Homemade Soap Recipes

• 2 cups soap flakes or grated bar soap
• 1/2 gallon water
• 2 tbsp glycerin

Vanilla and Almond Soap

This soap is great for removing dirt and oil from the skin without drying. Vanilla gives it a delicious fragrance and the ground almonds provide a beautifully textured soap. (Makes one bar.)

• 1/3 cup whole almonds
• 1 4-ounce bar Castile soap
• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1 tablespoon almond oil
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla fragrance oil

This recipe has been revised by Christin Ocasio, Owner, Wyndham Soapworks. See her notes in sidebar.

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup melted tallow (animal fat)
• 2 tbsp lye (heaping) (*NOTE)
• 1/2 cup cold soft water

• 8 oz weight olive oil
• 8 oz weight coconut oil
• 8 oz weight rendered tallow
• 3.49 oz weight sodium hydroxide (pure lye) Red Devil brand 100% lye (*NOTE)
• 9 fluid oz water

Combine oils and heat gently. Once the fats and oils are melted allow the temperature to drop to 100° F to 125° F.

Combine lye solution and melted oils. Be careful not to splash while combining the mixtures. Stir until the mixture traces. If tracing takes more than 15 minutes, which it often does, stir for the first 15 minutes, then stir for 5 minutes at 15 minute intervals. Tracing looks like a slightly thickened custard, not instant pudding but a cooked custard. It will support a drop, or your stir marks for several seconds. Once tracing occurs...

Pour raw soap into your prepared molds. After a few days the soap can be turned out of the mold. If the soap is very soft, allow it to cure for a few days to firm the outside.

Cut soap into bars and set the bars out to cure and dry. This will allow the bar to firm and finish saponification. Place the bars on something that will allow them to breathe.

Note: If you don't want to mess with tallow and lye, you can substitute shavings from any white unscented soap.

Makes One Bar 1 4-ounce bar

• Castile soap (or pure white unscented... like ivory)
• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1/4 cup powdered milk
• 1 tablespoon sweet almond oil
• 1/8 teaspoon peach fragrance oil
• 1 drop orange food coloring {optional}

Shred the Castile soap and set aside. Heat the water in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir in the shredded soap until it forms a sticky mass. Remove the pan from the heat and add the powdered milk, Sweet almond oil, Peach fragrance oil, food coloring; stir until well-blended. Spoon the soap into its mold and let set for four hours or until hardened.
From Soaps, Shampoos & Other Suds: Make Beautiful Gifts to Give (Or Keep)
(Gifts from the Home) by Kelly Reno

• unscented glycerin soap
• 10 drops cinnamon oil
• 1 drop red food coloring {optional}

In a heavy saucepan, melt the glycerin soap over low heat until liquefied. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cinnamon oil and coloring until well mixed. Pour the soap into a mold and let set for three hours or until hardened. Makes One Bar 1 4-ounce bar.
From Soaps, Shampoos & Other Suds: Make Beautiful Gifts to Give (Or Keep)
(Gifts from the Home) by Kelly Reno

Grind up a bar or two of your soap...

• 1 c. borax
• 1-2 t. pure turpentine
• 1 t. sweet orange essential oil
• 1 c. ground soap

Extream cation should be use when using ye to preven alkli burns (*NOTE)

It's better to use weight measurement than volume measurement when working with recipes requiring lye (a caustic alkali).

Oils and fats have different saponification values which must be taken into account when calculating how much lye to use per recipe to convert the oils into soap. This insures there is no leftover lye after the saponification process to irritate the skin, or worse, cause a bad burn.

If you have a recipe which calls for lye, and lists ingredients in cups, etc., you can use the Mountain Sage website Lye Calculator to recalculate your recipe.

Liquid Plumber and Draino are unacceptable sources for lye, because they contain aluminum which will be carried over into the finished bar of soap and then used on the skin. Red Devil Lye is the only 100% lye readily available in small containers and can be found at most supermarkets.
Contributed by Christin Ocasio, Owner, Wyndham Soapworks.