Skip to content

Making Soap Naturally

Professional recipes and advice about everything soap!

Menu
  • HOME
  • SCENTS
    • antibacterial essential oils list
    • are perfumes toxic?
    • How to use Essential Oils
    • Cedarwood Essential Oils
    • Essential Oil Blends
    • Frankincense Essential Oil
    • Lavender Essential Oil
    • Rosemary Essential Oil
    • Tea Tree Essential Oil
  • SOAP BASES
    • Basic Soap Recipes – my 6 at a glance
    • #1 – Olive and Coconut, No Palm
    • #2 – Olive, Coconut and Palm
    • #3 – Olive, Coconut & Palm Kernel
    • #4 Olive, Coconut, Palm & Less Water
    • #5 Olive, Coconut, Palm Kernel & Less Water
    • #6 Castile, Just Olive
  • THE SOAPS
    • Baby Soap
    • Beer Soap
    • Castile Soap
    • Charcoal Soap
    • Coffee Soap
    • Dead Sea Mud Soap
    • Gardeners Soap
    • Green Mint Tea
    • Grocery Store Soap
    • Laundry Soap
    • Melt and Pour
    • Pet Shampoo
    • Recycle Bar Soap Pieces
    • Salt Soap
    • Shampoo Bar
    • Simple Halloween Recipe
  • BATH AND BODY
    • Bath Bombs
    • Bath Salts
    • Face Mask
    • Hemp Butter
    • Lip Balm
    • Lotion Bar
    • Whipped Shea Butter
  • SOAP SUPPLIES
    • Supplies you will need
    • A Great Place to Buy Soap-Making Supplies
    • Digital or Electronic Scale
    • Escali 136DK Alimento Digital Scale Review – To Weigh your Soap Making Oils
    • Thermometers
    • Soap Boxes
    • Soap Making Books
    • Where to buy soap making supplies
  • INGREDIENTS
    • Properties of Soap Making Oils
    • Shelf Life of Oils
    • Apricot Kernel Oil
    • Canola Oil
    • Castor Oil
    • Hemp Seed Oil
    • Neem Oil
    • Olive OIl
    • Palm Oil
  • FAQ’S
    • Craft Fairs and Festival
      • Christmas Craft Fair – just some thoughts as I’m packing
      • The Farmers Market – Selling your Soap
      • Trade shows
    • How to Pick a Business Name
      • Naming your Soap Company – what is a good name?
    • How much does it cost to make soap?
    • INCI Names
      • What is INCI
    • Labeling the Eco-Friendly Way
      • Organic and Natural Product Labelling Rules
    • Proper storage of the Natural and Handmade Soaps
    • Regulations for Hand made soap
      • Important Product Knowledge
    • Wholesale Handmade Soap or Sell it yourself?
    • Craft Fairs and Festivals – what do I need?
  • Baby Skin Care
    • Baby Soap Recipe
    • Baby Powder Recipe
    • Natural Baby Products
    • Vaseline (nonpetroleum) Recipe
Menu

Soap Making Terms

Posted on 12-2001-20 by Tes

Soap making Terms, soap making, handmade soap

Have you ever been confused by the many soap making terms and abbreviations that are mentioned on websites or in recipes. Well here is a pretty good list of abbreviations and terms to help you through.

Below you will find some of the most common soap making terms and abbreviations.




Castile soap – a soap made from 100% Olive Oil

Cold Process (CP) – A soap making method where oils and lye are mixed without external heat

Colorant – a natural or synthetic dye used to color soap

coloring Soap with Mica
Color Soap with Mica or Oxides?



Coloring Your Soap, soap color, making soap, handmade soap
Color your soap with herbs or spices

Color or add Clay to your soap

 

Cure – the amount of time soap is left to become less alkaline and more mild.  As the soap cures they change from harsh to mild – this process takes 4 to 6 weeks.

Discount – this means to discount an ingredient.  Normally water to get a harder bar.

DOS –  also known as the dreaded orange spots, this is a sign of the soap becoming rancid. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for this, but it seems to happen more often with oils such as canola and sunflower, be sure when using these oils to use no more than the recommended amount.

Essential Oil (EO) – natural oils that come from plants.

Flash Point – this is the lowest temperature that vapours from essential oils or other oils will ignite.

Fragrance Oil (FO) – synthetic oils sometimes mixed with essential oils to create nice long lasting scents.

Gel – After pouring you soap if you looked into the mold you may see that your soap looks like vaseline.  That is fine this is what is known as the Gel phase.

