Soaps can be made in two ways. One by dealing with lye and one without. There is no way you cannot have lye in the soap.

Lye is Sodium Hydroxide, a caustic alkali. It can eat holes in fabric and skin and cause severe reactions with other chemicals. While dealing with lye you need to be careful.

If you want to go the route of using lye, here are few links that might help you.

http://smallnotebook.org/tutorials/beginner-soapmaking/

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2015/05/hot-process-soap-recipe.html

Few pointers dealing with lye:

• Lye is an extremely caustic chemical that will burn your skin upon contact
• Be sure to wear protective clothing and gloves and sunglasses or eyewear is a must
• Always have a bottle of vinegar by your side. If you spill any lye, pour vinegar over the mess to neutralize the chemical.
• Store all hazardous substances in a safe place. Make sure that it is far from the reach of any children.

I did not try going above route yet but will surely do in future. For now, I use melt and pour soap bases. In that you can have these bases and add essential oils and color and dried flowers for exfoliation based on your preference.

Here are some recipes for melt and pour soap base: https://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/recipe/recipes.asp

Here are some of them I made and loved.

Lavendar Goat milk soap

Shea Butter Rose soap

The thing I noticed in this one is I used rose essential oil and dried rose petals but when the rose petals interact with soap base they turn black so I didn’t like it that much. Unfortunately I do not have any photographs for this one.

Aloe Vera and Olive Oil with Rose 

hmm..smells good. Anya wouldn’t leave smelling the soap 🙂

 

Glycerin Rose Soap

I made this with yellow and light blue color . Somehow I love the blue color 🙂

One tip for putting the soap in molds. Use rubbing alcohol in spray bottle before you add the soap in. This helps with getting rid of any bubbles.

Have fun experimenting!  I will add more as I go.