How To Start A Soap Business

Soap production is a very lucrative business; soap is needed in many areas such as for watching,bathing,etc. with hard work and determination you will be able to succeed .How to produce soap; we shall tell you the raw materials needed, the equipments and tools required, the packaging materials, and the processing methods. you will have to decide the types of soap to produce; whether laundry soap or toilet soap, then secondly you have to decide whether you want to make your soap primarily out of animal fats or items such as olive oil and  palm oil etc. You will have to decide what kind of additives you want to put in. Things like coconut oil will change the hardness of the soap. Things like buttermilk will add lathering to your soap. Ground up oatmeal is absolutely excellent for making a soothing soap to your skin. So setting up a soap business required some little knowledge of chemistry; however don’t be scare; even if you do not have any knowledge of chemistry we shall guide you.
1- Raw  Materials/Additives                        

• 9 oz Treated Water
• 4.6 ozs Sodium Hydroxide/caustic soda powder
• 16 ozs Olive Oil
• 10 ozs Coconut Oil
• 6 ozs Palm oil
• Perfumes: e.g. lemon, citronella, lavender
• Colorants: e.g. R colorant

2- Equipments Needed

• Weighing scale This device is used to measure raw materials in powder form; make sure to weight accurately the raw materials.
• Stainless steel or enamel pot (use this exclusively for soap-making) This is where all your materials will be mixed and react; avoid using aluminum materials
• Graduated buckets(2) It is used to measure liquid raw materials; they must be in plastic form because acid and bases will react with measuring buckets made with aluminum.

• Plastic measuring cup 2-3 cup size.
• Two wooden or plastic spoons. (one for the sodium hydroxide and one for the oils.  Use these exclusively for soap-making)
• Two thermometers. (one for the sodium hydroxide and one for the oils - must read to over 100 degrees)
•  Rubber gloves, Safety goggles.
• Wooden/metal soap 8" x 11" x 3" deep mold. This is where the liquid soap will be poured in these molds  
• Polythene sheet/Nylon. It is used in lining the inside of the moulds before the soap paste is poured, preventing the soap to stick to the mould.
• Soap slizer/cutting machine.It is used in cutting the soap in desired shape; if your mould do not have small rectangular boxes (the size of the soap-8’’x 11’’x 3’’) you will need a soap slizer.
• Pan trolleys/tablesIt is used in arranging the soaps that have been cut before packing into cartoons
  There are three main processes in soap production:

• Cold process
• Semi-boiled process
• Full-boiled process

Cold process: This process does not requires heating or boiling the raw material; no energy is required in this process, that is why it is recommended for small and medium  soap manufacturers; and it is this process that we shall show you.
Semi-boiled process: This process involves heating and boiling and do not require the separation of glycerol(foam).Both laundry and toilet soaps are produce through this process
Full-boiled process: It is a complete boiling system to produce soap. Toilet and antiseptic soap are mainly produce through this process.

3- Production Process
We shall focus on the cold process, it is simple and cost effective ;do not require to apply some form of energy; so it is suitable for small entrepreneurs who wish to start a soap business

• Begin by putting on your goggles and rubber gloves
• Weigh out 12 ozs of Sodium Hydroxide/caustic soda powder into one of the plastic containers.
•  Weigh out 32 oz of treated water into the other container. 
• Slowly and in a steady stream pour the Sodium Hydroxide or caustic soda powder into the water, stirring until dissolved.  Do this in a well ventilated area and try not to splash. 
• Let Sodium Hydroxide/water mixture sit until the temperature reaches between 100-125 degrees.  This may take several hours, but if you're in a hurry you can place the container in a cold water bath to bring down the temperature quicker. 
• In the meantime, get your oils ready by weighing out 24 oz. of coconut oil and 38 oz. of palm oil shortening and placing them into your pot.  Heat them up just until they melt and then remove from heat and add the 24 ozs of olive oil.  Stir to incorporate and put one of the thermometers into the pot to check the temperature.  The oils will also have to be between 100-125 degrees. Both the Sodium Hydroxide /water mixture and the oils will have to be at the same temperature before incorporating them.
• Prepare your additives.  Start with just 3-4 ozs of essential oil scent(citronella or lavender depending of your taste) or a combination of essential oils (blend);also add 1-3 tablespoons of colorant; pre-disperse in a little liquid glycerin. 
• Line the mold container that you're using with polythene sheets/nylon or a piece of freezer paper; it prevents the soap from sticking to the mould; avoid very light sheet nylon. If you are using wooden soap mold, line it with freezer paper.
• Check the temperature of the sodium hydroxide solution and oils.  When they reach between 100-125°, its time to "make soap." 
•  Slowly pour the sodium hydroxide /water mixture into the oils, stirring continuously.  You may continue to stir using a spoon or switch to the stick blender.  Stir or blend in all the solution of sodium hydroxide and you will begin to see the mixture thicken. 
• Just as the mixture thickens to the point where you see tracks or "trace" in the soap, add any dried ingredients or colorants.  Continue to stir or blend until you see designs on the top of the soap (this is known as tracing and can happen in 10-20 minutes depending on the temperature of your mixture). 
•  Quickly add the mixture to the mold.  Cover with the lid and place in an undisturbed area for 18 hrs.
• Remove the lid and leave the soap air in the mold for another few hours. 

You should have a nice hard block of fresh soap which you can now remove from the mold.  Let the block of soap sit for a day to firm up or slice into bars or chunks immediately. Then place bars in an open box or drying rack for 2 weeks or longer. Don't allow the bars to touch one another.

Recommendations
You may not have the money to purchase all the equipments listed above such as cutting machine or weighing scale, do not be discourage; you can still start the soap business. If you can not afford a cutting machine, you can use a sharp knife (the type meat butcher used); if you can not afford a weighing scale, used this volume proportion: One volume of sodium hydroxide for three volume treated water. This is what it entails if you wish to start a soap business; in our next article we shall show you the semi-boiled process. We wish you success.