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2/17/12

Making Handmade Soap in a blender

Today I made Blender Soap!


The reason I chose to make it in the blender was you don't have to be as accurate on the temperature of the lye or oils, the time to trace is MUCH quicker, separating is greatly reduced and smaller batches are made.  Most recipes only make a 1 pound batch at a time.

So today I dove in.  I got all my supplies out, prepared my molds and measured out all my oils first.


The most important thing I learned about making ANY kind of cold process soap is to mix your lye solution outside while wearing rubber gloves, safety goggles and a respirator mask.  I found my goggles and medical type masks for $1 at a dollar store.

Here is my lye solution after being mixed outside and waiting for the small smokey fumes to clear.


I mixed my lye with a herbal lemon tea that was brewed with distilled water.  When using water in soap always use distilled water.

This made the soap a caramel color.  I'm not sure if it will remain that color after curing, we will have to wait and see.  I also mixed in the tea grounds at trace. That's the spots/specks you see in the soap. The smell so far is lemony. 


My soap is now curing on my counter.  I hope it comes out well considering I think I blended it too long or used too mach castor oil.  It was super thick and did not pour.  It was the consistency of a very thick Dairy Queen blizzard shake.  You know the ones you can turn upside down and they stay in the cup! lol  Time will tell.  I hope it feels good on my skin and isn't as drying as commercial soaps.

The recipe I used:
All measurements are by weight

Lemon Zinger Tea Soap
5 oz soybean oil
5 oz olive oil
3 oz lard
3 oz castor oil
5.28 oz distilled water steeped with two lemon zinger tea bags
2.9 oz lye
The contents of the two tea bags added at trace

Next I think I will be making a coffee bar. 


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12 comments:

  1. Yay! That looks like a nice thick trace. I have trouble getting ours to trace much at all. I've thought about using our blender (or rather, getting a thrift store blender just for soap). I might now. We started using a paint stirring drill bit on a power drill, then tried a submersion blender (stick blender), then finally a hand held mixer. The mixer works best of those three.

    I was surprised to hear that the castor oil was thick. The castor oil we bought a few weeks ago poured just fine.

    I do wear nitrile exam gloves when I'm making soap, but I'm bad and don't wear goggles (just my normal glasses) or a respirator mask. As long as mix outside or in the garage with the door open, the fumes don't get to me. Another good thing to remember is to have a bottle of vinegar nearby in case you get lye or just-mixed soap on your skin.

    Can't wait to hear what you think of it after it cures.

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  2. Annie the castor oil straight from the bottle isn't any thicker than vegetable oil but it causes a QUICK trace, as does the lard. The blender I got at the thrift store is a dandee! lol This one has a big 50 ounce jar on it so I think I may try a bigger recipe next time.

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  3. Sorry, I misread that...I thought you meant the castor oil was as thick as a shake and I couldn't figure out why. LOL!

    Does your blender have a glass container? Mine is polycarbonate plastic and I'm not sure I want to use it for making soap in case the lye etches it or something.

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  4. Sonya thank you!

    Annie it is some kinda plastic. I bought it specifically to make soap so if it etches it I won't mind.

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  5. Very interesting. :-) Never heard of putting it in the blender before. How did it turn out?

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    1. It turned out well. I over blended it and know for next time. I can't wait to be able to actually use it and see the difference in how it feels on my skin.

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  6. I just made some soap in a blender today. Mine has a stainless steel jar that we reserve for non- food applications.
    It seemed to suddenly heat up and almost separate and I thought Yeooow!! ...yet another experiment that failed. But I stuck it into a an ice bath and carried on and within a couple of minutes I had a gorgeous thick trace. Hope it sets... though I have not been able to resist several peeks at it through the course of the day.
    Rashmi

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  7. I need to try this! I'm scared to use lye but I need to get over it! :)

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    1. TAH I felt the same way for the longest time. Once I finally did it the first time, it took the scary out of it and it's quite simple.

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  8. Do you have any detailed instructions? I would like to try it. I have never made bar soap before.

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