Lye Soap Recipe

Homemade lye soap recipes may seem to be quite time consuming but
with some patience you can master the art and make these lovely soaps
for treating skin conditions.
Homemade soaps are not just easy to make but are excellent for your skin as well. Lye soaps
actually are any average cold processed soap which essentially contains ingredients like lye,
water, and oils. The fragrance, soaps and other anti bacterial ingredients are added for
commercial reasons. In fact, before the appearance of all those fancy soaps in the market, our
grandma would use lye and other natural soaps for bathing, to clean the laundry, scrub the floor
and remove the stains. This soap was made of hog fat and lye which is much too harsh for using
on the skin today. However, lye soaps made of lard and lye have wonderful cleansing properties
and is quite effective in curing dandruff, psoriasis, itchy skin, acne, eczema, bed bugs, poison
oak and mosquito bites.

Here are some easy lye soap recipes for making homemade soaps.

Basic Lye Soap Recipe

Lye Soap Ingredients

 2 cans of lye crystals

 3½ pints of cold water
 6½ lbs. cooking fat or lard
 Lavender oils
 Purple food color or pigment

For making the lye soap, you will need:

 Glass bowls
 Wooden spoons
 Soap molds
 Wax paper
 Safety glasses
 Rubber gloves
 Glass cooking thermometers

How to Make

Put on the safety goggles, gloves, apron and face mask. Lye is a caustic chemical that can cause
severe damage when it comes in contact with the skin. Add the lye crystals to the water which is
placed in a glass bowl. Make sure the water does not splash around. Now using a wooden spoon
stir in the crystals till they dissolve completely in water. Keep this mixture aside.

Once your lye mixture is ready, you now have to melt the lard. Take a pot and add the lard to it.
Heat it till the fat has melted into liquid. Leave it aside to cool. Make sure that the room you are
working in is well ventilated and you have the safety gear in place. Once both the mixtures have
cooled down, carefully pour in the lye mixture into the lard. Do not splash or spill. Add two to
three drops of lavender essential oils for the fragrance and a bit of the coloring for the
pigmentation. Stir in the mixture with the wooden spoon until you observe a visible line being
left behind by the spoon. This is an indication that your homemade lye soap mixture is now
ready.

Now prepare the soap molds by thoroughly greasing it and placing a wax paper atop it. Pour in
the mixture into the molds and place a piece of wax paper on top of the mixture. Cover it with a
towel and leave it to cool overnight. Once the mixture is cooled, remove the wax from the mold
and cut it into the shapes that you like . Store the lye soap bars in a cool dry place for them to
harden and become mild enough for daily use. More on how to make homemade soaps.

Homemade Lye Soap Recipe

Lye Soap Ingredients

 18 ounces of lard
 10 ounces of coconut oil
 8 ounces of olive oi
 3 ounces of canola oil
 14 ounces of water
 8 ounces of lye

How to Make

Once you know how to make a basic version of the lye soap, you can now add some nourishing,
moisturizing ingredients to it. For making this essential oils lye soap, add the lye crystals to
water and stir in. Set aside and heat the vessel for melting the lard. You can heat the vessel on a
stove or in a microwave. When the fat has melted, allow it to cool to room temperature. Gently
add the lye and water mixture to the liquid lard. Add the coconut oil, olive oil and canola oil to
make the soap a healthy one for the skin. Stir it with a wooden spoon until it traces. Pour the
mixture into glass molds and allow it to set. Once it is cooled, remove from the molds and cut
out the bars of soaps. Store it till the soap is hard and cured enough for use. For more ideas about
soap additives made at home, refer to ideas for homemade soap additives.

Read more on:

 Homemade Lye Soap Recipe: How to Make Lye Soap

 Homemade Soap Recipes: How to Make Homemade Soap

Homemade lye soaps can be quite time consuming to make and require a great deal of patience.
However, with time you can master this soap making technique and make up great soaps for
sensitive skin and these can serve as a great gift for friends as well.

By Parul Solanki
Published: 1/11/2010
 Glycerin Soap Recipes
You can buy glycerin soap base in any craft store and at the links listed on this site. The glycerin
comes in clear and opaque. It makes soap making less intimidating-especially for your first
attempts. So, in response to your requests, here are some recipes that don't require all that fuss
with lye and oils/fats. Have fun!

Jewelweed Soap

Ingredients
2 cups glycerin soap

1/2 cup jewelweed maceration (gather blooming jewelweed and boil in 1/2 cup water)

7 drops sweet orange oil

2 drops of orange coloring

Instructions

Melt glycerin in double boiler or slowly in microwave. Add jewelweed maceration, stir until
slightly cooled. Add fragrance and color. Pour into molds. Cool.

You can find jewelweed growing next to poison ivy...it has a little orange jewel like flower. It is
used to heal the rash caused by poison ivy.

Lavender Beeswax Soap

Ingredients
4 ounces (114 grams) glycerin soap base

10 drops lavender essential oil

1 drop violet coloring

1 teaspoon beeswax

Instructions

Melt glycerin over low heat in a double boiler or microwave. Add beeswax and remove from
heat. Stir until wax is melted. Add essential oil and color. Stir and pour into mold.

The trick to great glycerin, melt and pour soaps is to keep the heat as low as possible. Too much
heat will cause a mushy or beaded appearance after a very short storage time. Keep glycerin
soaps sealed in plastic to keep the glycerin from attracting moisture from the air.

 
Natural Green Chamomile Soap

Ingredients
2 cups glycerin soap base

1 tablespoon powdered chamomile

1 tablespoon glycerin or aloe vera

1 capsule chlorophyll concentrate

Instructions

Melt glycerin base in double boiler on low heat. Blend powdered chamomile with glycerin or
aloe. Stir this mixture into melted glycerin then stir in contents of chlorophyll capsule. Pour into
small tupperware style containers and leave uncovered until cool.

