(Homesteading.news) Have you ever thought of making your own soap and skin care products in your own home? You can, you know, and do so easily and cheaply.

What’s more, you can even make soaps with different fragrances and textures. And it’s not hard to learn, either; most adjustments aren’t difficult, but they do take some practice.

Before we get started though, Betsy at DIY Natural has a word of caution about lye:

The one thing in homemade soap you can’t substitute is lye. You should always use 100% sodium hydroxide, or lye in crystal form. Don’t substitute liquid lye or drain cleaners such as Drano. These may cause inaccurate measurements or have bits of metal in them. You don’t want either.

Lye is caustic. It can eat holes in fabric and cause burns on your skin. Always be extra careful when using lye. Use gloves and eye protection and a mask if desired. When you mix the lye with water, it will heat up and fume for about 30 seconds to a minute. It may cause a choking sensation in your throat. Don’t worry, it’s not permanent and will go away after a few minutes. Always add lye to water (not water to lye), and start stirring right away. If allowed to clump on the bottom, it could heat up all at once and cause an explosion.

She adds that once lye reacts with the oils in your soap it becomes neutralized and none of it will remain in your finished soap product.

Read the rest of her soap-making tips here regarding soap-making basics, what equipment to use (and not use), additives, and much more, here.

Basic soap

You’ll need these ingredients [H/T About Home]

6.5 oz. palm oil

6.5 oz. coconut oil

7.5 oz. olive oil

1.3 oz. castor oil

8 oz. water

3.1 oz. lye

1 oz. of fragrance oil or essential oil blend

Preparation time for this recipe is about 1 hour.

First, mix your lye solution – click here to find out how to do it safely and effectively. When you’re finished, set it aside and let it cool.

Next, measure out and then heat your solid oils until they are completely melted. Then measure and add in the liquid oils to the melted oil solution.

When both the lye and the oils are about 100-110 degrees, slowly pour your lye solution into the oils. Use a stick blender to stir them together, altering manual stirring with short blasts of the blender. Mix the soap solution until it reaches a light trace.

Next, add your fragrance oil and mix it thoroughly with your soap solution. From there, pour the raw soap into your molds and let it cool and harden for 12-24 hours. Cut/slice into bars and then your soap cure for another 2-4 weeks.

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