When it comes to creating soap, one of the biggest concerns for newcomers is
the fear of working with active lye. Active lye can be caustic and dangerous when you’re unfamiliar with how to properly handle it. This how to make soap for beginners guide doesn’t use active lye, so you can safely create your own uniquely scented soaps without worrying about handling harsh chemicals.
Soap making is a fun, therapeutic and creative do-it-yourself craft that can be enjoyable
for the entire family. The best part about making your own homemade soap recipe is
the easy customization. Your recipe can be tailored down to your favorite colors, scents, essential oils and design!
Soap Base
This DIY soap making method without lye requires a soap base. All soaps contain lye,
but with the ”Melt & Pour” soap method, you’ll use a large block of premade soap base (no lye handling) that you can melt down and customize with your favorite colors and scents and pour into a mold. Melt & Pour Soap or Goat’s Milk Melt & Pour Soap are easy bases to find and use if using the “Melt & Pour” soap method. Once you’ve decided on your soap base, you can gather all of your supplies to start customizing your homemade soap recipe.
Oils & Butters
One of the most important aspects of your soap recipe will be your oil and butter.
Different kinds of oil and butter add different moisturizing and cleansing properties to your soap. Some of the more popular and common types of oil and butter are coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, avocado oil, eucalyptus oil and argan oil.
Coconut oil: A natural moisturizer with cleansing properties that can remove dirt
and dead skin cells from the body and face. Coconut oil is antioxidant rich and can provide the skin with firming and anti-aging properties.
Cocoa Butter: Offers intense hydration and abundant antioxidants, neutralizing
free radicals to reduce the signs of aging, and it can reduce the appearance of stretch
marks and scars.
Shea Butter: A soft, solid, skin-loving emollient with moisturizing qualities that leaves
the skin soft and luxurious.
Avocado Oil: A super-lightweight vitamin-rich oil (A, B, D, and E) that absorbs easily
into the skin.
Eucalyptus Oil: Has antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antifungal properties that can help
soothe pain, itching of rashes and other skin irritations.
Argan Oil: A golden and lightweight oil that is quick absorbing. Argan oil feels silky to
the touch and is packed with vitamins E and A and moisturizing properties.
There are plenty of other oil and butter options if one of these isn’t for you, so do
your research. Some oils can leave your skin feeling dry or too oily, so pick an oil or
butter that fits your skin's needs.
Fragrances and Essential Oils
Fragrances are the best part of the soap. The aroma will determine if you want to use
the soap. It’s important to choose skin-safe scents, as some “fragrance” additives may
not be skin safe or previously tested in soap. Check manufacturer labels and
ingredients before use. The biggest concern with fragrance is determining how much
fragrance or essential oil you’ll need in your recipe for scent retention. You can use
pour recipes. Here are a few scents to get you started and inspired:
Floral Fantasy: A mixture of sweet pea, freesia and a hint of pear. This scent pairs
nicely with lavender and vanilla, and together they create a floral combination that
is calming and soothing.
Lavender Vanilla and Eucalyptus: A true therapeutic combination of scents. Lavender
has powerful antioxidant, antimicrobial, sedative, calming and anti-depressive
properties. Vanilla is a natural sedative that works to soothe inflammation and
hyperactivity to help you truly relax. These two essential oils combined with
Eucalyptus, a soothing scent, make this fragrance combination the perfect addition
to your nighttime shower to wind down and get ready for bed.
Petal Mania/ Sun-Ripened Fruit Bath Fizzie Fragrance: A fresh floral and sweet fruity
blend that creates a harmonizing pleasant note. Easily combinable with vanilla to warm
and enrich this fruity and floral fragrance. BONUS: Produces bath fizzies, a fun and
light effervescent characteristic to add to your soap.
Soap Color, Molds and Add-ins
After you decide on your scent, the fun continues! Adding color to your soap can bring
your soap recipe to the next level. Adding color depends on your method - pigments,
powders, natural colorants.
Here’s how you can add pigments to your soap:
- Mix 1 teaspoon of pigment/color with 1 tablespoon of glycerin or 99% isopropyl alcohol.
- Add ¼ teaspoon of dispersed color to the melted soap until you get a color you like.
- Add shavings of color blocks to the melted soap until you get a color you like. Color blocks are essentially super concentrated melt and pour, so they incorporate more easily into soap than loose pigments.
- Mix 1 teaspoon of powder with 1 tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol or distilled water.
- Add ¼ teaspoon of dispersed color to the melted soap until you get a color you like.
Whatever colors you choose, feel free to experiment with how you pour them before
they set. You can easily swirl colors to create a fun and visual masterpiece with
your soap recipe, for example.
Lastly, picking a mold will complete your recipe. When adding your soap to your
mold, you can add in anything else that’s essential to your recipe, such as
cut oats and more!
Here are a few of our favorite soap molds to help you get started:
- Rectangle & Circle Soap Mold
- Heart/ Romance Soap Mold
- Sea Creatures Soap Mold
- Soap Mold with Flower Designs
- Cool Kids Soap Molds
- Flower/Leaves Soap Mold
Making homemade soap is a lot easier than you think! It’s a great way to make
personalized gifts and spend hands-on time with your friends and family. The most
important thing about making soap is to have fun and enjoy experimenting with
how scents smell when combined to create the perfect soap for you. Here are a few
soap making recipes for free that are easy to follow, have minimal supplies and can
be easily customized to fit your skin’s needs:
