Easy First Time Soap Making Recipe for the Beginning Soap Maker

Homemade and handmade soap is rising in popularity. Many people are realizing how harmful some of the ingredients in bar soap and body washes can be. This is the recipe I have used as in first time soap making. The ingredient list is short and easy to acquire. I have made this soap many times now and have had wonderful results personally and many compliments. You have a lot of liberty with the essential oil mixture with this castile soap recipe.

Please see my DISCLOSURE STATEMENT before proceeding.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. I will always encourage shopping local, small, and direct FIRST. Johnson Home NC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com.  As part of this Amazon Associates program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. And I thank you for using these links!

Things you really must know in first time soap making

1. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AS WRITTEN!

Be sure to follow this recipe to a T for your own safety and for a great first loaf of soap bars. My very first batch of soap came out all wrong simply because I ordered the wrong kind of lye. Be sure to get the right kind of lye for cold process BAR soap.

If you’re looking for a “QUICK SOAP MAKING RECIPE”, this one isn’t it. BUT DON’T LEAVE YET!!

Hear me out:

All soap making needs to have attention to detail and your time devoted to it. It’s a serious procedure, using serious chemicals. You deserve the safety of quality time and if you want good soap, you must read and follow all instructions, whether it’s this recipe or anyone else’s.

Read all of the instructions FIRST, maybe twice, THEN go through each instruction as you make your first batch of soap.

2. Lye can be dangerous!

Use the proper equipment as listed and correctly. Be sure you’re in a well ventilated space (like outside!) when adding the lye to water. Hello, Chemistry Class 101.

3. The Immersion Blender

A staple item in every kitchen, I say. But it’s smart to have an immersion blender dedicated to your soap making. Here is a super economical option: immersion blender.

When making small batches of soap like this recipe, be sure to keep the blender immersed in the soap batter at all times so it does not splatter caustic soap onto your skin. And also, please see number 2 in this list again.

The Big Scary LYE

In a recent soap blog I wrote about why I use certain ingredients in my soaps, this was the opener:

Let’s go ahead and address the big scary elephant in the room because it’s a LYE.

*Insert knee slap for that pun*

Lye, or in bar soap making, sodium hydroxide, is also called caustic soda. It is a corrosive base and alkali that decomposes proteins and lipids.

WHOA! That sounds dangerous!

Well, yes. It can be. But using PROPER equipment and precautions will make handling lye, which is needed in this kind of soaping, safe for you.

Lye is needed in soap making because it converts the oils and fats in a soap recipe into actual soap through a process called saponification. Definitely encourage you to do some research but don’t be scared to try first time soap making. Expect to make some rookie mistakes but prepare for some wonderful cleansing soap! Just use PRECAUTIONS, please.

When handling lye, always remember:

• wear long sleeves
• don safety glasses (not your regular eye glasses or sunglasses)
• long kitchen gloves or short latex/vinyl examination gloves making sure long sleeves are covering wrist and arm.
• a mask such as an N95
• LYE TO WATER! Always add the lye crystals to the water, never the other way around
• Be in a ventilated area, preferably outside, when mixing the lye into the water
• Let your family and children know what you are doing and that you need a few minutes without them near it
• NO distractions! If you have little ones, consider doing this at nap time or bed time or when someone else is supervising the children. Soaping needs your undivided attention.

Preparing to Soap

The best way I have found to prepare for first time soap making day is to:

First let the family know what you’re up to and your expectations of them for the next 1 to 1.5 hours (once you get the hang of soap making, it won’t take this long). If you have littles, make sure they are supervised by someone other than you, in good hands, or not present. Your whole attention will be needed for this project.

Then I like to clean the kitchen. I need a clear work space before I begin so I will wash and dry dishes or load them into the dishwasher. Clear off counter tops and sanitize them.

Next, I get my dedicated basket of soap making supplies which include an immersion blender, a glass bowl, a silicone spatula, a small ceramic bowl, and my ingredients which are dedicated to soaping. Additionally, you could have a dedicated stainless steel stock pot for your soaping if you want.

When I purchase olive and coconut oils for soap making, they are used ONLY for soap and never allowed in my kitchen pantry. My personal preference.

Let’s go SOAP shopping

Here is a list of items I purchase to make this particular cold process bar soap, castile soap:

You may choose to use organic ingredients or not. Either way, you’re already doing great things by making soap yourself and avoiding at least a dozen unnecessary chemicals. Organic ingredients or not is completely up to you.

• immersion blender
• lye for BAR soap
• olive oil
• coconut oil
• kitchen scale
• stainless steel stock pot
• glass bowl for water
• glass or ceramic bowl for measuring lye
• glass or ceramic or plastic bowls for measuring oils
• silicone spatula
• soap loaf mold and cutter (this recipe will fill up the largest mold in this set)
• candy thermometer
• kitchen timer (on oven or microwave is fine)
• stainless steel spoon
• parchment paper
• thick towel or blanket
• essential oils (I currently am a Simply Earth ambassador meaning if you use my link and code JOHNSONHOMENCFREE you will receive a $45 gift card to use on your NEXT purchase and I will receive commissions. Simply Earth is a pure essential oil company who offers neat monthly subscription boxes OR you can order whatever essential oils you need. Their oils are third party tested and Simply Earth is NOT a MLM company which helps keep their oils much more affordable!)

