I had been wanting to make a palm-free homemade oatmeal honey soap for some time. With soothing ingredients like oatmeal and honey, homemade oatmeal honey soap is one of the gentlest soap out there.
Oatmeal is well-known for its anti-inflammatory properties, and has been used for centuries to bring relief to itchy and dry skin. Scientists have found that colloidal oatmeal (finely ground oatmeal) is a safe, effective and natural way to treat “dermatitis, psoriasis, drug-induced rash and other [skin] conditions.” Because of its healing properties, oatmeal is an ingredient in many anti-itching and baby products, including popular items from Aveeno, St. Ives, and Johnson’s Baby.
Honey is also well-known for its skin nourishing properties. Women’s Health Magazine says that honey moisturizes, cleanses, exfoliates, conditions, and heals most skin types. With all these amazing benefits that oatmeal and honey offer, I was super excited when I had a free weekend afternoon to whip up a batch of homemade oatmeal honey soap that’s gentle, yet soothing, for my little one, who has delicate and sensitive skin. Here is my recipe. I used only one oil, olive oil, another skin care superstar.
Hot Process (Crock Pot) Homemade Oatmeal Honey Soap, Palm-Free
Prep Time: 1 and 1/2 hours
Yields: about 35 oz of homemade oatmeal honey soap (7 to 8 soap bars)
Dry (Cure) Time: 2 to 3 days
Ingredients for Homemade Oatmeal Honey Soap
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- Olive Oil – 30 oz. I use Trader Joe’s Imported Olive Oil. You can use any brand of olive oil
. For this homemade oatmeal honey soap, I used 25 oz of olive oil, and 5 oz of calendula infused olive oil, because I wanted to include calendula’s healing and calming properties in the soap. (Here’s more on how to make infused oil.)
- Oatmeal – 1 and 1/2 tablespoons. Instant Oatmeal doesn’t work well. McCanns Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal or Bob’s Red Mill Oats works well. I have also used Trader Joe’s Steel Cut Organic Oats.
- Honey – 1 teaspoon. This is pretty easy to find. I’m sure any supermarket will have honey. Raw organic honey is the best type of honey for your skin.
- Coconut Milk – 1/2 cup. I use Whole Foods 365 Organic Coconut Milk. You can also try Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk.
- (Optional) Sea Salt – 1 teaspoon. You can use Real Salt Sea Salt, or Bob’s Red Mill Sea Salt. Sea Salt helps to make the homemade oatmeal honey soap harder and last longer.
- (Optional) Beeswax – 1.5 oz. Amazon offers Beeswax Pellets, and Organic Mini Beeswax Blocks. I’ve also seen my neighborhood Whole Foods selling small quantities of beeswax. Beeswax helps to make the homemade oatmeal honey soap harder and last longer.
- (Optional) Citric Acid – 1 teaspoon. I’ve used Alpha Chemicals Citric Acid, Organic Approved Citric Acid, and Ball Jar Citric Acid. I’ve seen Ball Jar Citric Acid in supermarkets in the canning section. Citric Acid lows the homemade oatmeal honey soap’s PH level, making it more gentle.
- Lye – 3.8 oz. I use Food Grade Lye. You can also use 100% Lye Drain Opener that’s available at Lowe’s. Make sure it’s 100% Lye.
- Water – 5.8 oz. It’s best to use distilled water, which you can get at your neighborhood supermarket.
. For this homemade oatmeal honey soap, I used 25 oz of olive oil, and 5 oz of Step-by-Step Instruction on How to Make Homemade Oatmeal Honey Soap
Before you begin making soap, make sure you take the necessary precautions, including wearing your protective gear, and make sure no children or pets are around. Lye, which is needed to make soap, is caustic and can cause serious and nasty damages to humans and animals. You can learn more about soap making safety here.
1. Make lye solution.
(Optional) Add sea salt to water. Mix sea salt until it completely dissolves in water. Adding sea salt helps to make your homemade oatmeal honey soap harder and last longer.
In a well-ventilated area, add lye to water. Use a silicone or plastic spatula, mix until lye is completely dissolved. Don’t breathe in the flumes the mixture releases. They’re toxic. The lye solution is ready for use when the lye is completely dissolved.
2. Warm olive oil in a crock pot at low heat. Add lye solution to oil.
3. Mix lye solution and oil using a silicone or plastic spatula. Then use a stick blender to bring the mixture to trace (pudding consistency).
4. Cover the crock pot and cook soap for about 45 minutes, until the mixture has the consistency of Vaseline. It’s a good idea to check the soap every 10-15 minutes to make sure it hasn’t escaped from the crock pot.
5. (Optional) Add beeswax. Cover the crock pot again, and cook until beeswax is completed melted.
