Make Your Own Soap Without Lye (You'll See What I Mean)
If you've always wanted to make soap but are worried about working with lye, here's your answer. This homemade lye-free soap is truly the "I'm scared to work with lye" version of How to Make Homemade Soap.
Homemade soap is great for many reasons, but it can be a bit daunting to make. One of the reasons is the need to work with lye. It's definitely not something you want to be working with when you have little ones running around.
Thankfully there's an answer for that and I'm sure you'll be surprised at how easy it is and how gorgeous the results can be.
I Was a Lye Scaredy Cat
For years, I've wanted to make my own soap--but I've never done it.
I've drooled over others' homemade soap creations and felt deficient in my thriftiness, my craftiness, my domesticality...simply because I'd never. made. soap.
I have fond memories of a dear friend in the Chicago area who made HUGE batches of olive oil soap that was TO DIE FOR. She had enough money to buy whatever soap she wanted, but she just LOVED making soap and well, her soap was skin nourishing gorgeous.
She gifted me this soap when I was pregnant with our first child, but I wrote off making it because no way was I going to use lye in a kitchen where I'd have to time things so I didn't have a busy and inquisitive infant or toddler underfoot.
So I basically gave up all the soap-making dreams, and they never really came to be.
I even found the very book that my friend's soap recipe came from at a second hand store (and bought it), but I STILL never made soap.
So when a friend approached me about sharing a recipe for melt and pour soap that was easily made into "homemade soap" style, I was thrilled.
I assumed many other busy "lye scaredy cat" moms would love the chance to be crafty without being around something that might be a problem for their children's safety.
Lye-free Soap--For Real?
Would you like to create an all natural product, free of harsh chemicals, that radiates your personality and taste? Consider hand-milled soap!
Also known as melt and pour soap, this method allows you to forgo the hazards of working with caustic lye, while enjoying the creativity of soap making.
This is why the title of the post includes the words "you'll see what I mean." The lye work has been done for you already in making the melt and pour soap base.
Why You'll Fall In Love With This Soap
There are simply so many reasons to love this soap. Let's count the ways, shall we?
You Skip These Additives
So many soaps on the market are loaded with artificial colors, artificial fragrances, and . If you make your own melt and pour soaps, you can use quality ingredients without the toxins.
You Save Lots of Moolah
Of course if you make your own melt and pour soap, you will save a bunch of money over store-bought fancy soaps. With all the great melt and pour bases, you can make exquisite soaps to rival any "artisan" type homemade soap.
You Keep Allergens Out
More and more people have sensitivities these days. Making your own soap allows you to customize ingredients to your needs.
Choosing the Best Ingredients
1. Soap Bases--Including One That Really Stands Out
First of all, look for soap that is free of chemicals and fragrances. The simpler the better when it comes to hand milling. White or cream colored work best.
Some of the more trusted online sources include:
- Brambleberry
- Bulk Apothecary
- Amazon
Here are some great options for melt and pour soap bases:
- Shea Butter Soap Base - this one seems to perform very well and has great reviews and the ingredients are not shabby. If you want an artisan type soap that's easy to make, this is a great way to go.
- Goat's Milk Soap Base - this one looks nice too!
- Glycerin Soap Base - makes a traditional melt and pour soap
- Cocoa Butter Soap Base
2. Molds
A simple bread loaf pan will work depending on how much soap you're melting. Line the mold with parchment paper for easy removal.
Silicone molds work really well too. These come in fun shapes and sizes like this flower mold (similar to the one used for the soaps in this post).
Note that you'll need parchment paper if you choose the bread mold pan option.
3. Herbs and Plants
Do you love lavender? Dried lavender or even fresh lavender makes a perfect addition.
Roses? Dried rose petals or even fresh rose petals work beautifully.
Plant powders can add not only skin benefits, but double as natural colorants. Turmeric, for example, turns the soap a lovely orange while adding nourishing anti inflammatory qualities. Spirulina powder makes a lovely green. Beet powder makes for a great pink soap.
4. Pure Fragrances
Forgo the petroleum-based fragrances and add scent using 100% natural essential oils. Essential oils carry through the hand milling process quite well - so pick a scent you enjoy and have fun!
