If you are thinking about making your own homemade soap, do it! It doesn’t matter if you’ve never made soap. All soap makers, no matter how experienced, began by making their very first batch. Once you make this easy homemade soap, you’ll find that soap making is actually super easy. And fun. And addictive! After you learn the soap making basics, your creativity will run wild. You will soon be coming up with your own all natural soap recipes. The possibilities are endless.

This easy homemade soap recipe is the perfect way for you to get your (soap making) feet wet. It’s a hot process soap, aka, crock pot soap. This recipe uses only 3 easy to find oil: olive oil, coconut oil, and sunflower oil. You probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen cabinets now. For this recipe, you don’t have to wait weeks or months before using your soap. Because this recipe uses the hot process method, you can use the easy homemade soap within days of making it. If you follow this easy homemade soap recipe, you’ll learn the basics of making soap. And you will be well on your way to becoming a soaper for life.

Basic Soap Making Info

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There are essentially 4 ways to make soap at home: (1) hot process method (crock pot method); (2) cold process method; (3) cold process oven process (CPOP) method; and (4) melt and pour method.

Hot process method is also known as the crock pot method. This easy homemade soap recipe uses the hot process method. You will need a crock pot to cook your soap until the oil and lye are fully combined, or saponified (if you want to use the fancy technical term). When your oil and lye are fully combined, you will have soap. The heat from the crock pot quickens the soap making process. That’s why the curing/drying time for hot process soap, including this easy homemade soap, is only a few days.

The basic steps of the hot process method:

• Combine oil and lye solution.
• Cook oil and lye mixture in a crock pot for about an hour.
• Pour or scoop soap into a mold.
• Wait about a day before unmolding and cut the soap.
• Leave the hot process soap alone for 3-4 days to dry/cure.
• Then enjoy!

Some people say the 3-4 days curing/drying time is not necessary. I find that these few days can make your soap harder and longer lasting.

Cold process method doesn’t use a crock pot. Without heat from a crock pot, cold process soap takes at least 4 weeks to cure/dry. The basic steps of the cold process method:

• Combine oil and lye solution.
• Pour oil and lye mixture into a soap mold.
• Cover soap mold with towels or blankets.
• Wait a day before uncovering and unmolding the soap.
• Leave the cold process soap alone for at least 4 weeks to cure/dry.
• Then enjoy!

Cold process oven process method (CPOP) is a hybrid method. This method uses the oven to kickstart the soap drying/curing process. This method usually involves a shorter drying/curing time.  The basic steps of the cold process oven process method:

• Combine oil and lye solution.
• Pour oil and lye mixture into a soap mold.
• Cover soap mold with towels or blankets.
• Leave the soap mold in an oven, with the pilot light on, or at a very low temperature.
• After about 12 hours, take the soap mold out of the oven, uncover and unmold the soap.
• Leave the cold process oven process soap alone for about 2 to 3 weeks to dry/cure.
• Then enjoy!

Melt and pour method (M&P) doesn’t involve making soap from scratch. You don’t need to work with lye. Instead, you start with ready to use soap and make modification to it. The melt and pour method is very similar to the rebatching or hand milled method. The basic steps of the melt and pour method:

• Melt soap base (ready to use soap).
• Add colorant, scent or other additives.
• Pour soap into a mold.
• Leave soap in a mold for a few hours.
• Unmold soap.
• Then enjoy!

Soap Making at Home Safety Precautions

Unless you are doing melt and pour soap, you will be working with lye. Lye is also known as sodium hydroxide (NaOH). It’s a caustic material that can do some serious damages (chemical burn) to us. This fear is probably one of the main reasons why people don’t want to try making soap at home. But if you take the necessary precautions, you can make this easy homemade soap safely at home. 

Before you begin, you should line your work area with old newspapers. In the event of a lye or lye solution spill, you can quickly clean up by getting rid of the newspapers. Consider having a bottle of vinegar near to clean up any possible spill. You should have your protective gear on. You should wear goggles to protect your eyes. Chemical-resistant gloves to protect your hands. Long-sleeve shirt and long pants to protect your arms and legs. Closed-toe shoes to protect your feet.

Before you make soap, you have to make lye solution. Lye solution is made by adding lye to distilled water (or another liquid). Don’t do the reverse. Don’t add the liquid to the lye. Make your lye solution outside in the yard, or in a very well-ventilated place. When lye is first added to distilled water (or another liquid), the mixture gives off toxic fumes. Don’t breathe them in.  Also, lye solution can get very very hot. Be cautious if you move lye solution from the yard to inside your home, or from one place to another inside your home. When making lye solution, and making soap, don’t use any aluminum tools. Lye will react with aluminum. I avoid using any metal tools and containers. Instead, I use silicone tools and glass containers.

Make sure there are no pets or children around when you are working with lye. They might not fully understand the potential danger of lye or lye solution. Also, you should store lye in a place that children and pets can’t get into. The lye container should be clearly labeled, “DANGER,” “POISON,” or “DON’T TOUCH.”

If you are mindful of lye’s potential danger, and take the necessary precautions, you can safely work with lye and make this easy homemade soap at home. The art of soap making has been around since 2800 B.C. That’s right. 2800 B.C.! Many many many people have successfully made soap at home for a long time. You can too.

