BAR SOAP MAKING

Bar Soap also called laundry soap is one of the lucrative business in Nigeria. In which everyone needs as an household item. I will take you thru steps of making Laundry soap

LAUNDRY SOAP MAKING
Laundry soap is one of the most essential house-hold items that humans
use daily. It commands regular or constant demand in the market place.
It is in the group of useful commodities like food items, water, clothes, and shelter that we can not do without. Little wonder that the soap making business has not suffered any set back in spite of the global economic melt-down.

Different types of soap are produced daily and they include – laundry soap, bathing soap, antiseptic soap, detergent and a host of others. The modes of producing them the chemicals used are slightly different.
Our focus here is on how to produce laundry soap on a small scale. There are various methods of production, but two are outstanding. The hot and cold method. The hot method involves boiling the chemicals in a mixture. The cold method, which is easier and does not involve boiling, is being exposed here.

EQUIPMENT;
1. Nylon sheets
2. Stamp or stamping machine
3. Hand gloves
4. Nose mask
5. A mixer ( plastic or metal but not aluminium containers)
6. A measuring scale (in kg or litres)
7. A mould ( wooden , plastic or metal of length-43cm,width-33cm
height-4cm )
8. Hydrometer
9. Containers (Plastic buckets)

CHEMICALS :
1 Palm kernel oil (P.k.o)
2 Caustic soda Pearls
3 Soda ash (dense)
4 Sodium sulphate
5 Perfume
6 Water
7. Colouring (optional)

CHEMICAL MIXING
1. CAUSTIC SODA: Ferment caustic soda pearls for 24 hours – 48 hours before use. How? Mix caustic soda pearls with water in the ratio of 1 to 2 (caustic soda 2kg to water 4litres). Mix by stirring with a stick. Then leave the solution for 24- 48 hours to ferment. Please keep caustic soda solution out of the reach of children because it is a corrosive alkali. After fermentation, the solution becomes cool. Then gauge the potency level by using a hydrometer. (Hydrometer is that measuring instrument which battery charging technicians use to gauge the level of electrolyte i.e battery water.)Caustic soda solution is gauged at 12.50—12.75. Adjust with ordinary water or caustic soda pearls if necessary.

2.SODA ASH : Ferment soda ash too for 24 hours to 48 hours in the
ratio of 1 to 2.When the solution cools, gauge soda ash solution with the hydrometer at 12 .00 – 12.25.

3. SODIUM SULPHATE: Dissolve sodium sulphate in water
Just immediately before production. It needs no fermentation.Gauge sodium sulphate
at 12.75

FORMULATION:
1. P K O - 3 Litres
2. Caustic soda solution – 1.5 Litres
3. Soda ash solution - 1.2 Litres
4. Sodium sulphate – 0.6 Litres
5. Perfume - to- taste
6. colourant -- to- taste

PROCESS:
Pour P.K.O into the mixer (container), and then add caustic soda solution
And continue stirring. Add soda ash and stir. Add sodium sulphate and perfume. If you want to produce soap of various colours, then add the colouring you desire—yellow or blue or green. Pour the pap-like solution into the mould that has already been covered by nylon. Spread the soap solution in the mould. Allow the soap solution to dry for 3 hours. Remove the nylon and what you have is the slab of soap. Then cut the soap into various bar sizes. It is ready for use and for sell, wholesale and/ or retail.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD SOAP
1. It must foam very well.
2. It must be solid, strong and durable
3. It must have attractive scent or perfume.
4. It must NOT itch your hand or body ( No scratching of any kind)
5. It must not develop whitish flakes after a few days of production.