Tip for shopping dedicated soap making materials: Check out thrift stores. Don’t spend a lot of money on these dedicated bowls and pots. You can likely find these for cheap at a thrift store.

First Time Soap Making- A Simple Recipe for any Beginner Soap Maker

Ingredients:

Be sure to measure precisely with your kitchen scale! Turn on the scale, set the bowl on the scale, and tare the scale before measuring each ingredient each time.

25 oz olive oil

7 oz coconut oil

4 oz lye (sodium hydroxide)

12 oz filtered water (not municipal tap water)

15 ml essential oil (peppermint, lavender, or lemon are great first time soap making options)

Yields 9 bars of soap cut on a size 2.

The Method:

1. Start by placing stock pot on the stove top on medium-low heat.
2. Put on your PROPER EQUIPMENT before proceeding to the next step: eye goggles, gloves, long sleeves, mask.
3. MEASURE EVERY INGREDIENT IN ITS OWN BOWL BEFORE COMBINING ANY INGREDIENTS! First olive and coconut oils, then water, then lye all in their own separate bowls.
4. Now pour olive and coconut oils into the stock pot and use spatula to stir together.
5. Carefully take bowl of lye and bowl of water outside along with stainless steel spoon. Take more than one trip for safety.
6. Making sure gloves, mask, long sleeves, and goggles are in place; add the LYE TO THE WATER (lye to water, lye to water, L to W, lye to water, L to W, always LYE TO WATER).
7. Use the spoon to gently stir the lye into the water. The water will become cloudy (and HOT!). Stir for about 30 seconds then allow the mixture 30 seconds to settle down. You are making a chemical reaction right now which is why your mask is important for this 1 whole minute of mixing lye into water. When lye water is mostly clear, it is safe to take it back inside. USE CAUTION: BOWL IS HOT! Set the lye water out of everyone’s reach until it is needed next.
8. Now turn off the stove top with oils in the pot. Stir the oils in the stock pot to make sure the coconut oil has melted. Remove pot from the hot eye. (You can remove mask now but do keep on the gloves, long sleeves, and goggles for splatters).
9. Allow the lye water and the stock pot of oils to cool down to somewhere between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit (liquid temps do not have to be the same; just in that range. Example: lye water can be 109 degrees and liquid oils can be 101 degrees and still be mixed at this point.). This can take about 20-30 minutes to achieve. You will need to take the temperature of both oils and lye water several times. Use a paper towel to wipe candy thermometer between water and oils.
10. Once the lye water and oils reach somewhere in those ranges of temperatures, you will add the lye water very carefully, as not to splash, into the stock pot of oils.
11. Next, use immersion blender to blend the water and oils together. KEEP THE BLENDER UNDER THE LIQUID WHILE RUNNING AND MOVE IT VERY SLOWLY THROUGHOUT THE POT OF LIQUIDS to avoid splattering or splashing the caustic soap onto yourself. Blend for 2-3 minutes on slow then rest for a minute or two before continuing to blend. You will repeat this cycle as many times as it takes to bring the soap to LIGHT TRACE. You will barely see a line traced on top of the liquid when you use a spoon to drizzle soap across the top of the liquid in the pot, looking for a light trace. The light trace will not easily disappear back into the liquid.
12. Once light trace is achieved, add in essential oil. Take the top off the oil to pour it in faster as opposed to dropping the liquid in one drop at a time.
13. Now use immersion blender for 1 full minute to blend the oils into the liquid. Adding essential oil to the batter will make it trace quicker so being efficient with adding EOs and blending again is important.
14. Carefully remove blender and pour soap slowly into the soap loaf mold (silicone part is inside the wooden part). Use the spatula to scrape all liquid from the pot into the mold.
15. Gently move soap loaf to a safe place where it will not be disturbed for 24-48 hours.
16. Next, place a sheet of parchment paper over the top of the soap then wrap the soap loaf in a thick towel or a blanket to insulate the mold. The soap needs to slowly cool down. NOW SEE “THE CLEAN UP” SECTION OF THIS POST!
17. Check the soap mold after about 24 hours. If it still looks jelly, allow it to set for 24 more hours.
18. When it is time to cut the soap, remove towel/blanket and parchment paper. Wearing gloves, remove the silicone mold from the wooden loaf box. Gently pull the silicone mold away from the soap, turning the mold inside out as you remove the soap loaf.
19. Now place the soap loaf on the cutting board. I like to set the size to 2 before cutting. Use the provided soap cutter to cut your soap into bars.
20. Finally, space cut bars so they are not touching on a drying rack, cookie sheet, or parchment paper on an out of the way table to dry and cure for 4-8 weeks. Soap will NOT be ready to use for at least 4 weeks, more like 6 weeks or longer for the hardest soap. This castile soap will turn from yellow to white as it cures.

