Before I began making my own soap, I read about it for a long time.  I thought about it for a longer time.  I think many folks out there might have felt a bit like I did in the beginning: overwhelmed by all the information.  I was so hung up on picking the right or the best recipe.  I wondered where to find all these different oils, some of which I hadn’t even heard of at the time.  I was nervous about using lye like maybe it would explode if I looked at it too hard.   I finally talked myself into it though.  If I made a mistake, I knew I could just try again.

It turned out that soap-making was actually quite a bit easier than I thought and I’m so glad I took the leap.  Making my own soap and skincare is immensely satisfying.  I feel good about what my family and I are putting on our skin.  We are now a chemical-free household.  We even use my handmade products for our furry friends.  In addition to it’s obvious usefulness, soap-making is an excellent creative outlet.  Soon enough, you’ll be writing your own recipes and experimenting with fruits, vegetables, and herbs as colorants.  Your family and friends will be warmed with gifts made with love from you.

Now that I’ve tackled my fears and overcome my apprehensions, I’d love to share with you my most basic recipe for a bar that you can use on your body, face, and hair.  This is a nice hard, long-lasting bar with a rich and creamy lather.  The three oils we are going to use have other household uses as well so no need to worry about being stuck with a bunch of random oils if you don’t decide that you love soap making (but I bet you’ll love it!).  We will discuss some tools you’ll need to have handy as well as staying safe while using lye.  I’ll even describe how to make a soap mold out of some items you likely already have around the house.

Let’s start with the oils you’ll be using.  First up, coconut oil.  Coconut oil’s high fatty-acid content helps it seal in moisture.  That makes it’s emollient capabilities even better.  Coconut oil has been used for many years in many organic skincare products and for good reason.  It has even been shown to have antibacterial properties.  I use coconut oil in a lot of my recipes because it helps make a hard bar with a good lather without using controversial palm oil.  I do try to avoid using more than about 35% coconut oil in most of my recipes since it is a very cleansing oil and too much of it will give you a bar of soap that dries out your skin.

Next up, we have olive oil.  You may have seen your grandmother applying olive oil to her face or rubbing it into her hands as a moisturizer.  Olive oil has been used in skincare for decades and rightfully so.  It brings to the table many vitamins such as A, D, E, and K as well as antioxidant and antibacterial properties.  Olive oil stimulates new cell growth and can slow down wrinkle development, helping your skin look youthful longer.

Lastly, we will be using sunflower oil.  Sunflower oil is rich in vitamin E and vitamin A.  This makes it a great choice for moisturizing irritated skin.  The antioxidants in this oil help fight acne-causing bacteria.  The oleic acid in sunflower oil prevents hair breakage.  Sunflower oil adds a bit of hardness to the bar and contributes to the creamy lather as well.

For water used in soap-making, you’ll want something with very few impurities.  The minerals and other chemicals found in tap water and purified water can alter the lye reaction which could lead to your soap not turning into the nice hard bar we are looking for.  In the past, I always used distilled water.  You can purchase a gallon from the grocery store for under one dollar.  We now have a reverse osmosis water filter in our home so I use that water instead.  Either one works great.  I only made the switch to avoid having to grab distilled water at the store.

When it comes to lye, you can find this many places.  It is sold in one pound containers and larger.  If you really get into making soap, look for my upcoming article detailing some of the places I find the best prices on the best quality bulk ingredients.  For now, you can find it on the internet or even at your local hardware store.  Lye is often sold as a drain cleaner, but if it is pure lye, you can use it for soap-making.  That last tidbit might sound a bit alarming, but rest assured, there will be no lye remaining in your finished soap.  It is all used up in the chemical reaction that saponifies the oils.  And, yes, you do need lye to make soap.  Don’t be afraid of it though.  Just follow the safety precautions outlined in the next paragraphs.

I like to have separate tools for soapmaking just to be on the safe side.  I don’t want to use the same silicone spatula I used to stir lye to scrape the cookie dough out of the bowl next time I’m baking.  For soap-making, I have a 16 oz and a 32 oz mason jar for the lye and water.  You will also need a silicone spatula, and a glass or stainless steel mixing bowl that you can keep apart from your regular kitchen accoutrement.

