Homemade 100% Natural Soap!

After I starting washing my hair with baking soda, I started thinking about making my own beauty products, particularly, soap! I thought, hey, I should look on Pinterest and find DIY instructions to make natural soap! What a great idea! I started searching on Pinterest and found several recipes and instructions. I got excited since it was very easy to find information on this project. The next couple days whenever I had a free moment I was reading online more and more about making soap. I had read so many different websites and blogs and tutorials and recipes that it actually started getting quite overwhelming. I had to buy a digital scale and a stick blender, I had to make sure the pots I would be using were stainless steel, I had to buy expensive oils, I had to buy Lye and a soap mold, I had to decide if I was going to do hot process or cold process, I had to use a Lye calculator... it was just getting to be a bit more than I had originally thought it would be. My fear started taking over.

But I reaaallllyy wanted to do it. So I decided to stop being a baby and just do it! And I'm so happy I did! I'll admit, it was scary. I had legit reasons to be afraid -- using lye can be dangerous and you need to take proper safety precautions. For this reason, I got Derek to help me for my first time, then I'll be on my own. So, thank you Derek!

Besides that, the process of making soap is actually quite simple. I decided to try cold process first. Even though technically the process is not "cold", it's less hot than hot process which is done in a crock pot. Basically you just melt your oils together on the stove top, then separately mix the lye with water, once they each reach a certain temperature you mix the two together and get going with the stick blender. You'll blend/stir for about 5 min, then pour it into the soap mold. Once hardened, which usually happens within 24-48 hours, you un-mold it and cut into soap bars! If you're doing cold process you should wait at least 3-4 weeks before using the soap so it has time to cure.

This is everything you need for cold process: stainless steel/heat proof bowls, stainless steel/plastic spoons, stainless steel pot, whatever oils you will be using, lye, soap mold, scale, stick blender, thermometer, gloves, safety goggles, measuring cup, and vinegar & towels to keep on hand in case of a lye spill.

Measuring out the oils carefully

I made a pretty small batch for my first time

I will probably write my own step-by-step instructions with more details next time I make a batch but for now this is the tutorial I followed...

http://smallnotebook.org/tutorials/beginner-soapmaking/

I didn't use her recipe though. I wanted to start with a more basic recipe using only olive oil and coconut oil. I found a simple recipe using only those oils but last minute I had to tweak it a little because my scale could not measure accurately the amounts I needed. I needed 1/5 on a measurement but it would only go from 1/8 to 1/4. And when you're measuring for soap it needs to be EXACT when it comes to oils and lye. Especially since I was making a small batch. So this is what I used..

13 oz   Olive oil (79%)
3.5 oz   Coconut oil (21%)
2.5 oz   Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
5 oz   Distilled water

** After your soap has gone through saponification (the reaction between these ingredients), there will not be any lye left in your soap when you use it.


I ordered the lye on Amazon and I already had the oils in my pantry. I also ordered the soap mold from Amazon. I borrowed my sister's scale and bought my stick blender and safety goggles at Walmart.  Everything else I already had.

Since my soap is 79% olive oil, it's going to be a softer soap. Instead of unmolding it the next day I waited 4 days because it was still soft. I might try making my next batch in the crock pot via hot process and see which way I like better. The nice thing about hot process is you don't have to wait weeks for your soap to cure.

The finished product! Aren't they beautiful? 100% natural, baby! Can't wait to try them.

I'm excited to make my own recipes and have fun trying new things. In addition to essential oils, you can add all sorts of stuff to soap - from oatmeal to lavender to honey. You can also use milk instead of water. I plan to make a goat's milk soap soon. It's really great for your skin apparently.

Happy soap making! As Derek would say, we're turning into a bunch of hippies! Haha.