Glycerine – A substance the comes from vegetable oils.  Naturally produced in Cold Process soap making leaving a bar of soap with moisturizing properties

Hot Process (HP) – Cooking the Cold Process soap to speed up the saponification process.  The bars can be used right away, but are much better if left to cure.

Humectant –  an ingredient that draws moisture from the air to the skin.

Lye – also known as sodium hydroxide comes in beads and is added to the water in a soap recipe to make the lye/water solutions added to the soap oils.

Sodium Hydroxide Soap making, sodium hydroxide, soapmaking, handmade soap
Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) for Soap Making




Pour Lye into Water to Make Soap
Can I make Soap without Lye?

What to do if you get lye on your skin

 

MSDS – “Material Safety Data Sheet”  These sheets contain important information regarding the product such as the Manufactures name, hazards and potential health risks, first aid measures, how to handle and store the products etc.

Movers – Some fragrance oils can be movers.  These are ingredients that will speed up the trace of your soap when added.

PH – a scale that is used to measure how much hydrogen ion is in a substance.  A ph of 7 is just right.  1 – 7 is acidic where as 8 – 14 is alkaline.

RT – Room Temperature

Saponification – the chemical process where the lye reacts with the oils to produce soap

Sap Number – This measures the milligrams of lye needed to saponify one gram of that oil.

Seizing – this happens when our soap goes from a nice consistency to something resembling mashed potatoes in a quick amount of time.  I have had fragrance oils have this effect on my soap.  Mold it as quick as you can and test it later to make sure it is okay.

Setting Up – another term for trace

Superfatting – this is when oils are left in the final bars after saponification.  This makes a more moisturizing bar, but care needs to be taken as these bars can be more prone to becoming rancid and the shelf life is much shorter.

Swirling – A method used to color your soap.  There are different ways of doing this, but taking out some soap adding color and then pouring back into your pot before pouring into the mold can produce some interesting swirls.

Trace – is when the oils and water/lye mixture combine and start to thicken – a consistency of pudding would be a medium trace.

Zap Test – a test where you place your tongue on the soap.  If you get a zap then there is still lye present in the soap and it is not ready for use yet.



© 2017 – 2018, Tes. All rights reserved.

2 thoughts on “Soap Making Terms”

  1. Tabsmark says:
    12-25 at 1:48 pm

    I am so pleased to have landed on your site!

    I have been thinking about making natural soap. There a few tourist shops in Victoria Falls that sell handmade soap, but they just seem so dear.

    My Aunt once gave me a quick lesson – she makes goat milk soap, but we just did a common recipe. It was a while back.

    This list you have here is exactly what I need to get started and learn more about this hobby. I am now inspired!

    Reply
    1. Tes says:
      12-28 at 12:29 am

      So glad to have helped, I know when I first started I had no idea of the different terms for soap making, enjoy your new hobby, and thanks for stopping by and commenting on the site.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share

  • Trending Natural Soap Ingredients & Sustainable Practices In 2025
  • Eucalyptus Essential Oil
  • DIY Baby Lotion Recipe (Gentle & Natural)
  • 🎄 Christmas Soap Recipes
  • Oatmeal Honey Soap Recipe (Cold Process & Melt & Pour)
  1. Tes on Trending Natural Soap Ingredients & Sustainable Practices In 202509-08

    Thank you so much—I’m glad you enjoyed it! I’ve been experimenting with a few of these trends, and the one…

  2. Hanna on Trending Natural Soap Ingredients & Sustainable Practices In 202509-06

    I really enjoyed reading your post—it’s so inspiring to see how natural soap making is evolving in 2025! I love…

  3. Tes on DIY Baby Lotion Recipe (Gentle & Natural)09-01

    This lotion is mild and should be fine for sensitive skin.  You could cut the recipe in half for a…

  4. Alexa on DIY Baby Lotion Recipe (Gentle & Natural)08-28

    As a first-time mom, I’ve been extra cautious about what I put on my toddler’s skin, especially since he’s had…

  5. Tes on Oatmeal Honey Soap Recipe (Cold Process & Melt & Pour)08-27

    Hi yes I do notice a difference on my skin.  I used to get excema really bad and now I…

200x400

Share

  • Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

  • Trending Natural Soap Ingredients & Sustainable Practices In 2025
  • Eucalyptus Essential Oil
  • DIY Baby Lotion Recipe (Gentle & Natural)
  • 🎄 Christmas Soap Recipes
  • Oatmeal Honey Soap Recipe (Cold Process & Melt & Pour)

Making Soap Naturally is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

©2018 Making Soap Naturally

© 2025 Making Soap Naturally | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme