SOAP-MAKING GUIDE

~ Body, House and Laundry soaps ~

Soap is easy to make with a bit of help.
Familiar oils can be used such as palm,
coconut, shea, allanblackia and cocoa.
The water used in soap manufacture can
be infused with medicinal plants like
moringa, even citrus peel or flowers to
add fragrance. Additions such as honey,
aloe and citrus juice all have beneficial
properties.

This guide presents succinctly the tool,
steps and procedure for making soap. Also included are basic recipes for
body, general use and laundry soaps.
Introduction
1. Equipment
2. Safety and Precautions
3. Oils
4. Caustic Soda Preparation
5. Soap Making
6. Recipes
7. Moulds
8. Labels
~ Contents ~
1. Equipment
Pot for heating oil
Filter for oil
2 tomato paste tins, clean and dry (approx 1/4 cup each)
1 plastic bottle that holds 1L
1 soup spoon
1 knife
1 small bowl or cup
2 plastic buckets
1 long wooden stick
Latex gloves (or plastic bags to cover hands)
Moulds (wooden, silicone or tetrapaks)
1 wooden or plastic spatula
Basic ingredients found in all soaps :

Clean and filtered water
Caustic soda (sometimes called << white spirit >> )
Filtered and pourable oil (warmed to the point it is fluid)
Secrtariat du Rseau Africain de Forts Modles
BP 33678 / Yaound, Cameroun
Tl : +237-77696804
www.africanmodelforests.net
Cuso International
200-44 Eccles Street / Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1R 6S4
www.cusointernational.org
VSO Cameroon
BP 25127 Messa / Yaound, Cameroun
Tl : +237-22217607
www.vsointernational.org
26-09-2013 par T Stanton-Kennedy
2. Safety and Precautions
While making soap is simple, is can be
dangerous if we do not take basic security
precautions.

1. Always work in a well-ventilated and
sheltered area to avoid toxic vapours from
burning eyes and lungs.

2. Wear protective equipment :
Glasses or goggles
Face mask (like a scarf or surgical
mask)
Latex gloves
Clothing that covers the length of
your arms, legs and close-toed shoes

3. Never use any equipment made of
aluminium if it will come in contact with
the caustic soda.

4. Do not use soap-making equipment for any other purpose - especially
the preparation of food.

5. The caustic soda is always added to water - never the reverse so as to
avoid dangerous explosions.

6. Finished body soap must dry very well is a sheltered and protected
area during minimum 4 weeks before use to ensure chemical burns do
not occur.

Skin burns from caustic
soda are very dangerous.

Treatment : Rinse the area
well with vinegar then
follow with cold water.
Repeat during 20 minutes.
Palm and coconut oils are
naturally sudsing. Including them
eliminates the need to buy and
add an artificial sudsing agent.

For all body soaps it is better to
never use more the 75% refined
palm oil as an ingredient as it can
be very drying for the skin. As
such, for a recipe requiring 1.5 L
of oils one would not use more
than 1 L of refined palm oil.
3. Oils 4. Caustic soda preparation
The caustic soda and water mixture should be prepared well in advance
of the mixing with oil stage. If one wishes to make soap in the morning,
the caustic soda solution should be prepared the night before. At least
12 hours should elapse to permit the solution to cool completely, which
in turn will diminish the potential for burns.

3 full tomato tins of caustic soda (about 14 tbs or 200 mL)
1 L filtered water

The caustic soda is ALWAYS added to the water, NEVER the reverse in
order to avoid explosions. Stir gently while adding the soda until all of it
has dissolved.
Be careful as this mixture
releases TOXIC VAPOURS!
Caution - this mixture can
BURN you badly.
ss -.o-sc-ro
.+-s s.oss o.
-.+s-rc .+ss
..s+--rs
-.o-sc-s: .
+s o. sc+.-
.os s.ssss +:
cos.s: .sss
-ss- -.o-sc-s: . c.oss:-os s-oss
Add lemon juice
and / or honey to
the cooled and
filtered oils.
4
Prepare the caustic
soda solution
5. Soap Making
Soap is the result of a chemical reaction
between oil and caustic soda called
saponification.
At each step ensure hands and body are protected by
adequate clothing. Use gloves even when cutting the soap
after its initial set.
1
Allow the solution to
cool between 12 and
24 hours.
2
If desired, whiten the palm
oil. Warm oil to the point it
pours easily and can be
readily filtered. Filter the oil
and then allow it to cool to
room temperature. Combine
all oils to be used
together in one bucket.
3
Slowly add the caustic
soda solution to the oils,
gently stirring in a single
direction the entire time..
5
Hold the stirrer at almost 90
degrees to the bucket while
continuing to stir the mixture
vigorously in the same
direction during 20 to 30
minutes while monitoring for
evidence of the trace. The
trace is the stage where the
mixture is well combined and
ready to pour into moulds. It
occurs when the mix
resembles fufu or peanut butter. A line
drawn on the top remains.
6
Place moulds on a large piece of plastic or
banana leaves. Pour the soap into the
forms and allow to harden during 24 hours.
7
** If one is adding perfume, add it at the stage of the trace and before pouring into moulds.
Remove the soap from
the moulds and cut or
clean it as required.

