Step By Step: How To Make African Black Soap

Of course, there are a plethora numbers of small business ideas and opportunities that are very lucrative and reliable that one can venture into to make a steady flow of income within months of the business establishment. Among these ultra profitable business opportunities in the African Black Soap production business that we are going to discuss today extremely.

This business idea is, without doubt, one of the few businesses that are yet to be saturated in the whole of Africa and beyond. As a wannabe manager with entrepreneurial zeal and passion, don’t hesitate to capitalize on this business.

Are you in dire need of ways and procedures involved in starting the African Black Soap production business? Are you a business owner but will like to capitalize on another profitable business project?

Oh! you just want to have an explicit insight on African Black Soap production business, well, that’s not a problem, all you need is to sit down and read this article to the very end as it is on the mission to expose you to the step by step approach on how to produce the highly celebrated Black Soap.

Be that as it may, there are countless numbers of black soaps in stores and supermarkets that are originated in Africa, and they are widely used and accepted by different households both within and outside Africa.

Some notable African black soap that is highly celebrated in West Africa include Dudu Osun, Ose Dudu, Anago Soap, Alata Simena just to mention but a few. Don’t you think it’ll be super interesting if you can register your own name (business brand) among the aforementioned ones?

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USES AND BENEFITS OF BLACK SOAP

The economic importance of black soap can never be overemphasized and that is the more reason why many households prefer using it to any other factory-manufactured soaps. In fact, black soap has been used for many generations for many causes right from when the commercially produced soaps haven’t been in the African market. Among these uses are;

Eczema and Blemish elimination: The African black soap can be used to take care of many skin problems and conditions such as skin rashes, elimination of blemishes, removing of body odor, curing of the evening out black spots, eczema, stretch marks, razor bumps and host of others.

Healthy skin: After usage of this soap, the skin is looking healthy.

Makeup removal: The soap is also good for removing heavy makeup and foundations.

Skin exfoliation: African soap is also good for the body or skin exfoliation.

Good for everyone: It is good for any skin type, be it dry, soft, thick, or oily. The traditional African black soap just works perfectly for any type of human skin. This is so because the coconut oil solution which is very effective in treating soap counteracts dryness.

Enrich with vitamin: The soap also has vitamins A and E which are very good for the body.

Skin tone: findings show that the use of cocoa pods in black soap making is very good in inhibiting tyrosinase activity, which usually leads to soft and lighter skin shades.

Skin protection: It equally provides the skin an absolute UV protection because of its high iron and shea butter level.

Ingredients for making the African Black Soap

In some parts of the West African countries like Nigeria and Ghana, the black soap production business is a business that is celebrated mostly by women. The most important recipes that are needed for making this kind of beautiful soaps are usually handed down from one generation to another by the African people.

Hence, there are various types of black soap ingredients and it depends greatly on the tribe that is producing it, thus, they often keep it a secret, the reason being that it’s their hidden card to producing a unique soap. As such, the differences in the soap ingredients often result in color variations and smells in the black soap itself.

However, the most important recipes are;

Coconut Oil

Palm Oil

Water

Shea Butter

African plant (cocoa pod, shear butter tree bark, palm tree leaves, and some other local harvests).

Coconut Carbon

Fragrance or Essential oil

Note that: The soap is made out of the dry banana leaf ash and/or some other African plants which are locally harvested. The essence of the banana leaf ash in the black soap making is to bring out the black color.

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Mixing the Ingredients

Prior to going into black soap production proper, it is very paramount you know how to mix the right ingredients so as to give the desired result. Hence, the following mixing techniques should be mastered.

Step 1 

Weigh the palm oils, cocoa nut oil, and shea butter into a sterilized stainless steel saucepan or pot.

Step 2

Heat the weighed oils and butter between the range of 120 -140 F.

Step 3

Courteously pour the cooled lye solution into the weighed oils and stir it continuously for at least 3 minutes.