The chlorophyll capsule gives the soap a natural color. Putting soap into this style of container
allows for travel use. Wet face and face brush. Run face brush over front of soap and then face.
Rinse warm. Allow glycerin soap to dry before putting cover back on.

Glycerin with Shea Butter

Ingredients
2 cups glycerin soap base

2 tablespoons melted shea butter

5 drops orange essential oil

Instructions

Mix ingredients thoroughly, pour into molds.

This soap is a good moisturizer. Shea butter has some sun protection qualities, but be sure to
still put on the sunscreen!

Marmalade Soap

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups (400g)grated glycerin soap

orange coloring (can use mace powder (2tsp/10ml) mixed with (4 T/60ml) of veg. oil)

1 teaspoon/5 ml sweet orange essential oil

Pinch each of dried marigold or chamomile flowers and pinch of dried orange zest

Instructions

Melt glycerin soap over low heat in double boiler. Add color as melting nears completion and
turn off heat. Stir in essential oil. Pour into molds. Mix in flowers and zest with a toothpick as
soap cools in the mold.
This soap has a nice fragrance and interesting look. As with all glycerin soaps, wrap tightly as
the glycerin will attract moisture from the air.
 

Calamine Soap

Ingredients
1 tablespoon calamine powder (or two tablespoons calamine lotion)

1 tablespoon bentonite or cosmetic-grade clay

2 tablespoons liquid glycerin

1 cup glycerin soap base

Instructions

MIx the calamine, clay, and liquid glycerin until smooth, adding a small amount of water, if
needed. Whisk the mixture into the soap base, pour into molds, and cool.

Calamine soap is mild and good for skin irritations, such as poison ivy.

Lavender and Rosemary Soap

Ingredients
3 cups glycerin soap base

1/4 cup infusion of lavender flowers and rosemary leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons of lavender oil

1 1/2 teaspoons of rosemary oil

1 teaspoon pulverized dried rosemary

Instructions

Melt soap base and add other ingredients. Stir until blended, then pour into molds.

Infusion basically means to make tea. Pour hot water over fresh or dried plant parts. Three
tablespoons of herb per cup of water for ten minutes should do fine. Use distilled water, if
possible. Non-chlorinated water is best.

Honey Bee Soap

Ingredients
1 tablespoon beeswax

1 cup melted opaque soap base

1 tablespoon honey

Instructions
 Melt beeswax in double boiler and mix with melted soap base. Add honey and stir until melted.
Pour into mold. Release from mold when hardened. Let cure on a drying rack.

Try using a bee skip (hive) mold. This is a smooth, light fragrance soap.

Transparent Soap

This is a basic recipe for "glycerin" soap. Actually, all homemade soaps are glycerin soaps
because the natural glycerin in them has not been removed. This recipe is for what we think of
when we say glycerin soap.

Ingredients
1 pound 9 ounces distilled water

12 ounces lye

2 pounds 8 ounces palm oil

1 pound coconut oil

1 pound 9 ounces castor oil

1 pound 12 ounces ethanol

8 ounces glycerin

15 ounces distilled water with 1 pound 4 ounces sugar dissolved into a solution

Instructions

Measure and mix the lye and water. Allow to cool until between 135 and 145 degrees F. (57-62
Celsius)

Heat the oils and bring to the same temperature as the lye solution.

Once the lye and oils are the same temperature, mix and stir for five minutes.

Add the alcohol and stir another five minutes. This should form a clear solution.

Prepare a plastic cover for the soap pot. A large piece of 4 ml plastic should be secured with a
bungee cord. Make sure there is some extra plastic draping over as this will need to expand a
little and must stay secured. Secure a second piece of plastic in the same manner to reduce the
evaporation of alcohol during boiling.

Set the soap pot in a larger pot filled with three inches of softly boiling water.

Within five minutes the soap mixture should begin to boil and the plastic will puff up. Adjust the
temperature on the stove to keep this gently boil going inside the soap pot. This solution need
two hours to saponify/neutralize. Check the plastic to make sure it doesn't escape from the
bungee cord.

After two hours, stir in the glycerin and the sugar solution. Stir for about three minutes. To test
put a spoonful of soap onto an inverted glass. Once cool, is it clear? If not try adding two ounces
more of alcohol, which may have escaped during boiling.
 Cover and let sit for 15 minutes before adding dye or fragrance.

Use caution when adding alcohol to simmering soap. Be certain the soap is not too hot. Do not
boil.

Translucent Soap

This is another basic recipe for "glycerin" soap.

Ingredients
16 ounces (454 g) coconut oil

6 ounces (170 g) tallow

2 four-ounce (113 g) bottles of castor oil

4 ounces (113 g) lye

10 ounces (283 g) water

8 ounces (227 g) granulated sugar

10 ounces (283 g) 80 proof vodka

Instructions

Take the oil, fat, lye and water and Follow Basic Soap instructions.

Allow soap to set up for two days.

Slice/grate the soap into small pieces. Use gloves during this process because the lye may be still
active.

Melt over low heat until gently simmering.

As the soap is melted, add the sugar and the vodka. Mix in gently to avoid sudsing which can
make final bars murky instead of clear.

Continue to simmer for 10 minutes to boil off the alcohol. A layer will form on the top but
underneath should be clear.

Remove from heat and skim off top coating. This can be used to make soap balls.

Pour the soap into individual molds.

Use caution when adding alcohol to simmering soap. Be certain the soap is not too hot. Do not
boil.