Herb/essential oil combinations that work well include:
- Thyme Oil with turmeric powder
- Plumeria Oil with dried lavender
- Peppermint Oil with activated charcoal for a deep cleansing experience.
Here is Adrienne's source for "the best" essential oils, or click here to read the whole series about how she chose them.
How Much Essential Oils Should Be Used In Soap?
How much essential oils you use in homemade soap depends on several things--how strong of a scent you would like, and the oil you are using.
For a strong scent you could use 0.7 ounces of essential oil per pound of cold process soap. For melt and pour, you can typically add 0.3 ounces per pound.
Cold process soap is more of a harsh process and there are a number of chemical changes that occur when making the soap, so you can use more oils.
To avoid skin irritation it's important to not use too much of an essential oil in your soap. This fragrance calculator can help you choose the right amount of essential oils to use.
5. Liquids
You'll need to add a slight amount of liquid to keep the soap from burning during the melting process. While water works fine, possible liquids that add some nice benefits and make your soap special include coffee, green tea, kombucha, infused herbs, coconut milk and floral hydrosol.
6. Fun Add Ins
Besides things like herbs and plants, there are so many other fun add-ins--the sky is truly the limit!
How about:
- coffee beans
- cacao nibs
- coffee grounds--smells great and is great for exfoliating too
- citrus peels
- seeds (chia, poppy, apricot, flax)
- matcha powder--adds a lovely green color
- himalayan salt-adds a really nice pink hue
- tea leaves
Ingredients
- Natural Soap Base
- Molds (I love these flower molds, circular molds, or these simple bar molds)
- Herbs or flowers (like these lavender flowers), rose petals
- Essential Oils
- Parchment Paper (depending on what mold you use)
- Grater (a cheese grater, salad shooter, or food processor are good choices)
- Liquid
Instructions
- Grate 8 ounces of the soap base (two regular size bars.) A cheese grater works well, as does a salad shooter. A food processor also works.
- Sprinkle 1-2 ounces water or other liquid over the grated soap.
- Heat on low setting in a double boiler or crock pot. You can also place in oven-safe pot and heat in the oven at lowest setting. Stir frequently to avoid burning. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.
- When soap is liquefied, remove from heat. It will be somewhat lumpy and translucent.
- Add desired ingredients.(For the main photos here, I used Pink Himalayan salt and dried rose petals from my daughter's wedding. I added Rose Geranium essential oil which created a lovely rose scent.)
- Stir to desired consistency. Pour (or spoon) soap mixture into molds. I placed some dried rose petals on the bottom of this flower mold.
- Cool the soap and remove from mold (place mold into freezer for up to 1 hour to make this easier). Cut into desired sizes and shapes using a soap cutter or a food scraper/shovel.The mold used in the above photo is this one.
- Allow soap to dry for several days or more. Note that the more liquid you use the longer it will take to cure.
- Dry the soap thoroughly between uses to extend its life.
More Easy DIY Personal Care Products You'll Love
How about trying out the following DIY Personal Care Products too? These are great ways to take more steps towards clean living.
Nourishing Sugar Scrub
customize your scrub to your liking--makes a great gift too!
Healthy Lip Scrub
your lips will love this
Homemade Foaming Soap
a super frugal alternative to store-bought foaming soap
Homemade Body Wash
smells and works great
That's it! Easy as--well, melting and pouring.
These would make a fabulous gift for almost any occasion.
Have you made soap using the melt and pour method?
What herbal combinations would you like to try?
Andrea is a former journalist and the mother of nine children ranging in age from 28 to 12. Following a toxic mold exposure, Andrea and her family discovered the wonders of natural living. Andrea is the founder and president of momsAWARE, an educational organization designed to empower others to live healthy in a toxic world. You can follow her family’s journey at It Takes Time.
It is grate sharing such information, how best can one make homemade facessrub to be sold on local market
Thank you!
If I wanted to use Plumeria blooms do I just let them dry out for a few days or do I have to bake them? Thanks
Hi there! Is there something special about Plumeria blooms that makes them different from other flowers for soap making?
They just have the most beautiful fragrant blooms and I have several plants.
I would think you should just be able to dry them really well and use them. Wish I could smell them! I bet your soap is going to be amazing!
How much of the essential oil should I add?
Hi Jackie - Good question! I just updated the post with more information on that. Hope that helps!
