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The cold process of soap making is fairly easy to do, even for beginners or advanced soap makers. Before starting the soap making process, be sure to have all of your ingredients ready. Aside from fats and lye solution, you will also need fragrance oils, dyes, soap cutters and mixers, soap making herbs and wooden molds as these are much easier to extract soap from. Once you have your ingredients ready, you can now start with the soap making process.

Start by wearing the proper protective wear like goggles, mask, gloves and an apron because it is very important. You need to protect your skin from lye since it can be very harmful. Once it comes into contact with your skin, it can easily corrode because of its high basicity. Besides from this, inhalation of lye can also cause lung damage.

The first step in the cold process of soap making is adding the lye into the water.mix this solution very well to dissolve the lye. The recommended ratio of the lye to water is 1:3. It is very important to note that lye and water produces an exothermic reaction, releasing heat. Do not touch the container since you can expect it to heat up.

Oil is then added to the mixture to complete the process of saponification. This is the part when the mixture becomes soap. Always note the right ratio to use for the soap base. Too much oil will soften the soap so it will not cure and harden. Too little oil added will not react with all the lye so the soap will become too basic.

Once saponification has taken place, it is now time to add the other ingredients to your soap. Dyes, fragrance oils and soap making herbs can be added depending on what properties you want your soap to have. Mix all the ingredients until the mixture becomes homogenous.

Pour the homogenous mixture into the molds. While the soap is still in liquid form, you can choose to add any design to the soap. Once the soap has hardened, you can now choose to cut the soap in any design that you want.

You should strictly follow the curing time in the cold process of soap making. The molds must be covered for at least 18 hours using a towel. Once the soaps are hard enough to be handled you can now start cutting them. After this, you should leave the soaps to air-dry for 3 to 8 weeks before you can actually use them.

Handmade soaps are not that difficult to do. Even in your home, you can now start doing them. Start experimenting on the different types of soap that you can make. With constant practice, you will eventually enjoy the art of soap making.