Every year I make this bar of soap for my daughter who has excema and for me with very dry skin. It is very ugly but it works. It is called the Ugly Soap. She likes lemongrass as her fragrance and I like lavender and lemon. So the house is an aromatherapy haven at the moment.
To make soap all you need is a fat, I use sweet pasture raised lard, and a liquid (water for yesterday) and lye. The scents and added oils are extras. 
For the Ugly Soap I add oatmeal, sugar and ground coffee for exfoliation. Plus olive oil and coconut oil for extra moisturising and a little lather and Vitamin E. I tried to call it the Breakfast Bar bu it was too ugly. The Ugly Soap it is. 
My soap is made in the Slow Cooker for convenience.
And I use the stick blender to stir it to Trace.
Once we achieve trace I pour it into molds lined with plastic bags, held in place with pegs. The molds are little boxes I collect throughout the year and miniature drawers. I buy almost nothing specifically for soap making – just using whatever I find or collect.
Then the sits under the covers keeping hot for 24 hours while the chemical reaction turns the lard into scented soap. Magic really.
I cut one of the completed Ugly Soaps this morning before sunrise so you could see. They will all be cut this morning while they are still a little soft. Do you see the metal apparatus on the table? This was sent to me by my sister-in-law way back when I began making soap – it is the best soap cutter, simple and clean and precise I use it for all the loaves. When cutting a round soap I use my big butchers knife. 
Once cut the soaps sit and cure somewhere cool but dry. Usually the soap needs about four weeks to complete the cure. I store the soaps in labelled shoe boxes.
Today we are going to make another three batches, this time with milk instead of water. I have not used milk before – soap making being a winter job but I have managed to keep milking until soap making this winter. So this will be interesting! The milk adds extra fat so I am not sure how my equation will work out. They make soap with goats milk and my research tells me there is no reason why cows milk will not work?
Johns soap is on the right. He likes his plain with a Eucalyptus fragrance.
My most important tip is this site. The Brambleberry Lye and Fragrance Calculator writes each recipe for me. I enter all my precisely weighed fats, set the superfatting level to five and the equation will tell me how much lye and water to add. Then another calculator tells me how much fragrance. So far using this very precise method I have not had a failure.
It is cold this morning. 4F/-15C. There is a little bit of wind too – the WNW which is the prevailing wind here in the winter.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “The Ugly Soap”
I took a soap class at the Estes Park Fiber Festival in Colorado one summer. We made cold processed soap. The instructor was very strict about how the lye was to be handled. We went outside to mix the dry lye crystals with the water as there is a gas that is formed. But outside, the gas disperses quickly. And no metal stirrers, only plastic or wood if I remember correctly. I have kept an old crock pot which will be used for soap. I have big plans once I retire. I wish I could get some good lard, but will probably use coconut or grape seed oil. Your soap looks lovely. I will bookmark the magic calculator site!
Yes, we open the doors to the freezing cold when adding the lye to water.. just a little coconut oil as it can be very drying to the skin. I look forward to you making your soap ! We can do swaps! c
In Spain where we are they make soap using used cooking oil (which is olive oil). Not sure why it’s not fresh oil, but it never is. I really need to give this a go!
Yes – one of my woofers was telling me- he would not touch it because of it being old used oil. I am sure it is just an economy thing. Oils are very expensive.. c
It doesn’t smell nasty and folk swear by it for treating their skin. I guess you’re right about it being an economy thing…recycling!
I make my own soap too, and then turn some into laundry liquid and some into dishwashing. I only use a scented oil for those I’m giving away as gifts……usually with a couple of my hand-knitted face or dishcloths. It’s a very satisfying feeling.
I love the laundry liquid the most – the scent of the laundry is so much like home. Hand knitted face cloths sound great – I like that idea. c
[D] Very interesting – and informative! The soap-making you describe seems much more domestic and achievable and down-to-earth than the fancified form from so-called handicrafts suppliers. J says he could do with a ‘crofters cake’ soap, for when he comes home with his hands covered with grease (or worse) from the sheep, face splatted with peat, and encrusted with rock-dust from drilling holes in rock for fence posts.
Yes, that would be a great big no-nonsense bar of soap. I do not fancy drilling holes into the rock for fence posts – that sounds like extremely hard work. c
Lavender and lemongrass and eucalyptus…. It sounds wonderful. I’ve wondered sometimes about making soap for the Husband, who comes home with oil, grease and diesel ingrained in his hands, and coal dust over everything else. Orange oil and ground walnut shells for cleansing, and some nice lard for moisturising…
wow- I may just have to try doing this! I love hand made soap!
I buy all my soap from a local goat farmer. It’s wonderful. She makes a really nice shampoo bar too and also a ‘working hands’ bar. It really does wonderful things for your skin.
We’re in the midst of another cold snap here, never got out of the single digits F the last three days with wind chills in the minus teens and twenties but they’re saying 38* F by Tuesday – and snow, sigh. I wish it would make up its mind, this up down weather is more difficult to deal with than consistent cold and/or snow.
I know! we are up and down too – more RAIN next week! But the good thing is it gives the little pigs a break so they can eat like crazy and warm up. c
Once you make the change from commercial, supermarket soaps to artisan – homemade it’s impossible to go back I think. We bought lovely goats milk soap from a local lemon myrtle farm until a recent disagreement. I have a years worth on hand while I get my head around making my own.
Once you start making your own you will wonder why you waited this long!! c
What an interesting post. Soap-making…lovely!
We freeze our milk for soap making, which should be no bother for you with those kind if temperatures 🙂
Yes , we took the milk down to just freezing – you are right I could have just left it outside! c
I used the last of my home made soap before Christmas and have been using bought bars for the last week, which is just so different, especially as I don’t use any fragrance. Reading this will spur me into making more. How do you make your laundry soap?
I take all the last tiny bits of soap and add water and boil it down to a liquid.. the nuns taught me how to do this. c
Do you actually COOK in your slow-cooker, or is it specifically reserved for soap?
No, it is just for soap, though you could cook in it – it is pretty clean – we are making soap after all. c
I think I might give soap-making a try, but I hate having extra clutter. But I could get a small slow cooker that is specially designated for soap. I’m going to give this some thought, and then I’m going to ask you LOTS of questions!
I think your soap is beautiful! I am in awe of all you do for yourself.
Next time we gat together, you must sit beside JT, he is fourth generation soap maker! His father’s company was sold about 15 years ago due to economic conditions, sadly. Our wedding favour was a little heart shaped soap that we made with the wedding party. Their die-maker made us an insert with our names and wedding date! He later coated the dies in brass and gave them to us as a wedding gift. We often joke that JT has soap running through his veins instead of blood!
Love your soap. I have just last week purchased a little book of soap recipes. The lye is a little scary and I have just found out that I have to sign a register to buy it in NZ! In case I use it for nefarious purposes. This only makes me more nervous about using it!