How to Make Soap

Natural soap making encompasses a wide variety of processes and methods. Rather than employing harsh chemicals and removing those nourishing elements your skin needs, natural soap making seeks to create the healthiest bathing experience possible.

The Internet is full of sites with this information but it is easy to become overloaded by the sheer volume of it all. This site is dedicated to all things related to the pasttime and helping you make your own natural soap.

As any soap maker can attest, learning about soap making is an incredibly fun and addictive hobby. It doesn't matter if you are brand new or an experienced soap maker, as this site grows you will find more and more useful information.

To stay up to date, definitely sign up for the FREE Soap Making Fun Newsletter! In it you will find recipes, tips, and other items that will help you along the way. To sign up, all you have to do is fill in your first name, email address, and a question you may have about soap making into the box in the top left-hand corner. It is free and your email address will only be used to send you the newsletter. We will never sell your email address to a 3rd party.

More Soap Making Information
The articles and webpages you will find throughout the site will help give you a better understanding of how to make soap and soap making in general. This site includes information on:

Cold Process Soap Making
Melt and Pour Soap Making
Hot Process Soap Making
Soap Making Supplies
Making Natural Homemade Soap
Soap Making Business

Medicinal Soap Information
Learn more about the medicinal properties of homemade soap. Here you will find articles, tips, the secrets of various ingredients, as well as recipes!

Holiday Soap Challenge
Join the Holiday Soap Challenge and push your soap making abilities to the limit! Take part and learn what you need to do in order to give soap as gifts for this Holiday Season. No previous experience required!

When I started making soap, there were basically only two methods available: CP (cold process) and a "rudimentary" hot process, carried out on direct heat (DHHP). It was therefore relatively simple for soapers to decide which one to use - it was enough to try both these methods, and decide which of the two was preferrable for the type of soaps they had in mind.

With handmade natural soap becoming increasingly popular and sought after, more and more adventurous soapmakers have been researching new techniques for obtaining reliable results in a shorter time. Currently, a number of different soap making methods are available, most of them as variations of Hot Process, where soap is cooked to speed up the saponification reaction.

All these methods were developed as a result of several soapmakers sharing opinions and experiences with each other, and are an ongoing testimony of the spirit of "working together" that characterises the oldest (and the best) Internet soapmaking mailing lists, such as Soap Naturally for instance.

This ongoing exchange of experiences and information, and the vast popularity that natural soap is enjoying, have of course advantages and disadvantages.

So, while it is true that increasing the number of possible methods can offer a better choice to experienced soapmakers in search of the optimal result, it is also true that beginners are somewhat at a loss when it comes to deciding which way to make soap - and the relatively large number of methods and techniques is often source of greater confusion. Soap Naturally - Ingredients, methods and recipes for natural handmade soap is the ultimate reference book for those who would like to approach natural soapmaking, as well as for experienced soapmakers in search of new inspirations.

For those who are already familiar with making soap from scratch, I am including here links to modern soap making methods that have gained some sort of "legal standing". For those who consider themselves "newbie soapers", I am also providing my personal version of the classic CP (cold process) method:

My version of the classic cold process soapmaking method (CP)
My versions of double boiler and oven hot process soapmaking methods (DBHP, OHP)
My version of the discounted water cold process soapmaking method (DCWCP)
From the Soap Naturally Web, a long list of sites describing other soapmaking methods, including microwave and crockpot HP, CPOP etc.
For background information on traditional techniques, I suggest a visit to the soapmaking history section of Soap Naturally Web.