How to Make Organic Soap Cold

Make organic soap with soothing ingredients like lavender.

Organic soap contains no artificial ingredients, fragrances or chemicals, only natural products like essential oils. These natural soaps sooth skin, moisturize the body due to their high glycerin content and alleviate skin allergies. Use the cold process method to make your organic soap by combining fats or oils with lye. These ingredients form soap through a reaction called saponification. While organic soaps cost more to purchase due to their higher quality ingredients, you can make your own soaps to save money and ensure that your soap contains organically sourced ingredients.

Things You'll Need

• 40 ounces organic olive oil
• 5 ounces organic palm oil
• 5 ounces organic coconut oil
• 7 ounces lye
• 16 ounces distilled water
• Digital kitchen scale
• 2 quart Pyrex measuring cup
• 2 quart measuring cup or bowl
• 2 1-quart measuring cups or bowls
• Rubber gloves
• Safety goggles
• 2 wooden or silicone spoons
• 1 gallon-sized resealable plastic bag
• 2 soap-making thermometers
• 3 quart saucepan
• 6 quart soap-making pot
• Stick blender
• 1 to 2 ounces organic essential oil
• Dried herbs or flowers
• Knife
• Baker's cooling rack
• 4.5 pound soap mold
• Towels or blankets

Instructions

1. Purchase natural, organic ingredients at your local health food store or the organic section of your grocery store. When looking at the various oils you need, check to see if they have the USDA organic seal, meaning the ingredients contain no pesticides or other chemicals. You can find lye (sodium hydroxide) at your local hardware store. It is typically kept with drain cleaners (no lye will remain in your final, organic soap).

2. Refrigerate the distilled water. When you add the lye to the water, the temperature can reach 200 degrees Fahrenheit, so prior refrigeration will minimize the high temperature of the lye and water reaction.

3. Measure out 7 ounces of lye in a one-gallon resealable plastic bag or disposable plastic container using the digital kitchen scale. Wear gloves so you do not touch the lye, which is a very caustic and dangerous chemical. Add 16 ounces of the refrigerated, distilled water to the 2 quart Pyrex measuring cup. Measure the water by weight using the digital scale for accuracy. When using the digital scale, always zero out the weight of the measuring vessels first.

4. Add the lye slowly to the distilled water in the measuring cup, stirring constantly with the wooden or silicone spoon (which will not melt in the high temperature produced by the reaction). Wear goggles and gloves during this procedure to protect yourself from the heat and caustic substance produced. Do this in a well-ventilated or an outdoor area and make sure your face is turned away from the mixture. Do not breathe in the fumes produced by the reaction. Once you dissolve all of the lye crystals, set the mixture aside to cool. Place a soap-making thermometer in the measuring cup to keep track of its temperature.

5. Measure all of your oils in separate bowls or measuring cups by using the digital scale. Melt the 5 ounces each of the coconut and palm oils in the saucepan. Once melted, add the 40 ounces of olive oil to the mixture and stir it together with a wooden or silicone spoon. Add the mixture to the soap-making pot and place a soap-making thermometer into the mixture to check the temperature.

6. Check the temperatures of the oils and the water and lye mixture. Once the temperature reaches between 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit in both mixtures, slowly add the lye mixture to the oil mixture in the soap-making pot, stirring constantly with the wooden or silicone spoon. When you have added all of the lye mixture, switch to using the stick blender to mix the ingredients together.

7. Mix the ingredients until the mixture has the texture of pudding, meaning it has achieved trace (saponification). Add in the organic essential oil(s) of your choice to naturally scent your soap. Lavender essential oil has calming and soothing properties, while peppermint invigorates the skin. Use about 1 to 2 ounces of essential oil. You can also add organic dried herbs or flowers in addition to - or instead of - the essential oils to scent your soap and add a bit of color.

8. Pour the mixture into your soap mold (it will make 4.5 pounds of soap), cover it, and wrap it tightly in towels or blankets to insulate the soap. Place it aside for 24 to 48 hours.

9. Remove the soap from the mold, cut it into smaller, soap-size pieces and allow them to cure on a baker's cooling rack for 6 to 8 weeks before use. Flip them weekly.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a Pyrex measuring cup to combine the lye and water since the high temperatures will not affect or break Pyrex glass (which can withstand temperatures higher than 200 degrees Fahrenheit).

• For extra safety, you can check the pH of your finished soaps with test strips to ensure all the lye has been removed.

• You can use this gentle, olive-oil based organic soap for a variety of uses including shampoo, housecleaning or to wash clothing.

• Keep lye and your lye and water mixture away from children and pets.

• Never refrigerate the water in the Pyrex measuring cup; refrigerate it in a separate container. Adding lye to the water will change the temperature too drastically for refrigerated Pyrex glass and it may shatter.

• Only add the dry lye to water, never add water to lye due to the danger of the chemical reaction.

• Essential oils are the only natural fragrance oils; other oils contain artificial chemicals.

References

• Teach Soap: Soap Making Methods
• Pure Natural Soap: How to Make Your Own Castile Soap
• Soap Making Resource: Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial
• Soap Making Resource: Easy Soap Recipe
• United States Department of Agriculture: Understanding Organic Labelling
• Pegasus Glass: Properties Of Borosilicate (Pyrex 7740) Glass

Resources

• United States Department of Energy: Testing Soap pH