Baby spit up, diaper blowouts, and other stinky messes call for soap. Not just any soap though. My family loves this pure coconut oil soap and our homemade shampoo bars, but newborn skin calls for an extra gentle touch. This homemade baby soap is specially formulated delicate skin, but it’s also great for the whole family.
Superfatted Soap
This homemade baby soap is “superfatted” to give it an extra emollient feel. Lye is used in soap making to mix fats and water together. Because chunks of fat floating in water isn’t very helpful to get skin clean. Superfatting the soap just means that extra oils are added to further ensure there’s no lye left after the chemical reactions occur. The result is a creamy, moisturizing soap.
Baby Soap Ingredients
There are so many options when it comes to choosing oils to make soap with. Really almost anything goes as long as you run it through a soap calculator to make sure no lye remains in the finished soap. Certain carrier oils give more suds, while others are more moisturizing. In this recipe I’ve used a blend of coconut, jojoba, and olive oils to get the perfect soap for babies.
Coconut oil – This helps the soap to suds up nicely. Coconut oil can be too drying on its own if it makes up more than one third of the oil in soap, so I kept it at 10%.
Jojoba oil – This oil is technically a liquid wax and its very similar to our skin’s natural sebum (oil). Jojoba is gentle, anti-inflammatory, protects skin, and is rich in the antioxidant vitamin E.
Olive oil – Pure castile soap is made with 100% olive oil, so it’s a classic choice. When used alone though, olive oil soap takes much longer to cure. Olive oil is soothing, very moisturizing, and has skin protecting antioxidants, making it perfect for baby’s delicate skin.
Setting up the Soap Making Space
If you’ve never made soap before, don’t panic. I promise it’s easier than it looks! Here are guidelines for safe soap making.
- Make sure kids and pets aren’t underfoot.
- Choose a well ventilated area (I prefer outside).
- Wear long pants and long sleeves to protect skin.
- Rubber gloves and safety goggles are also a must.
- Keep vinegar on hand.
Lye is highly alkaline, so it can burn skin. I keep a jug of vinegar nearby, since the acid helps neutralize the high alkaline nature of the lye in case of a spill. If you’re still a little freaked out with using lye, you can read more about lye safety here. No lye remains in the finished soap, and it’s superfatted to make extra sure there’s no traces of lye.
Homemade Herbal Baby Soap
Equipment needed
- accurate kitchen scale
- stainless steel or enamel pot
- glass or plastic pitcher for mixing and pouring the lye
- containers for holding oil while it’s being weighed – I use disposable plastic cups
- 2 large plastic or wooden spoons – one for stirring the lye and one for the oils
- a stick blender
- 2 thermometers – one for the lye and one for the oil
- soap mold – this can be as simple as a shoe box lined with plastic, glass bread pans, or pretty molds like these
- safety glasses, gloves and clothing that covers bare skin.
- cardboard to fit over the molds
- a heavy towel or a blanket (to insulate the cooling soap)
- vinegar (to dab on skin in case the lye splashes)
Ingredients
Weigh the following ingredients on the scale. Please note that these are NOT liquid measurements:
- 3 oz coconut oil
- 1 oz jojoba oil
- 25 oz olive oil
- 3.72 oz lye
- 10 oz distilled water
- .5 oz of either chamomile or lavender essential oil, or .25 oz of each (can use other baby safe essential oils if preferred. Just keep the total amounts to no more than .5 ounce)
- Fill a sink with several inches of cold water and ice for a water bath to cool the lye mixture.
- Wearing the rubber gloves, pour the 10 oz of distilled water into the pitcher and very slowly stir in the lye until dissolved. Never pour water into lye, always lye into water!! The fumes are toxic, so I suggest doing this outdoors. The temperature will rise very quickly to 220°F or so.
- Place the pitcher into the cold water bath in the sink and use a thermometer to test the temperature. The goal is to get it to 100°F.
- Put the oils (except the essential oils) into the pot and heat on low until the temperature reaches 100°F. This will happen quickly.
- Both the lye and the oil need to be 100°F (and within 10 degrees of each other) at the same time. Use the ice water bath to help lower the temperatures as needed.
