Handmade soap: what is made of, recipes and master classes

It would seem that in the age of modern technologies, when all food products are produced at large-scale enterprises with robotic technology, a person does not need to create certain household items with his own hands. All the necessary products are placed on the shelves of supermarkets. Nevertheless, a person prefers to make some goods with his own hands, for example, soap.

Soap makers make special types of detergent, create the latest recipes, and also conduct master classes and earn good money from their hobby. Private producers have created shops where they immediately engage in soap making, pack their products in special boxes and sell them to caring connoisseurs.

The entire population of the planet cannot imagine their life without soap. Humanity has been using it for many centuries. Today, the presented hygiene product is available in every home. At the same time, few people were interested in how it began to occupy a special place in human life. Historical facts say that the first mention of soap appeared about 5 thousand years ago. The ancient Greek people cleansed their bodies with sand crumbs. The people of Egypt used wax dissolved in a warm liquid. And these are just a few facts about the beginning of the soap story. Some historians claim that the first soap sample was created in Sumer.

Others claim that the soap composition was first discovered in ancient Egypt. On the old papyri it was painted, from which the washing agent was made. The main component was vegetable or animal fat, heated with soda and alkali.

Having studied many facts, historians began to assert with confidence that ancient Rome is considered the birthplace of soap. This is evidenced by a Roman legend that has survived to this day. On the lands of ancient Rome, there was a mountain where sacrificial gifts were made to the gods. The fat layer of the burnt animals mixed with ash, and with rainwater flowed into the river, where local residents rinsed their clothes. After a few washes, they noticed that the clothes were much cleaner.

At one time, the historian Pliny the Elder talked about the Roman soap making. In the excavations of Pompeii, rooms were discovered where the process of creating a soap substance, used exclusively for washing clothes, was carried out. Only in the II century, the doctor Galleon, after conducting several experiments, reported that soap can be used for personal hygiene of a person. After this statement, the development of soap making went uphill.

In the Middle Ages, the history of soap continued to develop. In European countries, the detergent was used only by representatives of the nobility and clergy. The church, in turn, despised people who used soap as a means of hygiene. For the extermination of lovers of being clean, the Inquisitions were created, since the clergy encouraged the purity of the soul, not the body.

Soap in the most familiar modern format was first produced in Western European countries. The crusaders gave their ladies special washing balls, which were subsequently used by all the peoples of Europe.

Several soap factories were built in medieval England. Henry IV even founded the Order and the Soap Guild. It was strictly forbidden for the members of this guild to live with people of a different craft. And all because of the fear that the secrets of soap making will be revealed and fall into the wrong hands. Thanks to this caution, the British patented the soap recipe in 1662.

Soap making began to develop at a rapid pace. The Germans, having studied the standard recipe, began to introduce their own innovative ideas into it. German soap makers began to use vegetable oils as an additional ingredient. Nowadays, handmade soap takes its owner back to the past, where washing products could be appreciated only by representatives of the upper classes.

Undoubtedly, handmade soap has enormous advantages:

• has a beneficial effect on human skin;
• the manufacturing process is quite simple;
• it can be cooked according to an individual recipe with your favorite ingredients;
• it does not use synthetic additives, so it can be used by children while bathing and people with allergies.

Despite the presented list of advantages, handmade soap still has a number of disadvantages:

• ingredients purchased for making homemade soap are much more expensive than finished products;
• in the process of soap making, you must follow the clear instructions of the instructions;
• to create handmade soap, a person needs at least a little experience in the field of soap making.

Today, there are several ways to create homemade soap, the first from scratch, and the second on a ready-made basis. In the second case, only baby soap is used without any impurities. As an economical option, it is proposed to use remnants instead of purchasing a new piece.It is not difficult to work with a ready-made base, but it still requires a little experience in the field of soap making.

