Bar Soap Recipes and Tips

Coconut Cleaner

Left: Coconut body soap.  Right: Coconut cleaning/laundry soap

1000gm    Coconut oil

180gm       Sodium Hydroxide (2% superfat)

380gm      Water

25gm        Eucalyptus oil

Comes to trace quickly. Excellent for making laundry “detergent” and cleaners.  It has a very high cleaning characteristic and dissolves very well.

Coconut Body Soap
This can be used as a body soap if it has a superfat of about 20%. To do this, add 180gm extra coconut oil. This free oil is left on the skin and compensate for the drying effect it has.

This has an incredible lather and I use this as a shampoo soap.

When travelling and might need to do a bit of hand washing with clothes I take a finger of Coconut Cleaning soap.

A 50/50 blend of Coconut oil and Beef Tallow makes a good workshop soap with a compromise between cleaning and conditioning.  With the increased creaminess it lathers better.  The natural solution to grease covered hands. I haven’t tried adding fine Diatomaceous Earth as an abrasive but it would work.  This would be similar to Solvol (ingredients: coconut and tallow with pumice as the abrasive) except it would cost me about 80c Australian to make compared to about $5 at Coles.

A Good Soap

Beef Tallow          440gm

Castor Oil             65gm

Olive Oil               126gm

Coconut oil           169gm

Sodium Hydroxide 113gm (5% Superfat)

Water                     280gm

25-30gm of EO of choice.

This will make 10X 100gm bars after it has dried.

Hardness  51, Cleaning  19, Conditioning  45, Bubbles  26, Creaminess  40 (SoapCalc.’s characteristic table)

Shaving Soap (man soap) See Shaving Soap post November 2019 for Mixed lye

Stearic Acid            25gm

Castor Oil             125gm

Beef Tallow          275gm

Coconut Oil            75gm

Sodium Hydroxide           72gm 

Water                                380gm
Hardness 49;  Cleaning 14: Conditioning 48: Bubbles 37: Creaminess 57 (SoapCalc characteristics)

1/2 Tblsp. Black Clay (man colour) for slip.     Mix in a little water and add at trace for cold process.  I mix it in after hot processing it.  You can use Benonite Clay or colour of your choice (I mixed White clay through the mixture then added black clay swirls and red clay swirls.  It looked like the prettiest boysenberry icecream, but wasn't so Manly).

25gm Cedarwood and 1ml Clove Essential Oil blend for a smell my husband likes and reminds him of foresty, diesel engine fumes (ex mechanic).  I added the clove oil for its antifungal properties and personally was disappointed in the smell but have had more positive comment on this one than any other.

I make this as a bar, not for a mug and brush.  My husband wets his face, runs the bar over it then rubs an adequate lather.

As it has a high percentage of Castor oil more care is needed to make sure it drains well after use.

Shampoo Bar and Pet Soap. Use the Shaving soap recipe. 

For people with dry hair, increase the superfat. Use essential oils such Rosemary, Cedarwood, Lavender.
You could either drop the lye level to 109gm; or
Add 16gm of oil of your choice to bring the super fat up to 8%

For pet soap I would also increase the superfat with Neem Oil.  Use 119gm Sodium Hydroxide and add in 64gm Neem Oil as a super fat at trace. While this is excellent for yours or your pets skin the smell may be less than desirable.  It does fade in time. It also colours the soap bright yellow.
Neem is also an insecticidal and has many benefits.

Castile 82%

Olive oil                1312gm

Coconut oil           128gm

Palm Oil                160gm

Sodium Hydroxide 215gm (4% Superfat)

Water                    480gm

50gm of Lavender Essential oil

This will give you about 20X 100gm bars when dried. Just halve the amount if 20 bars is too much. I make more in one batch of this because of the drying time.

Castile soap takes a long time to come to trace but it does get there.

I use coconut and palm oil to add bubbles and speed up the hardening.  It still needs to dry for a long time but can be used after 2-3 months if it drains well between use.  I made my first goat milk castile when my grandchild was born and is now a favourite of mine.  Very good for people with dry skin.

Unless you make this with a milk, it will have the olive colour to it.

Lard: (Pig tallow)
Lard                   472gm
Coconut oil        232gm
Castor oil            56gm
Olive Oil             40gm
Sodium Hydroxide   115.6gm   (5% superfat)
Water                 280gm
28gm Essential Oil.

Hardness 49; Cleaning 20; Conditioning 45; Bubbles 26; Cream 35