The Westport Library Resource Guides: Soap Making: At Home DIY

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How to Make Handmade Soap

If you’re a DIYer who enjoys crafting or making your own cosmetics, like hair masks or body scrub, you might be tempted to try your hand at making hand, bath, or decorative soap, especially if your favorite bars are currently sold out or hard to come by. The soap you make won't kill germs, but it will certainly wash them away as well as any other bar soap you might buy. And while it seems simple enough, according to the experts in our Good Housekeeping Institute Health, Beauty, and Environmental Sciences Lab, making soap from scratch is a serious endeavor that requires more than just a few kitchen tools and some basic skills.

Making soap at home requires two types of ingredients — an acid and a base. These chemically react together in what is called “saponification” and produce the soap along with glycerin as a byproduct. No commercial or homemade soap can be made without these two ingredients. Continue reading from Good Housekeeping