So you decided to take the plunge and start learning how to make your own handmade soap.
I am Elizabeth, your soapmaker here and welcome to my channel. I hope you’ll learn a thing or two here in one of the corners of my website.
Before you start, you need to take considerations of the tools and equipment you are going to use in your soapmaking. One thing you need to take in your mind is NEVER use your kitchen tools again once you use them in soapmaking for you own health and safety. It would be right to say to separate them from the ones you use in the kitchen to prepare your food. You will know the reasons as we go and move forward.
Before we can start talking about ingredients, here are the list you need to prepare first.
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A must tools and equipment
You will need to invest on a stainless steel stockpot. It has to be uncoated and no other features other that it is STAINLESS STEEL as the alkali reacts dramatically and could damage the quality of your soap.
don'ts
- don’t use stockpots made of aluminum
- don’t use coated stockpots
You will also need an immersion hand blender. If you have extra cash, I would recommend the one in the picture from Tefal. The reason being is the full set includes a mayonaise maker attachment which you can use to emulsify lotions and creams when you decide further on. This blender has four blades which really helps your soap batter emulsify smoothly.
don'ts
- choose the immersion blender that do not have too much plastic in the inner section of the shaft. My experience was the plastic tends to melt overtime due to the heat and caustic effect the alkali make.
You will definitely need a weighing scale. Here in the picture can measure up to the minimum 0.1g to a maximum of 2kg. As soapmaking is an exact formulation, measuring from 0.1g is beneficial especially when adding additives in small measurements. You have got plenty to measure up to 2kg, and I don’t think you will be measuring that heavy in one go unless making big batches. Up to 2kg will suffice for now
You will also need a mini mixer for your additives like mixing powders, mica, etc before adding them to your soap batter. This is also ideal in mixing and blending smoothly an oil based titanium dioxid e that really needs a good mixing. Norpro’s mini mixerhas four options.
don'ts
- don’t use them on thick mixture as it may damage the motor, mini mixers are ideal in a more saturated ingredients.
When choosing a spatula, I recommend getting a one piece silicone spatula like the ones in the picture, if you know what I mean. Sometimes you can get them with a plastic handle and only the spatula itself is the only one made of silicone. The problem I have encountered in the long run is that the handle and spatula split into two. Taking into considerations, you will be handling oils
