Our First Experience Making Homemade Soap

We finally did it! We made homemade soap!

I had been really nervous about it due to the causticity of the lye, but youngest daughter came over one afternoon and we braved the experiment together. Overall, it was a good experience, though I did have a big mishap. I didn't get the lid to the lye container screwed on tight enough, and when I picked it up (by the lid, of course 🙄), it fell, tipped over, and spilled half its contents. This became a learning opportunity on how to best neutralize lye pellets. I am slowly making my way through neutralizing half a container of now-dirty lye pellets (I was mixing the lye-water solution outside to better vent the fumes and had to sweep them up, dirt and all). 😂 

For our first experiment, we followed the recipe and directions from The Soapmaker's Companion, a book we had sitting on the shelf waiting for the moment when I would finally try soap making. We used the recipe for the Soap Essentials Bar II (p. 18 in my copy) and added lemongrass essential oil for fragrance. 


The book we used

We ended up having more than what would fit in the one soap mold we had, so we used an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper for the overflow. Hopefully, with practice future batches will be prettier. If I use the 8x8 pan again, I definitely need to make sure I get the soap more evenly distributed so that it is not thinner at the corners. 

I am pleased to report that it was solid enough to cut after 24 hours, which is good news. Now, it just has to cure for four weeks before use to ensure that the lye reacts completely with the oils.


Our first batch drying on cardboard

After cutting the bars, we put them out to dry in the laundry room. This has had the added benefit of filling the room with a lovely lemongrass scent. We are looking forward both to trying out the soap and to making another batch.


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