- When both the lye and the oils are at 100°F, pour the lye mixture very slowly into the oil mixture. Use a stick blender until the mixture reaches trace. Be sure the stick blender is completely under the soap surface before turning it on! The mixture should look like cake batter when you’re done
- Next, add in the essential oils and pulse a few times with the stick blender to combine. This should look like thick pudding, but still be pourable when it’s done.
- Pour the soap into the prepared molds. Cover with the piece of cardboard and then wrap in a towel or blanket so the soap cools slowly. The towel can be removed after the first day, but the soap will take several days to harden since it’s superfatted .
- Once the soap feels solid, it can be unmolded, cut into bars (if a loaf mold was used) and set out to harden. After the soap has cured for 6 weeks it’s ready to use.
What is Trace?
Soap has reached trace when mixing causes lines in the soap batter that stay in place or when a drizzle of the soap mixture retains its shape on the soap’s surface. There will be no streaks of oil left in the soap, as everything is mixed well together. I use a stick blender that I’ve dedicated to skincare recipes, but technically you could just clean it really well.
- Light trace – resembles cake batter
- Medium trace – resembles thick cake batter or thin pudding
- Thick trace – Thick pudding consistency
Baby Safe Essential Oils for the Soap
Adding relaxing scents to homemade baby soap, like rose, lavender and chamomile soothe skin and calm the senses. I’m not a fan of artificial (and harmful) scents, especially in my kid’s skincare, so this recipe uses natural herbs and essential oils. These not only add a pleasant fragrance to the soap, but skin nourishing benefits as well.
Since this soap is meant for babies, it’s important to choose essential oils that aren’t harsh or dangerous for little ones. Certain essential oils like eucalyptus, peppermint, or hot oils like cinnamon bark should never be used on babies.
The following essential oils are considered generally safe to use on babies over 3 months when properly diluted.
- Lavender
- Lavandin
- Juniper
- Rose
- Frankincense
- Wild or sweet orange
- Blood orange
- Bergamot
- Cedarwood
- Chamomile
- Cypress
- Fir needle
- Geranium
- Pink grapefruit
- Mandarin
- Neroli
- Patchouli
- Tea tree
- Spruce
- Lemon
- Vetiver
- Vanilla
- Lime
Note about Citrus Oils
Most citrus oils can cause photosensitivity (meaning exposed skin is more likely to be damaged by the sun for a period after using them). However, when used under a certain percentage and in a wash off product (like soap), photosensitivity isn’t a concern.
Using Herbs in Baby Soap
Sometimes I like to add herbs to soap to give a scent boost and add exfoliating properties. Baby’s skin is delicate, so they don’t really need to exfoliate. However, herbal infused oils can be used in a homemade baby soap for their skin benefits.
Lavender, calendula, and rose are some of my favorites to use in skincare, and are gentle and nourishing for baby’s skin.
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Awesome! I’m keen to try out soap-making, but need to get all the gear first! This recipe looks like a good place to start, as I have very sensitive skin! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Do you know if you can add calendula petals or oil to this recipe instead of the chamomile and lavender?
yes you can add calendula and other herbs to you soaps as I do
Is this soap recipe okay for newborns?
I am so thrilled to see that this recipe is not a melt and pour one. I have been making soap since 1996 and when they came out with melt and pour I tried it, but I just don’t feel it is like making it from scratch. Thanks for sharing this I am always looking for new recipes and I have a new grand baby coming in Sept. Thanks again for sharing
Where do you buy lye? and what type? Thanks for the recipe! Excited to try it!!
Hi there,
You can get lye at most online soap-making websites. I get most of my supplies at SoapGoods.com Their prices are great and they are great about adding new requested items. There are two different lyes that I know about, one for liquid soap (Potassium Hydroxide) and the other for bar soap (Sodium Hydroxide).
Hope this helped,
Brittany
The only size of lye I found on that site is sold by 500 lbs or 2000 lbs. Not good for home soapmakers I think.
You can also usually find it at hardware stores in the drain-cleaning section. Red Devil is a common brand. Be sure it is 100% lye, and not a drain-cleaning concoction.
I get my lye from Amazon good prices
If found lye at Lowe’s. I had the salesperson look it up in the computer as “sodium hydroxide” instead of just lye and it was available in the store.