Step 4

Add the coconut carbon into the solution directly or pour it into a smaller bowl and separately mix the coconut carbon.

Step 5

Add the coconut carbon solution into the saucepan or pot.

Step 6

Blend the whole solution for a minute or thereabouts.  

AFRICAN BLACK SOAP PRODUCTION PROCESSES

Without further delay, now is the time to discuss exhaustively the necessary steps to follow and make the process of our topic of discussion. Be enlightened that the traditional black soap making process has a couple of stages and the phases are:

Phase 1: Choose Your Desire Plant

In the cause of making black soap, the first stage entails choosing your desired plant out of the possible African plants suitable for making the soap. Traditionally, the African black soap is made using ashes of some African plants  

Most times, the palm tree leaves or the shear butter tree bark are usually considered by the majority of the African women who are black soap makers, and others, too, do celebrate cocoa pod and the plantain skins.

Having defined which of the African plants to be used in your black soap production business, the next phase of the making process is to sun-dry and burn them into ashes.

Phase 2: Sun-drying and Burning

It is expected of you to sun-dry and burn your chosen African plant (be it cocoa pod or plantain leaves) into ashes. Essentially, you don’t necessarily have to peel off the barks or leaves of the tree, you can dry and burn them in a saucepan just for the start.

If you really want to get your perfect color, fragrance, and texture out of the soap, it is very pertinent you maintain a definite burning temperature.

Similarly, the good news on the other way round is that you can make use of the coconut carbon to acquire the same and similar end product without necessarily using any of the aforementioned African plants. So, therefore, it is up to you to choose which of the two will give you your exact result.

Phase 3: The Mixing Stage

While you must have identified and sun-dried and roasted your chosen African plant for the black soap production, the next approach is to mix the burnt (ash) leaves or bark or pods with some other ingredients.

Add clear and clean water into the ash together with coconut oil, shea butter, palm oil. Having added them all into the ash, stir it continuously till everything is mixed up.

Phase 4: The Cooking Stage

The mixed solution should be put on fire at this stage.  Cook and stir the black soap solution continuously until it looks stable for the whole day at least. This is very essential because of the nature of the soap. If it’s not properly cooked the color, texture, and smell of the soap may be disgusting and the soap may not even solidify.

It may even produce an unpleasant side effect when used; side effects like tingling of the skin, overdrying, and the like. To avoid all this mess and production malpractice, add and mix the black soap with the normal ingredients and stir the soap solution for at least 24 hours for a better output.

Read Also: How To Produce Homemade Coconut Oil

Phase 5: Add a Scent or Fragrance Solution (optional)

At this point, you are free to add your desired scent or fragrance agent into the boiling black soap solution. You can pour drops of essential scent or oil like the lavender, or better still, dried plants like the chamomile – all these are not an essential part of the soap making, it’s at your own discretion.

Be informed that the traditional black soap does not require any emulsifier or additive substance although some of the veteran soap makers see nothing wrong in baking their own versions of the black soap with appealing and scintillating fragrance or scent. So, it is up to you whether or not to add any scent agent into your own soap.

Phase 6: Scooping Stage

As you keep on stirring the black soap solution, you will at a certain point in time notice a frothy and waxy substance on the top surface of the mixture, this is where you will scoop out this liquid substance from the surface of the saucepan or pot as it forms. Keep repeating this till the water boiled off, hence, transfer it into your desired shaping plastic substance.

Phase 7: Cure the Soap

This is the last and final stage involved in black soap production. It is obvious that all the black soap produced in Africa is neat and pure, they can’t be compared to the ones made in the U.S, Asia, or Europe which often contain certain artificial and additives ingredients.

Having observed all the first four stages, your next course of action is to scoop it out of the saucepan or pot into a different size per your business plan.

The scooped soap should be left in the shaping substance for at least two weeks for it to completely cure. This is very this will allow the soap time to solidify before use. So the finished product will be solid, but malleable when pressed