6. Crush the oatmeal using a spice grinder (you can chop it up with a knife as well). Add honey to the crushed oatmeal. Add milk, oatmeal and honey to your homemade oatmeal honey soap.
7. (Optional) Add citric acid.
8. Mix everything well, and scoop the homemade oatmeal honey soap into a soap mold. Make sure the soap is tightly packed into the mold. Once I have the soap in the mold, I usually give the mold some very good banging on a solid and sturdy surface. The banging will help release air bubbles in the soap, allowing the soap to be packed tightly in the mold.
9. Wait about a day. Unmold and cut your soap. You can use a knife or a soap cutter to cut your homemade oatmeal honey soap.
10. Allow your homemade oatmeal honey soap to dry (cure) for 2 to 3 days and it’s ready for use.
That’s it! That’s how you make a palm-free hot process (crock pot) homemade oatmeal honey soap, with all natural ingredients. This soap is great for all skin types, including those with sensitive skin (like my little bug). Because of oatmeal and honey have gentle and nourishing properties, this homemade oatmeal honey soap will clean, moisturize, and soothe your skin. I hope you will give this palm-free homemade oatmeal honey soap recipe a try. If you like this recipe, be sure to share it or pin it. Happy soaping!
Can this be made without the coconut milk? My mother has a severe allergic reaction to coconut and palm. No tree nut milk either.
I’m concerned about adding the milk after the cook. Wont that affect the soap as far as bacteria & spoiling goes? I know it will make the soap more fluid & easier to mold but concerned that the milk isn’t cooked into the soap.
Hi! I’m very excited to be trying this recipe. My question, I’m a beekeeper and want a heavy honey smell. Can I add more than 1 tsp?
The honey will not impart a scent to the finished soap. Many soap suppliers like Nature’s Garden sell fragrance oils with oatmeal, milk, and honey scents.
Thanks for sharing! Can I use different essential oils to make another kind with this recipe?
This looks so good! What a fun gift to make for friends or to enjoy yourself!
I must have done something wrong because the soap is brown. On the upside it smells like cake!
What size crockpot should be used for this process? Thank you!
I really wanna make this soap. At what temperature does it need to cool off to add milk honey and oatmeal?
Thank you for reaching out, Hana. You don’t need to wait for the soup mixture to cool down before adding milk, honey, and oatmeal. I stir in these ingredients at the end of the cooking process, right before pouring the soap into its mold. Hope you’ll give this recipe a try. Please let me know if you have other questions. Happy soaping!
you want the milk and honey etc to be warmed up to match the heat of the soap or it will make it go solid. Dont cool the soap to add anything, heat the additives.
Hi! How long does it usually take for you to get to trace with this soap recipe?
you dont need to mix to trace for HP soaping – mix to emulsion and then the heat of the cooking will thicken the soap.
Love it!
Hello, thank you for posting this recipe. I will be trying it this weekend. I may have missed it but what size crockpot are you using?
How would I make this using the cold process. Could I use all regular olive oil?
You can certainly make a cold process oatmeal honey soap. Here is a cold process soap recipe that you can tailor to your preferences. Once you know how much olive oil you want to use, you can use a lye calculator to figure out how much lye to add to your recipe. Olive oil is great for your skin, but it does require a longer curing/drying period and it doesn’t lather much. But I like olive oil soap a lot, and you likely will as well. Please let me know if you have more questions. Happy soaping!
Cold process and hot process soap require the same cure time. I noticed you said 2 weeks for HP, but it really should be 6 weeks.
Hot process soap can be safely used as soon as it is out of the mold. There is ZERO sodium hydroxide (lye) left in the soap. In chemistry, heat is added to a chemical rxn to speed up the completion of the rxn, that is why it is cooked for about 45 min. This recipe has more oil in it than the lye can process leaving a superfat and zero lye. It is all about the chemistry
Yes its SAFE to use but its not at its best when first made. Even the mildest soap is harsh and drying on the skin when first made, the cure time is not just for drying out the soap – and HP soap still loses weight and water evaporates when you cure it, no matter how long you cooked it for. Also the crystalline structure of the soap changes over time to align and make a milder soap – fresh soap is quite drying if you dont let it cure for 4 weeks at least. CP and HP soap need to cure. (Im a soapmaker of 12 years)
Hi, thank you for this lovely recipe, I’m really interested in trying it out… I am wondering though, will this soap be bubbly? does it lather?
Thanks
Great question. Olive oil soap bars, which this recipe makes, do lather and usually make a thin layer of small bubbles. If you want an all natural soap bar that makes big, fluffy bubbles, you will need to add coconut oil. Here’s a recipe that includes coconut oil. Please keep me posted on which recipe you like!
