How To Make Halal Spicy Soap

Salam`alaikum sheeple. I'm going to insha'allah (try) to make this short.

Like most of our education, we learn through media and external influences. So, if you've ever seen Fight Club (I'm an addict), you'll know that to make soap, we need a fatty substance and lye. Lye is a dangerously corrosive alkali, known chemically as sodium hydroxide - for the chem-geeks, that's NaOH. It burns bad.

Homemade soap lasts longer & saves money on useless cosmetics

So in making soap what do we use instead?
There are different ingredients required in making soap, depending on the methods we use, very much like cooking. There's a hot method, and a cold method. The cold method requires using lye although both processes can include it; again, it depends on what 'flavours' you want to make. Today, we're going the hot way, and making a simple scented spiced soap. This is traditionally a basic melt and pour method.

You need:

• Glycerine - as this is commonly an animal subtance and therefore not suitable for Muslim bathrooms, look for vegetable glycerine blocks. They'll be clear coloured, i.e. plain soap
• Alternative - get a bar of your natural everyday soap. Nothing synthetic or posh
• Rubber gloves - optional (think Fight Club =p)
• Scales for measuring - it's important
• Rubber moulds - the mixture is pretty hot initially (not cupcake trays!)
• Natural grainy ingredients like grated lemon zest, seeds, ground almonds, oatmeal, even flower petals (a tad too girly for my liking). I'm using ground black pepper, organic desiccated coconut and natural oils (tea-tree, flower oils).

The method

1. First, melt blocks of glycerine - 100g creates 1x bar of soap. You'll need to wait well over 4-5 minutes, use a saucepan (not you're wife's or mother's) over low heat. 
2. Don't let it bubble, keep stirring with a metal spatula.
3. If you're using your pre-moulded soap (unscented + natural), chop it up and add liquid to help it melt - milk is best.
4. Have your other ingredients ready. My ingredients don't need chopping but you could grind down some nuts, rip several rose petals, grind the oatmeal or even add a tablespoon of coarse brown sugar crystals (try muscovada sugar)
5. Once the glycerine-soap has cooled a little add your preferred ingredients. Drops of natural colouring and scented essences can also be added now. I added mine in the mould to let the colour seep (like chromatography).
6. Stir the stuff together lightly - it might mush and melt down further.
7. Pour the mixture into moulds. If you want to risk it (don't), wait for the mixture to cool down by more than half so you can handle it. Use an ice-cream scoop to dig out a large amount and quickly roll into your hands. Obviously the gloves come in handy here. If you get burned, it's not my fault dude!
8. If you used the milk method it can take a few days for the soap to set and liquid to evaporate. Leave the moulds to do their thing and once dry peel or tap them out. Ta-da!

FYI: The grainier the soap, the better of an exfoliator this is for your skin (the women know what I'm talking about). The more natural the ingredients, the healthier the soap outcome and hopefully, the more affordable.

This is quite a simple project for your eco children so give it a shot.