How to Make Exfoliating Coconut Oil Soap
Coconut oil helps make a pleasant-smelling, moisturizing soap when combined with other oils in cold-process soap-making. Combine natural oils, including coconut, with lye to produce a chemical reaction called saponification, which makes soap. You can add the scent of your choice and include exfoliating ingredients such as ground whole oats and almonds to add some texture to the soap. How exfoliating your final soap will turn out depends on how finely you grind the almonds or oats.
Things You'll Need
- 14 ounce distilled water, chilled
- 2-quart, heat-resistant measuring cup
- Wooden spoon
- Goggles
- Gloves
- 4.6 ounce sodium hydroxide
- 10 ounce coconut oil
- 12 ounce olive oil
- 2 ounce wheat germ oil
- 8 ounce palm oil
- 6-quart soap-making pot
- Soap-making thermometer
- Stick blender
- 1 ounce lavender essential oil
- 4 tablespoons ground whole oats
- 2 tablespoons ground almonds
- Soap mold
- Blankets or towels
- Knife
- 2 baker's racks
Instructions
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1
Put on goggles and gloves. Set up your materials in an outdoor or well-ventilated area.
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2
Pour 14 ounces of chilled, distilled water into a 2-quart, heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Slowly stir in 4.6 ounces of sodium hydroxide to the water using a wooden spoon. The mixture becomes very hot; put it aside to cool.
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3
Heat 10 ounces coconut oil, 12 ounces olive oil, 2 ounces wheat germ oil and 8 ounces palm oil in a 6-quart soap-making pot until all of the oils turn into a liquid over medium heat.
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4
Test the temperature of the oils, once melted, with a soap-making thermometer. Then, test the temperature of the lye solution. Wait until the temperature of each is approximately 110 F.
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5
Pour the lye solution slowly into the soap-making pot with the oils and stir it in with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until all of the lye solution is placed in the pot.
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6
Stir the solution with a stick blender until it reaches the consistency of pudding. At this point the combination of the ingredients has formed soap through saponification, a state known as "trace."
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7
Add 1 ounce of lavender essential oil, 4 tablespoons of ground whole oats and 2 tablespoons of ground almonds to the soap mixture at trace. Stir the ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon to disperse them throughout the soap. These ingredients add scent and texture to the soap to exfoliate the skin.
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8
Pour the soap into a soap mold. Cover the mold and wrap it in towels or blankets. Allow the mold to sit for 48 hours to solidify.
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9
Remove the soap from the mold and put on gloves, as the soap may be slightly caustic at this stage.
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10
Cut the soap into bars with a knife. Put the bars on two baker's racks to dry for six weeks, allowing the lye to react out of the soap. Turn the bars over every week so that they dry equally on both sides.
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Tips & Warnings
This recipe makes approximately 3 pounds of soap or 12 4-ounce bars.
Measure your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale for exact weights.
Check the soap after 24 hours in the mold to ensure it dries properly; if you see any oil forming on the top, stir that in gently with a spoon.
Grind the almonds and whole oats with a food processor or coffee grinder.
Substitute the essential oil of your choice in the soap recipe.
Always use gloves when handling lye or the lye solution; this chemical is corrosive and will burn your skin.
To make soap, never use tin, aluminum, Teflon or copper pots or soap molds as these metals react with the lye.
Keep vinegar aside to pour on the lye if it gets on your skin or clothing to neutralize it.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
