Many people have found problems with their store-bought and commercially produced soaps: they’re filmy and thick and leave you feeling sticky. They are also made with harsh chemicals that are tough on your skin. But you can’t just stop washing. Instead, try making homemade soap, which will be gentler on your skin. Making your own soap is fun, and the soap you produce will do away with many of the problems you find in commercial soap.

One of the biggest downsides to commercial soap is that it isn’t soap at all: its detergent! This is a petroleum-based product, and will tend to dry out your skin over time, leaving you itchy and miserable. Homemade soaps, on the other hand, are made with gentle, natural oils like coconut, olive, and palm, which will both clean your skin and moisturize it.

Another of the huge problems with commercial soaps is the possibility that it was tested on animals, and whether such tests were conducted ethically. However, if you make your own soap, you know exactly what’s gone into making it, and often times you can make your soaps with environmentally friendly ingredients.

One of the most fun parts about making your own soap is that you can choose exactly what to put in it. You can put in any fragrance (after all, making vanilla- or cinnamon-scented soap is easy, but what’s the last time you saw a soap like that in the market?), and you can choose to specifically exclude materials that you find harsh on your skin.

Making soap is also a great creative project, one that lets you use your imagination as you combine ingredients, fragrances, and colors. Homemade, handmade soaps also make great gifts, and it gives you a chance to learn how to make something which is essential to our lives, but which many people take for granted.

One of the easiest soap recipes uses lye, purified water, and coconut, olive, and grape seed oils. You want to make two mixtures: one of the lye and water, and the other of the three oils. The lye and water mixture will be hot and give off fumes, so set it outside to let it ventilate and cool to 110F. The oils, on the other hand, need to be heated to within 5 degrees of 110F is the closer you can get the oil temperature to the lye/water temperature, the better. Pour the lye mixture carefully into the oil mixture, and then blend in a blender until it’s about the consistency of a thin pudding. After this, pour it into molds.

Isn’t that easy? Remember, however, to handle the lye carefully: lye is very caustic, and can harm your skin and eyes if you aren’t careful. It’s best to do some research on how to handle it, use care, and make sure to use gloves, goggles, and a thick apron to help make sure that you’re protected.

Not only is making soap easy and fun, it’s a creative project that helps you keep alive a dying art, and helps you be healthier and more environmentally friendly. Give it a go: soap-making is a great project to try out!