Making Natural Laundry Bar

Natural laundry bar soap is usually used in washing clothes. A good natural laundry bar soap has enough fat, lye and additives, which give it the ability to remove dirt and stains in clothes. The ingredients should be thoroughly mixed to produce quality laundry soap. The formula that we will use in this guide will produce 10kg of soap, hence, the amount of each ingredient recommended can be derived in percentage (%), and which can be applied to any amount of soap produced in large quantity. Note that caustic soda takes another preparation and is used as “lye”. Ingredients:

	Quantity (grams)	% to Total Weight
coconut oil	6050	60.5
lye	3700	37
CDEA	50	0.5
sodium silicate	50	0.5
lemon fragrance	50	0.5
soda ash	100	1
TOTAL	10,000 grams	100%

Note: Each 36°Be (Baume) lye concentration, lye solution uses:

• caustic soda: 1.0 kg or 2kg
• plus water: 2.5kg or 5g
• total: 3.5kg or 7kg

Materials:

pail stainless steel mixer and mixing tank dipper ladle weighing scale stove graduated cylinder thermometer beaker or Erlenmeyer flask

dropper stirring rod funnel hydrometer mixing bowl hand gloves and nose mask katsa or cheese cloth soap frame

Procedure: A. Preparing the lye solution:

1. In a pail, slowly add 2kg of caustic soda in 5kg of water. Mix thoroughly. This mixture is the lye solution with 36°Be (Beume concentrate)
2. Allow the lye solution to cool by dipping the pail in a bigger pail containing cold water. Continue stirring until lye solution cools.
3. Using a hydrometer, check if the lye solution has reached the right concentration level, which should be 36°Be

B. Mixing the oil and lye solution:

1. Weigh 3.7kg lye solution. Set aside.
2. Measure 6.05kg coco oil and pour it into the mixer.
3. Switch on the mixer. After a few minutes, pour the lye solution. Mix very well.

C. Adding other components as additives:

1. When the oil and lye solution mixture has thickened, add 50 milligrams of coco diethanol amide or CDEA. Then add 100 grams soda ash.
2. While mixing the ingredients continuously, add 50 grams of lemon fragrance.
3. With a stirring rod, test the consistency of the mixture from time to time while mixing it continuously for 15-20 minutes or until the mixture becomes as thick as condensed milk.
4. When the mixture reaches the right consistency, pour it evenly into the soap frame or mold lined with katsa cloth.

D. Hardening the soap before it is sliced:

1. Let the soap stand in the frame overnight for the saponification process. The chemical elements added to the soap will take effect during this process.
2. Wipe the soap once in a while with a rag to remove moisture.
3. After 24 hours, slice the soap according to desired size and weight.
4. The soap should only be used after 2-7 days when if has achieved the desired hardness and has passed the effects of caustic soda.