The art of soap making is one of those time honored skills that our great-grandparents and their parents knew how to do that is quickly slipping from our collective consciousness. Luckily, people like you and like me are taking the time to preserve our history by learning these old skills like making our own soap. Frankly making homemade soap just makes good sense. Most of the ingredients are likely already in your home which can mean a real cost savings over the course of a year, and while our ancestors made soap from necessity, many of us choose to make our own soap because it allows us to tightly control the ingredients and limit the chemical exposure to our family and our land. In #1 bestselling author Gaia Rodale's "DIY Soap: Homemade Soap Making for Beginners" you will learn: Why soap cleans things, there's stuff going on at a molecular level that if you get it (don't worry it's not complicated) makes the whole process fall into place How lye and fat combine to create soap molecules, this is where they magic happens How to make melt and pour soap, with recipes for a Luxe Facial Beauty Bar, Citrus Moisturizing Bar, and a refreshing tingly Magical Minty Bar How to make cold process soap, including a Basic Beginner's Lavender Cold-Press Bar recipe, then you can amp it up with the Crazy for Coffee Bar and the skin nurturing Carrot Top Bar How to make your own sustainable lye, this is truly a dying art albeit a simple one How to handle lye appropriately, this stuff is dangerous so we give you the info you need to keep yourself and your family safe while still enjoying the benefits it can provide Making your own soap allows you to save money, increase your self-sufficiency, and create every kind of soap your family needs without the harsh and harmful chemicals found in commercial soaps. It is an easy skill to learn that has a place in many modern homes."