How are Sapun soaps made?
Cold process soap making is a fun and rewarding activity that can result in beautiful, high-quality soap. While it may seem intimidating at first, with the right tools and techniques, anyone can learn to do it. Below is the process we take to making cold process soaps.
Before starting, it's important to gather all of the necessary ingredients and equipment. We use a digital scale to measure ingredients accurately, a stick blender to mix the soap, a heat-safe container to melt and mix the oils and lye, and safety equipment such as goggles, gloves, and a long-sleeved shirt and a rubber apron. It’s absolutely critical that you review what sodium hydroxide is and how to safely handle it.
The ingredients for our cold process soap are simple and straightforward. They sometimes vary but in this example we will use our signature recipe. We use a blend of oils, including coconut, olive, palm and hempseed oil. We also use sodium hydroxide, distilled water, colloidal oatmeal and whichever fragrances and colorants needed for the particular soap.
Here are the steps:
Weigh out your oils and heat them gently in a heat-safe container until they are all melted and well mixed.
Weigh out your sodium hydroxide and distilled water in separate containers.
Slowly add the sodium hydroxide to the water, stirring carefully until it is fully dissolved.
Let both the oil and lye water mixture cool to around 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on which fragrances I use, I may soap at a lower temperature such as 85-95 degrees.
Add the lye water to the oils and use a stick blender to blend until you reach "trace". Trace is a stage where the mixture thickens and starts to resemble pudding.
Add colloidal oatmeal and any fragrances or colorants and mix until evenly distributed.
Pour the mixture into a mold and let it sit for 24-48 hours to set.
Cut your soap into bars and let it cure for 4-6 weeks.
As mentioned, our recipe and process is very straightforward and while we use a small amount of ingredients, we believe they are the best ones resulting in a truly luxurious handcrafted soap.