October 03, 2019 · Written by Foodtolive Team
How To Make Homemade Coconut Oil Soap
Coconut oil has been proven to have numerous benefits for various parts of the body. While it has long been a kitchen staple, it is also an active ingredient in many beauty care products due to its moisturizing properties. From hair masks, body lotion, lip balms, and even on its own, coconut oil is one of the best ways to naturally rejuvenate the appearance of dry skin while simultaneously keeping the skin healthy and soft.
Besides being an excellent moisturizer, coconut oil can also be used as a cleanser thanks to its anti-bacterial properties. If you’re looking to get more of the advantage’s coconut oil offers, consider making coconut oil soap. It’s a great way to get more coconut oil products you’re your body throughout the day.
This method takes only a few ingredients and very little effort to make. Give some to friends and family as gifts or enjoy it all for yourself!
The full recipe for coconut oil soap is near the bottom of this article, but first, let’s look into what exactly is coconut oil soap.
What Is Coconut Oil Soap?
At its heart, ordinary soap is a salt made from the combination of fatty acids and alkali material. This mixture can cleanse away dirt and oil by breaking the surface tension of water with lubrication.
Before starting the process to make homemade coconut oil soap, you need coconut oil, distilled water, and lye. While lye is a chemical, its consistent pH balance makes it easy to calculate, which is why it is a preferred ingredient in many soap recipes.
As lye is the alkali material needed to create a bond with a fatty acid, it’s not possible to make homemade soap without it. Other ingredients such as potash or wood ashes could be substituted, but professional or experienced soap makers should only use these.
It is also best to avoid using 100% coconut oil in soap, as it can strip the skin of its natural oils because of its highly effective cleansing properties.
Beginner’s Guide To Make Homemade Coconut Oil Soap
This recipe is for making a cold-process soap. While it only takes 24 hours for the ingredients to turn into soap, it will need one month to cure before use.
It is safe to use two days after removing from the mold, but it is best to wait. The quality of the soap improves the longer it is allowed to cure.
When curing soap, leave it on a shelf or rack, rotating every couple of days to expose all sides to air.
Yield: 3 pounds, or 10-12 bars
Ingredients & Tools:
- 4.7 ounces lye (Found in hardware stores, look for labels that read 100% lye, or order online.)
- 30 ounces of coconut oil
- 3 ounces castor oil
- 10.9 ounces water
- 1 ounce of preferred essential oil, or 2 ounces fragrance oil
- 2 quart-sized milk cartons, cleaned
- A digital or kitchen scale
- Thermometer
- A large crockpot, ceramic bowl, or stainless steel pot
- Handblender
Process:
- Prepare the milk carton molds. The end product will fill 1.5 of the cartons.
- Open the fragrance bottles and have them ready for use.
- Using a saucepan, melt the coconut oil. Then with a digital scale, individually weigh the castor oil, lye, and water. Keep each ingredient in a separate container in preparation.
- Make the lye solution by adding the lye to the water. Stir to dissolve the lye, then let the mixture cool until it reaches 80°F.
- Next, pour the melted coconut oil and castor oil in either a large crockpot, ceramic bowl, or stainless steel pot. If the crockpot or stainless steel pot was used to melt the coconut oil, you could mix the two oils in that container.
- Let the coconut oil and castor oil cool to 80°F.
- When the oil mixture is cooled, add the lye and water mixture to the large pot. Blend with a hand blender. The oils and lye solution should reach between 76°F to 80°F.
- Blend until the ingredients develop a light trace, or a thin texture similar to pudding that leaves a trail (or “trace”) when the mixture drips on a surface.
- Add any fragrance or color at this time.
- Pour the soap mixture into the milk cartons, or any other soap molds you have prepared.
- Allow the soap to harden overnight, or between 12-18 hours, before removing from the mold.
- Tear the cartons away from the soap and use a stainless-steel knife to divide the bars.
From-Scratch Ingredients for From-Scratch Soap
If you want a more natural way to cleanse and moisturize, homemade coconut oil soap is the solution. Make sure you get the most out of it by using only raw, pure ingredients.
Try our organic, all-natural coconut oil. It’s vegan, kosher, non-GMO, and packed with everything to keep skin, hair, and body healthy and strong.
