Basic Soap Making

O.K so you want to make your own soap? over the next few days i'm going to tell you a little bit about the basics and maybe encourage you to have a go.

The process i use is called COLD PROCESS soap making, it involves the use of Lye aka Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide can be extremely dangerous if proper precautions aren't taken even deadly if ingested, so please be safe remove pets, kids, and inform everyone what you are doing and to not touch anything, make sure your lye water is labelled and don't use any container someone may mistake for a drinking vessel.
O.k now that i've given you the warnings hopefully i haven't scared you all off, if you are sensible about soap making it's all good!

Here is a list of Equipment you will need to start:

MOST IMPORTANT!
GOGGLES and GLOVES - Lye & Raw soap batter is to be treated with upmost respect, it burns skin and if it happens to go in your eye may blind you, ALWAYS WEAR THE GOGGLES! You can pick them up fairly cheap at hardware stores, the clear full eye cover ones are the best, DO NOT START SOAPING UNTIL YOU HAVE THESE ON!

Stainless steel container for mixing Lye - do not use Pyrex they can explode from the heat, and never use aluminium you will end up with a big black mess and potentially toxic fumes! Some plastics are safe not sure which grade, if you are going to use plastic (which i don't recommend) don't use it for any other purpose.

Stainless Steel or Heat Proof plastic for mixing Lye and Oils - I used to use those white buckets from Bunnings with the sealable lids, i have purchased SS stock pots from BIG W super cheap so use them now, if you don't want to use soap equipment (i keep everything separate) for other things try the local thrift stores, but remember SS not aluminium.

Double boiler or crock pot - the best way to heat your oils slowly without burning them/catching on fire, some people use microwaves, either way be careful not to overheat your oils, you don't want an oil fire! The crockpot i find is excellent for small batches.

Whisk - Useful to start mixing and adding fancy tops or swirls later on.

Silicone Spatula - if you can get the all-in-one moulded spatulas they are best as they don't fall to bits, useful for scraping every little last bit out of your container.

Scales - i use digital scales purchased from the supermarket, they need to be pretty accurate.

Mould - You can use: washed out milk container, pringles container, silicone muffin moulds (can't be used for food after though), any plastic that can survive in boiling water stay away from coloured plastic though as it can leech into soap, pvc pipes lined with baking paper, an old solid shallow draw lined with baking paper, basically you are only limited by your own imagination.

Vinegar - used to neutralize any spills, always keep a big bottle of plain white vinegar nearby when soaping.