Clear your workspace of clutter and sanitize the counter tops.

Grab your soap making supply basket.

Start by placing stock pot on the stove top on medium-low heat.

Put on your PROPER EQUIPMENT before proceeding to the next step: eye goggles, gloves, long sleeves, mask.

MEASURE EVERY INGREDIENT IN ITS OWN BOWL BEFORE COMBINING ANY INGREDIENTS! First olive, coconut, and castor oils, then water, then lye all in their own separate bowls.

Now pour olive, coconut, and castor oils into the stock pot and use spatula to stir together.

Carefully take bowl of lye and bowl of water outside along with stainless steel spoon.

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).

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 aside on a towel or mat to protect your surface until it is needed next.

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).

Allow the lye water and the stock pot of oils to cool down to somewhere between 95 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit (liquid temps do not have to be the same; just in that range. Example: lye water can be 104 degrees and liquid oils can be 98 degrees and still be mixed.) 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 oil temp checks.

Once the lye water and oils reach somewhere between 95-105 degrees, add the lye water very carefully, as not to splash, into the stock pot of oils.

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 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 to MEDIUM 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 but the drizzle will sit on top. A medium trace is easier to spot as you can visibly see the soap becoming much thicker.

Once light trace is achieved, add in essential oil and/or any other additives. Take the top off the oil to pour it in faster as opposed to dropping the liquid in one drop at a time.

Now use immersion blender for 30 seconds 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. Try to bring soap to a visibly medium trace.

Carefully remove blender and pour soap slowly into the silicone soap loaf mold (silicone part is inside the wooden part of the mold!). Use the spatula to scrape all liquid from the pot into the mold.

Gently move soap loaf to a safe place where it will not be disturbed for 18-36 hours.

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 a slow cool down.

Check the soap mold after about 18-24 hours. If it still looks jelly or gummy, allow it to set for 12 more hours.

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.

Now place the soap loaf on the cutting board. I like to set the size to 2.5 before cutting. Use the provided soap cutter to cut your soap into bars.

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 castor oil soap will turn from yellow to white as it cures.

Flip the soap bars every few days to allow all sides and edges to cure.