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Electrolysis. Just like in my past life, the presence of electricity once again stood in my way, snatching away my enthusiasm for soap making. But fortunately, being just six months old, I had time on my side. "Ah, I'm bored." Even browsing through entertaining videos on YouTube had its limits. Unable to withstand the monotony of baby life, I found myself once again stepping into forbidden territory within a few days. [NaOH] Picking up where I left off, I learned that NaOH, which I had only heard about, is actually lye or wood ash. Before modern times, wood ash was commonly used in Korea as detergents or bleaching agents. However, with the importation of chemical substances with similar properties, they began to be referred to as "yangjaesmul" (lye) or "western ash" in Korean, indicating that they originated from the West. "Ah~." As I nodded in acknowledgment of the newfound information, my face quickly frowned. This is because there is no way that lye, which didn't become available until the modern era, was available as far back as the Ming Dynasty. However, the origin of lye brought both concern and, at the same time, new possibilities to me. If the properties of lye and wood ash are similar, can soap be made from wood ash as well? I quickly entered 'making soap with wood ash' in the search bar with that thought in mind, but unfortunately, the results were disappointing. [Making Soap with Fireplace Ashes] [Making Recycled Soap with Used Cooking Oil] [Making Natural Wood Ash] [Straining Wood Ash] …… Perhaps because wood ash is a relic of a bygone era, even on YouTube, where all sorts of crazy videos can be found, I couldn't come across a video of making soap using them. After about 20 minutes, fatigue gradually accumulated around my eyes so I finally stopped scrolling and disconnected from YouTube. Today, my search for a recipe was once again unsuccessful. *** From the next day onward, my daily routine consisted of two things. In the morning, I would attend basic Chinese language classes and study some simple Chinese characters. Then, in the afternoon, I would dedicate my time to searching for soap recipes. I didn't give up on making soap after a few days of futile attempts, partly because of my pride, but also because the situation wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Although I failed to find a recipe using wood ash, there were a lot of videos about making soap using lye. Although I failed to find a recipe using wood ash, I came across numerous videos about making soap that featured the use of lye. I thought of choosing a relatively simple recipe from those and attempting to substitute lye with wood ash. If the wood ash is filtered as much as possible and the proportions of the rest of the ingredients are properly adjusted, wouldn't it be possible to produce roughly similar results? Of course, since I am not even old enough to walk, making soap will have to be done in the far future. But even as a baby, I could still click 'Like' on a video I like. One thing I overlooked, however, was how my parents would feel when they see their baby hasn't spoken all day with their eyes closed. "Ja-hun, I'm worried about Hui sleeping like this, could he be sick?" "Don't worry too much. I will call the doctor tomorrow..." "Ba-ba! Ma-ma!" "Did our little baby wake up?" "Goo-goo!" As my mother reached out and held my hand, she smiled brightly, and only then did a sense of relief appear on their faces. "It doesn't seem like there's anything wrong." "Yes... I suppose so?" After successfully dispelling my parents' worries with some adorable gestures, I continued to watch videos, being careful not to repeat the same thing again. But my enthusiasm quickly waned after about two weeks. There was a limit to making soap solely through imagination. Besides, 3 hours a day for 14 days was enough to watch all the handmade soap videos uploaded on YouTube. Of course, there are still a lot of videos I haven't seen, but the basic idea is the same, with only minor differences in ingredients. From now on, I decided to focus on practical aspects, entrusting the remaining work to my future self. I significantly reduced the time spent on watching videos outside of review, and developed an interest in a new topic called "The History of Soap in China." Until now, I had been so focused on finding recipes that I had forgotten that if I wanted to commercialize it and not just use it at home, I needed to understand the level of technology in this era. The last thing I needed was to find out that my laboriously made wood ash soap was already on the market. Fortunately, unlike the time with wood ash soap, I was able to find a video easily. [How did ancient Chinese people clean their bodies?] Hello Beijing · 1.3K views · 6 years ago Compared to the 5 million views of the 'Making Slime' video I casually checked yesterday, the view count of the video containing knowledge that wouldn't even be included in an exam was truly dismal. Well, if it weren't for this situation, I would have never come across such content in my life. With a self-deprecating smile, I clicked on the video. [In ancient times, Chinese people used rice water called 'ban' to wash their bodies. The water extracted from washing grains not only had the effect of removing dirt but also contained water-soluble vitamins…] "Hmm..." Should I just skip to the Ming Dynasty? The change in my expression, which had been bored throughout the video, occurred when the story shifted to the Ming Dynasty. [All of the bath products previously mentioned are "natural," but were there any artificially synthesized bath products in ancient times? ‘Jo-du’ is the answer to that]. "Huh?" Upon seeing the visual representation of 'Jo-du' on the screen, I was taken aback and couldn't help but press the pause button.
