Ever wondered how much making soap costs? What if you bought the cheapest one you could find and try to make the same at home? Would you be able to make your own soap cheaper?
Making your own soap can be cheaper when you buy your ingredients in bulk or make basic soap without additives or preservatives; however, you probably will not save money on it once you start to add fragrances and oils.
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Buying your soap in a store is convenient, and if you don’t want anything fancy, not expensive at all. So one would wonder, why would you go through all of the trouble of making your own soap? And even if you do, would you be able to make it cheaper?
Why making your own soap is better.
You see, I have mentioned in many other articles why commercial soaps are not as good as you may think. But I can give you a short version here. They lack glycerin, and they’re not friendly to your skin. The cheaper you buy, the least natural ingredients are used, and finally, most of the time, you’d have a hard time knowing what exactly you are putting on your skin.
But, if you make your own, you’d have full control over all of these things. You’d be able to choose if you wish to make a full natural soap or go with some chemicals that you know are safe to use.
It’s fun:
You can do so many variations with so many scents, or you can make your soap look like a landscape, the sky’s the limit. So making soap is actually really fun, and can even be therapeutic to some.
Superior product:
Ever noticed that on the package, it doesn’t say soap? So, if it doesn’t say soap, what is it then? Well, it’s most likely just a detergent bar that’s mimicking the “soapiness” of a soap bar. This means it will have attributes like lathering agents or scent and most likely will have the same function as soap when you use it, but it’s NOT soap.
Next time you buy a bar of soap, check the description carefully and look at what ingredients are used, you will be able to know if it’s real soap or just chemical components that mimic it.
Is Making Your Own Soap Cheaper?
Money-wise, making your own soap can be cheaper for you, but it depends on a few factors. Making just one bar of soap is not going to cut it. That’s because you can’t buy the ingredients in low quantity. To give you an easy example, If you want to add fragrance, you can’t buy a few drops.
The oils/fat you want to use cannot be bought in small bottles, so this means your costs will go up once you start buying everything you need to make your soap.
So if the plan is to make only one loaf of soap, this will cost you a lot more! All of this means if you wish to make it as cheap as buying one (or even less expensive), making more than one batch of soap is going to be inevitable.
How much does it cost to make your own soap?
There is no simple answer to this question and you could probably guess why. It highly depends on what type of soap you wish to make, what ingredients you want to use, or if you want to add additives such as fragrance or preservatives.
The easiest way to calculate this would be to buy everything, make the soap using all of the ingredients till you have nothing left, and calculate the amount of soap that came out and compare it with the commercial equivalent.
Sounds easy right? I know this may not what you want to read but this is probably the easiest and most straightforward way of knowing if it’s cheaper.
What is the cheapest way to make soap?
Buy in bulk
Buying everything in bulk is one thing you can do to make it even cheaper. I know what you are thinking right now…You just want to make soap for yourself and not for the whole town. But, I am afraid that if you wish to make something cheaper, you need to do the same as all the big companies are doing.
Buy in bulk to push the costs down. This will probably help keep the costs down A LOT! This is especially true if you wish to sell your soap, which eventually a lot of soap makers end up doing.
Keep it simple
If you keep it simple and don’t add anything fancy in your soap, in most cases, you will end up with a cheaper product.
If you start adding expensive additives you will lose due to the fact that they cost a lot and you need to buy them in large quantities.
The hidden costs
The first time you want to make soap, you will probably end up with costs you did not anticipate. For example, you cannot make soap without a mold, a stick blender, and a digital food scale, and that’s the bare minimum. You can expect these things to cost you between 50USD to 100USD.
In case you want to control the temperature in the room where you want to let your soap cure, you will have even a higher cost, but you don’t need that if you’re just starting out, but it gives you an idea of what’s to come. The good part is, you only need to buy this equipment once, and you are good.
When is soap making for you?
If you want to start an enjoyable hobby, then soap making is a perfect choice!
If you are creative and love to try out new things, soap making is for you!
If you have problems with the commercial soap that most of the time are not even soap and you wish to have something natural, soap making is for you!
If your skin gets easily irritated by commercial soap and you cannot find any that doesn’t, making your own might probably the solution. You have complete control of what’s in your soap.
If you are someone who wants only to use natural products, then soap making is for you. However, if you plan on going that direction, just make sure to use your soap in time as it might expire or go bad.
Especially if you use fresh additives, you might end up with mold, which can be dangerous if used. Natural products do have an expiry date that is much faster than commercial ones, which are filled with chemicals and preservatives.
When should you NOT make your own soap?
If you are currently in financial difficulty, making your own soap will not save you money, as the upfront costs are a real consideration. That is for the short term, as a long term plan, this might save you money, but only if you make enough soap.
If you have small children running around and are not always paying attention to your surroundings, this can be really dangerous for kids as they tend to push things around while playing. If by any chance, you have lye water that needs to cool, and it gets knocked over, they might not only get severely burned but, even worse, get blind.
If you are not patient or cannot follow a recipe (like my wife when cooking, for example), then soap making is not for you. You need to follow the recipe exactly, even if you made it yourself.
Conclusion
If you wish to try out making your own soap, you will most likely end up with something much more expensive due to the upfront costs. If you are into making soap that has addtives and such, you might be able to make it cheaper if you buy everythign in bulk.