Making Your Own Soap from Scratch

 

Making pure, healthy soap for your family from scratch is not that difficult. It's no harder than making clothes detergent or a different recipe for dinner. You can do it in your kitchen with utensils you have on hand. It's a simple process and doesn't take that long to make, if you keep it simple.  

Plain, healthy soap with no special scent and colour for family use, is quick and easy to make. You don't need the fancy oils and butters and creams that some soap makers add to soap they plan to sell. Plain tallow or lard makes a good, very hard soap. It's important to use hard fats for at least half the fat in the soap. This keeps the bars hard enough that they don't disappear too quickly. A bar of soap make with all oil will be gone very quickly. I like to use half and half, oil that I have infused with herbs and hard fat, but I have made soap with all hard fat and I like it too. Shortening, like Crisco, makes good soap, as well. The palm oil in it makes good lather. Using a little coconut oil will make good lather, but only use up to 5% of the total fat. Too much coconut oil will make it drying. 

The next thing you need is the lye. No lye, no soap. When you mix the lye with the animal fats or oils, in a specific temperature range, and emulsify it well with a blender, it changes the molecules of both the lye and the fat into one, the soap molecule. There's no more lye in the soap, provided you have used the right amount of fat to "saponify" all the lye. "Saponification" is the act of turning fat and lye into soap.  

While making soap is not difficult, or that time consuming, you do have to follow a specific recipe exactly. You will need a digital scale to make soap. Nothing else it specific enough. You will also need a good thermometer, as the fat and the lye both have to be a specific temperature when mixed together. (I use a temperature gun but you can use a meat thermometer too.) Most of the time spent in making soap is spent in trying to get both parts to the same, exact temperature. If you mix the lye crystals with water (which is part of the process, a specific weight of water) in a plastic container, it's easier to adjust the temperature. You can use the microwave to warm it or set it in icy cold water to cool it off. If you melt the fats in a stainless pot, you can cool it down in a sink of icy cold water or heat it up on the stove top. Glass is not recommended for the lye as it will, over time, scratch and weaken it. DO NOT put lye in an aluminum pot. It will react with it immediately and you will have a problem. You can use most plastic containers or stainless steel for either.

There are a lot of soap recipes on the internet but I find that most of them include some fancy oils and butters and other ingredients that you don't need. All you need to make plain, healthy soap is animal fat and/or vegetable oils, water, lye. You can, of course, add a variety of other things to it, but none of them are necessary. If you want moisturizing soap, add a bit more fat than the recipe calls for. This way not all of the fat will be turned into soap by the lye, so there will be a little left in the soap to moisturize.

I use an online soap calculator to make the recipes that I use. I simply fill in the weight of the various fats I have and it tells me how much lye and water I will need to go with the fats. There are a few online soap calculators. I have used this one for about 20 years and have never had a problem: https://www.the-sage.com/lyecalc/ 

It's important to include all the fats you have and not to change them after you get the recipe. They are NOT interchangeable. Each type of fat will saponify a different amount of lye. If you want to change the fat used, you will need a new recipe. 

Once you have your fats, lye, water and recipe, you are ready to make soap!

I mix the lye and water in a small plastic container first, before doing the fats. Then I sit it in icy cold water in the sink. Make sure it's securely sitting on the bottom and not floating around. 

Then I measure each fat carefully and add them to the large stainless pot on the stove. Turn it to LOW and watch them melt together. Keep stirring it so they don't scorch. There's no way to rescue burned soap.  I cut the hard fat into little pieces and use the hand blender to make it all liquid, so it heats evenly. 

Use the thermometer to measure the temperature of the fats and the temperature of the lye. I like a temperature gun because I don't need to clean it between the lye and the fat. If you use a thermometer that you stick into the fat, you will need to wipe it off clean before you put it into the lye/water mix. Also, the lye will, eventually ruin it. Both the fats and the lye should be 110-112 when mixed together. If the mix is too cool, it won't make into soap. You will check it the next day and it will be solid, but that will be the hard fat solidifying and you will have pockets of liquid lye in it. It won't be soap. If this happens, you can always put it all into the pot again and heat it up to 110, blender it and mold it again. Make sure both reach 110F before using the blender and pouring it into the mold. If its too warm, it will make soap but it might separate. It will come back together as it cools down to about 110. You will have to keep stirring it and watching it to get it into the mold before it gets too hard in the pot. 