This looks great! Is it gentle on eyes? Is there a way to make soap for little ones that is tear free?
Hi Mommypotamus!
I was wondering if you’ve ever tried using the “room temperature” method, and using an imersion blender to develop trace faster? I have been using the immersion blender for quite a while now (and it works brilliantly!) but tried the room temperature method for the first time about two months ago, and it is so so easy! You basically measure out all oils, do not melt them. Then you mix the water and lye and once the lye is disolved you pour that mixture into the hard oils, and the hot lye mixture will actually melt your oils for you. I made an amazing batch of peppermint rosemary soap, let it cure 6 weeks and was highly impressed.
Wonderful recipe, I need to try it!
Brittany
I’ve never tried it – thanks for the tip!
Did you use the room temperature method with this soap?
Thank you for this post! I am a big fan of homemade beauty products and I buy soap locally at our farmers market made with similar ingredients. My only concern is if this one stings the eyes? Most other natural soaps I have bought always sting my 3 year olds eyes. Even if Im the one touching it, once its in the water if they rub their eyes, etc. it usually burns. Please let us know if you have tried it for washing your face and if it was gentle enough.
Thanks again so much,
Kirbi
Kirbi,
I am wondering if you use pH strips to get this soap tear-free? Measure the pH of the soap and cook until it s at 7 before removing it from the crockpot then try on yourself and see if the more neutral pH works.
Great Recipe! I thought for sure this was going to be ‘melt & pour’ soap (which is not “making” soap but crafting with soap). What a wonderful surprise. Thanks also for not using synthetic fragrances. I was also happy to see a recipe that does not use palm oil – the growing and harvesting of palm oil is destroying our planet’s rainforests and so many DIY recipes use it without ever giving thought to the environmental cost. For those looking for tear-free soap – there is no such thing; soap is chemically a salt and will sting. Wash babies faces with a gentle cloth and plain water – you really should not need to soap up their eyes at all!!
I just mixed up a batch. Whew! 0.5 oz of essential oil doesn’t seem like much, but it is! I made mine with a blend of forest scented oils and ground some oatmeal into it. Last time I did that, it made a nice scrubbing soap. I’m hoping my husband will like this batch. The last recipe I made was a flop with him!
Can I substitute sweet almond oil for the jojoba oil?
Unfortunately, Julie, the lye is calculated on the specific types of oil used. If you change the oil you’ll want to recalculate the lye.
How much does one batch yield? How many 4 oz bars of soap per batch?
yes you can
Hello,
I have some process questions as I’m highly interested in making gentle soaps but am a complete novice/process geek:
1. the lye poured into distiller water: does this happen at room temp or is the water boiled?
2. I assume olive oil is the white stuff that comes in a jar, not the yellowish oil used for cooking?
Thank you!
Hi Margaret, the water is at room temp when the lye is added. The olive oil is the same used for cooking 🙂
It was nice if the wt. was in grms. instead of ounces.
just simply multiply by 28.35 g / ounce
Hello! I was wondering if I could use this recipe as is, but use the hot process method?
Possibly, but I haven’t tested it to make sure 🙂
I always do this recipe at room temperature unless I am in a hurry and do a hot process. I use an emulsion blender and this recipe has never caused a problem. Just made 3 batches this morning. Two at room temperature and one hot process. This is my favorite recipe.
Mrs. Myles I was wondering if you used this as HP? I would like to try it but was wondering if it worked of it you had to adjust the recipe when doing so? How did it turn out? Thanks
I will be trying this recipe using HP in the next week or two and based on another commenter below (Carla) it turned out perfectly when she did it.
yes you can. Everything remains the same. I mostly do hot process, and this is a lovely, simple recipe. I add a tiny bit of castor oil to this, and it makes fantastic, creamy bubbles.
How much castor oil did you add please?
I’m very interested to start making my own bar soap. All the info out there is so overwhelming. I’ve read about the lye calculator. I think for starters I would just rather use your recipe first. I was wondering though if I would need to recalculate the lye if I substituted the water for goat milk or is recalculating just for the oils? Also the same question on recalculating if I wanted to add some essential oils for scent. Thanks for your help.
