2. Reducing my soap footprint
I love making soap. I've made it many times over the last five years, with increasing success. However, the recipe I use is based on coconut and olive oils - neither of which grow here in the UK. This design traces my attempts to develop a straightforward, simple recipe for soap using oils grown in closer to home.
Observation, Boundaries, Resources, Evaluation, Decisions, Implementation, Maintenance (Re-)evaluation, Tweak
Dates
Original design and implementation: Nov 2014 - Dec 2014
Tweaks: July 2018
Stage 1: Observation
I've been thinking for a long time about eating locally grown food, and I started to think about applying the same principles to soap making, by investigating the possibility of making soap with local, or at least UK grown, ingredients.
I have had some difficulties with previous batches of soap, likely resulting from not being accurate with measurements or temperature. However, with some experimentation and reheating, I have always managed to produce a successful, even if not very pretty, soap.
Stage 2: Boundaries
Earth care
I wanted to limit myself to vegetable oils grown in the UK, preferably relatively close to my home in Sheffield, to reduce my 'soap miles'.
People care
I wanted to develop a consistent soap recipe that was easy and reliable to make, and which looked pretty and was nice to use.
Fair shares
I wanted to easily produce enough soap to share with family and friends.
Other boundaries
I could not find a single recipe for cold process soap that used only UK ingredients, or even mentioned this as a factor, so I had to design my own recipe.
Not all oils are suitable for making soap.
Cold process soap needs four to six weeks to 'cure', or become hard and ready for use. This made the process of experimentation a lengthy one as I had to wait for each batch to cure before testing it.
Stage 3: Resources
I have made cold process soap many times before, with a range of successes and failures.
Equipment
I have all the necessary equipment - large steel pan, metal spoon, thermometer, silicone mould.
Knowledge base
There is an extensive range of knowledgeable soap makers online. As well as many thousands of recipes, there are several soap calculators, which calculate how much lye to use to process a set amount of oil. This made it possible for me to design my own soap recipe.
Catch and store energy
A reliable recipe would allow me to make enough soap in one go to last us around six months, possibly longer.
Obtain a yield
A recipe that made a pretty, nice to use soap could be given away as presents as well as used in my own household. There is the potential for selling soap in the future, but this is unlikely as it would require both the recipe and my technique to be reliable enough to avoid wasted ingredients. There are also regulations around selling home made soap in the UK which I am reluctant to meet for a 'hobby' project.
Produce no waste
Making soap means I can avoid buying soap and shower gel in plastic containers. Vegetable oils are regularly available in glass jars (particularly those from small, local producers), which can be easily reused or recycled. Lye does usually come in plastic containers, but one container will usually do several batches of soap - enough to last for a couple of years. Beeswax is often available with no packaging, or only wrapped lightly in paper.
Some soap makers recommend using rain water, and others say tap water is fine (although some do recommend leaving it to stand for a while to let the chlorine evaporate). I have had no problems using water straight from the tap, and will continue to do so. I could use rain water from our water butts, but as this has run off the roof it will likely be full of many impurities which could affect the soap making process.
Caustic soda is sodium hydroxide - strongly alkaline and highly corrosive to the skin and other materials. It is manufactured in a chemical process which uses naturally occurring salt, and results in caustic soda, chlorine and hydrogen. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry notes that when released into the environment, sodium hydroxide quickly breaks down by reacting with other chemicals, and reduces the acidity of the water.
I considered using an alternative to manufactured sodium hydroxide but the only potential substance is wood ash, or potassium hydroxide. It is possible to make this by mixing wood ash and water (see, for example this WikiHow site or these instructions from Countryfarm Lifestyles, but the process is lengthy and involved, and the strength of the lye is not guaranteed. Also potassium hydroxide apparently makes a very soft soap, and so is not usually used to make bar soap unless it is paired with a very hard fat - usually lard.
As a vegetarian with no easy access to wood ash or space in which to make my own lye, I opted to use commercially produced sodium hydroxide, sold in my local hardware shop as a drain cleaner.
It was surprisingly difficult to find details of which oils are produced in the UK. There was no overall list, and manufacturers often did not provide details on websites unless they were a small local brand (for example Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil). I did notice that the cheap vegetable oil we had previously bought from a supermarket was actually rapeseed oil produced in the UK, but this was not mentioned on their website.
I emailed the Seed Crushers and Oil Processors Association to ask if they kept a list of all UK oils or knew anywhere that did - they responded promptly to say that they only process oil in bulk, so the only oil they process from the UK is rapeseed oil.
Trex, a solid vegetable fat, can be used to make a harder soap, but apparently there is no requirement to list specific ingredients beyond 'vegetable oils'. The manufacturer did reply to my email to confirm that it is made from rapeseed and 'a palm-based oil' which is clearly not grown in the UK, therefore making it unsuitable for this project.