All said, it's always better to bring each of the two containers to 110-112F before you mix them together. At that point you will need to blender it for a few minutes. Then pour it into a mold. 

A mold can be any container, even a small cardboard box, if it's lined with parchment or waxed paper. If it's silicone, you won't need to line it. You will, however, need to grease it a little. Use either mineral oil or vaseline to grease a mold. If you use animal or veg fats, the soap will absorb it and be soft on the outside edges. You can wipe off the block of soap before cutting it, if necessary. I also very lightly grease the paper I'm lining the mold with so it doesn't stick to the soap and have to be scraped off. If you don't use a pliable mold and you don't line it with paper, you will never get the hard soap out of it. 

After it's been in the mold for about 24 hours, it should be hard enough to take out and slice into bars. After it's cut, put it out of the way in a place where the bars can get some air circulation. They will need to age and dry for about 3-4 weeks. It's fine to use after about three weeks, but it will be better soap, drier with better lather, if you wait 4 weeks before using it. 

Essential oils and other additives are not necessary to make a healthy soap, however, when you put the lye/water and the fat together and blend them for a minute or so, you can add essential oils that you like, especially ones with healing properties. The scent won't last, unfortunately. It usually fades over time. 

If you want to make soap with milk or goat's milk, use it for half the water you mix with the lye. Mix the lye in only the half amount of water. Put the milk in with the fat. If you put lye in the milk, it will cook it immediately, turning it a bright orange and the soap brown. It will still be good soap to use but the colour will be brown and it may have a bit of an unpleasant smell. 

If you want to add fancy butters, like shea, and other oils and moisturizers, you will need to use those as part of the fats in the recipe. You have to put them into the online soap calculator along with your main fat, to make your recipe. They need to be counted. You can add a little extra of any fat to make your soap more moisturizing. Tallow is very good for your skin. A little more tallow than the recipe calls for will make a healthy, moisturizing soap. 

It sounds complicated, but it's not really. If all goes well and you are careful to follow the guidelines exactly, it only takes a few minutes to put it together. It will be much healthier for your family than using commercial detergent "soap" bars!  

 

How to Keep Long Hair Healthy

 

Everyone likes long, healthy, shining hair full of body, but few people want to do what it takes to achieve that. I am talking about long hair here, not mid or shoulder length. If you can’t pull it altogether up into a pony tail, its not long. Long hair is considerably less trouble than anything other than very, very short and sheared off. If it is long enough to clip up or braid, it is no trouble at all and needs to be washed a lot less.This is a picture (above) of Crystal Gayle.

I am growing long hair now, really really long, down to my waist and all one length, eventually, when it gets there. I have done a lot of research over the years on growing long hair and have been at this length a few times. Listed below are a few sensible things I have learned to get it there and keep it healthy.

The first key to healthy hair is eating right and drinking lots of water. We all know how to eat right, whether we do it or not. Leave the sugar and saturated fats alone. Ideally you should eat only natural things, REAL food (but who does that?) and drink enough water 

When you have that under control  here are other things you can do that make a big difference:

 

a) Don’t use a brush of any kind. Use only a very large toothed comb and be gentle. File off any rough spots on it. There is a wooden pin brush and a boar brush out there that are suppose to be good for long hair but its a new thing. Try it at your own risk.

b) Keep all chemicals away from your hair, including stripping or harsh shampoo, peroxide, perms, straighteners and hairspray.

