Soap Making Ingredients

Soap is made by mixing fats, oils and a reactive agent.

On this page you will find an outline of the most commonly used soap making ingredients, with links to more detailed on each of the different categories of ingredients.

This is particularly important if you are going to experiment with creating your own soap recipes.

Not only is a good idea to gain at least a basic understanding of the common ingredients, but also some idea of how they react with each other!

In soap making there are three main types of base ingredients, reactive agents (the chemicals), carrier oils and fats, and water or milk.

You do not need any additional ingredients if you are making a basic white soap, but what is you want to add a fragrance or a color?

Chemicals used as Reactive Agents in Soap Making

The chemicals used in the soap making process include caustic soda or sodium hydroxide, borax or sodium borate and KOH or Potassium hydroxide if you are making liquid soap.

Carrier Oils and Fats Used in Soap Making

You can use just about any type of fat or carrier oil for making your soap, but as each oil has different properties, the quantities of water and chemicals will vary depending on the composition of your fat and oil base. So if you are going to mix and match your oils and fats to create different types of soap, make sure you check out your recipe with a lye calculator to make sure that you have got the proportions right.

The most common fats and oils (and the easiest to obtain) include Olive Oil, Lard and Tallow.

Water Used in Soap Making

Although you can use mains water for making soap, for the best result it is generally better to use a softer water like distilled water or rainwater.

Distilled water can be purchased relatively cheaply from the cleaning aisle in your supermarket.

Fragrances Used in Soap Making

Most soap makers use essential oils to add a fragrance to their soaps, some use essential oils or fragrant oils that are commercially available and yet others extract their own oils from aromatic plants in their own gardens.

Lavender is one of the most popular fragrances for handmade soaps but the range of fragrant oils that are readily available is quite extensive.

Color Additives Used in Soap Making

You have quite a few options for coloring your soap, from commercially prepared compounds to adding natural ingredients with their own color which are added after trace.

How will you color your soap?

Base Ingredients for Melt and Pour Soaps

If you are not keen on making your soap from scratch, you can buy base ingredients for melt and pour soap instead.

Extra Ingredients Used in Soap Making

The possibilities for other ingredients for your soap are virtually endless depending on what you intend to use the soap for. You can add ingredients to create texture or to add interest, like oatmeal for example.

Or you could add natural clays to beauty soaps to change the moisturising properties and to add color. Sand or other abrasives can be added to create a soap suitable for mechanics or garderners to use to remove stubborn stains on the skin.

Solvents used for Transparent Soap Making

If you decide to experiment with Glycerine or Transparent soaps you are going to need to use a number of different solvents for your soap making.

Typical solvents include alcohol (vodka or ehtanol), gylcerine and sugar.

Return to top of Soap Making Ingredients

Return to top of Homepage of Making Soap from Scratch