This document provides instructions for making several types of homemade soaps, including basic beginner soap, pumpkin spice soap, gingerbread soap, activated charcoal face soap, and liquid coconut oil soap. The recipes involve combining oils, lye or potassium hydroxide solutions, essential oils, and other ingredients. Safety precautions are noted, such as adding lye to water slowly and avoiding inhalation of fumes. The soaps are poured into molds and allowed to cure for several weeks before use.

1. Making an Easy, Basic Beginner Soap, and Then Making it Fun!!
Recipe Type DIY products
Cuisine Beauty Products
Ingredients
 500 g extra virgin olive oil
 100 g coconut oil (Regular coconut oil that melts around 76ºF)
 10 g lavender essential oil
 80 g lye NaOH (Sodium hydroxide)
 195 g water
Instructions
1. Mix your lye into your water (Not the other way around!!!). Do this in a recipient that can
handle heat; I used a glass bowl. It is best to do this step outside so that you don't fill your
house with the fumes. Try not to breath them in!! Once the lye has dissolved, leave the mix
to cool in an area where no kids or pets have access to it!!!
2. Meanwhile, you can weigh and mix your olive and coconut oils. I mixed them in a large,
glass bowl with room for adding and mixing the other ingredients.
3. After the lye mixture has cooled a bit, bring it back inside and pour into your oil mix. Mix
them together gently at first.
4. Once your lye mix has been incorporated into your oils, you can start to blend them with a
hand blender. Be careful not to spray the mixture all over!! I blended mine in the bottom of
my sink, and distanced myself as much as the blender would allow, just in case!! You can
do this step by hand, but it supposedly will take a very long time.
5. When your mixture starts to thicken like mayonnaise, after a few minutes, you are at the
stage that is called "trace." That is what you want!!!
6. Mix in your essential oils.
7. Pour into soap molds. (I used a silicone pan and some plastic containers. It's a good idea to
oil the plastic containers beforehand to prevent sticking.)
8. Cover and set aside for at least 24 hours. It will probably get warm. If you cover it with a
cloth to keep the warmth in, it supposedly contributes to the quality of the soap. I don't know
if that's true or not, but I do it anyway. :)
9. After 24 hours, uncover and see if you can unmold it. If it is too soft, wait a few more hours
and unmold. You can put it in a cold place to help shrink it a little to help the process out.
Don't wait too long or it will be too hard to easily cut into bars.
10. Cut into bars. I like the look of big, chunky square-ish bars. The nice thing about making
your own, is that you can decide how you want to cut them.
11. Let set for around a month, turning every day or two at first, and then every week later
on. This is to let your soap dry out and harden.
12. Enjoy your soap!!

2. Easy Pumpkin Spice Soap
Recipe Type DIY products
Cuisine Beauty Products
Ingredients
 100 g sweet almond oil 3.5 oz.
 100 g coconut oil 3.5 oz.
 400 g olive oil 14.1 oz.
 80 g lye 2.8 oz.
 100 ml goat milk either fresh or reconstituted from powdered
 100 ml water
 45 g pumpkin 1.6 oz., I made my own puree
 1 tsp. coconut sugar or any brown sugar
 1 tsp. salt
 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
 1 tsp. nutmeg
 1 tsp. ground cloves
 clove essential oil & cinnamon and ginger essential oils
Instructions
1. Mix together the water and goat milk. Then make your lye solution by adding the lye into
the mixture of water and goat milk. Because adding lye causes the temperature to rise
quickly, to prevent the milk from scalding, mix them together over a pan of ice and water. I
also froze the goat milk, just to be sure, but if you are careful about mixing over ice, that
shouldn't be necessary. Your solution will probably turn slightly orange-yellow; that is a
normal reaction of goat milk and lye.
2. Once your solution is thoroughly mixed, allow it to rest while you get together your other
ingredients. We want the heating and cooling process to complete before adding the lye
solution into the oils.
3. Mix together your almond, coconut, and olive oil in a large bowl.
4. Prepare your molds by oiling them. You don't need to use professional soap molds. My
favorite mold is a silicone loaf pan, but I have also successfully used plastic food containers.
5. Add the sugar and salt to the lye solution.
6. Add the lye solution to the oil mixture, and gently mix them together.
7. Once you have the lye solution incorporated into the oils, you can begin to carefully mix
them together with a hand blender. While you can do this part by hand, it would take much
longer. We are looking to have the mixture thicken up like mayonnaise. If your lye mixture
is cold when you begin mixing them, it will take a little longer to get the mixture to thicken.
That will give you a little extra working time, too, if you are new to soap making.
8. Partway through the mixing process, begin to mix in the pumpkin pureé.
9. Now is the time to add in the essential oils or you can use fragrance oils, if you prefer.
Certain essential oils, like clove oil, will cause your soap to thicken much more quickly, so
be prepared, just in case. The amount of oil you add will depend a lot upon the oils you use,
and your personal taste for how fragrant you want your soap to be. I added in somewhere
between 5-10ml of oils overall, using mostly clove essential oil, a little less cinnamon, and a
little less ginger, because that is my order of preference for those oils. You can experiment
here, and use your nose to help guide you. ;) If you are using a pumpkin spice blend, it may
have vanilla, which will darken your soap, so you may choose to add it to only the half of
your soap with the spice mixture.