How to Clean Up after First Time Soap Making (and every other time)

Still wearing gloves, clean up your first time soap making session!

Place all utensils and bowls in the sink and wash with regular dish soap while wearing gloves. The soap is not ready to be touched with bare hands just yet so keep the gloves on.

Allow utensils, bowls, and stock pot to dry. Then place all dedicated soap making items in a basket or container to be used next time.

How long does homemade soap take to cure?

Continue using caution around the soap until it is fully cured 4-8 weeks later.

Generally after a few days of the cut soaps sitting and drying, you can pick them up bare handed to sniff… which you will do several times! I guarantee it.

Make sure your soap bars are in a place out of reach of little hands or pets for the 1-2 month curing time. The longer the cure, the better but I understand this is a long process and you want to use your soap ASAP!

You want the soap to not be mushy or squishy but firm when you press on its center. A long cure time yields this result. Castile soap will also transition from a yellow to a white as it cures.

A tip for impatient soapers like me: You can cut soap at a size 1 on your cutting board which yields a thinner soap. It will still need at least 1 month’s curing time before using. Since I do sell extra bars from a loaf of soap I make, I like to cut at a 2 for a thicker bar of soap for my customers.

Can I speed up the liquid cool down of oils and lye water?

Yes you can; however, I do NOT recommend doing this until you have successfully completed two or three batches of soap doing it the “long way”.

To cool down lye water and oils faster, prepare two 9×13 casserole pans like Pyrex (that are used to high temperatures) with regular tap water about 1 inch deep with water.

Place the lye water bowl in one casserole pan gently and easily. Do the same with the stock pot of liquid oils in the other casserole pan (or a large, deep pan to fit stock pot).

Then add handfuls of ice cubes to the WATER in the casserole pans; NOT the liquid oil NOR lye water bowls.

Continue to take the temperature every 2-3 minutes of each lye water and liquid oils to ensure they reach between 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit around the same time.

Because this cool down happens fairly quick, make sure your attention is solely on the liquids; not your phone or anything else! You don’t want to miss your temperature range window.

How can I create new scents?

There’s lots of room to play around with scent mixes using topically-okay essential oils.

The best way I have found to see if the essential oil mixings will smell good together is to first diffuse them together aromatically. If I like the scent they give off when being diffused, I will try it in a soap.

Some tried and true scent mixings that I love for soap making are:

• Lemon and Lavender
• Peppermint and Lavender
• Lime and Cedarwood

How to keep homemade soap from washing away quickly

Like any soap, when it makes friends with lots of water, say in a shower or bath tub situation, the soap will wash away fairly fast.

You can help slow this down by keeping your bar soap dry between uses using a soap dish.

Alternatively, you can use a soap saver bag to put your bar soap in. Once you are done with the soap, you hang the bag by its string to dry. Bonus to using soap saver bags is the sisal material it is made of is a gentle skin exfoliator as well. Replace soap saver bags monthly or as you see fit.

Soap Dishes and Soap Saver Bags Bundle– great bulk option for if you plan to gift soaps or an add-on if you sell soaps.

Does homemade soap produce a lot of soap scum?

Pick your hard:

Soap scum clean up or harsh, harmful, and potentially poisonous chemicals on your skin (your largest organ that soaks up everything you put on it).

Personally, I choose the homemade soap and fight the soap scum BUT I HAVE GOOD NEWS:

In my personal experience with a fiberglass shower and a clear glass door, we have not noticed more soap scum using bar soap or body wash soap. I clean the showers weekly by scrubbing with a brush then wiping with a cleaning rag or sponge anyway. Essentially, I treat every weekly shower cleaning the same whether there is a little or a lot of soap scum present.

But I haven’t noticed more scum with one soap or the other which is even more encouragement to use a natural, homemade soap instead of store-bought nastiness.

Can I use handmade, homemade soap on my face as well as body?

The choice is absolutely yours.

You know your own skin better than anyone. Are you sensitive? Do you have any allergies? You get to decide if using pure castile soap on your face is a good idea or not.

With that said, my family does use this castile soap on our face as well as body. You can dedicate a bar of soap to face and one to body. Your shower, your call!

All in all, this castile soap is gentle enough (IN MY OPINION, see my disclosure statement!) for your face.

Follow Along for more

Keep up to date on recent posts and sharings and more on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram: @johnsonhomenc and if you’d like to purchase homemade soap from me, I offer it only to my newsletter subscribers currently.

sign up for my weekly newsletter HERE.

Newsletter subscribers get a weekly email from me and when I have soaps available for purchase, it will be in that week’s newsletter. Soaps are not available weekly. Purchasing soap is via a REQUEST on a google form. I do not currently have an e-commerce website.

If you try this out, come back and leave a comment or share a picture on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest so I can see it! 

Check out other Johnson Home NC affiliated links HERE.