List Of Soap Making Materials And Equipments

 Before starting your soap-making journey, you will need to get some equipment handy because you need them to get off. 

Soap-making equipment is very important before you can start your soap making either for business or pleasure. It also depends on what you can afford to get. 

There is some equipment you can leave if you don't have the capital in getting it but there are some that you must get. There are some you can get in your home. It all depends on what you can afford and the ones you can't afford.

First, I will list all the equipment needed for the soap making and from there I will differentiate the ones that are mandatory to have and the ones you can get later if you don't have the money now.

All equipment is good because it will make your work easy and your final product to be good.

In this article, I will only list the equipment and in my next article, I will explain the use of each piece of equipment where you can get it easily. 

Now the soap-making equipment includes the following

1. Soap mold

2. Thermometer

3. Paddle/Turner/Agitator

4. Bowl/buckets/container/Beaker

5. Soap cutter

6. Soap Calculator

7. Hydrometer

8. Safety kits.

9. Measuring Equipment 

Right now we will look into the uses of each piece of equipment. From what I said earlier, is not necessary to get all the equipment at once if you don't have the luxury to do so. The best thing is to identify the most important ones and get first before going for others. 

When I started I did not have the luxury to get everything at once but today I have everything I needed. All fingers are not equal. I will list the equipment and its uses and from it, you can pick the most important one and start with it. Some of the equipment you can find substitutes for it in your kitchen and there is no need of getting a new one.

Right now let's look into the equipment and its uses.

1. Soap mold => Soap mold is the equipment we pour our soap into after manufacturing or mixing all the chemicals. Know that a newly manufactured soap is a semi-liquid substance and you need to pour it into the mold to solidify. The essence of pouring it into a mold is to give it a nice shape and makes it easy to bring out for cutting and packaging 📦. If you are not manufacturing it for commercial purposes then you're free to leave it in any plastic, wooden, or silicon container if you can't afford a mold. 

For those that want to get a mold for their soap, we have three major types of mold 

a. Wood mold

b. Silicon mold

c. Plastic mold.

Each type of mold got its name from the material used in making it. Each of the mold types is good it depends on which you prefer but one major difference between the wood mold and other types of mold is the choice to cut your soap in desired shape and side. Other types come with a predetermined size and it saves you the stress and the extra cost of getting soap cutting equipment. Is now your choice to know the one you want to have and you have the privilege to explore all the options and know the one you prefer.

2. Thermometer => Thermometer measures the degree of hotness or coldness. The thermometer is used to measure the temperature of soap-making chemicals. In soap making, you have to soap at a particular temperature range to get the best result. I will not dive into temperature determination in soap making now but I will explain it in detail in another article. We have different types of thermometers but I prefer infrared thermometers because you don't have to dip them inside the chemicals. The thermometer is very important in soap making because the temperature is one of the main factors that determine the quality of soap. 

Some examples of thermometer  

a. Infrared thermometer 

An infrared thermometer is the best for measuring soap chemicals because you don't need to dip it inside chemicals. It will save you the cleaning time and is reading is accurate because is digital. 

b. Laboratory thermometer and

The laboratory thermometer is analog and it requires dipping it in the chemical before it can take a reading. You have to be precise before recording the reading because is you that will be taking the readings. Like I said earlier, I prefer an infrared thermometer because it saves you the stress of taking manual readings.

3. Paddle/Stirrer/Turner/Agitator => All the names are the same. Is just a synonym used for better understanding? Some people will know it as a paddle, stirrer, turner, or agitator but is used in turning soap chemicals. For saponification to take place, you must stir the soap chemicals very well. You need the stirrer to do it effectively. We have different types. Some are manual while some are digital. I prefer using the digital one because it can also serve as a manual stirrer when you switch off the automatic vibrator. 

Examples of stirrer 

a. Digital hand mixer 

This type of mixer uses both electricity and battery to operate. When the vibrator is turned off it becomes a manual stirrer.

b. Manual paddle. 

This type of stirrer can come in form of wood, plastic, and silicon. It also comes in different sizes and dimensions.

4. Bowel/Beaker/Bucket/Container => this is used to hold soap chemicals. During the mixing of soap-making chemicals, you need to pour it into one of these. For example, when you want to mix your lye with water, you need any of these to do it. You don't need to stress yourself about buying any of it because you can use any plastic container or bucket in your home. 

5. Soap cutter => Soap cutter is used in cutting soap to desired shapes, sizes, and dimensions. Soap cutters come in different shapes and materials but all serve the same purpose. 

Examples of a soap cutter 

Note: You can equally use your kitchen knife to cut your soap if you're doing it for home use.

6. Soap calculator => Soap calculator is software that calculates the amount of lye that will be needed for soaping a given quantity of oil. Is a very useful tool for both beginners and advanced people in the soap industry. It also tells you the property the soap will have even when the production is yet to be done. I will not talk much about it here because an article that will speak in detail about it is on the way.

Example of a soap calculator 

More on soap calculators will be discussed in a subsequent article.

7. Hydrometer => Hydrometer is used to check the specific gravity of either soda ash or caustic soda during soap making. In other words, a hydrometer is used to check the concentration of caustic soda or soda ash solution. A hydrometer is calibrated just like a manual thermometer. There is a level for laundry soap and also for bathing soap. When using the hydrometer, you need to dip it in the lye solution and if the lye solution is at the right calibration level with the hydrometer then you are good to go. I will talk about hydrometers more in another article.

Example of hydrometer 

Note: If you're using a soap calculator, a hydrometer is not needed.

8. Safety kits => Some soap chemicals like caustic soda, are not friendly to the skin and you need to protect yourself from them. Use of safety kits such as boots or cover shoes, google, hand gloves, nose mask, and safety clothes.

Examples of safety kits

9. Measuring equipment => Measuring equipment such as weighing balance and others are needed to take the exact measurement of soap chemicals. Taking exact measurements of chemicals is the first step to ensuring a quality finished product. Any mistake in measurements will alter what you're expecting to get at the end of the day. Measurements can be in grams, kilograms, ounces, etc. 

Example of measurement equipment

 Remember that this article and other articles on this blog will be updated often as soon as new information and research are done.

Always come back to check on new updates and perfect your soap-making skills.