3. 10. Once you start to get to a mayonnaise like texture, separate out ⅓ to ½ of your mixture. You
will be adding your spices to part of your soap, creating a swirled soap with two different
colors. Add in your spices to the ⅓ to ½ that you separated out.
11. Begin to pour about half of the un-spiced soap into your molds.
12. Add a layer of the spiced soap, followed by the rest of the un-spiced, and finishing up with
the rest of the spiced soap.
13. Using a spoon or some other utensil, poke into the soaps, reaching for the bottom layer and
pulling the soap out over top, trying to gently swirl the soaps in certain places. You can also
zigzag your way through the soap in places, to have the soaps gently swirl together, without
mixing them into each other.
14. Once you are happy with your swirling, allow the soap to rest for at least 24 hours. Your
soap will heat up during this time. After 24 hours, you can begin to check on your soap to
see if it can be gently unmolded. If it is too soft, wait another day or two and check on it
again. Gently unfold it as soon as you can, and cut your bars into your desired shapes.
15. Let your soap continue to set, dry out, and harden for about a month. To help the process,
turn your soap every couple of days.
16. Enjoy using it! It smells wonderful!!

4. Easy Gingerbread Soap Recipe
Recipe Type DIY products
Cuisine Beauty Products
Ingredients
 500 g olive oil
 100 g coconut oil
 80 g lye
 150 ml water or tea I made a chai tea for my liquid component
 1/4 cup molasses
 essential oils (I used ginger, cinnamon, and clove)
 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract optional (see notes below)
Instructions
1. Make your lye solution by pouring the lye into the chai tea or water (your choice) and
stirring until the lye is dissolved. The solution will get very hot and will slowly cool down.
It's a good idea to do this step outside or in a well ventilated area, and avoid inhaling the
fumes. As always, add your lye to your water and not the other way around! Be very careful
when working with lye and the lye solution. Wear gloves and protective goggles!
2. Let the solution cool down in an area where it won't be touched or knocked over by other
people or pets. Meanwhile, mix together your olive and coconut oils, and measure out your
molasses. I personally don't heat my oils. If making this soap in the winter when coconut oil
is solid due to the colder temperatures, you can either melt it first, or just blend it into the
olive oil with an immersion blender. The remaining heat from the lye solution will also
slightly warm up the oils. You can also now take the time to prepare your molds by oiling
them down. I use silicone molds and plastic containers for my soap molds.
3. When the lye solution has cleared up and isn't too hot to work with anymore, you can pour
the lye mixture into the oil mixture and carefully stir them together. Once you have
incorporated the lye solution into the oils you can begin to mix them together with a hand
blender.
4. When you start to reach trace, the point in the soap making process in which your mixture
begins to look like mayonnaise in texture, you'll want to add in your molasses and essential
oils. You can also add in vanilla extract, which will help darken the soap a little more and
will add a bit of vanilla scent, at least for awhile. Most soap makers say that the scent from
vanilla extract is very short lived, and some people have had problems with the alcohol in
the extract causing the soap to seize (I didn't have that problem), so you may not want to risk
adding it in.
5. As for the essential oils, this time I added more ginger than anything else, followed by
cinnamon, and just a few drops of clove oil. I usually don't measure and just let my nose
guide me, but it usually ends up being about 5ml of EOs overall.
6. Mix together all of your ingredients, and pour them into your prepared molds. I like to wait
until it gets to a slightly thicker mayonnaise texture (but not too thick) to make sure it is
completely and thoroughly mixed and to be certain it has reached a definite trace.
7. Cover your soap with a cloth and set aside for at least 24 hours. After 24 hours has passed,
you can carefully unmold your soap. If you used a large mold, you can cut your soap into
bars at this stage. I decided to use a cookie cutter to cut a few bars of soap into a gingerbread
shape. While I think it makes a cute gift that way, I must admit that I like the practicality of
a bar of soap much better.
8. Leave your soap to fully harden for about a month. To help the process, leave space between
each bar, and turn them over every day or two, at least at first.
9. Enjoy your soap!