Yes, I would recalculate for goat milk just to be sure. If you’re adding the oils after the saponification process they would not need to be calculated. However, it’s important not to add too much, so you’ll want to research that before adding them in 🙂
I made this soap a few days ago. I was able to unmold it and cut it after 24 hours but it is still very very soft. Will the bars eventually get really hard? It feels amazing!!! Thank you.
Leslie, did your soap harden up? I just made a batch 4 days ago and it is still very soft, also my essential oils seemed to maybe have separated out, so I’m not sure how to prevent that.
Hi,
I’m trying to create a cold process soap recipe using olive, coconut and sunflower oil. I love the feel of sunflower oil in soap. What percentages would you use of each of these oils to create a hard but fairly gentle cleansing bar? I don’t want to use soy shortening or palm. Thank you very much.
3 things:
1. Is this gentle enough to use on your face? I am currently using an aveeno moisturizing bar (an oatmeal soap bar) as a facial cleanser. Could I mix finely ground oats in to the soap at the same time I put in the essential oil?
2. How long must I wait to use it after making it? I plan on molding it in lined cupcake trays so the bars are small and have a cute shape. I’m hoping to make it in the next couple of weeks, test it myself, and then save it for Christmas / fall birthday gifts.
3. Does the soap smell like olives? Does it have a sweet scent from the lavender? If I use half lavender half benzoin essential oils, would that give it a sweet scent?
Thank you for this post! I have never made soap before, and am excited to give it a try.
One last thing, does it matter if I use extra Virgin oil, or regular?
no
i’m super excited about this! yay!
I have recalculated they lye and all, assuming the water amounts stay the same, is beef tallow a comparable substitute for coconut oil? I have an extremely sensitive bub, and have been reading about the benefits of tallow. Much appreciated 🙂
About how many bars does this make if you make it in a bread pan like you did (I think?) up there? Thinking of making some for Christmas gifts and want to figure out how many batches I’ll have to make.
This sounds fantastic! Never made soap before so I can’t wait to give it a try. I had one question, just for clarification: after you add the lye mixture to the oil mixture and begin stirring and watching for “trace”, should you take the pot off the hot stove or try to keep it at 100 degrees?
This is one of the best known chosen recipes for baby’s soap.
I need to try this!
Nathan Welch
*
Neena Andersen Earl maybe this could help your arms ?
And in case you want someone else to make it for you..Shades of Earth Soaps
My batch of this is almost done curing I cannot wait to try it out
Heather McFadden
Or you can rob a liposuction clinic like in Fight Club
Sarah
Megan Cannon Sarah Cannon Copperberg
Hi, was wondering if I could use beeswax in this somehow? And if I can what I could exchange it with, or how to add it? Any pointers? It would be much appreciated!!! 😀
Hi Lauren, I have never used beeswax in a recipe so I’m not sure how it would affect the recipe. I can say, however, that if you attempt any substitutions you’ll need to recalculate the lye. The amount needed depends on the amount and types of fats used and measurements need to be precise.
The lye thing just turns me off. 🙁
Randi Bechtold….
Please be careful when making handmade soap. Never use wooden spoons to mix with as the lye may “eat” at the wood and you will end up with splinters in your soap. Plastic is best for a lye solution as lye will etch the glass over time and it can shatter. Always run any recipe through a lye calculator such as http://www.soapcalc.net because everyone makes mistakes and the smallest typo can mean big trouble.
Can home made soap be made without lye?
Megan Danford Steinhauser DIY baby soap !! 🙂
Doreen it’s really not that bad! It scared me away for yrs and yrs….a little caution and it’s easy peasy!
Hi. I would like to know the percentage of super fat used in this recipe. Thanks in advance ?
Mike McDermott
Too complicated. Pretend you are a pioneer. Save your wood ashes and lard/tallow. (Do a bit of research for the chemistry.) Cook them together and you have a good soap. All the rest is extra.
Jean Gibson
thank you
Aaahhh scared eek!
Order the food grade lye online , order essential oil of choice for scent, and you can go to bramble berry . Com for information and calculation of lye — really not to hard just follow a fool proof easy recipe and your fine plus half the time the Castile recipes are ready for immediate use ((( they will just melt away faster in the warm water ))) — if I can do everyone can
Lye does nothing but saponify the fats (turn to soap). Lye soap is the ONLY true soap. you can do this in a crackpot and use the soap immediately. (Cook to a gooey thick consistency. Add water and make laundry soap). Use vegetable oil and create a vegan friendly blend. Oils do not have to be new or exceptionally clean. Warm dirty/used oil strain through cheese cloth.
