Essentials for Soap Making (Cold Process)

Before you start making handmade cold process soap, you'll want to make sure you have everything you need. I have listed everything that I think is important to creating your first batch of soap.

Supplies Needed

1. Scale: An accurate scale is essential for measuring lye, oils/butters, water, and other additives. I recommend getting a scale that can measure both ounces and grams. Also, getting a scale with 0.01 gram accuracy definitely doesn't hurt.

2. Mold: There are so many soap molds out there to choose from but here is a kit of the most popular loaf mold recommended for beginners and a cavity mold as well. And if you want to start off with small batches, this set is great to start with.

3. Immersion Blender/ Stick Blender: I find stick blenders to be the most effective tool for blending lye solution with oils for the saponification process.

4. Lye-Safe Containers: Containers with the #5 polypropylene or the #2 HDPE symbol on the bottom are the safest for mixing lye.

5. Masks, Gloves, Safety Glasses: Keeping yourself safe from lye splash-back is paramount.

6. Spoons & Spatulas: Stainless steel spoons are great for mixing lye and silicone spatulas are perfect for stirring and scraping.

7. Small Containers or Beakers: These are handy for measuring fragrances, colorants and other additives.

8. Microfiber Cloth or Paper Towels: These are 2 great solutions for inevitable messes.

9. Knife or Soap Cutter: If you are using a loaf mold, a knife is the most cost effective tool to use in the beginning to cut your soap but after awhile you may want to upgrade to a cheese slicer or soap cutter or even a multi-bar cutter.

10. Thermometer Gun: An infrared thermometer gun is best used for monitoring your lye solution and oil temperatures. I also keep a digital thermometer for backup.

11. Bowl/Container for Mixing Soap: A heat safe bowl or container is ideal for melting butters and oils and a lye safe container or stainless steel bowl is great for mixing soap batter.

12. Proper Attire: Wearing long sleeves, pants, and closed toed shoes help keep your skin protected from lye.

13. Curing Space: A designated space for curing your cold process soap is highly recommended. This could be a shelf, cabinet, table, bakery rack, etc.