I also emailed the Really Wild Birdfood Company to ask about sunflower oil, as they grow sunflowers for bird seed in the UK, and sunflower oil is a potential substitute for olive oil, but I have had no response. Most European sunflower oil seems to be produced in France.
I found a partial, incomplete list of oils produced in the UK in The Ecologist magazine and compared it with lists of common soap making oils and their properties produced by three soap makers: Soap Queen, Summer Bee Meadow, and Lovin' Soap. I used this information to create the table below, noting the soap-making properties of UK-grown oils.
Oil |
Environmental considerations |
Local to me? |
Soap making properties |
Shelf life |
Guidelines for % of total? |
Notes |
Flax seed (also known as linseed) |
Yields are limited so there are currently few UK producers. What seems to be the only UK organic producer actually sources its linseeds from elsewhere. |
The Linseed Farm, Sussex (200 miles) |
Kind to skin, but not often used in cold process soap because of short shelf life (2). |
6 months to 1 year if refrigerated |
Up to 5% (1) |
|
Hemp |
Potentially difficult to grow food-grade hemp (rather than fibre) in the UK, so some producers supplement with seed grown elsewhere, often China |
Yorkshire Hemp is in Driffield (70 miles) |
Excellent lather (2). Produces silky soap (3) |
12-18 months, don't need to store in fridge (2) |
Less than 20% (2). Keep as small percentage to avoid having a soft soap that goes off in a few months (3) |
Distinctly earthy smell (2). Not as stable as other oils and can spoil quickly (3) Store in fridge or freezer once opened (3) |
Rapeseed |
Hard to grow organically as requires high levels of nitrogen fertiliser |
Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil, North Yorkshire (80 miles). Sold in a small local shop |
Produces creamy lather (2) |
1-2 years (2) |
Up to 40% (2) |
Can cause slower trace (3) Use to partially replace more expensive oils like olive (3) |
Sunflower |
Can't find any grown in UK! Apparently needs sunny and very warm summer months with very dry conditions for ripening of seeds (8). Did find some grown in UK for bird seed (10) so it is possible, but perhaps not in quantities needed for oil that grows easily elsewhere. |
Produces conditioning lather (2). Contains vitamin E so resists going rancid (3)Â |
3 months if refrigerated (2) |
Can be used up to 100% but typically less than 20% (2), 10-20% (4) |
Some people use in high quantities as alternative to olive oil (2) |
|
Pumpkin seed |
Can't find a UK producer! UK distributer based in Sheffield, but pumpkins grown in Slovenia |
Good for all skin types, absorbs well (6) |
6-8 months if stored in cool dry place (6) |
Use sparingly (6), 15% would be really high (7) |
||
Walnut |
Conditions and moisturises (2). Emolient, good for rough skin (3) |
3 months (2) |
Up to 15% (2) |
|||
Sesame |
Although the article lists this as a UK oil, I could find no reference to it being grown in the UK, and a Confederation for British Industry/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs report (5) notes that 'No significant production of crude sesame oil takes place in the UK', and that the UK is the largest importer of sesame oil in the EU. FEDIOL says it needs 27-30 degrees growing season and largest producers are Sudan, Myanmar, China and India (9) |
Moisturising and skin loving |
6 months to 1 year (2) |
Up to 10% (2) |
Full of unsaponifiables |
|
Beeswax |
Acts as a hardening agent (2) |
Indefinite (2) |
8% (2), 1-3% (3) |
Melt first and add at thin trace to soap that is 140 degrees F – otherwise beeswax will harden in your soap mix. Contains high percentage of unsaponifiables (3) |
||
Hazelnut |
Skin conditioning, minimal lather (2). Slows down trace (2). Easily absorbed (3) |
3 months (2) |
Less than 15% (2), 5-10% (4)Â |
|||
Cobnut oil |
Grown in Kent! |
Kent |
Nobody mentions – really unusual oil. Possibly substitute for Hazelnut? |
|||
References (3) http://www.summerbeemeadow.com/content/properties-soapmaking-oils (4) http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/ (5) http://www.cbi.eu/system/files/marketintel/2011_Sesame_oil_in_the_United_Kingdom.pdf (6) http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/pumpkin-seed-oil.html (7) http://soapandrestless.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/can-you-have-too-much-pumpkin.html Where they differ in their suggestions, I have noted which website made which recommendation. I have added other oils where one of these soap-making websites has mentioned them and I know them to be grown in the UK. |
Alternatively, if I extended the boundaries of my design as far as France I would be able to use sunflower oil, which is cheap, easily available and suitable for making soap.