Lye soap creates glycerin. Glycerine soaps are more drying for the skin than lye soaps. Create lush bubbles by adding coconut milk for parts of the water. Add goats milk to moisturize dry skin, never use lotions that do not penetrate the layers of dead cells. Regular use softens elbows, heels knees and reduces fine lines and wrinkles.
you can also use mother’s milk for personal use instead of goat’s milk
Cik Puan Hajar Ardini
kamu buat Muhammad Hazri
Palm oil is not such an ethical sustainable option ????
Without lye, there is no soap. Been making soap for 12 years. I shudder at the thoughts of buying chemical soap at the store. Glycerine is a byproduct of the saponification of lye and fatty acids in oils. Glycerine is a humectant and draws moisture to your skin. The commercial soap industry extracts the glycerine and adds chemicals. When using lye, you just have to be careful. I took a class to learn. I need to make some because I’m running out.
so do you use the clycerine in your soap making
i can answer this question…..glycerine is already present in the soap when you make lye soap. commercial producers of soap extract the glycerine to sell it for make and pour soaps. there is no need to add extra glycerine to lye soap.
Bonnie Hersman
Amanda Vasquez
@Terry Belmore Keck you can use melt and pour to make a soap. It’s a premade soap base that you melt in the microwave and add scent and color. Look at Brambleberry.com for lots of good information and ingredients.
I would like to make our soap babylove Paramita Irma 🙂 ❤️
Agree baby love, 😉 ❤️ Mc Kamil
Ty 🙂
I made my first batch of soap. 24 hours later it’s firm. It smells great!
I try to cut it in 1″ bars. The first bar crumbled. I stopped cutting. What now! Hopefully, you can help me cut the rest so it doesn’t fall apart.
Soap is still crumbly when trying to cut with a soap cutter. Looks great, smells great. Any suggestions!
Hi Heather, was the water reduced in this recipe? and does it take longer to cure due to the iodine exceeds the recommended range.
So after hardened and cut, still wait 6 weeks to actually use? ?? Just want to make sure of what I read if correct. It will be my first time making soap and your recipe is by far the best natural I have found, my husband and childhave eczema, so this will be great for them to use. Thames u for sharing!
Yes, wait six weeks 🙂
Hello Heather! Thank you for this wonderful recipe! My baby will be here in 6 weeks so I am very eager to get started so she can have some wonderful soap! : ) Could you tell me how much soap this makes? Thank you!
Again, another excellent tried and true recipe. I love it. I did hot process and it went perfect. Love your site and always look to you first for my soap and natural spa products. 99.9% it’s yours I follow. Thank you again for being there and doing what you do to make it easier for people to do, do it yourself, projects. So much fun and solo much better and healthier for you.
Carla <3
I am new to soap making and want to try this out. I have a question though…can I use lye beads in it or does it need to be lye flakes?
There is no difference between beads and flakes other than who you bought them from. Make sure your weight measurement is EXACT because lye is a very dangerous substance before it has been transformed into soap, but you can use either beads or flakes with the same effect. That is part of why it is measured in weight (ounces) and not volume (teaspoons, tablespoons, cups). Far more exact.
Many people prefer flakes to beads because the beads get static electricity in them and will cling to the spoon you are using to scoop and measure with, so you have to be EXTREMELY careful that you know where they are going. The flakes don’t get static-y (from what I have read; I happen to have only worked with beads so far), so they’re a bit less worrisome, but there is no problem with the beads as long as you are careful and pay attention.
Hello… and nice site.
I was wondering about something regarding this recipe. You’ve said something about super-fat. What was the percent of super-fat you used for this recipe?
And also I was wondering if let’s say, instead of using essential oil, why not infusing some chamomile or lavander in olive oil that is used in this recipe.
I plugged it into my soapmaking app to remember to try sometime. My app defaults to a 5% superfat, and it told me to use 3.79 oz of lye. This recipe called for 3.72. So, it’s basically a 5% superfat. 5% is a fairly standard superfatting percentage. 🙂
I am intrigued by your thought of infusing the olive oil. I may try that.
