Homemade soap

Soap is one of those items that I never really thought about making. Because my hygiene and cleanliness depended on it, I didn't trust myself to make it.

 I always thought that buying from the folks who had been making soap for years was a better option. And it probably is.

 In fact the idea of making soap never crossed my mind. I always thought it would be to technical or complex for me to do on my own.

Then I met Da Assis and his family. They have been making their own soap for years. Luckily, it was time for them to make a new batch while I was there, giving me the opportunity get a first-hand look at how to make homemade soap.

 I'm not sure of the environmental impacts of homemade soap production versus commercial production. I would imagine that they differences are negligible, and De Assis says they save a bunch of money.

Ingredients for soap:

3 liters of vegetable oil
500 g of soda (Sodium Hydroxide)
20 L of water
1 liter of alcohol

Mix the oil and alcohol in one container

 In another container, mix the soda with one liter of water.

 Then mix together with the rest of the water and the oil and alcohol mixture.

 Let sit overnight to allow it to harden.

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 Ingredients for avocado soap:

18 kg of avocado
1 kg of soda (NaOH)

Put the avocado is a rice sack for three days to allow the water to drain out.

Then pass the remaining avocado through a sieve.

Mix the avocado with the the soda for 15-20 minutes .

Let it sit for a couple of weeks to harden.

This recipe is much more feasible if you have an avocado tree or live in an area that produces avocado. Otherwise, it probably won't make financial sense to produce your own avocado soap.