Love the simplicity of making my own soaps!! Thanks for all the info.
You're so welcome!!
I make Melt and Pour Soaps all the time. My Ultimate Favorite to make is Oatmeal Coffee. Oatmeal base with ground Coffee and I add a little liquid coffee to the mix.
I have also made Eucalyptus Spearmint (Eucalyptus and Spearmint EO in an Aloe Base) which my friends LOVE.
Those sound sooo great! What base do you use? I don't like the ingredients of some but that shea butter one in the post is pretty clean....
Depends on the soap base on whether this is a lye free soap. Make sure the additives do not have lye in their base if you want a true lye based soap.
Hi there! Actually all real soap needs lye to process but that's why I named the post the way that I did. It's so the person making the bars doesn't have to touch lye. Hope that helps :).
Oatmeal is great for skin allergies. Adding that would be extra soothing.
GREAT idea. I have a skin issue currently and was thinking about using oatmeal! I have this post about making oat flour - would be another option since ground up oats have more surface area. Makes a great paste for skin too!
Thanks again for the tip!
Thank you for sharing ur knowledge. my people are perishing because lack of knowledge
You are so welcome.
How much essential oil do you use in this recipe?
I'm reading about .25 ounces of essential oil per pound of soap - does that help?
To add to my last comment, Turmeric, Activated Charcoal, Oatmeal, and Coffee beans/ grounds are ok to add along with cornflower pedals. Those will not mold or rot.
I read in your other comments that you didn't write this post but I wanted to share some info on using natural plants for colorant or adding dried or fresh flowers. The makeup of melt and pour is different than cold or hot process soaps, which cause the pedals and other herbs to re-hydrate and will mold.
Thank you for taking the time to read my comment 🙂
Hi there. Thanks for this! I just did a quick bit of research on the internet but I didn't see this. Can you tell me where you saw / heard this? Thank you!
https://blog.bulkapothecary.com/homemade-recipes/soap-recipes/melt-and-pour-101-additives-botanicals/
Also I learned it from my soap making groups. Melt and pour is the type of soap I make right now.
Hi there. Thanks for the link--it appears that they are saying that they will turn brown, but I don't see any discussion about mold. Am I missing something? Not that I want decomposed stuff in my soap, but they seem to be only concerned about appearance and not toxicity of mold. Thanks again would love to hear your thoughts.
I am intrigued your recipe is for Lye free soap, however soap can not be made without Lye, the melt and pour base already has lye (Sodium Hydroxide) added to it, it is not without it, it just takes the hard work out for you. Don't want people being falsely informed
Thanks! Yes, I made that clear, I thought, in the title saying that "you'll know what I mean" - it's a way to not do hard work but also not be exposed to the lye in the caustic form. Thanks for reading!
Love it. Thanks.
I am not being mean or rude here however please Do NOT ever add water to any melt and pour soap. It will not turn out correctly and it will possibly spoil and rot in a very short amount of time. Never never add water to melt and pour soap!
Hi there. I didn't write this post but am happy to adjust it--however I see other melt and pour sites talking about adding water....why are your thoughts different? Thanks!
Melt and pour soaps have the correct amount of Lye per other ingredients to make the soap adding more water will throw this out of whack so to speak and not end up with proper quantities of the final product.
Thank you!
Hi,
Melt and pour soap is just that, yes it has lye in it. The whole procedure has been done for you. I’m not sure where you have seen add water, but you have no need too add any. Yes, if you leave it over the double boiler too long, the water will disappear, but the soap then goes like leather. To combat this, put plastic wrap on the top, so the steam doesn’t escape.
I do however sometimes add a couple of teaspoons of cocoa butter.
You only need to add your essential oils or fragrance, dried petal leaves etc and colour if you want it. I add pink clay to mine and rose essential oil, for a fantastic face soap.
Melt And pour soap, Is designed to be used straight away once solid, there is no need to cure it. That has already been done.
Melt and pour is another way to make soap without going through the saponification process therefore it has lye in it until it’s completely process into soap which doesn’t have lye anymore.
How much soap base is needed to make several bars?
Hi there - it depends on the size of bar that you want. In the post it mentioned 8 oz of soap base to make 2 4 ounce bars. The soap base is the main ingredient that is most of the resulting soap. Enjoy!