The A-Z of Soap Making

Attitude:

Whether you’re making soap or selling it, attitude is everything. BE POSITIVE! Go into soap making with a "can do" attitude and a smile, and the quality of your soap will benefit from it!

Boxes:

Boxes are good for storing your supplies, shipping your soaps, wrapping your soaps, and separating different kinds of soap!

Coffee Filters:

Coffee filters are a great way to wrap soaps that are large and round. You can even seal them with wax or stickers! Coffee filters are available in a variety of colors and patterns. I use rubber stamps on mine to give them a cheerful look.

Dye:

In some cases, food coloring works just as well as soap dye, but if you don’t want bland soap, you’re going to need some sort of liquid coloring agent.

Essential Oils:

Essential oils are an…essential part of soap making. Making your soaps smell good and also giving the soap different therapy and health benefits will make your soap appeal to all sorts of people.

Fun:

Once you have the basics down you should definitely work on your fun factor! Not only do you want soap making to be a fun pastime, but your customers will appreciate soap that is colorful and creative.

Goggles:

For your safety while dealing with lye.

Heat Safe Containers:

To cook ingredients together, or to melt soap base, you’re going to be needing something that can withstand a great deal of heat, because soap gets really hot.

Ingredients:

Soap making generally involves a recipe, so you should make sure you have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go.

Jars:

These are for storing any herbs and oils that you plan to use in your soap.

Knife:

For cutting your soap.

Lye:

Unless you’re using a special recipe or melt and pour soaps, you’re going to need lye. It’s important to follow safety procedures with lye since it can be extremely dangerous to children and pets. It’s usually best to handle it in a well-ventilated place with no thru-traffic and while wearing safety equipment.

Microwave:

For ingredients, and also snacks while you wait for your soaps to be ready (Just be sure to wash your hands first).

Novel:

A good book can help you get through the long periods of waiting for ingredients to finish cooking or soap to finish setting.

Oil:

Aside from essential oils, most soap recipes require coconut, olive or vegetable oil as a major ingredient.

Paperwork:

If you plan to sell your soap, you’re gonna want to make sure you have the proper paperwork done. Please be sure you are in compliance with local, state, and federal laws if you turn your hobby into a business.

Questions:

I’m a firm believer in asking questions. You should be prepared to answer questions from people who are interested in your soaps, but you should also answer any questions you have about soap making. Why are you doing it? How are you going to do it? Etc.

Rubber Gloves:

For that evil genius feeling, and also to protect you from chemicals, like lye, that you may be using for your soaps.

Safety:

Whether it’s melt and pour soap or lye, you should always use the proper safety equipment! Not only does it keep you safe, but sometimes it’s just fun to pretend you’re an evil scientist.

Tools:

Make sure you have all the tools you need before you start making soap. You definitely don’t want to have to start all over because you forgot something important like a mixing spoon or a bowl.

Uniqueness:

A huge selling point of homemade products is uniqueness, try to make your soap different than anyone else's. Sell soaps that no one else has.

Victims:

…I mean testers. People close to you who are willing to be guinea pigs and will be honest about what they like and dislike about your soaps.

Website:

Having a website can boost your sales pretty quickly.

Xenial Personality:

A friendly personality will help you find more clients and build relationships with your customers.

Yarn:

To creatively tie around your soap and to help with packaging.

Ziplock Bags:

Ziplock bags are great for storing leftover soap, coloring, powders, and glitter.