Hi ! I’m David from Chicago, USA. I’m a Chemical Engineering student and I like to try new things and do as much as I can myself. I’d love to get to the stage where I could make all our soap and not have to buy it commercially ever again. But that’s a long way down the track. For now I’ll probably just start with something very basic, then work my way up to the trickier and more dangerous stuff.
I want to make soap because I like doing things with my hands, because I love scents, and because it sounds like something fun to do. It might help me save some money as well, or help the environment, which are nice bonuses. I want to learn how to make quality & special natural soap. Making soap is a chemical process after all !
I’ve gathered some knowledge about the chemistry behind soaps, and now I want to try these out practically.. Fat and oil molecules are very long and repell water, but when you react them with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), one of the ends of these long molecules changes and its attracted to water. This gives a new molecule where one end of it mixes with water, and the other end is attracted to dirt and oils just as before. This is how you make soap. To increase the chances of all the molecules reacting make sure you mix at the right temperature, and also stiring the reactive mixture with put more molecules in contact with each other so increase the chances of reactions. In commercial soap-making (which uses petroleum and animal derived oils) other chemicals (enzymes) are added which help speed up the reaction.
I want to make soap because I like doing things with my hands, because I love scents, and because it sounds like something fun to do. It might help me save some money as well, or help the environment, which are nice bonuses. I want to learn how to make quality & special natural soap. Making soap is a chemical process after all !
I’ve gathered some knowledge about the chemistry behind soaps, and now I want to try these out practically.. Fat and oil molecules are very long and repell water, but when you react them with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), one of the ends of these long molecules changes and its attracted to water. This gives a new molecule where one end of it mixes with water, and the other end is attracted to dirt and oils just as before. This is how you make soap. To increase the chances of all the molecules reacting make sure you mix at the right temperature, and also stiring the reactive mixture with put more molecules in contact with each other so increase the chances of reactions. In commercial soap-making (which uses petroleum and animal derived oils) other chemicals (enzymes) are added which help speed up the reaction.
