Making new soap recipes: creativity & science
I did not realize how complex soapmaking could be until I started learning how to make soaps. I believe that, for most people, it is more similar to cooking by following well-known tested recipes until you get the conditions to create your own. This was not my case. It needed to be a creative craft experimentation from the start.
Making soaps was something good for my mind. It was more like an artisan skill than only a chemical combination of elements by following pre-created instructions written on a guide. Of course, I knew how careful I should be with lye and how important it was to respect the proportions, using saponification values and online lye calculators. I have had a career as a researcher in the medical area, and the scientific method of working was in the background. I have always followed high standards of research methods and good practices; it was part of me. I just did not want to lose sight of how creative it could be while developing more natural cleansing products for my family.
Anyway, I began with the very basis: any oil and sodium hydroxide, with any scent, respecting proportions. It was a lot of work and fun… but also a mess! Some oils resulted in very soft products, almost liquid. Other combinations lacked bubbles or did not cure well, while others added undesired colors. such as light brown or beige.
The good thing was that I was dominating the process, but I needed to study different oils used as a base, and I did. There was an answer for every trouble, and I started to identify the punctual problem of my recipes. The creative research thinking was in action, and as much as I studied how hard, moisturizing, cleansing, or gentle a bar of soap can be, I also learned about how I could combine raw materials to get the intended properties with the visual effects and natural essential oils I wanted to add.
Some recipes went back to the drawer, some went straight to the trash can, while others were kept on the desk and became the natural soap bars I have.
