All About Soap Making: Clear Glycerine Soap

By Gary Everson
In this article I explain the misnomer of glycerine soap, offer advice on how to make clear soap at home and explain what glycerine is and what it does, its benefits and properties
Glycerin is a sweet tasting, colorless, thick liquid that has a high boiling point, it freezes to a paste and is a humectant, which means that it attracts moisture. It is also a natural by-product in the soap making process. Commercial manufacturers remove a significant quantity of glycerin from soap to be used in more expensive lotions and creams.

Glycerine was first discovered in 1779 in the saponification process, today, glycerine is found in and sourced from animal fats, vegetable oils and synthetically from petrochemicals.
It is generally thought that Glycerine is an ingredient added to handmade soap but as stated above it is actually a by-product of the soap making process (saponification). Clear soap is often mistaken for glycerine soap when in fact all handmade soap contains glycerine, a treatment using alcohol and sugar is what makes the soap clear and this is what people generally refer to as glycerine soap. You can add extra glycerine to improve the moisturizing properties of the soap but it is not a necessity. Glycerin soap combined with selected oils can be a great way to relax and mixed with carefully selected herbs and essential oils can be great for acne suffers, it is also very mild and gentle so can be used by children. The most often used method for making glycerine soap is the melt and pour method. This is simply done by taking an opaque soap base melting it and then adding the alcohol and sugar to turn it clear.

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia found that glycerine makes skin look, feel and function better by attracting moisture and by helping skin cells mature properly; they also discovered that it helps convert fats or lipids in the external, protective membrane. All cells have this layer, but skin cells secrete extra lipids to form a protective barrier. "Think about it. If there was not some sort of barrier, when you took a bath, all the water would go into you and you would blow up like a balloon." This research is not news to natural soap makers who for years have been telling the virtues of real soap over mass-produced chunks of soap full of chemicals that are cheap, but not skin-friendly.

Transparent soap can be purchased as a clear Melt & Pour base, or made at home, but this is a moderate to advanced technique. It is created by taking previously made cold process soap, re-melting it and adding high proof alcohol such as strong Vodka or Ethanol, dissolved sugar is then added to the mix and depending on the type of oils used and the effectiveness of the alcohol, resulting in soap almost as clear as glass.

I have purposely kept the description for this technique very general to pique your interest and also because the exact technique is quite difficult, exacting and far too involved to describe here. If you are interested in the exact technique, try searching the internet for "make clear soap" or "make transparent soap" without the quotes.

Want to learn All About Soap Making, but haven't a clue where to start? Gary Everson's FREE course will show you how, from the basic techniques with a detailed explanation of theraputic soaps, to cold process and melt and pour recipes, followed by comprehensive safety and legal information and finishing by turning it all into a business, with an extra bonus at the end.
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