Hello and thanks alot for the recipe:) I have a question…I have made the hot soap making process in a crock pot. When you said you mix the lye mixture with the oil mixture and keep mixing intel trace. Do you keep it on the stove well mixing or does it come off the heat? Thanks!!
I mix the lye/ water mixture into the oil mixture in the crock pot with the crock pot on low. Then I keep stiring until trace.
Can this recipe be made in crock pot? That would eliminate the cure time or at least reduce it. Would anything change to use this as a hot process recipe? How long would it cook?
I was reading the recipe for the soap for babies and it calls for Jojoba oil, so I went online to find where to buy it and I see all kinds of jojoba oils, which one does this recipe call for? Thank you for your time.
Jeannette
Thanks for recipe.I think that’s great.I’ll try it.
I have infused some olive oil with dried callendula…would this be appropriate/ suitable for this recipe as part of the total olive oil measurement?
Yes it would, it would actually be better since you dont know if the essential oils are cut or pure or if the person/baby is allergic. I made my own version with olive infused with calendula, chamomile and lavender, coconut oil and puree carrots and aloe vera instead of water. No fragrance. It took almost 8 months to cure because of the high olive oil % but it was worth it.
Hi Heather, great recipes! Thanks, I’ll never buy soap from the shops again!!
Just a tip for some of the commenters who talked about cutting the soap, I cut mine as soon as it was cool enough to comfortably touch, so still warm, it doesn’t crack and you get a nice edge! But you do need to wait for it to cure before using or it will burn your skin?
Thanks again Heather for all your info and tutorials ☺️
hello on the soap making, can I use infused olive oil?
Hi …love it …but I con not find the jojoba oil can I replace it with waht?? Thank you
Can I use an immersion blender to stir? Will that help speed the process? I was figuring on the half hour and have to leave the house. What helps to speed this up?
i always use an immersion blender but this is a pretty small batch; i think you’d just need to be careful that it doesn’t splash all over.
And can I use this soap for hair ..or it may make my baby hair greasy ???
My soap never went to trace?. It is as liquidy as when I first combined the ingredients from the beginning. I double checked my ingredients and I didn’t mess it up. Do I have to trash this and start over? Or is it salvageable?
Can I infuse the oil with the lavender and chamomile flowers instead of using the straight oils? I was thinking this might give a more mild scent.
Hi,
Firstly, thanks for sharing this lovely recipe. Will soon try it out but in mean time since I had to make a baby soap; I kept your recipe as my guideline and came up with the following. Now since I had client request for a non-olive oil baby soap, I cut down the recipe by third, replaced some oils and ran thru the lye cal to get the following cocktail:
10 oz coconut oil (virgin)
3 oz Castor oil
25 oz ricebran oil (calendula infused)
4.87 oz lye
12.54 oil
1 tsp sodium lactate
Followed the regular cold process method but for some reasons it traced very quick. Is the recipe wrong? Or was it cause of the calendula infusion?? Have kept it insulated so will know the outcome after 24 hrs only. This is my first time soaping with ricebran oil.
Do you think it will turn out well? Any comments about the recipe is welcome. I would love to know your take on this please.
Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi. I’m new to soap making and decided to make this soap to use on my newborn It took a while to get to trace, and about 3 weeks to harden enough to cut, and although it was still a bit soft after 3 months of curing I just couldn’t wait any longer and decided to use it…WELL WORTH THE WAIT!!!
The soap lathered very nicely and felt like silk on my babies skin. It didn’t even bother her eyes! Her skin was soft and her hair shinned afterwards! My friend used a bar on her baby and loved it as well! I was also surprised that although it seemed a bit soft before using it, it hasn’t gotten any softer in the bath. I agree that this soap should be used sparingly, but when it is time for a cleansing this is my new go-to soap.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
What is the superfat % for this soap?
