Handmade Soap from Scratch
Transform simple oils and lye into luxurious, custom bars of soap. Learn the essential safety rules and the 'cold process' method to create your first batch with confidence.
Like Duolingo, but for Handmade Soap from Scratch. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The First Batch and Customizing and Finishing. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Handmade Soap from Scratch
- Lye is caustic and can cause chemical burns if it touches skin
- Adding water to a bowl of lye can cause a sudden, violent heat reaction (the 'volcano')
- Safe handling practices like ventilation and proper gear make home soap making manageable
- Pouring lye crystals slowly into water allows the heat to dissipate safely
- Respecting the chemical's properties prevents accidents without requiring a lab setting
- The 'Snow on the Lake' rule: the lye (snow) goes into the water (lake)
- The mindset required for handling lye safely in soap making
- The correct procedure for mixing the lye solution to avoid a 'volcano'
- Eye protection is the most critical gear to prevent permanent damage from splashes
- Gloves protect hands from caustic lye and raw soap batter
- Long sleeves provide a barrier for the arms against accidental drips
- Lye 'eats' aluminum, creating a dangerous chemical reaction and ruining the pot
- Stainless steel (grade 18/0 or 18/10) is the gold standard for soap pots
- Heat-resistant plastics (like HDPE 2) are necessary because the lye-water mix gets very hot
- Identifying mandatory safety gear for a soap making session
- Selecting safe vs. dangerous container materials for lye
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Handmade Soap from Scratch the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What is the main risk of pouring a cup of water directly into a bowl of lye crystals?
Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.
Where Handmade Soap from Scratch takes you
- 1
The First Batch
- Safety and the Lye Rule
- The Cold Process Method
- 2
Customizing and Finishing
- Designing Your Recipe
- Curing and Quality Control
2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Handmade Soap from Scratch is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Handmade Soap from Scratch today.
Download Tomo, search Handmade Soap from Scratch, and play your first lesson in under a minute.