I have been making soaps for over 10 years now. I absolutely enjoy making soaps and is one of my favorite craft items to make. Soap making helps me relax and its a fantastic way to express my creativity. For those of us who enjoy the science of it, its also a great way to see the beauty of chemistry. Although I have been making cold process soap for less than that, this post is dedicated to Cold Process soap making. Either Melt and Pour, Cold Process or Hot Process soap making, whichever you choose is a fantastic hobby that results in a practical and beautiful product. You can also turn it into a handmade business if you like. My cold process soap shop is jasandjulsoaps.com, head over and take a look. I keep some standard options but often bring new designs and fragrances.
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Cold process soap making as creative and joyful escape
Cold Process soap making is fascinating; I enjoy very much formulating and coming up with new recipes to try. I consider the formulating part of the cold process method part of planning and I love having a plan. Also, I like to see how I can improve a recipe by tweaking some of the ingredients or enhance it with additives. One very enjoyable part of soap making is the actual planning process itself. Using my creativity to pair colors with fragrances and coming up with ideas for swirls and textures is fascinating. It is a very creative process and I think it is also an artistic process. After you are done with this post, head over to the Natural Aloe Vera soap tutorial for more details on how to make cold process soap using aloe vera and another good recipe to try. Also, to learn how to make a soap mold using a cardboard box head over to my Kiss Pour and Handmade Soap Mold post. Another way to enhance the look of the soaps is to add embeds using soap dough. Check out my post on using plunger cutters and the moon press to create soap embeds and soap dough. And for the coffee lover the Coffee Soap and Scrub has a cold process soap and a melt and pour soap DIY that are perfect to DIY.
I have made several posts about making melt and pour soap you can find here, here and here. Today I wanted to share some of my cold process soaps and share a recipe with you.
Free Cold Process soap recipe
Below is a recipe that you can try and see if you like it. It is a balanced recipe and has beautiful, skin loving ingredients.
Avocado oil – 4.8 oz
Coconut oil – 6.4 oz
Castor oil – 1.6 oz
Grapeseed oil – 4.8 oz
Olive oil – 7.4 oz
Shea butter – 3.9 oz
Mango seed butter – 3.2 oz
Water – 12.2 oz
Sodium Hydroxide – 4.25 oz
This recipe is designed for 7% superfat (lye discount) and 38% water as percent of oil weight. Be sure to run it through your favorite soap calculator. I prefer using soapcalc.net but any other soap calculator will work.
All the oils in the recipe are carefully selected because of the great properties for the skin and because they produce a great, silky soap.
Very Basic Cold Process Soap Recipe
I have been getting lots of requests for a simple and basic cold process soap recipe. I added the percentages below for a very simple soap recipe that you can start your soap making journey with. In order to calculate the actual values just enter the percentages in your favorite lye calculator (as I said earlier, my favorite is soapcalc.net) but you should use the calculator you are more comfortable with.
Recipe percentages:
65% Olive Oil
30% Coconut Oil
5% Castor Oil
For this recipe I recommend setting the superfat at 8 to 10% because of the high amount of coconut oil.
Cold Process soap making safety precautions
In cold process soap making it is very important that you use the proper personal protective equipment. At a minimum make sure to wear safety glasses (eye protection) and gloves. If you are a new soap maker, I also recommend to use long sleeves shirt and long pants along with shoes covering your toes. I would rather just have to focus on enjoying my time making soap instead of having to worry about getting any soap on me and having to stop my process to quickly wash up.
The soap making process
When making cold process soap there are certainly a few rules. First, make sure that you weigh out all the ingredients first and start with making the lye solution. Some soap makers use a batching process that allows them to have all the ingredients ready by the time they are ready to soap. I usually make the lye solution the day of or the day before I plan to make a soap. With the lye solution, make sure you always pour the lye beads or flakes to the water and never the other way around. This will prevent a volcano effect and a potential messy situation.
