This was the day I fell in love. Once I worked up the nerve, there was no turning back. It was far far from professional. I’m the type person that when I decide to something, I just go for it. In this case I started working on getting all my materials.
First, I download a free soap app and gathered oils. My oils were left overs from previous projects. Olive oil, castor oil, coconut oil, Shea butter, and cocoa butter is what I had on hand. Actually, the olive oil came from the kitchen. It was the end of the bottle. I passed on an fragrance oil, colors, and any other additives. I wasn’t ready to buy or experiment with those just yet. With my oils determined and use of a soap calculator, I was ready to move to the next step.
I then went to a local hardware store to buy sodium hydroxide. That was quite an experience. The employee there grilled me about why I was buying lye. He asked me sereval questions. I kept my cool, but I was almost afraid he wasn’t going to let me buy it. Come to find out his aunt was an avid soap maker and sent him soap all the time but he never used it. Anyway, I checked lye off the list. While out I picked up the distilled water from a grocery store that was on the way home.
Most of my bowls and utensils were things from around the house. I gathered items that we no longer used. One of the molds that I used was an old mug lined with a plastic bag and the other was a small silicone mold from the dollar store. I got the cheapest stick blend I could find. My safety gear, safety glasses and mask, were from the dollar store as well.
With all my materials gathered, I got started. I was excited but I was very cautious. I took my time weighing out oils and lye. Even though I wasn’t using any fragrance oil, I was afraid the soap would seize on me. I paid close attention to how the soap batter looked. I kept asking myself if the lye solution was completely mixed into the soap. Therefore, I blended the soap batter a little longer than necessary. I eventually got the soap batter into my molds. Everything was fine.
Now was the hard part, the waiting game. I couldn’t wait to unmold and slice it up. I’m sure I checked that soap every few hours. When the time came, I used an old kitchen knife. Everything worked out. I made soap! It wasn’t pretty but still soap.
Like I said at the beginning, there was no turning back. I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to do it again. Now I was thinking about all the different colors and fragrances I wanted to try. Immediately, I felt the need to buy a proper mold. I became a soap maker that day.