Tar soap. Properties, recipes

Soap from scratch is popular among soapmakers. The cooking recipe may be different, but the essence remains the same. This soap differs from the usual gels, lotions, shampoos with absolutely natural ingredients! Such a product does not dry out or irritate the skin, does not cause rashes, redness, peeling. But not every soap self made will be "zero", as the soap makers call it.

Soap varieties

Soap, which is made flavored in the form of various soap base figures, can be classified as unnatural. Since its basis industrial production where surfactants (surfactants), cheap oils, foaming agents are added.

Despite the addition of aromatic natural ingredients, the soap is still synthetic. It is more often used for gifts, as the preparation process is simple. It is enough to melt the soap base and add oil.

Soap from scratch is another matter. The recipe does not contain harmful chemical additives, but includes natural ingredients (honey, essential or vegetable oils, herbal teas, chocolate, nuts, coffee). This soap is obtained by saponification of vegetable fats with alkali to form glycerin and fatty acid salts. Cooking "zero" requires calculations of proportions, time, experience. Beginners often make mistakes, as a properly made soap must be alkali-free.

When there is no soap base or alkali at hand, many novice soapmakers resort to a simple but lengthy method. They take baby soap (it is practically free of chemicals), shake it off, melt it over a fire with water or herbal decoction in a water bath until smooth with frequent stirring. Then the mass is removed, oils are added. By application, soap can be divided into baby, household, shampoo. According to the manufacturing method, soap makers distinguish between hot and cold methods.

Where to start soap making?

Even simple recipes soaps from scratch cannot do without special tools and materials. For soap making, you will need the following tools and ingredients:

  • Scales for measuring water or oils.
  • Scales for measuring alkali with an accuracy of hundredths of a gram.
  • Thermometer for measuring the temperature of liquids.
  • Hand blender.
  • Disposable cups or other dry containers for lye.
  • Mixing spoons.
  • A heat-resistant vessel where the alkali will dissolve.
  • Stainless, enamel or glass heat-resistant container for mixing soap.
  • Glasses, gloves, respirator, overalls.
  • Wooden or
  • Alkali sodium and potassium hydroxide (the first is used in the preparation solid soap, the second is suitable for liquid).
  • Vegetable oils.
  • Soap calculator (used to check the proportions of all ingredients, especially alkali).
  • Water, herbal teas, milk, coffee, zest.

Please note that the utensils in which the soap is boiled cannot be used for preparing or storing food.

Safety regulations

It is very dangerous for beginners to start soap from scratch right away. The recipe for any manufacture requires safety.

Homemade soap recipes from scratch

"Zero" soap is made by hot and cold methods. In the first version, it is cooked in the oven. In the second, the soap "reaches" in a water bath. In both cases, the soap needs to mature from several weeks to a year.

For beginners, it's best to start with the cold method. The recipe data should be entered into the calculator, which will give the exact ratio of water to alkali.

  • 7% overfat (SF or superfat).
  • 10% linseed oil.
  • 20% palm and coconut oil each.
  • 50% olive oil.

The superfat protects the skin, and the oils, when exposed to alkali, form soap (from scratch). The recipe is as follows:


Marble soap from scratch

Soap making recipes involve 5 stages: boiling, mixing (or trace stage), drying, gel and storage stage. Therefore, after preparing the soap mass, proceed to the next step. You can divide the mass into two parts, paint with different pigments to get a two-tone soap. Stir each part with a blender. Then add essential oils, perfume. Combine colored soap bases without stirring. Pour the mixture into a mold. To remove any bubbles that have formed, simply tap the mold on the table and top up with the base. Draw a pattern on top with a brush.

This is followed by the gel stage, that is, the hardening stage. Almost any baby, household, toilet, shampoo soap passes it from scratch (we will consider the recipe below). Put the soap in a heated, but turned off oven (40-50 degrees) or wrap it near the battery for several hours, then dry it for a day at room temperature.

The last step is to cut the soap into pieces, put it in a box with holes, and leave it to “ripen” for several weeks. Only then can you get it, pack it for a gift, or start using it.

Making laundry soap

Soap makers, in addition to a toilet product, make natural products from scratch. Recipes usually consist of inexpensive oils (corn, sunflower, palm, coconut). Consider one recipe for such a soap:

  • 64.52% coconut oil;
  • 24.19% olive oil;
  • 11.29% castor oil;
  • 2% overfat;
  • 33% water;
  • 1% citric acid;
  • 103.93 grams of alkali;
  • 1 tsp soda (with a slide);
  • 10 ml of essential oil of lemon and peppermint.

The total weight of the oils is 620 grams. Melt all oils with superfat in a water bath. Dissolve citric acid in a little water. Next, prepare an alkaline solution from powder and water. After the alkali is completely dissolved, pour in the lemon solution, stir.