Allow the soap to dry on
its side over 4 weeks in a
well-ventilated area,
protected from dust and
inaccessible to children.
Be sure to rotate the
soap from side to side
each week to ensure even drying. This step - called the cure - ensures
the soap is well-dried and hard as well as ensuring that the chemical
reactions of saponification have finished thus diminishing the chance
of burning the skin. If making house cleaning soap, the bars are useable
after one week of curing.
8
Clean your tools well in readiness for the next batch! 9
fin

-.+s-rc s-ss- o.
.+++ .s+ss
- sss .o: so+-
: ss -o.ss c.s+rs so+-
6. Recipes
The recipes below were developed by the
womens shea butter cooperative COFTRAKOL ,
from Bangangt, Cameroon.
You can experiment with oil type, infusions in
water as well as natural additions like citrus,
honey and aloe. To make soap you only need oil,
water and caustic soda - but additions bring their
own benefits for skin. The important thing to
remember is to not exceed the 5 small tomato tins
of liquid in the recipe (about equivalent of 23 tbs
or 340 mL).
.o: so+-
1 L clean and filtered water
3 tomato tins of caustic soda

1.5 L oil
3 tomato tins of honey
2 tomato tins of lemon juice or other
acid fruit (oranges, limes, grapefruit,
pineapple, etc.)

2 soup spoons of fragrance (if desired,
not required)
-o.ss so+-
1/2 L clean and filtered water
1 tomato tin plus one soup spoon of caustic
soda (210 g)

1.5 L whitened palm oil
.+.:. -o:s.
5 L clean and filtered water
1 kg caustic soda

5 L palm oil, warmed to liquid
kg sodium bicarbonate
1 cup kitchen or sea salt
5 soup spoons (10 mL) liquid bleach
1 soup spoon of fragrance
1 coffee spoon of laundry blue powder
1 spoon to 500 mL of artificial sudsing
agent (as desired based on level of
bubbles sought)
Large plastic sheet over which to pour
mixture
1 metal screen to shred hardened soap
into powder
:r.sc-ros
Add the laundry blue to the oil, then add the salt,
bleach and sudsing agent.
Stir vigorously.
Slowly add the caustic soda solution while continuing
to stir.
Stir the mixture until the trace stage is reached.
Add fragrance if desired.
Pour the mixture over the plastic cloth and allow to
dry during 24 hours.
Grate the soap using a metal sieve or screen.
In a thin layer, leave the powder to dry several days
more on the plastic sheet.
coftrakoln@yahoo.fr
8. Labels
If you are hoping to sell soap, a label adds visual impact
and permits the buyer to contact the maker. A stamp can
also be used to mark the bar with a design or logo but
needs to be very sharp to be effective. Cloth bags, home-
made paper or ribbons can all be used to create simple but
attractive packaging.

A simple label is a piece of paper covered with clear
tape or cling film.

List ingredients used in the soap by order of
greatest proportion to least.

Dont forget to include contact information!
7. Moulds
Anything can be used as a soap mould
unless it contains aluminium. The best
moulds make removing soap easy and are
simple to clean. You may need to clean
the bar of soap using a knife if there are
stained or uneven areas. Silicone moulds
are the best for soap production but are
unfortunately expensive.

A mould can be made of wood with many
openings to create bars of identical
measure thus eliminating the need to but
a large block into even sizes. However,
removing the soap takes time. A single
block of soap must be measured and cut,
but the form can be lined with plastic to
ease removal. Tetrapaks can also be used
as moulds, but are easy to destroy after a
single use.
Cuso International recognises funding support for this project from the Government of Canada s Ministry of Natural Resources