It seems like for us, the hardest thing about making soap is keeping our hands off of it until it cures.
We recently made a couple of batches of soap for our household needs. We made a batch of devil’s club soap the first day, and a batch of tea tree and lavender the second. Soon after, Michelle and I cut up the devil’s club before she left for work. I cut up the tea tree/lavender later, and set both sets of bars aside to cure. They will need somewhere between four to six weeks for the saponification process to finish. This means that lye and vegetable fats will chemically bond, turning a caustic, slimy mess into good, sweet soap.
Freshly-cut devil’s club soap. Looks good enough to eat, doesn’t it? (Photo: Mark Zeiger).