When the oils dissolve until smooth, remove, leave to cool to the same temperature as the alkaline solution. Mix both masses with a blender until a "trace" is formed, put in a preheated oven to 60 degrees for 2.5 hours.

Continuation of soap making

We continue to make laundry soap from scratch. Recipes, by the way, may allow the use of overfat not at the first stage of melting with oils in a water bath, but when rubbing it along the walls of the mold. In our case, we simply cover the forms with baking paper.

As soon as you got the soap out of the oven, you need to work quickly, as the mass hardens quickly. Add soda to it, beat with a mixer. Pour in essential oils, stir, put in a mold. As soon as the soap hardens completely, take it out of the mold, cut it into pieces, you can use it right away. This is the advantage of the hot manufacturing process.

This laundry soap smells good, copes well with limescale, it can be used to wash dishes and a bath before bathing children. And the best part is that after working with it, you do not feel discomfort, peeling or dryness of the skin.

Whether it's laundry soap, toilet soap, or baby soap from scratch, a recipe requires clear calculations. Otherwise, with a large amount of water, the soap will quickly wash out, if there is an excess of overfat, the product will deteriorate, and the soap base will not thicken from the busting of alkali or base oil.

Making shampoo soap

Soap makers also brew shampoo soap from scratch. The recipe includes useful decoctions, oils, hair supplements. Only it turns out not a liquid shampoo, but a bar of solid soap. This is why it may not be suitable for some individuals. Experiment with ingredients to get your type of soap.

For a cleansing and strengthening shampoo soap, take:

  • 40% rapeseed oil;
  • 34% coconut oil;
  • 26% sunflower oil;
  • 1% citric acid;
  • 33% water;
  • 10 ml of essential oil petitgrain;
  • 15 grams of laurel oil;
  • 76.48 grams of alkali;
  • 3% overfat for the mold.

The oils are designed for a weight of 500 grams. The cooking process is similar to laundry soap, that is, the oils are melted, a lemon and an alkaline solution are prepared separately. Pour acid into not hot, but room temperature alkali. Then add the mass to the oils, beat with a blender until a trace forms.

Also send to the preheated oven for 2.5 hours. Add superfat, essential oils to the soap base, mix, put in a mold. After a day, cut into pieces, leave for a couple of weeks to harden, although it is already ready to use.

Brief summary

If you want to have clean and well-groomed skin, then prepare soap from scratch. Recipes differ in ingredients, manufacturing method, but the process itself is repeated. A beginner should first study the information on the interaction of oils with alkali and practice with a soap calculator.

Soap has long become an obligatory hygiene item and remains so to this day. However, all cosmetic products are being improved in pursuit of a capricious buyer and manufacturers are looking for more and more new " competitive advantages". At one time, "pH balanced" became such a marketing gimmick. Now pH 5.5 is almost a must-have option for every self-respecting soap. Let's take a look at exactly how the acidity level of the cleanser affects the skin.

Marchionini's Acid Mantle

What is it: On the surface of the skin there is a hydrolipid film, an acid mantle, which is the first skin barrier. This film is called the Marchionini mantle. Marcionini's mantle contains lactic acid, various amino acids that are excreted by sweat and sebaceous glands, free fatty acids, pyrrolidonic acid, etc. All this gives the skin's natural "acidic" reaction (remember that acidic in chemistry is pH below 7.0).

Functional: The skin and acid mantle are only interested in attaching bacteria that are beneficial and protect the host from pathogens. The acidic environment fixes "good" bacteria, and does not allow bad bacteria to develop, so the skin microflora is formed. The main function of the mantle is to protect the skin from bacterial and fungal infections, to provide protection from alkaline substances and microorganisms. The integral acid mantle supports the formation and maturation of epidermal lipids, and as a result, the "wall" remains unbreakable.

This figure represents the value of the acidity of the skin of a certain "average person". Marchionini determined the pH of the skin of a healthy person from 3.0 to 5.0. Later, the famous Blank clarified that the natural pH of the skin is still slightly higher - 4.2 to 5.6. It is now believed that the normal pH of the skin is in the range of 5.0-6.0. Manufacturers of cosmetics take this point into account: almost all mass-market products, including face creams, are in this range. And the 5.5 itself has become popular thanks to the marketers at Johnson & Johnson (who care about you and your health).

pH 5.5 is also called "balanced". Strictly speaking, this is illiterate. In fact, any cleansing cosmetic product is pH balanced. If the pH formula is not balanced, then the product will simply be spoiled. At the same time, the pH can be absolutely anything, there are professional peels with an acidity level of 2.0, and there are natural soaps with 8.0, all of which are balanced.

