Pioneer Soap….
Granddaughter #1 was doing research on pioneers in her 5th grade class…and as part of that research they needed to do a project as a pioneer.
Naturally she thought of Nana (me!) and thought making soap would be a great project!
Before we started I wanted to explain a few important differences between our soap and pioneer soap.
#1 Pioneers rendered their own fat from farm animals to use in the soap making process. (We do not use animal by-products in our cosmetics…and there is no way I would ever take on rendering our own fat…just a personal preference thank-you-very-much!)
#2 Pioneers leached their own lye from rainwater and ashes. This was not only dangerous it was very unreliable as there was no accurate way to determine the strenghth or weakness of the lye water. This resulted in either a very soft soap or a very harsh soap that would take the skin right off of your hide! (In our modern era we now have sodium hydroxide and special calculators so we can determine the correct ratio of lye to fats to create a perfect, hard bar of soap!)
For our pioneer soap project we used:
Digital Scale for measuring ingredients (I assume pioneers would have used a balance scale but we didn’t have one)
Wood Stove for melting oils
Good old bucket, spoon and elbow grease
She first weighed out the oils and put them in a pan. We then set the pan on the wood stove so the oils could melt.
She measured out the correct amount of water and then I measured the sodium hydroxide and added it to the water. Since toxic fumes result when lye hits water I thought it safer that I do that particular step while wearing a face mask, safety glasses and gloves (standard safety procedure).
As the oils were melting and the water/lye mixture was cooling we lined the wooden soap mold.
In about 1/2 hour we were ready to blend the two. Again, due to safety issues I went ahead and poured the water/lye into the oils and let her do the manual stirring (again wearing safety goggles and gloves).
After reaching slight trace we then poured the raw soap into the mold. Since this was a pioneer soap we did not use any fragrance or coloring. The wooden soap mold is a small one so to insure the soap got hot enough to saponify we set it on the wood stove.
After 24 hours the soap was unmolded, cut and set to cure.
I’m waiting to hear what her grade was on this project. I thought it came out very well!
Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…