Easy Homemade Soap Recipe, Hot Process Method

Prep Time: about 2 hours

Curing/Drying Time: 3-4 days. Some people say you don’t need any curing/drying time because this is a hot process soap. I find that waiting a few days does help with hardening the easy homemade soap.

Yields: about 6 bars, weighing around 4 oz each

Tools Needed for this Easy Homemade Soap Recipe

1. a crock pot
2. glass measuring cups
3. a digital scale (this model weighs up to 11 lb)
4. silicone spatulas
5. a stick blender
6. a loaf soap mold, or a 6-cavity individual soap mold
7. a soap cutter, if you are using a loaf soap mold

You can find many, if not all, of these tools in a goodwill store. That’s where I got my crock pot, It has worked great making many many batches of easy homemade soap bars.

Ingredients for this Easy Homemade Soap Recipe

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1. Olive Oil – 10 oz (by weight). I use Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It’s a few dollars at Trader Joe’s. Any brand of pure olive oil, or extra virgin organic olive oil will work.
2. Coconut Oil – 7 oz (by weight). I use Trader Joe’s Organic Virgin Unrefined Coconut Oil. It’s a few dollars at Trader Joe’s. Any brand of pure coconut oil will work. I recommend organic virgin unrefined coconut oil. It’s the best for your skin.
3. Sunflower Oil – 3 oz (by weight). I use 365 Organic Sunflower Oil, which is a few dollars at Whole Foods. Another brand, like La Tourangelle Organic Sunflower Oil, or Life-Flo Organic Sunflower Oil, will work too.
4. Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) – 2.8 oz (by weight). I use Food Grade Lye.
5. Distilled Water – 5 oz (by weight). I get my distilled water from my local supermarket.
6. (optional) Sea Salt – 1 tablespoon (by volume). I use Trader Joe’s Sea Salt Fine Crystals. Another brand, like Celtic Sea Salt, or Bob’s Red Mill Sea Salt, will work too. The sea salt is used to harden the easy homemade soap.
7. (optional) Whole Milk – 1/4 cup (by volume). I use organic whole milk that I get from my local supermarket.
8. (optional) Lavender Essential Oil – 2 tablespoons (by volume). I use Now Foods Lavender Essential Oil.

How to Make Easy Homemade Soap

(1) Make your lye solution.

(Optional) Dissolve 1 tablespoon of sea salt into 5 oz of distilled water. I use sea salt to add hardness to the easy homemade soap.

In a well-ventilated place, slowly add lye to the distilled water. Use a silicone whisk or spatula to gently stir the lye solution. The lye solution will get very very hot. It will also release toxic fumes. Don’t breathe in the fumes. Set the lye solution aside.

If you add sea salt to the distilled water, your lye solution will be cloudy, and will remain cloudy. But if you don’t add sea salt to the distilled water, your lye solution will be cloudy at first, but then turn clear after about 5 minutes.

(2) Melt your olive oil, coconut oil, and sunflower oil in a crock pot. Turn on crock pot to low heat.  (I had initially recommended cooking at high heat, but after a fellow soaper shared that her soap mixture burnt at high heat, I decided that it is safer to recommend low heat to minimize the risk of having a burnt batch. Thank you, Katrina!)

(3) When your oil is fully melted, slowly add your lye solution. The picture below shows that my lye solution is cloudy. This is because I added sea salt to the distilled water when making the lye solution.

(4) Slowly mix oil and lye solution using a plastic or silicone spatula. Then use a stick blender to bring the easy homemade soap mixture to trace (vanilla pudding consistency). It takes me about 10 minutes of using the stick blender to reach trace.

(5) Cover your easy homemade soap mixture with the crock pot lid. Begin cooking the soap at low heat. Check the soap every 10 minutes or so during the first 30 minutes. Your soap might rise and attempt to escape from the crock pot. If and when that happens, use a silicone spatula to stir the mixture. The stirring will bring the soap back down.

(6) After stirring the easy homemade soap, cover it with the crock pot lid. Continue to cook.

(7) After about 1  to 1.5 hours of cooking, the soap should look like Vaseline. Add 1/2 cup (about 3.5 oz) of liquid. I use 1/4 cup of whole milk and 1/4 cup of distilled water.

(8) (Optional) Add essential oil. I use 2 tablespoons of Now Foods Lavender Essential Oil.

(9) Scoop the easy homemade soap mixture into a soap mold. I use a wooden mold that my handy husband built. You can try using a loaf soap mold, or an individual soap mold.

Be sure to give your soap mold a few good drops after scooping the soap in it. These drops help get air bubbles out of your easy homemade soap. If I use a loaf soap mold, I would raise it about 6 inches and drop it on a very hard (not breakable) surface. If I use an individual soap mold, I would first place the individual soap mold on a cutting board. Then I would raise the cutting board about 6 inches and drop it on a very hard (not breakable) surface.

(10) Wait overnight to unmold your easy homemade soap. Cut your soap.

(10) Allow your easy homemade soap to cure/dry for 3 to 4 days before use.

That’s it! This is how you make this easy homemade soap. What do you think? Pretty simple, right? The toughest part about making soap from scratch is getting over the fear of working with lye. If you follow the necessary safety precautions, you shouldn’t have any issues. People have been making soap from scratch for millennia. Seriously, for millennia! To all my 1st time soapers out there, are you ready to get your (soap making) feet wet? I’d love to know about your soap making adventure. Please reach out! Happy soaping!

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