Why alkalization is dangerous: When using products with a high pH, ​​the components that make the mantle acidic are washed out. The skin will, of course, recover its losses, but this will take time. Oily skin will recover in 3 hours, dry skin needs up to 2 pm, and it will be especially difficult, because in 14 hours you can wash at least one more time, that is, the “vicious circle” cannot be broken, the skin is not fully restored. As a result, the colonization of the skin by harmful microorganisms will begin, and you will get an inflammatory reaction. The optimal conditions for most harmful microorganisms is a pH level of about 7.0, and acne bacteria develop already when the pH of the skin just begins to exceed 5.5.

The fuss and hype around pH has spawned a lot of very tenacious myths that wander from blog to blog and from article to article. At first glance, the information looks plausible: do not wash bar soap, oily skin needs to be scrubbed harder, and most importantly, that the same indicator of 5.5 is on the label. In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated.

Myth # 1. Soap dries out the skin


  • Natural soap- a solid product, a mixture of higher fatty acids and glycerin. Vegetable oils and animal fats are composed of fatty acids. Obtaining soap is based on a saponification reaction, resulting in the formation of salts alkali metals and alcohols. Even if the soap leaves a pleasant oily film, the pH of such soap will always be alkaline - from 9-11.
  • Sindet soap- a solid product, a mixture of synthetic detergents and soaps (no more than 10%), much less drying the skin.

If we see a surfactant like lauryl sulfate or Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate on the label at the top of the list of ingredients, this is a syndet, most likely with a neutral pH. Yes, the very aggressive lauryl sulfate in cleansers has an acidity of 5.5! But if at the top of the list is something like Sodium Palmate, then this is most likely a natural alkaline soap.

We used to call something lumpy soap, hence the confusion. But, as you can see, there is a difference, the syndet can be brought to a neutral or slightly acidic pH (these are the majority of soaps on supermarket shelves), but the “handmade” pieces and other “black African” ones have a pH from 10.5 to 11.0. So the effect on the acid mantle will be different.

Myth No. 2. Wash oily skin harder, do not wash dry skin at all


In oily skin, the sebaceous glands are really very active, which means that there is also excess sebum, which many are trying to remove by all means. And natural soap"From valuable oils", and toners with astringent components and alcohols, and much more.

The result is usually deplorable - dehydrated, sensitive, but still oily skin (in the T-zone), most often with acne. You already understood the reason: the acid mantle is disrupted and the pathogenic microflora begins to grow. Oily skin with acne does not need to alkalize further. Your choice is in the opposite direction - acidic care products. It is not for nothing that products for problem skin often contain salicylic acid, the working pH range of which is about 3.5.

In dry skin, the pH is also increased, because the sebaceous and sweat glands are not so active, which means that there are not enough "acids" in the mantle. When caring for dry skin, it is also better to choose products with an acidic pH, but look not for salicylic, but for glycolic or lactic acids in the composition, which, in addition to exfoliating, moisturize.

Myth # 3. pH 5.5 will protect the skin from irritation

A very handy myth. It would seem that everything is so simple, to track only one parameter. Alas, the irritating effect is obtained from a combination of many factors - the aggressiveness of surfactants, their combination, additional emollients in the formula, fragrances and, finally, pH. Our skin is a very complex structure, in addition to affecting the acid mantle, cleansers also affect the lipids of the protective barrier and even proteins. So you shouldn't sacredly believe that the "5.5" on the label will protect you from all troubles, you should carefully study the composition.

Most products on the market today have a pH of 5.5-7.0, which is fine for healthy skin, but if you have acne or dry skin, it already has a high pH and an acid product should definitely be your choice.

Tatiana Morrison

Photo istockphoto.com

Weigh and melt the oils.

Weigh and chill the water.

Weigh the lye. Observe all precautions!

Prepare an alkaline solution. Carefully add potassium in small portions to the water.

Make sure all the alkali flakes have dissolved and pour the solution into the oils. Using a blender, start whisking. Do not be alarmed, the potassium mixture is quite liquid.

Potassium soap takes longer to whisk to a trace. Some soapmakers recommend reducing the amount of water in the recipe so that this stage occurs as quickly as possible. But I have 38% liquid in my recipe, so I will "regret" the blender and will stir the soap mass periodically, ie. 1-2 minutes of blender operation, then 15-20 minutes of rest, then again 1-2 minutes of the blender. Until I get the trail I want. During breaks, the mass will constantly stratify, "curl". After another 15-minute rest, I find a steady mark, the soap no longer stratifies. It took me 2.5 hours to complete.

Next stage: Water bath.

At this time, it is better not to disturb the mass. You can occasionally lift the lid, watch how the saponification stage proceeds.

Attention! If the soapy mass has curdled again in a water bath, do not be alarmed. Apparently, you mistook the "false trail" for the "trail" (potash soap is capable of such a trick). A couple of blender zips, or even vigorous stirring with a spoon, will make the soap change its mind and return to a steady trail.