The amount of substances used to create one bar of soap depends on how it is made. For soap from a ready-made base, all the necessary elements can be found in specialized boutiques. Additional items are purchased from the regular convenience store. Some substances are found on the shelves in kitchen cabinets. You need to prepare the following.

• Ready base - baby soap or remnants. The compositions of different brands differ in the hardness of the product and the speed of its drying, which significantly affects the quality of the finished home soap bar.
• Cosmetic vegetable oils. Sold in almost all cosmetic stores.
• Dyes... It is most appropriate to use a liquid mixture, it is easy to measure it by the number of drops.
• Flavors... They will fill each bar of soap with a special scent.
• Essential oil.
• Herbs, honey, coffee grounds - optional. These ingredients enrich the soap with various properties. Some recipes use clay or oatmeal.
• Rubbing alcohol. At the very end, the cooked composition is sprayed with an alcohol solution.

To create a soap from scratch requires only three elements:

• alkali;
• saponification oils;
• water, milk or herbal decoction.

If you use a decoction of medicinal herbs instead of water, the soap will be enriched with useful properties. A wash bite made with the above ingredients will be odorless and colorless. To supplement them, you need a plasticizer, such as granulated sugar, fructose or honey. In addition, some substances must be added to its composition, namely citric acid, glycerin, dyes, flavors and fillers. Plasticizers will make the bar of soap more pliable. Dyes and flavors will give a special smell and color. Acids will enrich the bathing bite with bactericidal properties.

Each of the presented soap making options requires the use of special dishes. Silicone molds are best suited for this, it is convenient to extract ready-made soap from them. In the absence of such, children's sand sets are suitable.

Homemade liquid soap production involves the use of different recipes with a single base. Only additional components change. The option presented below is considered the easiest technique practiced in the homes of soap makers.

To create it, you need to prepare several components:

• 100 g soap;
• 2 liters of water;
• 1 tsp glycerin;
• oils and fillers.

Having prepared the necessary ingredients, you can start creating.

• If a decoction of herbs is to be used instead of water, it must be brewed in advance. Then cool and strain.
• Prepared soap should be crushed. To do this, just use a grater.
• The water or broth must be warmed up and gradually add the grated soapwhile stirring constantly. After the soap shavings have dissolved, the mixture must be cooled. Remove the foam that has appeared on top of the soap mass.
• Glycerin is added to the cooled soap and the remaining ingredients.
• After a couple of hours, the cooked mass will begin to thicken. Then it can be poured into a prepared container.

A piece of soap weighing 100 g is taken as a basis. In addition to it, others will be required. the elements:

• 100 ml of milk;
• 1 tbsp. l. granulated sugar;
• essential oil - optional;
• 1 tbsp. l. olive oil.

Having prepared the necessary ingredients, you can start the soap making process.

• A large saucepan must be put on fire and water must be added to it. Then take a smaller pan and place it inside a large container, thereby creating a water bath.
• Solid soap must be grated, added sugar and mixed.
• Once the mass has melted and acquired a uniform consistency, you can add the rest of the ingredients to it. It is important to remember that the water inside a large container should not boil, otherwise the soap composition will begin to evaporate. If you have a food thermometer, it is best to measure the temperature of the water in a large container so that it does not exceed 50 degrees.
• The mixture must be constantly stirred. If lumps appear, pour a little milk or olive oil into the mass. The finished composition is thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous consistency, after which it is poured into prepared forms, pre-lubricated with oil. The soapy solution should cool down, 15 minutes will be enough for this.
• The soap blank must be placed in the refrigerator and wait for maximum hardness.
• After the mass has hardened, it is necessary to remove the blanks from the molds, transfer them to a mat and leave them in the open air for several days to dry the soap.
• The resulting soap bars will have a uniform white color. And their aroma will be comparable to the products of well-known cosmetic brands.

Having studied the rules for creating solid soap, you can begin to familiarize yourself with other recipes in the field of soap making. By adding some ingredients, a simple piece of soap can be turned into multi-colored swirls, which contain clay, oatmeal and coffee powder. These components are able to enrich a regular soap bar and turn it into a natural scrub.