c) Wash only when absolutely necessary using shampoo as little as possible. You can get away with a little shampooing at the scalp only, but very little and not often. Let it gently rinse through the length of your hair and out. A healthier alternative is to use cornmeal on your scalp when you need to remove oil and rinsing it out. It helps to remove dirt and oils if you massage your scalp for a few minutes, breaking up the deposits there, then rinse. Conditioner alone can be used to remove contaminants, especially if you have dry hair. Use a conditioner for your hair type to also remove tangles so you can comb it carefully and gently. There is a large movement out there to do away with shampoo altogether and these people have clean, healthy hair. Do some research if you are interested.

d) Keep it as tangle free as possible at all times to make the combing less damaging. It helps to comb your hair before you wash it and keep it straight while washing it. Don’t pile it on your head, let it hang down long while you gently clean it. When you wash it, treat it gently. Very gently remove any tangles with your fingers. If you have something in your hair that you carefully cannot comb out with your big comb or work loose with fingers, cut it out. Never, ever tear tangles out of your hair with a brush, better yet, don’t use a brush at all.

e) Use a slight acid rinse at each wash, after everything else, to restore the correct ph balance to your hair and help remove shampoo residues. Any vinegar mixed with a little water will work well. Lemon juice and water also works but might lighten your hair slightly. Strong tea works well but will darken your hair.

f) Rinse out the vinegar with clear icy cold water when you are finished, as cold as you can stand it. The icy cold water will make the cuticles lie flat helping to keep it from breaking. It will make it shinier too.

g) If you have dry and/or damaged hair, deep condition it once a month with a natural oil. Olive oil works well. Warm it up and apply to hair. Wrap your hair in a towel or a plastic shower cap and leave it on all day or over night. You will probably need to use a little shampoo in the wash to remove it. Follow the guidelines in “c” above.

h) Keep all electric appliances away from your hair. This includes curling irons, flat irons, hot rollers and crimpers. Never, ever put that kind of heat on the ends of your hair, no matter what kind of stuff you put on them to protect them. If you want curls, use gentle pin curls or roll it up in a rag and tie it. You can actually go to the store with your hair rolled up on top of your head in a rag and tied. It looks cute. It’s quite curly and wavy when you let it down. NEVER USE VELCRO ROLLERS! and don’t sleep on rollers, crushing your hair against them (see “d” below). Put soft ones on the very top of your head where you won’t be sleeping on them.

 i) Lesson any friction on your hair. When it gets long enough for you to lean back on, don’t. Rubbing the ends between your back and a chair is a good way to damage the ends. Pull it over your shoulder when you sit down or clip the ends up or braid it. Don’t sleep with it loose. A long braid will hold it tight to keep it from the friction of moving around between your head and the pillow case in the night. Use a slippery satin pillowcase. Don’t wring it out tight when drying or scrub the ends vigorously in a towel. Avoid all friction between your hair and another surface.

j) Do not put anything elastic in it to hold it, including cloth scrungies. Don’t tie it tight in the
same spot over and over again. That’s weakens the hair there. Clip it up or braid it. Braiding is the style of choice for me, when I can get it all in a braid.

k) Constantly trimming the ends will not make it grow any faster. If you are maintaining a healthy length, trim it 1/2″ every month just to remove the damaged ends. That is the normal rate of growth for the average, fairly healthy individual. If you think you hair never grows, it could be because your damaged ends are breaking off that much every month or you are getting a “trim”. It will never get any longer if you lose it off the ends. If you think the ends look bad and need a trim, take off the damage and resolve not to need a trim again until it is the length that you want it. If you already have very damaged ends, you will have to eventually cut them off. You can wait to do this when it gets longer or you can do it before you start to grow it long.

 l) Never cut your hair with anything other than very sharp scissor made specifically for that purpose. If you are going to be trimming your hair or bangs yourself, invest in a good pair of hair cutting shears. If you take care of them and never use them for anything else, they will last you a lifetime.

m) Avoid hairstylists. Don’t let anyone near your hair with scissors that you don’t trust to do EXACTLY what you request. If you must have someone else trim the damaged ends off your hair, ask to see what she is going to cut off before she does it. Remember, it is not in the best interest of most salons or hairdressers if you don’t spend money there regularly. If someone tries to convince you that your long, healthy hair should be cut, run screaming from the salon immediately! Otherwise smile politely and ignore every word they say.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT TOO OLD OR TOO GRAY TO HAVE LONG HAIR !!!

The only way to really fix damaged hair is to cut it off, so minimize the damage in the first place.

Foraging and Drying Natural Herbs for Food, Healing and Soap

First gather the herbs you want to use for cooking, teas or medicine. This is what grows here that I use: plantain, dandelion leaves, horsetail, sow thistle leaves, yarrow leaves, calendula whole blossoms, lavender, rose, spruce, lemongrass, rosemary, peppermint, clover (white and red flowers and leaves), goldenrod, fireweed, stinging nettle, thyme, oregano, ground ivy (also called creeping Charlie), usnea (also called "old mans beard" lichen, grows hanging from trees at the river, has elastic thread inside), chamomile (I use wild, also called pineapple weed. It grows all over my driveway.) I'm sure there are many more up here that I haven't listed.

 

Many of these are great for cooking and teas, all have healing properties. Please test them for allergic reactions before using. Some, like usnea, are best used topically only. Usnea is not toxic, but it's so acidic as to cause digestive problems. Stinging nettle stings! So be careful picking it. The stinging is gone once it has dried or cooked, and it makes a great tea or spice for soup. Horsetail is very high in silica, great for hair and nails and other areas. Rosemary and usnea are antifungal, and as such will help more your hair grow faster is applied topically in a tea or oil. These are just some of the benefits to using these herbs. Please do your own research and consult a doctor for any health issues you have and any medication they may react with.  

You don't need to use all of these herbs. Try whatever mix you have handy and can forage. All of these have healing, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial healing properties. I also use purslane and feverfew, which I grow myself. Both are powerful herbs that I use regularly but they don't grow up here. I consider the plantain important, but it's everywhere.  If you are unsure of something growing, google it or take a close clear photo and ask online what it is. If not sure, it's best to leave it alone. 

 

I enjoy gathering, drying and working with herbs. I like handling them, smelling them, sitting outside in the sun picking them. To me, it's fun. It's relaxing and my house smells wonderful with all these herbs drying everywhere. I try to leave long stems on the leaves or cut whole small branches so I can gather at the ends and hang somewhere. 

I dry small pieces in a single layer on a paper towel, turning every few days. You can dry them quickly in your car on a sunny day and your car will smell marvellous. You can dry them in the oven on a very low setting. Some people dry them in the microwave, however, they need to be half dry before microwaving or it will spark and start a fire. I guess some strong herbs have too much iron and mineral content for the microwave. (Believe me, it can happen, I know...) I think it's best to just leave them out of the microwave altogether. I usually use tin ties to tie bunches to a clothes hanger and hang it up. (No, I didn't put tin ties in the microwave, lol.) 

Stick a small piece of paper on the hanger with the herbs to label then. Sometimes it's hard to tell what they are when they are dry. I have hung herbs from hooks on the wall, on the ceiling fan, from curtain rods, from wires strung under the porch roof, from lamps, shelves, just about everywhere I could hang them. 

 

If you have herbs hanging, you will need to tighten the ties every day. As they dry, they shrink and fall out. If your floor is clean and you don't have cats and dogs that like to eat everything green, you can just tie them up again, but I think it's probably best to just tighten them daily at first. Also hang them high enough that your dogs and cats can't reach them. My cats LOVE horsetail. You can also tie them in paper bags with holes cut in them, to keep out dust and insects and the bags will catch them as they shrink and fall out of the ties. The bags also help keep dust and insect off, if outside.

If you can score large screens, you can make screen shelves on the deck with bricks and screens. That has worked well for me in the past but squirrels and mice can get them. You can also dry them on, and wrap them in, curtain sheers instead of screens and paper bags. They catch even the tiniest pieces. Good for drying seeds, as well. 

I usually give herbs about two weeks to dry very, very well and that's important. Everything that goes into a salve has to be completely dry, no moisture at all! If there's one drop of moisture in it, it will grow mold and go bad quickly. When the herbs are very dry, I crumble and grind in my spice grinder, if they need it. Some, like usnea. are so fine that they don't need it. I then put them in labelled glass jars. Any clean and very dry glass jar will do. Pickle jars work well. They will keep dry like this for years, until you are ready to make the salve. Safety Tip: Wear a mask to grind dry herbs. You don't want to breathe in the dust from the grinder. 

You can spend your summer collecting and processing the herbs, then make the salves and soaps in the winter.

Making Herbal Salve

The first step is to infuse oil with the dried herbs. You can use any kind of oil that comes from plants or animals, (olive, almond, sunflower, canola, coconut - although coconut oil melts at 72 degrees F - warm room temperature, so I don't use it for salve. It would be constantly melted unless you kept it in the fridge.) - no mineral oil or petroleum products. 

There are several ways to do this. The easiest way is to fill a glass jar 1/3-1/2 full with dried, ground herbs. Fill to the top of the jar with oil, stir it well, use a tight lid, put in a warm place like a south facing windowsill, on top of your fridge, etc. and shake whenever you walk by. Open daily to stir and let some air in. Leave this for 4-6 weeks. If you want to do this faster you can use a slow cooker. Use jars that fit in your slow cooker with the lid on. Set the jars with lids on, full of herbs and oil, into the slow cooker and fill it 3/4 full with hot water. Cook on low for minimum 5 days, 7 days is better. Take the jars out every day, set on a towel, remove lid and stir. Put the lid back on and return them to the slow cooker. When all jars are out of the slow cooker, add more very hot water so it doesn't dry out. You will have to keep adding water to the slow cooker as the days go by. Just make sure the jars are out of it and it's hot water you are adding. You can turn it off over night so it's not cooking when no one is there to keep an eye on it. Mine goes off and on during the days when I'm cooking herbs. Be very careful handling the jars. They are HOT. Don't handle them with your bare hands. For faster infusion, you can use a steamer. I use the slow cooker method most of the time. When the 5-7 days are finished, strain the herbs. Toss out the cooked herbs. There is nothing left in them of any use. I use a little metal strainer with a coffee filter in it, set on a bowl or a wide mouth jar, to strain the oil. When you have clear, strained, herb infused oil, it's time to add the wax. 

 

You can use beeswax, soy wax or paraffin. All work equally well. I prefer to use soya wax for this purpose. Beeswax is becoming a non sustainable resource. I save my beeswax for lip balm. After straining the oil, you will need to reheat it to melt the wax. I reheat the herb infused oils in the microwave, without the metal lid. A small jar of oil takes about 2-3 minutes to get hot enough in the microwave. You can also set the jars in a double boiler on the stove to heat. If the wax is just not melting, the oil is not hot enough. Do not leave oil heating unattended and do not over heat it. It should be just hot enough to melt the wax within a few minutes of stirring. When the oil is hot enough, add the wax and stir until dissolved. I use 100g of wax added to 400g of oil for salve. You can adjust this for your own preferences. Less wax makes a softer, oilier salve. When the wax is fully melted in the oil, pour it into your clean permanent containers and put the lid on. Leave them sitting still for a few hours as the salve cools and hardens.

I have a slow cooker that I use only for infusing herbal oil. The oils leak out slightly and the slow cooker will get a coating of cooked oil with little use. I wouldn't use it for food. You can often pick up an old slow cooker at the thrift store. I have three, one for herbal oil infusion, one for making soap and one for food. 

My Bug Bite Salve herbs: purslane that I grow myself, plantain, yarrow, calendula, sow thistle. 

 

My Pain Salve herbs: willow bark, wild lettuce, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, spruce, cloves, cayenne 

My Healing Salve herbs: calendula, cayenne, cedarwood, chamomile, clover, lavender, rose, feverfew, horsetail, lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary, sage, spruce, sow thistle, yarrow (You don't need all of these herbs. Use what you can get where you are.) 

My Anti-Fungal Salve herbs: Usnea, Lavender, Spruce, Tea Tree, Peppermint My Nail and Cuticle Salve Recipe: Horsetail, usnea, lavender