I made this 2 days ago. This is the first time I made a soap. I chose your recipe for my baby girl. I ran slightly short out of olive oil, so used jojoba oil to make up the shortage. Even after blending with a stick blender I wasn’t getting a trace. Not like the one in your pictures. Finally, got fed up, blender was getting heated too, so I kind of convinced myself that I had a thin trace (very thin). And poured it into a silicone loaf pan. By next day it was not liquid, it felt more like an overcooked cheesecake texture. And there is oil all over. Will my soap be fine with time, or do I have to chuck it all away? Olive oil is quite expensive here, feel like a fool for choosing such an expensive recipe for a first try!?
Unfortunately the saponification value of jojoba is different than olive and so you can’t substitute them evenly. I’m not sure if the soap can be saved, unfortunately.
Can I make this soap with in the crockpot to cut down on the cure time?
I love the sound of this soap for my aged skin (for we old babes!) and I’ve been looking for a recipe that doesn’t include palm oil for my first attempt at making my own. From what I’ve read elsewhere, palm oil is what makes the bar get hard. Since I live in the southwestern US, I am concerned about how firm this soap will remain when it gets hot. Anybody?
I’m trying to recalculate to downsize the recipe. What is the % Water as a percent of oils, % lye concentration, and water:lye ratio? I just can’t get mine to match this recipe.
I would like to know he percentages for each oil as well so I can resize
Hi
Thank you for this recipe. I have made many of your homemade beauty products and have loved them, so this was a natural choice for me for my first attempt at soap making.
Unfortunately my thermometer packed up and I only found out as I had already started heating and mixing things. Anyway, I used my hands to touch the bowl and estimate the temperature. Not ideal I know.
So I was mixing for ages, by hand as I don’t have or need a stick blender for any other reason and didn’t want to buy one for this one recipe, in case I never used it again. I was mixing for over an hour but then needed to leave to attend to kids, school pick up and dinner and didn’t get back to it until another 5 hours had passed. At that point I continued mixing with my spoon and after two hours got very tired so turned to my electric whisk. I’m not sure it help. After another two hours of electric whisking and hand mixing I gave up and shoved the whole thing on the hob to heat and it got to trace very quickly. Only thing is it started forming small bead like lumps inside. I ignored it and poured into the mould and cut it up after 24 hours as it was set fairly well.
It has now been curing for 4.5 weeks and I’ve been meaning to post this ever since. The soap looks and smells amazing but I’m a little worried about using it, mainly because I ended up heating it to get to trace and I’m not sure if that would have changed the properties of the soap in any way.
I’d be grateful for a response as I am so excited to use this on my children in a couple of week, but just worried as I don’t want to cause them any harm in case this might not be appropriate for use.
Thank you.
Sapna
I made a triple batch of this soap yesterday. I was using a spoon to stir it to trace; 3 hours later it was thicker but not to trace yet. It seemed to stop separating and was time to go to sleep so I poured it into my mold and left it. This morning, it’s thicker but still a bit runny. The leftover in the bowl that I left outside overnight is hardened. Could it be that it’s just taking a very long time? Why could that be? I’m a newbie to soap making and hoping it doesn’t go to waste. Thanks!
Hello,
I tried making my first batch of coconut soap.
It left my body feeling dry and my hands very dry.
Possible reasons??
-I made two batch at once
-coconut oil expires in one month
-stirred my lye outside in the cold and left to sit for 20 mins
Also I had to wait one and a half hours for it to cook and still oil was left in the center. Yes it was folding ice but quite a bit of oil still.
Thanks
Lynzi
Hi Lynzi, did you use this recipe or my coconut oil soap recipe?
Can this recipe be made in the crock pot like your coconut oil shampoo? (Which I love, by the way) I lack a thermometer
Hi Heather,
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes. 🙂
My friend and I actually made your crock pot coconut soap and it was easy and turned out great. Just wondering… is it possible to use that method for this combination of oils or does the method have to match the kinds of oil you’re using?
We loved how easy the crock pot method was.
Know this is an older recipe. Any chance you’ll consider adding a comparable crock pot version?
Thanks again!
M –
crock pot method?! please!
I absolutely LOVE this soap recipe! I’ve made it several times and I don’t want to buy commercially made soap at all
Thank you for sharing!
Our family LOVED your Coconut Oil Shampoo Bar!!
I have a question – can l replace distilled water with goat milk? My daughter has an eczema and it looks like that Goat Milk Soaps soothing her skin the best. Thanks.