Homemade Soap Bars: No Power and Off-grid

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10/18/20245 min read

How to Make Homemade Hand Soap with Natural Ingredients and Silicone Molds Without Electricity

In times of crisis or when living in remote areas, making your own soap can be an essential skill. If electricity is unavailable, the process can still be done by hand, and it can be both eco-friendly and sustainable. Using natural ingredients that are often readily available, you can create homemade hand soap, shaped in silicone molds, with minimal equipment and no need for electricity.

You will need water...

Here is how to find clean water if you plan to bug-in or live off-grid:

https://readyresourcesupply.com/clean-water1

Here is a planner with 189 examples of where to find water

https://readyresourcesupply.com/finding-water-during-shtf-planner-with-189-examples

Why Make Your Own Hand Soap?

Homemade soap has many benefits:

It’s free from synthetic chemicals, artificial fragrances, and preservatives.
You control the ingredients, ensuring gentleness for sensitive skin.
It’s adaptable based on what you have available.
During times of scarcity, soap is a crucial hygiene item, and making your own ensures you're never without.

When electricity is unavailable, the process of soap-making can still be achieved using simple, manual methods that have been practiced for centuries. You’ll just need a few basic tools and ingredients, some of which you can improvise based on what’s available.

Key Ingredients

To make soap without electricity, you’ll need just a few natural, versatile ingredients:

Fats or Oils: These can come from a variety of sources like olive oil, coconut oil, animal fat (tallow or lard), or vegetable oils like sunflower or canola. In times of scarcity, animal fats may be more accessible.
Lye (sodium hydroxide): Lye is essential for turning the fats into soap. It can be made from wood ash in a pinch, or you can use store-bought lye if available.
Water: Ideally use rainwater, distilled water, or filtered water.
Natural additives (optional): These can include essential oils (lavender, peppermint, etc.), dried herbs, clays, or exfoliants like ground oats. If essential oils aren’t available, look to natural scents like citrus peels or herbs.

Tools Needed

Silicone molds: Ideal for shaping the soap. If you don’t have specific soap molds, use silicone bakeware or even makeshift molds like empty yogurt cups or boxes lined with parchment paper.
A sturdy pot or heat-safe container: For heating and mixing your oils and fats.
Wooden or stainless steel spoon: For stirring the mixture by hand.
Rubber gloves and safety goggles: To safely handle the lye solution.
Old towels or blankets: To wrap and insulate the soap during the curing process.
Manual heat source: A fire pit, wood stove, or gas stove can replace an electric stove to heat the ingredients.

Step-by-Step Process to Make Soap Without Electricity

1. Prepare Your Workspace

Set up an area that is well-ventilated. Lye can release fumes when mixed with water, so it's best to do this outside or in a room with good air circulation. Make sure all your tools are clean and ready.

2. Measure Ingredients

Use a scale if you have one, but if not, you can rely on approximate measurements. Traditional soap recipes can be flexible. A simple soap recipe might call for:

16 oz (450 g) of oil or fat
6 oz (170 g) of water
2.5 oz (70 g) of lye (sodium hydroxide)

If you’re making lye from wood ash, the amount may vary, and you’ll need to test the strength (see below).

3. Make Your Lye Solution

If you have store-bought lye, carefully dissolve it in water by pouring the lye into the water (not the other way around). Stir slowly until it’s fully dissolved, and let it cool.

If you don’t have store-bought lye, you can make lye from wood ash:

Gather hardwood ash (oak, beech, or maple are ideal) and place it in a barrel or a wooden box with a hole for drainage.
Slowly pour rainwater or filtered water through the ashes, collecting the liquid that drains. This is known as lye water, and it will be weaker than commercial lye. To test if it's strong enough, place a fresh egg in the solution. If it floats with only a small portion of the egg visible above the water, your lye water is ready for use.

4. Heat the Oils

If you’re using solid fats (like tallow or lard), heat them slowly over a fire, wood stove, or gas stove until they melt. If using liquid oils like olive or sunflower oil, warm them until they reach about 100-110°F (38-43°C). No thermometer? Test by feeling the warmth with your hand—it should feel warm but not hot.

5. Mix Lye and Oils

Once your lye solution has cooled to a similar temperature as the oils (both should be warm but not too hot), carefully pour the lye into the pot of warm oils. Stir with a wooden or stainless steel spoon, continuously stirring for 10–30 minutes. This process will take longer without an electric blender, but with patience, the mixture will thicken.

Look for trace, which is when the mixture starts to leave trails on the surface as you stir, resembling pudding.

6. Add Natural Ingredients

Once trace is achieved, you can add optional ingredients like essential oils for fragrance or dried herbs for texture and aesthetic appeal. Mix these in thoroughly by hand.

7. Pour Into Molds

Carefully pour the thickened soap mixture into your silicone molds or makeshift molds. Tap the mold gently to remove air bubbles. Smooth the surface with a spoon or spatula if necessary.

8. Cure the Soap

Cover the filled molds with an old towel or blanket to insulate them. Leave the soap undisturbed for 24–48 hours so it can set. This allows the soap to harden and the saponification process to complete.

9. Unmold and Cure Further

After the initial curing, pop the soap out of the silicone molds. If the soap is still soft, leave it for an additional day. Once unmolded, place the soap bars in a well-ventilated area (on a drying rack or a flat surface lined with cloth) and let them cure for 4–6 weeks. The longer the soap cures, the milder and more effective it becomes.

Soap-Making Tips and Troubleshooting

No thermometer? If you don’t have one, test temperatures by feel. The oils and lye should be warm, but not hot to the touch. They should feel like warm bathwater.
Soap taking too long to trace? Without an immersion blender, stirring by hand can take time. Patience is key. Take breaks if needed, but keep stirring until the soap thickens.
Soap is soft or oily: This could mean too much oil was used or that the soap needs more time to set. Let it sit longer in the mold or try rebalancing your ratios next time.

Variations for Custom Soap

Even without electricity, you can customize your soap with simple, natural ingredients:

Herbal Additives: Add dried lavender, rosemary, or chamomile for calming and nourishing properties.
Exfoliants: Incorporate ground coffee, oats, or seeds for gentle exfoliation.
Colorants: Use natural powders like turmeric (yellow), spirulina (green), or charcoal (black) to color your soap.

Conclusion

Making hand soap without electricity may take more manual effort, but the results are rewarding. In times of scarcity, it allows you to be self-sufficient, turning basic ingredients into a valuable hygiene product. With just a few simple tools, natural fats, lye, and silicone molds, you can create your own soap, ensuring cleanliness and health for yourself and your family. This traditional craft is both sustainable and empowering—proof that even in difficult circumstances, nature provides us with the essentials for living well.