I think I want to try Hot Process soap and whipped soap. These are different than the
Cold Process soaping that I do now. I do Cold Process Oven Process (CPOP). For Cold Process I mix my warm oils/butters with warm, not hot, lye water to make soap. I stick blend until I have trace, which is a runny pudding like texture (when you move the stick blender around you see a “trace” or trail of its movement). The mixture produces it’s own heat during saponification; no additional heat is added to the process. I used to insulate with towels, but I found it much easier to Oven Process it which means I warm my oven to 170 then when I put my soap in I turn off the oven. The oven becomes the insulator rather than layers of towels. Sometimes, if I’m making a bunch of batches like I did over the weekend I’ll leave the oven on until the last batch goes in, then turn it off. I wait 24 hours or so until the saponification process is complete when I can unmold and cut. The warm soap goes through a gel phase where it looks translucent, sort of like vaseline. I know some people purposefully don’t have their soap go through the gel phase by not insulating and even putting their soap into the freezer. I haven’t tried that yet, but I hear it’s a good way to make milk soaps because the mixture doesn’t get too hot so scorch the milk sugars and make the soap go orange. CPOP is great for me because I have a double oven so it doesn’t interfere with regular cooking and it’s a great place to store saponifying soap away from the cats. I don’t want the cats messing up the soap or the hot lye soaping messing up the cats. The mixture is still really caustic as the lye is saponifying with the oils. Any time after the soap is unmolded the soap needs to cure or dry. This time allows for the extra water to evaporate and create a harder longer lasting bar. You could use the soap right away since the saponification process is already complete and there shouldn’t be any lye left over, but you’d have a softer bar that will not last very long in the shower it will melt quicker maybe become gooey. Over time the soap will become milder as well because it’s a harder bar you use less of it in the shower so therefore milder.
Hot Process is done in the oven or slow cooker or double
boiler. I have an extra slow cooker donated by my parents who planned on never using it again. So in Hot Process I would mix my oils/butters with the lye water which I don’t have to wait until it cools from
hot to warm. I mix them together until I reach trace then I let the mixture cook in the slow cooker on low for about one hour. The soap goes through the saponification with the assistance of the added heat. I can watch it go through the gel phase. By about an hour it’s like thick applesauce or whipped potatoes or and translucent like Vaseline; it’s gelled. At that point the saponification is complete. All the lye has been used up with the oils to make soap. I would glop the mixture into a mold, then let it cool. It can be unmolded as soon as it’s cooled down. No need to wait 24 hours. Soap is made even
before it hits the mold. It produces a more rustic looking bar. Swirling of colors and what not can be more chunky since it’s such a thick mixture. Still needs the cure/dry time but maybe a little less than with
CPOP because it’s already evaporated some during the cooking process.
Whipped soap is another method. I would take softened solid oils and butters like coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter (solid at room temp) then whip them with a hand mixer, like whipping cream. Once they are
whipped then add the liquid oils like olive oil, castor oil, avocado oil and whip again. Then take the cooled lye water and add slowly to the whipped oils. It should look like whipping cream or frosting. This whipped product can be glopped into a mold or used with a piping bag to create soaps that look like
desserts. I’ve seen people make soaps using the silicone cupcake molds then top it with whipped soap ‘frosting’. It will complete the saponification similar to the CP method. This whipped soap will float because it has so much air in it.
Interesting huh?
I find it all fascinating. Yeah, I want to try these two methods of soapmaking. I got my mom’s old
slow cooker and I just purchased an inexpensive hand mixer from Target… I just need the time… weekend… friday…
Oh yeah, there’s also making liquid soap which is a Hot Process using Potassium Hydroxide lye rather than Sodium Hydroxide lye.
