Poppy Seed Soap

Making cold process soap can be fun and easy. Make it as simple or challenging as you like. My first recipe was incredibly simple (olive oil, lye and water). Over time add or change ingredients until your soap is perfect for you. Handle lye with the respect it deserves, it can burn you. I recommend using lye calculators and fragrance calculators to make sure your recipe is safe. Enjoy the process and the end product. I have.

Supplies need:

-scale that can be zeroed

-measuring containers

-soap molds

-Immersion blender

-spatula/ mixing tool

-Consider using gloves when working with lye. Lye is caustic and can chemically burn you.

Raw ingredients

-oils/fats: tallow, coconut oil and olive oil

-lye

-water

-lemongrass essential oil

-poppyseeds

Each soap mold takes about 800g of fat/oil. Use a lye calculator online to design a good recipe. I aim for 8% superfat and make sure the essential oils I use don't exceed 3% of the weight of the oils. Base all your measurements off of weight instead of volume.

Measure out everything using an accurate scale. Mine measures down to 0.5 grams

Combine and melt the oils and fats.

I use my microwave. If the oil blend is too hot, it can affect how it performs once the lye is added. Feel free to let it cool done.

Add lye to water and stir carefully in a well ventilated place .

This will produce heat and caustic fumes. I use my stove hood fan on high. If lye water splashes on you, rinse it off with lots of water. Lye will chemically burn your skin if it comes in contact.

Add lye water to fats and oils and mix with immersion blender.

The lye chemically reacts with the oils to make soap. The batter will turn opaque as it mixes.

Use the immersion blender to mix the batter until it start to trace (thicken). Trace can be seen when the batter is thick enough that drops take a moment to flatten back into the surface

Add essential oils and mix. One of my favorites is lemongrass.

I like to add these at a light trace as some essential oils can make the batter turn very thick quickly. I limit essential oils to 3% of the total fat/oil weight. Check online fragrance calculators for how much essential oil is safe to use.

Add poppy seeds and stir in.

This is just for texture, it will add some scrubby feeling to the soap.

Pour in mounds and flatten.

As the lye keeps reacting with the oils, a good bit of heat will be produced. I usually end up with some batter on my hands, if this happens to you, wash it off in a timely fashion.

Lemongrass essential oil can make soap batter heat up extra, puffing up the middle and making it crack. When this happens use a spoon to vent the heat, stir the middle part of the batter, and squish it back flat.

After 24 to 48 hours your soap should be firm enough to cut without being hard enough to be difficult. After cutting, age the bars in a cool dark place for at least 4 weeks. This lets the lye finish reacting with the oils and lets extra moisture escape, improving how the soap lathers. As soap ages the lather will continue to improve. Some of the essential oil scents will fade over time.

Once the soap is aged, try a bar out. I enjoy seeing how different oil combinations change the lather, and how the scents change as the soap matures.