Easy Olive Oil and Coconut Soap Recipe

Making homemade soap gives you freedom in choosing your oils, fats, colorants and fragrances.

Cold process soap offers exceptional softness and the results are incomparable with other types of soap.
You are sure to make soap that meets your expectations.

First practical soap recipe to make at home.

Easy recipe for beginners that you can then adapt according to your desires.

The process for making your own homemade soap is a simple method that allows you to make a magnificent natural, gentle and moisturizing soap.

I refer you to our blog article: How to make homemade soap in 6 easy steps

Note: the saponification process is effective for 24 hours in total. During this period, the soap is corrosive . Cold saponification requires the use of caustic soda. A dangerous ingredient to be used with great caution. It is therefore forbidden to touch and use it during this operation. It is recommended to rinse your hands thoroughly, if your skin comes into contact with the soap, during this day.

The alternative to making natural soap more easily: use a paste that is already saponified such as vegetable glycerin or Melt & Pour soap preparation.

To make your handmade soap even more unique, don't neglect its packaging which will bring the final touch. The winning combination: a natural string, a paper label and a foliage or dried flower. 100% Natural.

For utensils, do not use aluminum , because caustic soda attacks it!

To make your homemade soap you will need:

• A precise scale for weighing soda to the nearest 0.01 gram.
• A large stainless steel or heat-resistant glass bowl for diluting the soda in the water.
• A wooden, stainless steel or silicone spatula for mixing the soda and water.
• A saucepan for melting solid butters and oils in a bain-marie.
• A large glass container for preparing soap paste.
• A thermometer.
• An immersion blender for mixing the soap paste.
• Silicone soap molds .
• pH paper (to test the soap once the cure is complete).

Before you begin preparation, prepare all your equipment, protect your work surface with newspaper and read the recipes before you begin.

Be careful not to change the oils.
Each oil has a different fatty acid profile and it is the fatty acids which will give the saponification index which will determine the quantity of soda required.
If you want to change the oils, you need to do the calculations again to know the correct amount of lye to use.

For this calculation, you need to multiply the caustic soda (NaOH) saponification index by the grammage.
If I put 200 grams of olive oil with a caustic soda saponification index of 135 milligrams (0.135 grams), I get 0.135×200 = 27.
So I will need 27 grams of soda for 200 grams of olive oil.
A website (in English) SoapCalc , allows you to test your homemade soap recipes before starting to be sure that the recipe works.

The simple basic recipe
Here is the first simple recipe with very few ingredients.

The ingredients:
– 28 g castor oil
– 170 g of coconut oil
– 737 g of olive oil
– 283 g of water
– 124 g of caustic soda

Preparation:
– Weigh and melt the solid oil(s) (here coconut oil) in a bain-marie.
Once the solid oil is melted, add the olive and castor oil to the container. The mixture should be between 37 and 46 °C.

– Weigh the water and pour it into a salad bowl.
– Then pour the soda slowly.

(Tip: You can pour the soda along the side of the bowl to avoid splashing.)

Mix well with a spatula. When the soda is dissolved and the water is translucent again, wait for the mixture to cool to between 37 and 46 °C.
Leave the mixture outside to avoid fumes. Be careful, the temperature difference between the oils and the caustic soda and water mixture must not exceed 10 ºC.

– Slowly pour the soda mixed with water into the oils, mixing vigorously with a spatula. Then mix with a mixer. Mix until a “trace” appears.
(The trace is a very important moment, because it indicates that the soap is starting to solidify.) When you pour a little batter, it leaves a trace in the bowl: the preparation is no longer as liquid as before and seems to thicken.
You should not stop mixing until this "trace" is visible. This takes a few minutes, sometimes less.

– Then pour the homogeneous mixture into the chosen molds and leave to rest for 24 to 48 hours.

– After the resting time, unmold your soaps with gloves. Let them dry for at least 4 weeks.

After these 4 weeks of waiting , check the PH by moistening the soap a little and placing the PH paper on it. The PH should be between 8.5 and 10. If this is not yet the case, wait 1 or 2 more weeks for the PH to drop.

WELL DONE...you can enjoy your homemade masterpiece!