Soap with olive oil and fir essential oil
Discover how to make your own soap with olive oil and fir essential oil! This is the ideal recipe to start cold saponification and thus, obtain a natural, moisturizing and environmentally friendly soap.
What is cold saponification?
It is a process that will allow you to make your soaps easily and quickly at home. Indeed, cold saponification refers to a chemical reaction between a fatty substance (olive oil in our case) and soda (for solid soaps) or potash (for liquid soaps). It is usually done at room temperature. This method is a way to preserve a large part of the properties of the oil used.
During cold saponification, the chemical reaction is complete; that is, it works until both ingredients are used up. It is therefore important to use more olive oil than soda in order to obtain a superfatted soap that does not attack your skin.
Finally, it is necessary to refer to the table of saponification of fatty substances in order to know the quantity of soda to use.
Materials and ingredients needed to make soap with olive oil and essential oil of fir
Take precautions because soda can burn and give off toxic fumes. Make this preparation in a ventilated area and using safety protections (long-sleeved gown, gloves, glasses).
Equipment:
- 2 large glass containers
- Soap mold (preferably silicone)
- Precision scale (to the nearest gram)
- Wooden spoon
- Plunge head blender
- Safety equipment: safety glasses, long-sleeved shirt and gloves
Ingredients:
- Precisely 38 grams of soda
- 100 mL of water
- 300g or 330 mL of extra virgin olive oil
- 10 drops of essential oil of Siberian fir
Preparation of the homemade soap
First, dilute the soda in the water in your glass bowl. Stir with the wooden spoon to dilute the soda. This mixture will heat up naturally, so it is advisable to make a water bath with ice cubes to limit the temperature rise. Caution: never put water on top of the soda but the soda in the water to avoid splashing the concentrated soda.
When the soda is well diluted, add the extra virgin olive oil. Use a whisk or your hand blender to speed up the saponification reaction until you have a thick, cloudy mixture.
Quickly put your mixture in the soap mold and let it rest for about 1 month in the open air. At the end of this time of rest, you will obtain a solid soap which will not melt directly in contact with water.
This soap with olive oil and essential oil of fir will allow you to wash without drying your skin and preserving the planet!