I got to hear Sandy Maine of SunFeather Natural Soap Company a couple of summers ago, and did a review of her book The Soap Book, and was very interested to find that the "basic" recipe that she used for all the varieties of soap in her book is just three oils.
So I tried it...
It's good soap...!
It doesn't have quite the heavy, creamy lather that castor oil gives...it's a lighter lather...but quite plentiful. It's a great recipe to get started because these oils should be readily available and make a good option for a grocery store soap.
- 48% Crisco
- 25% olive oil
- 25% coconut oil
So I tried it...
It's good soap...!
It doesn't have quite the heavy, creamy lather that castor oil gives...it's a lighter lather...but quite plentiful. It's a great recipe to get started because these oils should be readily available and make a good option for a grocery store soap.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 9.4 oz. Crisco (or vegetable shortening)
- 6 oz. olive oil
- 6 oz. coconut oil
- 8 oz. water
- 3 oz. lye
- .9 oz. of fragrance oil or essential oil blend
Preparation:
While Sandy makes huge batches of soap, this recipe will just make a 2-lb. batch.
- assemble all of your equipment and ingredients.
- mix your lye solution and set it aside to cool.
- Measure and heat your solid oils until completely melted.
- Measure and add the liquid oils to the melted solid oils.
- When both the lye and the oils are at about 100-110 degrees, slowly pour the lye solution into the oils. Stir with a stick blender, alternating short blasts with the blender and stirring.
- Mix the soap until it reaches a light trace.
- Add the fragrance oil.
- Mix them into the soap thoroughly.
- Pour the raw soap into your mold and let it sit for 24-36 hours until it has cooled off completely and is hard enough to cut. Because this recipe doesn't have any palm oil or stearic acid plentiful oils like tallow or lard, it may take an extra 12 hours or so to harden up. Just be patient...it will get hard enough to cut.
- Remove it from the mold and slice into bars. Let it cure an additional 2-4 weeks.
For more detailed directions on making soap check out step-by-step cold process soap making or DIY soap - making soap from scratch.