When using lye, you’ll want to use some latex gloves, a mask, and goggles or safety glasses.  I promise, you will look totally rad while making soap, just like I do in the picture below.  You don’t necessarily need a mask as serious as the one I’m wearing in the photo.  My husband is a painter and happened to have that beast laying around for me to use.  An N-95 mask should suffice.  You can find them at your local hardware store.  After you’re done accessorizing, you’ll be ready to measure and mix the lye.

Lye often comes in the form of tiny little beads.  They tend to kind of roll and bounce as you pour them so I usually prefer to pour into a 16 oz mason jar as opposed to a shallow bowl.  This way I can avoid losing any of them.  When it comes time to mix the lye and water, you’ll want to do this in a ventilated area if possible.  I do it on my stovetop, under the hood vent.  You always add the lye to the water and never the other way around.  When I weigh out my water, I pour it into a 32 oz mason jar.  This helps be sure none will get splashed around when I pour in/stir the lye.  Add a small amount of lye to the water and stir with a silicone spatula until the lye is dissolved.  Continue this process until the lye is all mixed in.  Be careful handling the jar as it will be hot.  The water heats up as the lye is mixed into it.  Ta da!  You did it!  That wasn’t so scary.

Lastly, let’s talk about soap molds.  You can use practically any silicone mold.  This recipe will make enough soap for a 42 oz loaf mold.  It’s fun to make soap in cupcake molds and other shapes too.  For my first several batches of soap, I wasn’t fully committed so I made my own soap mold at home.  All you need is a paper grocery bag and some wax paper.  Cut off the bottom 3 inches of the paper bag so you have a rectangular trap left.  Then line this tray with wax paper and you’ve made your very own soap mold.  Featured below is one such mold with soap that looks a lot like peanut butter fudge…mmmmmmmm.

Now that you have all the information needed to get started, let’s jump into the recipe and the process.  Please note that all measurements will be by weight, not by volume.

Equipment needed:

• glass or stainless steel mixing bowl
• silicone spatula
• immersion (hand) blender
• 16 oz glass jar
• 32 oz glass jar
• kitchen scale
• small saucepan
• thermometer
• soap mold
• goggles/safety glasses
• latex/rubber gloves
• face mask

Ingredients needed:

• 9.35 ounces coconut oil
• 9.35 ounces olive oil
• 9.35 ounces sunflower oil
• 4 ounces lye
• 8 ounces distilled or RO water
• 1 ounce essential oil(s) of your choice

Begin by suiting up in the aforementioned safety gear and preparing your soap mold.  Weigh the water into the 32 oz glass jar.  Weigh the lye into the 16 oz glass jar.  Slowly add the lye to the water as described above.

In the small saucepan, heat up the coconut oil, just until it is melted.  Meanwhile, measure the sunflower and olive oils into the glass/stainless steel bowl.  After the coconut oil is melted, add it into the bowl with the other oils.

Allow the lye water and the oil mixture to both cool to between 100 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit (they don’t need to be exactly the same temperature, just somewhere in the given range).

Pour the lye water into the bowl containing the oils.  Stir the mixture with the immersion blender for about 5 seconds.  Turn the blender on and blend for about 20 seconds.  Continue this process until your soap has reached trace.  You’ll know you are there when your mixture no longer has visible streaks of oil and the consistency is much like a pudding or custard.  The photo below shows the consistency of soap at trace with essential oils dropped on top, but not yet mixed in.

Add the essential oil and blend until incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the soap mold.

After 24 hours, your soap will be hard enough to take out of the mold and cut.  You could use a regular kitchen knife for this or possible a cheese cutter.  In the beginning I was using the cutter in the photo below.  It was an Amazon purchase.  Allow the soap to cure for a week before use.

The short curing time will allow the saponification process to be complete.  There is some argument that cold process soap needs to cure for 5 or more weeks, but that is to allow water to evaporate for a hard bar.  This recipe is written with only about a 27% water to oil ratio so that extra curing time won’t be necessary to get the hard, long-lasting bar we are aiming for.  I’ll discuss curing times and other troubleshooting for more complicated recipes in a later article.