5. Activated Charcoal Face Soap Recipe
This activated charcoal face soap recipe is simple enough for beginner soapmakers, yet results in an
impressive bar of cleansing, yet moisturizing face soap.
for an 800g mold.
Recipe Type DIY products, Soaps
Prep Time 40 minutes
Servings 6 bars
Ingredients
 225 g olive oil
 125 g coconut oil (Type that solidifies below 76ºF, not fractionated.)
 100 g rapeseed oil (If you use canola oil instead, use 69g of lye)
 25 g castor oil
 25 g shea butter
 100 g distilled water
 90 g witch hazel (distilled, no alcohol)
 68 g lye
 1 Tbsp. activated charcoal
 1 tsp. green tea extract
 1/2 tsp. citric acid
 5 drops vitamin E
 20 drops rosemary essential oil (optional)
Instructions
1. Measure out the water in a large glass or ceramic bowl, and add the measured lye to the
water (and NOT the other way around). It's a good idea to use gloves and a mask for this
part of the process, and to mix together outside, avoiding the fumes. If you haven't made
soap before, or have questions about the process, I'd suggest you check out my first post
about how to make an easy, beginner soap.
2. Carefully mix together the lye and water until the lye is completely dissolved. It will get
cloudy at first, and will begin to warm up. Leave the mixture alone to cool in an area where
it won't be touched by other people, children, or animals. You'll notice that the mixture
becomes more transparent again as it cools off.
3. Meanwhile begin to measure out and combine the olive oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, castor
oil, and shea butter. The easiest way is to accomplish this task is to tare the empty bowl
before adding the first oil and taring again between additions of the oil. (I tend to make less
soap in the winter when the coconut oil is solid, but since you are measuring by weight, it
doesn't make a difference if the oil is solid or liquid when you add it.)
4. Combine the oils together with a hand held blender. The solid shea butter should easily
combine into the liquid oils, forming a smooth, thick liquid. If you are working in cold
temperatures and are having a hard time combining all of the oils, you can slightly warm
them to make the process easier.
5. Add the witch hazel to the lye-water mixture and stir it together carefully.
6. You can now carefully combine the water-witch hazel-lye mixture with the oil mixture. I do
this by pouring the lye mixture into the oil mixture and combining slowly with a metal
spoon.

6. 7. Once everything is well combined, you can begin to use a hand held blender to continue to
mix together all of the ingredients. We are looking to keep blending until reaching what is
called "trace," the point in making the soap when it will begin to thicken like a mayonnaise.
8. When you start to reach a light trace (a thin, runny mayonnaise consistency), begin adding
in the rest of the ingredients and combine them well.
9. When you have a more normal mayonnaise consistency, pour the soap into the prepared
molds.
10. I've gotten into the habit of covering the soap with plastic and covering it with a towel for
the first 24 hours or so, but it's not really necessary. Leave your soap alone in the molds to
completely set before removing them.
11. This soap takes longer to set than my basic beginner soap, so you will need to wait longer
before unmolding your soaps. I found it possible to unfold them after a few days, but the
soap was still very soft and distorted and lost details. My best looking soaps had been left in
the molds for a week or so before trying to unmold them.
12. Once you have removed the soaps from the molds, leave them out to air dry and further
harden. Ideally, you should turn the soaps occasionally so they dry equally on all sides, and
you should also wait around a month before using the soap so that it is harder and lasts
longer. (If you use the soap when it's soft, it will easily dissolve and be used up much more
quickly.)
13. You can now use your soap, or package it for gift giving. Enjoy!

