It may need to harden for a week. Liquid soap Make chips from your home-made soap cake. Add enough hot water to dissolve. If you do not, this soap may be too harsh for your skin. Saponification is a very big chemical word for the rather complex but easy to create soap making reaction.
Saponification is what happens when a fatty acid meets an alkali.
When fats or oils, which contain fatty acids are mixed with a strong alkali, the alkali first splits the fats or oils into their two major parts fatty acids and glycerin. After this splitting of the fats or oils, the sodium or potassium part of the alkali joins with the fatty acid part of the fat or oils. This combination is then the potassium or sodium salt of the fatty acid. As we said at the start, this is soap. Soap Making Takes Three Basic Steps 1.Making of the wood ash lye.