soap recipe

 A 100% coconut oil soap recipe using the cold-process method. Makes hard, white, unscented bars with a fluffy lather and gentle cleansing action on your skin. 16 oz / 454 g / 1 lb batch -- 20% superfat and a 30.5% lye solution

Coconut Oil Soap Recipe (Cold Process)

66 g Sodium hydroxide (2.35 oz)

150 g Distilled water (5.29 oz)

454 g Coconut oil (refined) (16 oz)

Ensure that your soapmaking station is set up with all of the equipment, materials, and tools you need. Pre-measure the ingredients using a digital scale. Take care to wear gloves when measuring the lye.

Soap Making Preparation

For full information on soap-making safety and equipment please head over here. It’s important to read it before trying to make soap the first time. Put on your rubber gloves and eye protection (goggles) and set yourself up in an area with good ventilation. Under a hob, on the doorstep, or outdoors is perfect. Pour the sodium hydroxide into the water and stir with a stainless steel spoon. Be careful not to breathe in the fumes. 

Stir well and leave someplace safe to cool to 100°F (38°C). I tend to set the jug containing the lye solution in cold water in the sink.

Make the Lye Solution

In a stainless steel pan, heat the coconut oil on very low heat until just liquefied. Coconut oil has a low melting point of only 76°F/ 24°C so it will melt quicker than you think. Don’t be tempted to turn up the heat.

When fully melted, take the pan off the heat and cool on a potholder. Stir every few minutes, and cool to 100°F (38°C). Although the recipe does not call for an essential oil/fragrance you could add one to the melted coconut oil at this point if you wish*

Melt the Coconut Oil

Get the soap mold prepared and double-check that your goggles and gloves are on and that you won&#39;t be disturbed for the next ten minutes.

When the lye solution and oils are both about 100°F (38°C), pour the lye solution into the pan of oils. Pour the lye solution against a spoon held in the oils as this will reduce air bubbles in your final bars.

Next, blend the lye solution and oil together until it reaches trace. I don&#39;t recommend using a stick blender for this recipe if you&#39;re a beginner. At least, not at first as it can trace (thicken/emulsify) quickly. Instead, gently stir with a silicone spatula or stainless steel spoon. If the soap does not trace as quickly and you are stirring after a few minutes, feel free to dip your stick blender in the pot and give it a few pulses.

The soap will be at trace when the consistency looks about the thickness of warm pudding. It will not have a purely flat surface, but a light texture, especially if you drizzle batter down on top of it.

Make Coconut Oil Soap

Pour the soap into your mold, and I recommend a silicone mold with cavities. That&#39;s because coconut oil soap hardens quickly, and may be difficult to cut into bars if you wait too long to cut it.*

Leave the soap on a kitchen counter or someplace similar (out of reach of kids and dogs) out of direct sunlight. Leave the soap inside for 48 hours before popping it out and curing it.

Mold the Coconut Oil Soap

Leave your coconut soap bars someplace airy and out of direct sunlight to cure for at least ten weeks. This sounds like a lot of time, but if you use the soap before the time is up it may over-cleanse your skin, making it feel dry and uncomfortable. After ten or more weeks, coconut oil soap is mild enough to use as any other body soap. More information on curing is here.

At the end of the cure time, the soaps will be hard and white. For full instructions on how to cure handmade soap head over here

Once made, your soap will have a shelf-life of up to two years. Check the coconut oil best-by date though, since that will be your soap&#39;s best-by date too!

Cut and Cure your Soap

A homemade dish soap that you can use for washing pots, pans, and dishes. It&#039;s ready to use two days after making it and is a great zero-waste cleaning product for the natural home. We also use citric acid in this recipe at a rate of 3% of the main soaping oils and because it neutralizes some of the lye, we compensate for the difference. Creates 4-6 solid white bars that last a long time and create thick, cleansing lather. Technical details: 0% superfat and a 35.7% water discount

Homemade Dish Soap Recipe

85 g Sodium hydroxide (3 oz)

123 g Distilled water (4.34 oz)

318 g Coconut oil (refined) (11.22 oz)

g Citric acid (0.49 oz)

g Distilled water (1.06 oz)

Prepare your workstation with your tools and equipment. Put on rubber gloves, eye protection, and an apron. Carefully pre-measure the ingredients. The oil and wax into the pan, and the lye, 2x distilled water amounts, and citric acid into each of the four jugs.

Prepare the ramekins by washing and drying them thoroughly and setting them on a sheet of greaseproof paper. The ones I&#039;m using came from a supermarket dessert pack and are 3¼&quot; in diameter. At that size, you&#039;ll be able to perfectly fill four ramekins. If your ramekins are smaller, prepare a few extra and I imagine you can get six, or possibly more dish soaps. You can also pour the soap into ordinary molds but the soap hardens very quickly so I&#039;d advise silicone cavity molds. If you use a loaf mold and cut the soap after two hours (or so) of making it, then it will crack and break as it&#039;s very brittle.

Next, dissolve the lye (sodium hydroxide) crystals in water designated for the lye solution. In an airy place, outdoors is best, pour the lye crystals into the water and stir well. There will be a lot of heat and steam so be careful. Try not to breathe it in. Leave outside in a safe place, or in a shallow basin of water to cool.

While the lye solution is cooling, make the citric acid solution. Pour the citric acid into the water set aside for it. Swirl and stir until the citric acid is fully dissolved. This can take up to a minute as the water will be room temperature.

Melt the coconut oil and soy wax in a stainless steel pan on very low heat. When melted, remove from the heat and set on a potholder. Pour in the citric acid solution and stir together well. You&#039;ll notice the citric acid solution beading up at the bottom of the pan. This is normal and simply because oil and water don&#039;t naturally mix.

Measure the temperatures of the lye-water and the contents of the pan. You should aim to cool them both to be about 125°F / 52°C*. The lye solution can be slightly higher than this but try not to soap at lower temperatures for this recipe.

When the temperatures are just right, pour the lye solution into the pan of oils.

Dip your immersion blender into the pan and with it turned off, gently stir the mixture. Next, bring it to the center of the pan, and with both your hands, hold it on the bottom of the pan and blitz it for just a couple of seconds. Turn it off and stir the soap batter, using the blender as a spoon. Repeat until the mixture thickens up to &#039;Trace&#039;.

Trace is when the soap batter leaves a distinguishable trail on the surface. The consistency will be like thin custard. Trace happens very quickly in this recipe so please be prepared.

Working quickly, pour the soap into the ramekins. Give them a tap to settle the soap.

Leave the soap in a place that it won&#039;t be disturbed for two days. Saponification will be complete and you can begin using dish soap from that point. However, soap always performs better if you leave it to cure for at least 28 days.

To use your homemade dish soap I&#039;d recommend using gloves, as the soap may be too cleansing for your hands. Wet the soap and work up a lather with a dish brush or scourer. When you have a good lather, use it to wash dishes or to add to your washing up water. Rinse dishes thoroughly with fresh water before drying.

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