After 3 hours, I got a liquid mass. But this is not yet a ready-made soap, because, when it cools, it instantly hardens.

In order for the soap to remain the same fluid and it can be bottled, we dilute it with hot water. I add 970 grams of water, because I have 970 grams of soapy mass. The amount of water depends on the recipe and how thick you want your soap to be.

We take hot water in an amount equal to the weight of the oils and stir vigorously. For that, the process went faster, I used a blender. Of course, there was a lot of foam. Again, that's okay, it's easy to remove.

I add additional oil to the finished soap - this is 26 g of sea buckthorn oil. Well, for a sunny color, you can add sunny citrus essential oils, or citrus fragrance. Mix thoroughly.




In order to remove the foam, leave the soap for 30-50 minutes and then you can easily remove it with a spoon.

If you will use a large amount of water or there may be a decoction, then I recommend preserving this soap. The preservative should be added at this stage while the soap is still warm.

A small cheat sheet with which you can choose the required ratio of water to mass:
50% - for 100 g of mass 100 g of water;
33% - for 100 g of mass 200 g of water;
25% - for 100 g of mass 300 g of water;
20% - for 100 g of mass 400 g of water.
In this MC, I chose 50% concentration.

In some MK, you can see information that the soap needs to be neutralized with citric or boric acid. This is done when it is necessary for the soap to turn out perfectly transparent and when calculating in a soap calculator, they lay zero overfat, even slightly exceeding the concentration of alkali. In this case, we can neutralize the alkali residues in the soap with citric acid. This option is suitable for shampoo or laundry soap. Transparency is not a matter of principle to me, so I initially included 3% overfat in the recipe, and I also added an additional 5% sea buckthorn oil. Those. in my recipe free alkali simply cannot remain, therefore nothing needs to be neutralized.

I hope you succeeded, pour the soap into dispenser bottles or a tightly closed container. In the open air, soap can dry out and become crusty.

It is recommended to use tar soap to fight acne once a day - in the evening. You need to wash your face with this soap for about a month or two, then, when the acne dries up, it is enough to use it 2 times a week. Industrial tar soap has a drawback - it dries out the skin of the face, so homemade tar soap is ideal.

It is recommended to wash your hair with tar soap in case of hair loss, dandruff and excessive fat formation. After the first - third application of tar soap, the hair does not look very presentable, but this moment must be endured. With further use, the hair will stop falling out, dandruff will disappear, shine will appear and they will look much thicker.

Tar soap, due to its antiseptic properties, is considered a recognized means for intimate hygiene. And homemade tar soap without extraneous additives - especially, because the correct selection of intimate cosmetics is very important.

Of course, the smell of this soap is specific, but judging by the reviews, it is not felt by others. However, be aware that the smell will be very strong when the soap is brewed.

Tar soap from baby

We need 3 pieces of quality baby soap. Grind it on a fine grater, add a glass of water, oil and put in a water bath. Choose the oils yourself: if your skin is normal and dry, then keep in mind that the tar dries out and add olive and jojoba, if oily, then add very little or hard oils: coconut, for example. When the soap has melted, enrich it with essential oils (pine aromas are great).

Now add the tar, mix thoroughly and remove from the stove.

Cool slightly and pour into molds.

Tar soap is kept in molds for about a week, until it hardens completely.

Tar soap "from scratch"

Tar is added to soap from scratch after the gel stage or just before pouring into molds.

Hot brewed tar soap

Cocoa butter 20% (100g)

Coconut oil 16% (80g)

Olive oil 30% (150g)

Palm oil 24% (120g)

(50g)

Water 165g

Lye 72g

Superfat 6% (jojoba or shea butter 30g)

Tar 40g

Tar soap with wax

Olive oil 30%

Palm oil 30%

Coconut oil 20%

Grape seed oil 10%

Castor oil 5%

Jojoba oil 5%

Beeswax 3%

Extra fat sea buckthorn oil 3%

Tar 7%

Essential oils of cedar and eucalyptus - 2ml each

Calculate decoction of chamomile and birch buds instead of water using a soap calculator

Lye on the soap calculator

Shampoo tar soap

Olive oil - 120g (17.14%)

Burdock oil - 90g (12.85%)

Castor oil - 120g (17.14%)

Coconut oil - 150g (21.42%)

Sunflower oil - 60g (8.57%)

Cooking fat - 160g (22.85%)

Strong decoction of St. John's wort, nettle 230g

Alkali - 105g

Citric acid - 7gr (1%)

Shampoo tar soap for very oily hair

Coconut oil 30%

Milk thistle oil 25%

Wheat germ oil 25%

Castor oil 10%

Grape seed oil 10%

Beeswax 1%

Citric acid (1%)

Strong decoction of St. John's wort, celandine, burdock, nettle brewed and aged in a thermos.

Superfat 3% almond, linseed, burdock oil

Tar 8%