How about oatmeal soap?
www.life123.com/
There's a How-To after the main article on the page.
I found a website with tons of great information. Hope it helps you! www.teachsoap.com/
You can go to about.com and get recipes. Also sign up for their newsletters. You can chose the ones you want to receive. They send out lots of info on soaps. The ones you want are the melt and pour soaps.
I was reading information about making soap products someone had posted on ThriftyFun. Is it possible to make nice soap i.e., glycerin without using lye? As I have never tried to make soap, I wondered if it there was a way to do this. Many thanks. Helen xx
By helen from U.K
Making Soap without using Lye.
One of the questions commonly asked during soap making discussion is "can I make soap without having to use lye". The answer is a simple YES and NO. NO your can't make soap from oils and fats without lye but YES you can make soap quite easily using melt and pour glycerine soap or soap noodles.
Lye is absolutely necessary to convert oils and fats to soap. During this process many companies extract the glycerine and resell it to crafters wanting to make what is called Melt and Pour soaps. Other companies take soap made with lye and shave it into noodles so that it can be melted or rebatched into soap bars by crafters. In other words crafters and hobbyists who want to safely make soap can simply skip the step where lye is used and still enjoy the soapmaking process. Another advantage to melt and pour soapmaking is that you get a more consistant product. There is less risk of creating a bad batch of soap. Purists would call this cheating but if you want to have fun making soap and do not want to deal with the dangers then it is just a smart choice.
Here are some basic instructions on making soap using either glycerine melt and pour soap base or soap noodles.
Step 1: Place the amount of soap base that you wish to process into a double boiler. A crock pot on low will also work. Melt the base covered over a low heat so that moisture does not escape and so that the soap base does not get too hot. Gently stir the glycerine soap base or soap noodles but try not to whip air into the mix. In other words stir as little as possible.
Step 2: Gently stir in your additives including colorant, herbs, fragrances, vitamins, cocoa butter, aloe vera, etc.. It is best to purchase these items from companies who make them for soap. Especially the colorants and fragrances. Add these items one at a time starting with colors, then moisturizers or vitamins and then finally fragrances. Stir gently.
TIP - when using solid additives like cocoa butter you will want to melt those separately and then pour them into your soap.
Step 3: Pour your mixture into molds. You can use just anything you wish as a mold as long as you can get the soap back out.
Step 4: After your soap has hardened unmold it. Your freshly made soap can be used immediately. good luck.
Making a lot of soap each week is a rewarding hobby that turned into a business for me. So yes, I make a lot of soap. The soap that I make requires lye in every batch.
I could make soap using melt and pour soap bases and not have to handle the lye. Why don't I do the melt and pour bases? Read the ingredients in those bases. There are very few melt and pour bases that do not contain some pretty nasty chemicals and additives.
Making my own goat milk soaps with a good recipe can make some great all natural soaps. In my natural soaps I include olive oil for moisturizing properties, coconut oil for the cleansing and nutrients, castor oil for great fluffy lather, shea butter for the moisturizing properties and nutrients, Tussah silk for that great feel in the bar of soap, Kaolin clay to help refine the skin and help to detoxify the skin, some bars have honey in them to feed the collagen in the skin, some bars have essential oils in them for the great benefits they bring to the soap, colorants and micas to make the soaps pretty so that people will visually enjoy the soaps.
Read the ingredients on the melt and pour bases available. Are they nice and pure? Remember, those melt and pour soaps also started with lye. The lye is now saponified into soap but it was there, just like in my hand crafted bars. Do you really want to put just any chemical on the largest organ (skin) of your body?
If you don't think that soap matters, try stepping on a clove of garlic with your bare heel. Notice how fast you taste garlic in your mouth? Way too fast to mess with any chemicals in your soaps.