I prefer to soap between 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a good temperature for my soap formulations but you may find that other temperatures work well for you. If starting out I recommend to make soap at those temperatures and then explore from there. I have found that this allows me to do so many different swirl designs and have enough time to work. This works well with well behaving fragrances. Some fragrances will accelerate, in those cases usually an in the pot swirl design is probably the best option. And for super accelerating scents, just get the soap into the mold. This will be a simple design but if the scent is wonderful it is worth the effort.
Ready to start making your own cold process soaps? Then this eBook with 25 different cold process soap formulations is the perfect resource. With so many formulations, you will have lots of inspiration to experiment and find the perfect one.
This eBook also includes best practices to modify the formulations to your liking.
Soap making suppliers
Some of my favorite vendors for soap making ingredients and materials are Brambleberry and Wholesale Supply Plus. These vendors have great ingredients and lots of great fragrances to try, several types of kits and starter kits and lots of recipes as well. Additives such as Kaolin clay and colloidal oatmeal are also great for cold process soap making and great for the skin and I use those two additives in all my cold process soaps.
I love using aloe vera from my garden to replace the water in my soap formulations. Head over to the All Natural Aloe Vera Soap post to get a step by step tutorial with another great recipe.
Another fun cold process soap tutorial is my Halloween Cold Process soap, that post also includes a recipe that you can try.
Be sure to use the proper safety precautions and enjoy your soap!
All the cold process soapmaking most common questions finally answered in one single place is another blog post where I anwere questions about how to add salt, sugar, honey and whether soap has to gel or not. Several of the questions I’ve been asked over the years answered in a single blog post. Head over once you finish with this one.
You can purchase my artisan cold process soaps at jasandjulsoaps.com.
More Cold Process Soap Making Ideas and Recipes:
Coconut Milk and Water Cold Process Soap
Summer Vibes Cold Process Soap with Double In The Pot Swirl
Mahogany and Amber Cold Process Soap fun layers and swirl design
Lemonade Stand with ground walnut shells for exfoliation
I’m sure those smell wonderful and they just look so pretty. Love them.
Thanks for sharing at Waste Not Wednesday.
Hi Jasmine! Thanks for sharing your space, I appreciate it very much.
I was looking to find a simple cold press soap using coconut oil and olive oil recipe…
Hi Debbie, thanks for stopping by. This recipe is really good with lots of butters but for a simple recipe with coconut and olive oil I recommend using 65% olive oil, 30% coconut oil and 5% castor oil and up your superfat to 8-10%.
Hi,
Thank you so much for the recipe!
we’ve been using it since last month now and it’s really awesome. Also, I was wondering if I want to add some more carrier oils and kindly, then what would be them. Also, recommend some more fragrance oils
Thank you so much for your comment and I am glad you like the recipe. Some of my other favorite carrier oils that I use in my soaps are avocado oil, sweet almond oil and grapeseed oil. Some of my favorite fragrance oils are Oatmeal, Milk and Honey, Sea Salt and Yuzu, Pink Berry Mimosa, Wild Berry Tulips, Karma, various coffee scents including the new Coffee Shop from Brambleberry. All these scents are fairly common and can be found at any soap supplies vendor. I hope this helps and happy soaping!
Excellent post and wonderful blog, this sort of interesting posts I really like, keep it up…
What an inspiring post about the joy of cold process soap making! The author beautifully captures the creative and therapeutic aspects of this craft. With over a decade of experience, their enthusiasm for formulating new recipes and experimenting with ingredients really shines through.
The included recipes for both a balanced cold process soap and a very basic soap recipe are fantastic resources for beginners and seasoned soap makers alike. I appreciate the emphasis on using skin-loving ingredients, as well as the thorough explanation of safety precautions, which is crucial for anyone starting in soap making.
It’s great to see the variety of tips and resources shared, like using aloe vera from the garden and incorporating additives for enhanced skin benefits. The mention of temperature control and how it affects the soap-making process is particularly valuable for achieving those beautiful swirls and designs.
Overall, this post is a treasure trove for anyone looking to dive into cold process soap making or expand their skills. For those interested in more natural beauty products, definitely check out RshiNaturals for some wonderful options!