But whatever your situation, you have started exploring the possibilities of becoming a work-at-home soap maker. You love the idea of a natural produce...
You are a stay-at-home mom, or a retired person, or someone who lives in an area where good full-time jobs are hard to find. Or you're just someone who loves to make, and would love it even more if you can recoup the expenses in your craft, or on air if you can really support yourself in it. But whatever your situation, you have started exploring the possibility of becoming a work-at-home soap maker.
You love the idea of producing a natural product that will have health benefits for those who use it, and offers an alternative to the more processed, and often toxically altered, commercial soaps.
So you want to get started, but what's the minimum you need to know before doing so? First, you need to assess your living situation and decide whether you have the physical facilities to make soap at an income-producing level.
It's one thing to whip up a few pounds of soap for family use, and another thing to produce entirely in batches enough to satisfy customer demand for dozens, or, hopefully, hundreds.
Second, decide which soap making technique you will use. As a beginner, you can start by using "melt-and-pour" soap bases and adding your own fragrances and colors until you're satisfied that you want to continue with a more advanced technique. It might be wise to do.
If you have a microwave, or a double boiler and standard stove, you can use the Melt and Pour method. You'll also need a supply of soap base, a heat-resistant container, essential or fragrance oils, colorants, and any other additives — oatmeal for exfoliants, honey, glycerin, or aloe vera gel, or dried flower buds for treatments and emollients. As agents, and almond meal are just a few tips for absorbing excess skin oils.
They can all be found at your craft or grocery store. You'll melt your soap base according to the manufacturer's instructions, in the microwave or double boiler, stir in your additives, and pour it into your molds.
Once cool, it will pour out immediately, and you will have your first homemade soap!
If, however, you want to make soap the "old-fashioned," cold-pressed way, remember that it requires the use of lye. So you should have an area where you can use lye without it having problems with caustic fumes. This implies an area away from your usual living space – perhaps a porch, garage or workshop.
Since cold-pressed soap ingredients need to be measured by weight, you'll need an adjustable scale. Research the types of oils available, and learn what properties each will provide to your finished soap.
Most soap makers use a mixture of different oils. You will need it when you work with lye, gloves, goggles and protective clothing; Glass, enamel, or plastic containers in which to mix the lye, and wooden or plastic utensils with which to stir it as the lye, will corrode the metal, and a supply of white vinegar is handy for neutralizing any lye. .
You will also need two glass or stainless steel thermometers to measure the temperature before mixing your oils and lye/water mixture. Most soaps, if left odorless, will have an "oily/lye" odor, so it's best to add essential oils to your batch of soap, about one tablespoon per pound.
Essential oils, due to their molecular structure, act as "aromatherapy" when hot water releases its aroma.
Therefore, you will definitely need to find some reliable local or online suppliers that provide what you need for your business, and don't be afraid to contact them about discounts on your quantity purchases.
You will also need to make decisions about your bookkeeping and order-taking system and incorporation options. You'll need a marketing plan, and at least initially, spend as much time creating your soaps as you do promoting them. You will need to familiarize yourself with the tax and insurance consequences of owning a home-based business, so you will need to speak to an attorney at some point.
But if you've tried, and loved making your own soap, received positive feedback from friends, and you have the time and financial resources to devote to turning your passion for soap making into a full-time business, that's a lot. In the not-too-distant future you and your natural soap could be "cleansing"!
