Soap-making-supply and making your own soap

All About Soap and Soap Making

Soap-making and soap-making-supply are all very old and ancient traditional activities. It is also as my soap making sister says, kitchen chemistry, and the results are simply superb I have to say and the results of many are simply wonderful.

The Romans are generally accorded the honor of inventing soap and starting the soap-making–supply business. It is said the Roman women used to wash their clothes in the Tiber at the base of Sapo Hill, where animal sacrifices were made, and the fatty remains from the hill leached through wood ashes and entering the water made washing more effective.

Other cultures also discovered soap making, and they have unearthed tablets from Sumerians dating back to 2500 BC with soap making recipes. I went to Pompei not so long ago, and they found a complete soap making factory complete with soap bars. Likewise the Babylonians, Egyptians and Phoenicians all had similar soap products. The word soap is supposed to be derived from sapo named after the hill.

The Middle Ages saw soap-making-supply production starting in France and England using animal fat as the base. In Mediterranean France, the technology developed whereby the soap mixture was heated and olive oil replaced animal fats (I still buy and use olive oil soap).

The biggest jump in soap-making-supply technology came with a French chemist who came up with a reliable method of producing soda from Glauber's salt (Sodium Sulfate).This was made from Salt (Sodium Chloride, NaCl) and Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4), along with Calcinated Limestone and coal. This process was further refined by a Belgian chemist

I used to be a merchant ship engineer and sailor and part of the soap-making-supply business amd we used to carry coconut and palm oils back to UK and Europe from the Pacific Islands and all are used for soap making, and the coconut plantations are owned by soap making corporations.

These web pages will provide useful information, soap-making-supply recipes and troubleshooting hints to ensure that you get good results. Arts-and-crafts contributors are welcome with useful information on soap-making and soap-making-supply information

What is soap?

Soap is what is produced when an acid and a base chemically react with each other. This is when vegetable oils or animal fats combine with an alkali which Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide - NaOH) which is dissolved in water and is known as lye. When they are combined a chemical reaction occurs and the sodium combines with the oil molecules to produce a sodium soap, and this process is called saponification, and this happens when all of the oil has completely reacted with the lye.

The OH or hydroxide part of the lye combines with remaining part of the oil molecule to make glycerin. Soap making uses several oil types and therefore the amount of lye required to achieve complete saponification varies. If the lye content is varied a mild soap that has excess oil can be made. Soap has made a very big impact and every house has and uses soaps, and given rise to the Soap Opera (what bigger effect is there I wonder?) and been the foundation of large soap-making-supply corporations

How Does Soap Work?

A soap when used with water decreases the surface tension. This looses and releases particles such as dirt, and emulsifies grease and oils, and absorbs particles into foam. You see the advertising on TV showing various graphical representations of the process.

The art of traditional hand-made soap-making has been revived to restore quality and purity of soap. This is also called cold processed or glycerine soap as the glycerine is retained in the soap bars. The proper curing of soap bars can take up to 3 months.

The key to good soap-making is the use of high quality oils. Besides coconut, palm and olive oils also other vegetable oils such as jojoba, avocado and almond oils are used. The soap making process is ultimately a delicate balancing of the various ingredients to maintain the right pH value. All about the soap-making-supply

Starting the Soap Making Process

You can’t rush soap making, it takes time and care if you want good results. You need the equipment to make the soap in, and this is a large pot and one you will not be cooking with again. You will also need an accurate set of scales to measure out the soap making ingredients.

You will also need 2 thermometers along with a measuring cup. You will require something to use as a mold, and various sizes of Tupperware containers work well. The remaining utensils include scrapers. Last but not least you need personal protective equipment. You are working with caustics, so apron, rubber gloves, a mask and eye protection are all required. Work safely!

All About Soap Making All about soap making, recipes and more…

All about soap making, recipes, soap-making-supply and more… Useful Resources - All about the soap-making-supply

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All about the soap-making-supply