But with handcrafted soap, since none of that is necessary as the batches are small, the soap that is created is cleansing and nourishing to skin depending on what oils are used to create the soap. They can be unscented, especially if the intended user has difficulty with scent or fragrance of any kind. Or they can be scented with fragrance copies such as watermelon, peach or green tea, since nature did not provide us with those scents, or if desired, one can use plant derived essential oils to achieve an aromatherapeutic effect.  Your own personal soaps can be crafted by you in different ways. 

There are those who enjoy taking premade batches of either clear or white plain unscented soap, shaving it down into slivers, and adding distilled water to cook it a bit. Scents, grains and other botanicals can then be added to make what is called milled soap. Milled soap tends to be harder and can last longer with daily use. It does not take as much of a potentially expensive scented oil to make it fragrant. Others like to measure out their oils separately from their lye solution and combine the two to start the chemical reaction called saponification. This is the part that feels so magical, seeing the fats and lye thicken up in the pot and then pouring the thickened batch into molds to finish out the chemical reaction.  

The thickening up is what is called tracing. Tracings do not jump up and down to call attention to themselves, but simple tests for it can be done often; simply drizzle a little of the soap mixture on the top of the mix. If you make a circle or a star and it stays on the top, you have what is called tracing. The soap can then be poured into the molds. Though many people are afraid of lye, they should be no more afraid of it than bleach or toilet bowl cleaner. Don’t drink it. Use precautions and treat it with respect and care. Things should go well. Search out Lye Safety Precautions.  (Full story)