7. Homemade Liquid Coconut Oil Soap
Making your own homemade liquid coconut oil soap is simple, thrifty, and very rewarding.
Coconut oil soap provides lots of lather and cleaning power for all purpose cleaning.
Makes 1-2 Gallons of soap (See notes below.)
Recipe Type DIY products, Soaps Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings 5 lbs. soap paste
Ingredients
 32 oz. coconut oil
 8.59 oz. KOH This is not lye (NaOH) that is used in bar soap.
 17.77 oz. water
 8 oz. glycerine
Instructions
1. Melt the coconut oil in a slow cooker pot over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the water and glycerine, and measure out the potassium hydroxide
(KOH).
3. Pour the KOH into the water and glycerine mixture. (& not the other way around!!) Mix
well until the KOH is fully dissolved into the water/glycerine. It will be cloudy at first, but
will clear up.
4. Carefully pour the KOH mixture into the warm coconut oil, and slowly mix them together.
5. Using a hand blender, blend the ingredients together in the slow cooker. The mixture will
begin to thicken after a few minutes.
6. A couple of minutes later, the mixture will begin to look grainy. Continue to blend.
7. If the mixture becomes too thick to blend with the hand held blender, switch to mixing with
a wooden spoon, or even a stainless steel fork, if need be. Unlike the olive oil soap, which I
was able to blend with the blender throughout the entire process, with the coconut oil soap I
did have to stop blending with the blender and switch to a wooden spatula and stainless steel
fork. (You can read more about that above.)
8. The mixture will continue to thicken and will become more translucent. We are working on
making a soap base paste to dissolve into a clear liquid soap. The process will take 3-4
hours, and you should check it and stir it up every half an hour or so.
9. To check for "doneness," we will look to see if our paste is dissolving into a completely
clear liquid soap. To do this, take a small amount of the soap paste and dissolve it in water,
checking to see if the water is clear once the soap paste is dissolved. If the liquid is cloudy,
you will want to continue to cook the soap in the slow cooker. Stir it up and let it cook for
another half an hour before checking on it again. If it dissolves clear, you are finished
making the soap paste.
10. Your liquid coconut oil soap paste is now ready to be stored or dissolved into liquid soap as
needed.
Recipe Notes
 This recipe makes 4.5-5 lbs. soap paste which can be diluted to 10-20lbs. soap or more. That
ends up being 1-2 gallons, or more, depending upon desired concentration.
 Keep in mind that liquid soap is not as thick as commercial gels and surfactants. Liquid soap
is of a thinner consistency. You don't need to keep it thick for it to be concentrated and work
well.

8. Easy, Beginner DIY Liquid Castile Soap Recipe
DIY Liquid Castile Soap Recipe
This DIY liquid castile soap recipe is easy and inexpensive to make. It’s a great multipurpose
cleaner, perfect for both your body and around the house!
Makes 1-2 gallons of liquid soap. (See notes below)
Recipe Type DIY products, Soaps
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings 5 lbs. soap paste
Ingredients
 6.52 oz. KOH This is not lye (NaOH) that is used in bar soap!
 32 oz. olive oil
 11.55 oz. water
 8 oz. glycerine
Instructions
1. Measure out the olive oil and begin to heat it over low heat. I warmed mine on the low
setting of my slow cooker. A slow cooker is perfect for this sort of job because it will gently
warm without burning, and keeping things at a steady temperature. (In the picture you can
see that I first thought to try using a glass bowl in my slow cooker as a sort of double boiler,
but I later found it too difficult and just poured the ingredients directly in the slow cooker
itself.
2. Mix together the glycerine and water, and measure out the potassium hydroxide (KOH).
3. Carefully add the KOH to the water (and not the other way around!) in a well ventilated
area. I usually do this outside. Stir the KOH into the water until it dissolves. It will be
cloudy at first, but then it will clear up.
4. Slowly add in the the KOH mixture to the warm olive oil, and slowly stir them together in
the slow cooker over low heat to incorporate the lye mixture into the oils.
5. Using a hand held blender, begin to blend the ingredients together in the slow cooker. In a
few minutes the mixture will begin to thicken and look like mayonnaise, and then just
moments later will look like a creamy pudding.
6. A couple of minutes later, the mixture will begin to look grainy. A lot of people call this the
mashed potatoes stage because that's sort of what the mixture resembles. Continue to blend.
(If at any point the mixture becomes too thick to blend with the hand held blender, switch to
mixing with a wooden spoon, but when working with only olive oil I found the mixture to
be pretty workable throughout the process.)
7. As you continue to blend, it will start to get creamy again, and you will notice that you will
start to see translucent streaks in your mixture. Once you reach this point, you can stop
blending with the hand held blender, and begin to stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
8. The mixture will begin to thicken up and become more translucent. We are now working on
making a soap base paste which will be dissolved into a clear liquid soap. The process will

9. take 3-4 hours, and you will want to check on it and stir it up every half an hour or so. (See,
I told you this takes a bit longer than making bar soap, but the results are worth it!!)
9. To check for "doneness," we will look to see if our paste is dissolving into a completely
clear liquid soap. To do this, take a small amount of the soap paste and dissolve it in water,
and look to see if the water is clear once the soap paste is dissolved. If the liquid is cloudy,
you will want to continue to cook the soap in the slow cooker. You can let it cook another
half an hour before checking on it again. If it dissolves clear like the soap in my picture, you
are finished making the soap paste.
10. Your liquid castile soap paste is now ready to be stored or dissolved into liquid soap as
needed.
Recipe Notes
 This recipe makes 4.5-5 lbs. soap paste which can be diluted to 10-20 lbs. soap or more. That ends
up being 1-2 gallons, or more, depending upon desired concentration.
 Keep in mind that liquid soap is not as thick as commercial gels and surfactants. Liquid soap is of a
thinner consistency, and doesn't need to be thick to be concentrated and work well.