Living on the Earth

Truly Lovely Soaps Here's a recipe for cold process hand soap, the beautifully scented and textured kind that is sold in upscale shops. I was given the recipe by Martha Vanderlin, who makes and sells these gorgeous wares. She likes to set aside a whole day without interruption to make her soaps. Lye: Martha uses Red Devil Lye, which is sold as a tile cleaner and is also called sodium hydrochloride or caustic soda. She prefers this brand because it contains no other ingredients. When mixed with fat it becomes a salt. Martha always wears rubber gloves, a mouth and nose mask, and goggles when working with lye; the fumes are toxic and the lye can severely burn one's skin. Keep vinegar handy as an antidote to apply to a lye burn. Part One: Use 12 ounces Red Devil Lye to 32 ounces of water (in a tall pourable pitcher). Slowly add the lye to the water and stir gently. Try not to breathe the fumes. The lye and water combining will produce a lot of heat. Let it sit until the temperature lowers to 80 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (this takes 2 to 3 hours). You can also prepare the mixture a day or two before making the soap and then raise the temperature to this range in a sink full of hot water. Do not leave a container of lye and water unattended where someone might mistake it for something to drink! Part Two: Prepare 42 ounces of hard fats and 42 ounces of liquid fats. Hard fats are thick hydrogenated fats, including coconut and palm oils. Try all coconut oil or combine 26 ounces coconut and 16 ounces of palm oil. (Palm oil can be found at bakeries.) Melt the hard fats and then cool to 80-100 degrees Fahrenheit. Liquid fats include olive oil, kukui nut oil, hemp seed oil, flaxseed oil, grapeseed oil, almond oil, and apricot seed oil. Combine, for example, 38 ounces of olive oil and 4 ounces of hemp seed oil in a tall pourable container and warm it to 80-100 degrees Fahrenheit in a sink full of hot water. Part Three: In a large non-metal pot or bowl--enameled or ceramic, for example--combine the hard and liquid fats, plus a tablespoon of grapefruit seed extract (a preservative found at some health food stores). Optionally, add a tablespoon of Vitamin E oil. It's best to stir in a figure eight. As you stir, gradually add the lye mixture. Do not splash! The soap slowly thickens as you stir, taking 3 to 45 minutes depending on weather and types of oil used. To reduce stirring time, use a stick blender instead of a slotted spoon and don't omit the grapefruit seed oil. When drippings off your utensil differ from the surface of the soap, you can stop. Soapmakers call this "trace." Part Four: For a textured soap, add cup dried lavender blossoms or ground rolled oats. To avoid clumping, blend with some liquid oil before adding to the soap. Next, add 2 ounces of an essential oil. For an antiseptic soap, use tea tree, rosemary, lavender, peppermint or eucalyptus oil. For fun, choose from the wide variety of essential oils available at most health food stores. Part Five: The shallow cardboard boxes used to pack 6-packs of soda make good soap molds. Don't use a metal baking pan. Line the mold with a clean plastic garbage bag. Place the mold in a draft-free environment. Pour the soap into the mold. Cover the top with a sheet of cardboard and cover completely with three blankets. Leave it alone for 24 hours. Leave it uncovered for two more days. Cut into bars and stack so that air can circulate around the soap, and age it for one to two months. Enjoy your scented soap! You can use non-textured soap as shampoo!Laurel, Alicia Bay is the author of 'Living on the Earth' with ISBN 9780375708817 and ISBN 0375708812.