Made More Soap, Superfatted This Time

One of the reasons I got into soapmaking in the first place was to have a more moisturizing soap than the typical, affordable soaps I'd been using for years. I wanted to "superfat" the soap, which means to add a high fat oil after the soap is made but before it is poured into the mold. The effect it has is to leave a layer of the superfatted oil on the skin as an extra moisturizer. To be honest I was afraid to do it, and those oils are expensive and usually require a special order from a company on the Internet so I delayed. Until now.

(The second reason I started making my own soap is that I am too frugal to pay $5-7 per bar of soap to buy a high quality soap that a factory or a cottage industry soapmaker created.)

I decided to use the easiest recipe I've ever made, Sandy Maine's Oatmeal Complexion Soap and to add Shea Butter as the superfatting ingredient. The recipe is in her book Clean, Naturally. Without the superfatting oil and without any extra essential oils for extra scent I have figured this bar of soap costs me 35 cents to make, a far cry from $5 or $7.  Without scent the soap has a lovely scent from the oatmeal. I will clarify that I followed the directions in the book, which includes the use of inexpensive vegetable shortening (plant oils). Also I did not use organic oils in this batch. If I were to make soaps with organic oils or with more expensive oils, the bars would cost more to produce.

Here are some photos of the soapmaking process when I made this batch this summer.


The oils and oatmeal.

Melting the oils.

It is changing to soap, becoming saponified.

I added the melted shea butter and stirred. You can clearly see the difference between the finished, saponified soap and the not-yet saponified mixture.

Ready for the mold. I use a Sterlite container that costs one dollar because it was all I could afford for a long time. I am close to ordering a professional mold and cutter.

Here are the finished bars. They are uneven as they were cut by hand. When I get a professional soap mold and soap cutter they will look more uniform.

After reading three books on soapmaking to learn the craft I decided that Clean, Naturally was the best one. I borrowed it from the library so many times I finally gave up and ordered my own copy. It has other recipes for home cleaning materials too.

After I taught myself with books people have uploaded video tutorials on YouTube to show the process which is very helpful if you don't know someone that can teach you in person. There are also more websites now with free recipes and directions.

I found a great company to buy more specialized soapmaking oils such as the Shea Butter from: Mountain Rose Herbs.

So if you ever wanted to make soap, I'd like to encourage you to give it a try. Besides the basic safety issues with working with lye the process is actually not that difficult.


















Disclosure: I was not paid to write this review nor am I affiliated in any way with Sandy Maine or Mountain Rose Herbs. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link at the top of my blog's sidebar.