First you need to prepare the ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. l. coffee grounds;
• 2 tbsp. l. sea ​​salt;
• 100 g baby soap;
• 2 tbsp. l. milk;
• a few drops of grape seed oil

First you need to soften the base, add milk and a few drops of oil to the mass. Pour in the coffee grounds and add sea salt. Mix all this until smooth and remove the container with the mixture from the heat. Pour the soap base into molds and leave to cool in the refrigerator.

When buying industrially produced soap, no one even thinks about how to store it. It is already sold in packaged briquettes, where it can lie for a long time. Storing homemade soap is another matter entirely. Self-made pieces are required to be wrapped in paper. Some soap makers advise storing finished products in cellophane sheets. But this should not be done, since the bar must breathe. Allow soap products to dry before packaging. The storage location of the bar should be dry and warm.

Soap made from scratch, which contains oils and lye, can last for several years without losing its qualities. Some soapmakers note that the longer the soap is used, the better it cleans the skin. Soap made on a ready-made base has a shorter shelf life. And all of the huge amount of ingredients in its composition. Soap made from fruits, herbs and similar natural elements disappears most quickly.

Some soapmakers with many years of experience are professionally engaged in the production of soap, supplementing each recipe with special ingredients, while not telling anyone their secrets of its preparation. And novice soap makers simply have to know all the subtleties and nuances of creating homemade products.

• The masters use rose petals as a special filling. Unfortunately, beginners will not be able to achieve much results. The petals used in soap making will turn green and repulsive.
• Dry spices such as cinnamon it is best added to a soap composition prepared from scratch. The desired effect cannot be achieved using a baby soap base.
• When filling the soap composition with herbs it should be remembered that a large number of plants in the composition will not give a moisturizing effect. To a greater extent, you will get a bar of soap scrub.
• When using excess oils drops will appear on the finished product, resembling fat in consistency. Handmade soap with the addition of coffee beans or cocoa powder gradually develops a whitish coating, which is sometimes mistaken for the spoilage of the product.
• Soap, supplemented with pieces of fresh fruit, must be used very quickly. Otherwise, it will become moldy and lose its properties.
• If a soap maker wants to create a transparent bar washing agent, during cooking it is necessary to pour half a teaspoon of sugar into the composition.
• To increase the soapiness, sugar syrup is poured into the composition, while excess liquid is evaporated.
• The cooked mass must be gently mixed, so that bubbles do not form. Otherwise, lumps will collect inside the soap.
• During the soap making process, you can add a little palm oil to it. It will give the bite a special hardness, increase the foaming properties and enhance the aroma.
• Quite often, small bubbles appear on the surface of the soap, get rid of which an alcohol solution will help. Under its influence, the bubbles settle.
• The fixed soap composition needs to be given some time.to ripen. Soap made from scratch should be set aside for about 1.5 months.

Today, handmade products are the most suitable option for a gift. On the eve of the holidays, many soap makers make soap products of a special form. On February 14, images of flower buds, hearts of different sizes, as well as animal figurines with hints of feelings are mainly used.

Huge excitement among the male population begins on the eve of March 8th. Unfortunately, representatives of the stronger sex cannot always understand what their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters want to get. And handmade soap will be the perfect gift for a women's holiday.

The modern soap making procedure allows you to make bars not only in the form of ordinary colors. In some cases it is possible to purchase custom-made soap with a special design. For example, a man on February 23, you can give a soap in the form of a tank. The figured execution of the soap-pistol is made a little more difficult.

For young children, it is preferable to choose gifts in the form of cartoon characters or images of fairy-tale animals. Soap in the form of letters of the alphabet is quite in demand, from which you can add the name of the recipient of the gift.

Special attention is paid to gift wrapping. Soap makers offer special options for decorating a presentation.

For information on how to make orange soap with your own hands, see the next video.