Stage 5: Decisions
The table below shows a plus, minus, interesting analysis of these potential ingredients.
|
Plus |
Minus |
Interesting |
Rapeseed
oil |
Produces a creamy lather Produced in Yorkshire |
Hard to grow organically |
Should be less than 40% of recipe |
Linseed/flaxseed
oil |
Kind to skin |
Short shelf life Few UK producers (one in Sussex) |
Should be less than 5% of recipe |
Hemp
oil |
Produces silky soap with an excellent
lather Produced in Yorkshire |
Potentially difficult to grow food
grade hemp in the UK, so some producers supplement with seed from elsewhere
(often China) Can spoil quickly |
Should be less than 20% of recipe |
Beeswax |
Acts as hardening agent Skin conditioning |
Slows down trace (process of oils
turning into soap) Minimal lather |
Should be 1-8% of recipe |
I used Miller's Homemade Soap Recipes to create a recipe to try. Initially I miscalculated (soap making can be VERY confusing), and made an unworkable mixture containing 40% beeswax. This was very lumpy and refused to melt properly. Overnight it set, but became very flaky. In the past when this has happened, I've used the soap flakes in the washing machine, but given the high concentration of beeswax in this batch, I considered that unwise, and planned instead to sew it into small flannel bags to use in the shower. This never happened, however, as we began the process of clearing our house ready to move, and the mixture was thrown away.
Once I had read the instructions thoroughly again, and checked my calculations several more times, I created a new recipe consisting of 75% rapeseed oil, 15% hemp oil and 10% beeswax, and used this lye calculator to get the correct percentages of oils to lye and water.
Experimental soap recipe
7.5 ounces rapeseed oil
1.5 ounces hemp oil
1 ounce beeswax
3.3 ounces water
1.84 ounces lye
Important note: I do NOT recommend trying this recipe yourself unless (a) you are an experienced soap maker and have made soap using other 'proper' recipes, and (b) you understand and check the lye calculations yourself. Lye can cause severe skin burns, and soap making can be dangerous if done wrong. If you follow all safety instructions and use a tried and tested recipe, it's perfectly safe - but this recipe hasn't been tried and tested enough for me to recommend it.
Being quite a hard soap, each bar lasted quite a long time, and so this whole batch lasted almost two years, with us using a bar near the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink and the bath throughout that time.
I had also been reconsidering my shampoo use. I wanted to find an alternative to the conventional, commercial shampoo I used, partly to reduce plastic use, and partly to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals draining into our newly acquired septic tank.
I decided to experiment with making my own shampoo in the form of a solid bar. Being impatient, I decided to experiment with using the hot process method (heating the soap mixture in a slow cooker to encourage it to set more quickly, and therefore the soap to be available for use more quickly). As I had not used this method before, I decided that experimenting with both recipe and method at the same time was unwise, and instead followed these instructions and used olive and coconut oils again.
I made some changes to my original soap recipe. Hemp oil is not always easy to find, and is expensive, and I have since read that having a large percentage of beeswax in a recipe can reduce the lather - something I did not want to do, given that I also wanted it to be useful as shampoo.
I revised my boundaries. I still wanted to meet the three principles, but decided that in order to do that while also making a soap that would also be useful for hair washing, I would need to expand my boundaries to include the use of sunflower oil that is produced in France. It is much cheaper and more widely available than hemp oil, and also more suitable for soap making, and can be used as quite a large percentage of the overall recipe.
I therefore used this lye calculator to create a new recipe:
175g rapeseed oil
300g sunflower oil
25g beeswax
125ml water
61g caustic soda/lye
Important note (again): I do NOT recommend trying this recipe yourself unless (a) you are an experienced soap maker and have made soap using other 'proper' recipes, and (b) you understand and check the lye calculations yourself. Lye can cause severe skin burns, and soap making can be dangerous if done wrong. If you follow all safety instructions and use a tried and tested recipe, it's perfectly safe - but this recipe hasn't been tried and tested enough for me to recommend it.
I enjoyed the process of this design more than I thought I would. When I started, I thought it would be relatively small, both in terms of time taken and the amount of writing. However, I found the process so fascinating that I spent a long time researching different oils and their soap-making properties. I'm disappointed that I didn't complete the level of experimentation and testing that I planned to (including asking friends to try out the recipe and instructions) but this is something I can do in the future. The original soap worked well, but did not look pretty and it does not feel like a reliable recipe so I intend to do further experimentation to find the perfect recipe and process.
I was rather dissatisfied with this design and my lack of experimentation for a long time, but I was occupied elsewhere and didn't prioritise further experiments. Soap making is quite a palaver and it can be disheartening when it goes wrong (and a mess to clear up). However, having made a relatively successful batch of solid shampoo using someone else's recipe I was glad to start the process of experimenting again, and feel I am getting closer to achieving something I am happy with.