What is the first thing that people do when they come home after a hard day? Perhaps that's just washing their hands. Today, people use soap in various colors, shapes, and textures. What if we could choose our preferred scent and color to make a special personalized soap? This time, the SMT reporter attended a soap workshop at which she could choose her preferred scent.
To the world of soap with various charms
Due to the recent pandemic, washing hands has become more important in terms of preventing the spread of germs. Nowadays, it is difficult to find a place without soap, but in the past, it was a luxury only used by the upper class. Soap dates back as far as around 2800 B.C., but the materials used to make soap at that time were precious. This is because the ingredients for making soap, such as olives and natural soda, were expensive. The public has been able to use soap since about 220 years ago. In 1790, French chemist Le Blanc invented a method to make soda using salt and rock salt from seawater, and soap became popular. Through it, people began to wash their bodies regularly and could wear clean clothes. This lowered the possibility of disease for humans and, through this improvement in hygiene, soap is considered to have saved many people in human history.
After the popularization of soap, it began to appear in various forms. Recently, natural soap that gives low irritation to the skin is also gaining popularity. Natural soaps are divided into MP soap, CP soap, and HP soap. MP soap stands for Melt and Pour. Not only does this soap have the advantage of being the easiest to make, but it can be used immediately because there is no aging period. CP soap means Cold Process. Natural oils, which are mainly used in this kind, account for 70-75 percent of the soap, so there are positive effects for skin beauty. HP soap means Hot Process and is the hottest soap of the three. It usually uses castor oil to make it transparent, and the ingredients used at this time play a role in cleaning the skin well. It is suitable for oily skin and acne-prone skin. At the soap workshop, the SMT reporter was able to choose one of the three soaps and chose CP soap which is good for skin beauty.
A combination just for me
After choosing what kind of soap to make, participants can decide how much soap they want to make and into which shape. This reporter chose 500g from the options of 500g and 1kg, and this amount can usually make four to six soaps. As for the design, there were many kinds of soap such as gradation and feathers, but the wave design with the most unique shape was chosen. First of all, you can choose various pigments that go into the wave shape. Three to four colors can be selected from among 100. Also, you can choose the scent, which is the main attraction of soap and make it by mixing the scent you want from eight options. The reporter chose pastel tones of blue, pink, green, and white, with a mixture of white tea & ginger fragrance oils and sweet orange for the scent. When all options are decided, sodium hydroxide and purified water are measured to begin making the soap. Purified water is used in frozen form because when it meets sodium hydroxide, it is heated by chemical reactions. Next, several types of oil, such as palm oil and coconut oil, are added to the solution that has become transparent by mixing them all. Then, the contents are put in a large beaker and stirred using a hand blender until saponification occurs. When the mixture has thickened, add the chosen scent. After blending again, pour equal amounts of the thickened mixture into four cups. Add pigments to each of the four cups to create the color you want to express. To complete the color combination, now pour colors into the mold according to the design you want to express. When the solution is poured in various directions, its various pigments rise in a semicircle. After the process is over, the soap is hardened through a 24-48-hour heat insulation process. Next, if you cut through the cross-section, a wonderful design can be seen.
Although there was nothing difficult in the making process, there were many steps to pay attention to in order to make good soap. However, if you remember the following tips, you won't have a problem. The most important thing to note is wrist strength and accurate measurement. There are six types of oil that are used to make CP soap, and the exact amount should be calculated accurately. In the case of oil, if one's wrist strength is weak, a large amount of oil can be wasted due to a small mistake, so caution is needed. Also, it is not easy to turn the blender even when just stirring the soap. The blender must be lifted from bottom to top, but the blender's head must not rise above the surface to prevent bubbles from forming on the surface of the solution. The trickiest step is to pour the soap into the mold. To accurately represent the semicircular shape of the design, care should be taken to pour into the mold near the wall. It looks easy, but it is difficult to pour it close to the mold wall. If the distance between the soap solution and the mold is too much, the soap solution will completely fall under the surface piled up with layers. In this case, it is difficult to imagine the finished form because the poured soap does not show the proper shape in the mold. This reporter made these mistakes three times, making it difficult to know the exact shape until just before completion. In order not to make such mistakes, careful attention is needed.
Let's make our favorite bubbles
Soap has helped people stay healthy over a long period of time. It has changed in an infinite variety of ways with various shapes or scents and is now easy to find anytime, anywhere. Wouldn't it be more fun to wash your hands with soap made from your favorite scent and color? If you want to make special bubbles for yourself, this SMT reporter recommends this soap-making experience.