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Although it appeared slightly rougher than what I had seen before, it was undoubtedly the product my mother used. I shook off the drowsiness that had clung to me incessantly and focused my attention on the rest of the video. [During the Song Dynasty, the craftsmanship of ‘Jo-du’ underwent significant changes. When making Jo-du using bean powder, a mixture of ground Chinese honeylocust fruit and fragrances was added to create a soap-like substance called 'Bi Jo Dan'. This can be considered as a precursor to modern soap.] "Here it is." The 'Bi Jo Dan' shown earlier was even closer to my mom’s soap than the ‘Jo-du’ I had seen earlier. The explanation goes on to say that 'Bi Jo Dan' had been loved by women for a very long time, starting from the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, its high price made it difficult for ordinary people to afford. Indeed, my family is wealthy! I closed the video with renewed admiration. The harvest was bountiful. According to the video, the method I was trying to make by mixing fat and base to make soap did not appear until the end of the Ming Dynasty, and it only started to become popular after the middle of the Qing Dynasty, so the marketability was sufficient. According to the video, the method of mixing fats and soap base to make soap that I wanted to try only emerged in the late Ming Dynasty. And it wasn’t until the middle of the Qing Dynasty that it became popular, so it was certainly marketable. Procurement of materials was also simple. Wood ash would be easy to come by in an era that used firewood for heating. And in a country like China, known for its deep-frying and stir-frying cuisine, it was unimaginable to not be able to find oil. Moreover, having confirmed the greatness of the 'Bi Jo Dan' that my mother possessed, it was not a mere dream to envision mass production if the experiments were successful. Now there's only one thing left to do: grow up! Following what I learned from YouTube, I went to bed before 9 o'clock today for rapid growth. Four months later, on a certain day, while I was accessing YouTube to review soap making as usual, I rubbed my eyes while looking at the customized video category displayed on the main screen. [Making Natural Soap with Mulberry Ash] FlowerSoap · 122 views · 2 days ago "Huh? Huh?" I blinked a few times, but the image within my eyelids didn’t change. Finally convinced that it wasn't a false alarm, I quickly clicked on the video, and a charming husky voice filled my ears. [Hello, this is FlowerSoap.] [Today, I'm going to make soap using the ash from the mulberry tree that my dad cut down because he wanted to grow another tree.] [Ash lye has a milder alkalinity compared to caustic soda, making it more challenging to create solid soap.] [That's why renowned soap workshops have their own special know-how to control the viscosity of soap.] …… [Even with this mildly alkaline lye soap, if you add special ingredients to increase the viscosity, you can achieve a much smoother texture than regular soap.] Then what are those special ingredients, teacher...? I watched the video again to see if there was anything I missed, but I couldn't figure out what the special know-how was in the end. The same goes for the ratio of lye to oil. It was accurately specified right down to the tenths, but the rest is undisclosed. As someone who runs a professional soap-making workshop, she seemed reluctant to reveal the exact recipe. I felt a thirst for that missing 1% of the recipe, as if something was lacking. But even with just what I had, I was satisfied. I now have the confidence that I can make solid soap using wood ash alone, and just having the approximate ratios would allow me to bypass much of the trial and error that I would have had to go through. It would be greedy of me to ask for more. I made sure to subscribe and like the video so that I can watch it again anytime. Additionally, as a precaution in case the video gets taken down, I decided to use the streaming feature and started recording. First of all, turn the video private... "Carefully chop the wood into small pieces, and crush finely..." "Add the ashes of the dried wood into hot water..." Only after I recorded the entire recipe in the video with my own voice could I sleep peacefully. *** 5 years later. "Ah... I did it! I did it!" I couldn't help but shed tears of joy as I confirmed the solidified state of the thick liquid I had poured into the mold the previous day. It had been about two months since I started practicing soap making, and as I tightly held the grayish soap lump in my hand, a mix of emotions surged through me, reminding me of the struggles I had endured over the past two months. From the moment I first ventured into the kitchen and stove to obtain the oil and ashes, I could still recall the skeptical expressions on my parents' faces. The moment I had to create an unexpected concoction of slime to reassure the talkative Hang-ah, who was constantly curious about what I was making. And those days when I stirred the soap mixture tirelessly, hoping for it to solidify, only to turn away with a gloomy face as it remained in its liquid state. My YouTube channel is now full of private videos documenting the days of failures and progress I have experienced. I get chills down my spine just imagining how much longer the journey would have been if I hadn't found the wood ash soap video someone uploaded five years ago. “......” Immersed in appreciation for a while, I eventually carefully cradled the soap in my hands, holding it close to my heart. I had planned to present the first prototype to my parents first. Ideally, pH measurement should have been conducted beforehand, but there was no pH meter available at this time. However, the clinical trial itself had already been completed a long time ago. I've been using my pinky finger as a test bed to see the reactions since the liquid soap started taking the form of a thin cream about a week ago. Since a week ago, when the liquid soap started to take on a creamy consistency, I had been using my pinky finger as the test subject to observe the reactions. As a result, it was confirmed that the cleaning effect was superior to commonly used natural ingredients for bathing, such as certain types of berries, and it did not cause any skin problems. The fact that it was safe for sensitive baby skin put my safety concerns to rest. With the image of the surprised faces of my parents in my mind, I started walking confidently, filled with determination.
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