I just got done making the recipe and putting it in the mold. I followed you instructions (used all olive oil 30 oz) and did use the optional beeswax and citric acid. After 45 minutes I checked the soap and it had risen, I placed the beeswax on top and gave it a little stir. I left it to melt for a while then added the oatmeal and honey and coconut milk as directed. Then the citric acid.
The soap was very thick and sticking to everything. I spooned it into a silicone mold and pressed it down with my hand. There was no need to bang it to get the bubbles out, because they wouldn’t have been able to escape!
I hope it turns out ok. It looks a little primative in the mold right now. We will see tomorrow!
Hi Betty, thank you for reaching out and for trying my recipe. One common issue with making hot process soap is getting the soap into the mold after cooking. If the mixture is too thick (which sounds like is the case with your batch), it could be difficult to get the soap into a mold. One solution is to add liquid to your cooked soap right before pouring it into the mold. I explain how to do this in tip #4 on this hot process soap post. Please let me know how it goes, and if you have any questions. Happy soaping!
I’m so excited I found this recipe! I do have a question, could I replace olive oil with coconut oil? I’m very new to making soaps so I’m still learning!! Thanks!!
I’m so happy that you’ll be making your own soap! Once you’ve made a few successful batches, you’ll never buy soap again. 🙂
Yes, you can substitute coconut oil with olive oil. Coconut oil makes a very drying soap. Because of this you need to have a ton of superfat. I usually use 15% to 20% superfat when making coconut soap. Also, you will need a different amount of lye if you substitute ingredients. You can figure out how much lye to use by using this lye calculator. Keep me posted please, and please let me know if you have any more questions.
How much was start up cost? And how much does each bar come out to?
Great questions. If you want to make soap at home, you’ll need some basic things. If you make soap using the hot process method, like I do in this recipe, you’ll need a crock pot. You’ll also need some stirring tools, like a whisk and a spatula, measuring cups and soap molds. You might be able to find many, if not all, of these items in a goodwill store for not very much.
Once you have your basic soap making items, like the ones I mention above, you’ll need oil, lye, and optional additives (like oatmeal, honey and sea salt for this recipe). It’s hard to say how much each bar will costs, because it depends on the quality and the fluctuating costs of the ingredients used in your bars. But it’ll certainly cost you less to make all natural soap bars, than to buy them in a market. Also, soap making is a lot more fun than soap buying. 🙂 Please let me know if you have other questions.
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In the recipe you state you also used 5 ounces of calendula infused oil. So is this in addition to the 30 ounces or did you use 25 non-infused and 5 infused?
Great question! I used 25 oz of olive oil, and 5 oz of calendula infused olive oil. Thanks for reaching out. I hope you’ll give this recipe a try. I’d love to know how your homemade oatmeal honey soap turns out!
Thanks for the reply. I am planning on making it this coming week. I’ll let you know the results!
Great! Can’t wait!
I made this soap today and it turned out great! I can’t wait to use it after it is finished fully curing. Thanks for the great recipe!
Fantastic! I’m so happy you like this homemade soap recipe. 🙂
I made this recipe for the second time last week-end. It turned out just as beautifully as it did the first time. If there is anyone who is hesitant to try Hot Process for the first time, go with this recipe. It’s fun and easy to make and turns out great!
I’m so glad you tried this recipe and liked it! You made my day. Once you’ve made your own all natural homemade soap, there’s no going back to the store bought stuff. 🙂
I was wondering if I could use goats milk to add instead of water?
You list organic ingredients in this recipe, but you also list honey from your local store as an ingredient. Most of the honey sold at your local store isn’t real honey. Only raw unpasteurized honey will give you any benefits that are available in honey.
Very good point! The best type of honey for our skin is organic raw honey, which is the same as organic unpasteurized honey. It’s best to use organic raw honey when making all natural homemade soap.
Merci beaucoup
Je vous en prie. 🙂
What is the yield of this recipe?
This recipe yields about 35 oz of homemade oatmeal honey soap. Homemade soap bars are usually 4 to 5 oz per bar. So this recipe should make you about 7 to 8 soap bars. I’d love to know how your homemade oatmeal honey soap bars turn out!
can u make it without the lye?
Thank you for reaching out! If you want to make soap from scratch, you will need to work with lye. But if you absolutely don’t want to work with lye, you can make soap using the rebatch or hand milled method. You start with a few bars of all natural soap, such as Kirk’s Natural Castile Soap. You grate the soap, put it in a crockpot, add water, oatmeal and honey, and cook until everything is fully incorporated (about 45 minutes). You then pour the melted soap into a mold. Wait a day to release your soap. This is an easy recipe for Homemade Oatmeal Honey Soap without using lye. Check out my rebatch/hand milled soap recipe. It should give you more tips on how to make soap without lye. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!