Ingredients
- 200 grams Coconut Oil
- 400 grams Olive Oil
- 200 ml water cool/room temperature
- 85 grams lye (sodium hydroxide)
- Lavender Oil
- Safety Equipment for Dealing With the Lye
- 1 pair safety gloves (rubber/heat-resistant) optional but highly recommended
- 1 pair goggles optional but highly recommended
- Other Equipment
- moulds silicone is best, but rubber/wood would do as well
- 1 glass bowl heat-resistant
- 1 stainless steel pot with lid
- 1 thermometer a kitchen or candy one
- wax paper for lining the trays (if you’re using wooden moulds)
- hand blender optional, but saves you a lot of time
- rubber spatula or spoon for mixing
- blanket, plastic wrap or cardboard for covering the soaps
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Weigh all the ingredients beforehand and prepare the moulds. If you don’t have silicone moulds, make sure to line your moulds with wax paper or lubricate.
- Add the lye gradually to the cool water in a heat-resistant glass bowl, mixing well without splashing it. Stir with a rubber spoon or spatula until the mixture dissolves properly. Let it cool to about 90-115 degrees F. Never add water into lye otherwise it’ll cause a volcano reaction. Make sure you have on your safety gear (gloves, goggles, long sleeves – better safe than sorry!) and try not to directly breathe in any fumes. This is best done outside, or open the windows. Also keep the kids and pets away.
- While that’s cooling, mix the coconut oil and olive oil together in a stainless steel pot over the stove. Gently heat to about 90-115 degrees F. You need to have the oils and lye-water in that same range of temperature, differing only by 10-20 degrees, at most.
- Carefully add the lye-water to the pot of oils and use a hand blender to mix continuously for about 15 minutes, or until you’ve reached trace (a thin pudding-like consistency).
- You can now add in the essential oil. The smell usually fades away during the process of drying, so add about 30 drops of Lavender oil for a lasting scent.
- Pour the mixture into the moulds (be cautious not to get it on your skin as the mixture is still caustic) and cover with cardboard, a blanket, plastic wrap, or anything that will keep it warm. Leave it to set for 1-2 days at room temperature.
- The soap bars will still be soft after a few days so be gentle when taking them out of the mould or cutting. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and leave to dry for 6-8 weeks, for best results. And don’t forget to turn them over once in a while.
Recipe Notes
If you plan to change or substitute any of the oils included here or in any other recipe, make sure to use a lye calculator to work out the amount of lye needed for saponification, since that varies with each oil. This one’s a good choice.
We strongly advise the use of safety gear (gloves, goggles, long sleeves – better safe than sorry!) and working outside, or in a well ventilated area. Keep children and pets well away.
Could you please give us an idea of what size loaf mould to use? Thanks so much!