How to Make Olive Oil Lavender Soap
Olive oil soap, also known as castile soap, contains skin-soothing ingredients that those with sensitive skin or allergies can use. When you make this soap yourself, you ensure it contains 100 percent olive oil and other natural ingredients, like lavender essential oil. The fragrance of lavender essential oil will calm the senses as you use the soap, while the olive oil naturally moisturizes. Using just a few simple ingredients, this basic recipe makes a lavender-scented soap that you can use or give to friends and family.
Things You'll Need
- 16 oz. olive oil
- 2 oz. lye
- 6 oz. distilled water
- Safety goggles
- Gloves
- Digital kitchen scale
- Resealable plastic bag
- 2 quart glass measuring cup
- 1 quart glass bowl
- 2 soap-making thermometers
- 4 quart pot
- Stick blender
- 1 pound soap mold
- Knife
- Baker's cooling rack
- Blankets or towels
- Wooden or silicone spoon
- 1/2 oz. lavender essential oil
- 1/4 cup dried lavender flowers
- Purple soap coloring (optional)
Instructions
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1
Measure 6 oz. of distilled water using the digital scale. Zero out the weight of the cup before measuring the water. Refrigerate the distilled water in the measuring cup for 2 to 3 hours until chilled. Use the digital scale to measure the olive oil in the glass bowl.
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2
Add 2 oz. of lye to a resealable plastic bag and measure it using the digital scale. Wear gloves when measuring and handling the lye as it is very caustic and dangerous. Seal the bag and set it aside.
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3
Pour the chilled water into the 2 quart glass measuring cup. Put on the safety goggles and gloves. In a well-ventilated or outdoors area, slowly add the lye to the water, stirring constantly with the wooden or silicone spoon. Face away from the fumes of the reaction that occurs. Stir the mixture until you fully dissolve the lye in the water and place the cup aside to cool. Place a soap-making thermometer in the cup to keep track of the solution's temperature.
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4
Heat the olive oil in the 4 quart pot on the stove. Use a low-heat setting until the temperature reaches between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
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5
Pour the lye/water solution into the pot of olive oil when the temperatures of each have reached between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir the mixture as you pour in the lye solution. Switch to a stick blender and use it to stir the mixture in bursts of 30 seconds, until it reaches the consistency of pudding. This means you have achieved trace or saponification.
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6
Add the 1/2 oz. of lavender essential oil and the 1/4 cup dried lavender leaves. Gently stir them in with a spoon. If you wish to color your soap, add some purple soap coloring until you reach the desired shade.
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7
Pour the mixture into the soap mold, cover it, and wrap the mold with blankets or towels to insulate it. Check the mold every 12 hours for a period of 2 to 3 days, carefully stirring in any oil that separates from the mixture with a wooden spoon.
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8
Remove the soap from the mold and cut it into soap-sized pieces. Place these pieces on a baker's cooling rack to cure for 8 weeks, flipping them weekly.
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Tips & Warnings
This recipe makes a soft soap bar because it contains olive oil and no solid oils.
You can substitute purple crayon shavings for soap coloring.
Wrap resulting bars with decorative ribbon to give as gifts.
Vegans can use this soap as it contains no animal fats or other products.
When adding lye to water, the reaction heats to temperatures of more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, so use caution when handling the resulting solution.
Only use a glass measuring cup that can withstand temperatures of more than 200 degrees to mix this solution.
Keep lye and the lye/water solution away from children and pets.
References
- Millenium-Ark: Soap Recipes
- eAudrey's Luxuriant Soap and Homemaking: Basic Soap Recipes
- Soap Making Resource: Olive Oil Soap Making
- The Blue Ridge Soap Shed: Lavender Castile Soap
- eAudrey's Luxuriant Soap and Homemaking: Basic Soap Instructions
- Soap Making Resource: Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial: A Lesson in Lye Soap Making
- Photo Credit soap image by ivan kmit from Fotolia.com
