Make Your Own Soap Without Lye (You’ll See What I Mean)
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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, craftiness, and domestic skills, 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. Is It Possible?
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 Love This Soap
There are simply so many reasons to love this soap. Let's count the ways, shall we?
No Toxic Additives
So many soaps on the market are loaded with artificial colors, artificial fragrances, and preservatives. If you make your own melt-and-pour soaps, you can use quality ingredients without the toxins.
Saves Lots of Money
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 of homemade soap.
Avoids Allergens
More and more people have sensitivities these days. Making your own soap allows you to customize ingredients to your needs.
Directions
Grate the soap base.
Add oil to soap, if desired.
Heat on low setting in a double boiler or crock pot. Stir frequently.
When liquefied, remove from heat.
Add desired ingredients.
Stir to desired consistency. Pour (or spoon) the soap mixture into molds. I placed some dried rose petals on the bottom of this flower mold.
Cool and remove from the mold. Cut into desired sizes and shapes using a soap cutter or a food scraper/shovel if needed.
Allow soap to dry.
Important Ingredient Information
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 options for melt-and-pour soap bases with my favorite highlighted at the end.
- Goat's Milk Soap Base – this is a pretty nice base
- Glycerin Soap Base – makes a traditional clear melt-and-pour soap
- Cocoa Butter Soap Base
- Shea Butter Soap Base – this one seems to perform very well and has great reviews and the ingredients are really clean for a melt-and-pour base. If you want an artisan-type soap that's easy to make, this is a great way to go.
Shea Butter - 2 Pound Melt and Pour Soap Base
This Shea Butter Melt and Pour Soap Base is one of the cleanest soap bases out there. Plus it helps you create soaps that look very close to artisan soaps -- all without handling lye!
It's made from 5% refined shea butter, and is soy free, lathers well and is made in the USA.
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 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 adds a nice pink color.
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.
How Much Essential Oil Should You Add to Soap?
How much essential oils you use in homemade soap depends on several things including how strong of a scent you would like, and the oil you are using.
For a strong scent, 0.7 ounces of essential oil per pound of cold process soap is a good amount. 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—smell great and are great for exfoliating too
- citrus peels
- seeds (chia, poppy, apricot, flax)
- matcha powder—adds a lovely green color
- Himalayan salt—adds a nice pink hue
- tea leaves
Ingredients
- 8 ounces 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
- .15 ounces Essential Oils (about 90 drops)
- Parchment Paper (depending on what mold you use)
- Grater (a cheese grater, salad shooter, or food processor are good choices)
- 1/2 teaspoon oil (optional)
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.
- Add the oil, if desired, to thin the soap.
- Heat on low 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.
- Allow soap to dry for several days or more.
- 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
- Homemade Lip Scrub – your lips will love this!
- Homemade Moisturizing Foaming Soap– a super frugal alternative to store-bought foaming soap
- Homemade Body Wash – smells and works great
I'd love to hear how this goes for you!
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.
i really would like to learn how to make soaps .
I guess I understand why some of you are upset with the title of this recipe. I however don’t feel some of them are called for! Some are down right snide! I understood from the moment I read it, that it was mixing, molding and shaping. I would think that everyone would have! It is pretty straight forward!
Thanks, Roni. Much appreciated.
Melt and pour is soap molding. Not soap making. You are once again most likely putting things on your skin found in commercial soaps. Using lye is not as scary as people had me believing. Be careful. Follow instructions. Try it once and you will see, there is no need to resort to melt and pours.
I agree that you could get a base with a lot of icky ingredients in it. As always – be careful and read labels. I hope to try the lye myself soon.
Agreed.
I found a soap base without the icky chemicals. Always negative nancy in every crowd. Seems to be a few here
This is me probably just being dense but I found a neat recipe for making soap and they said “white soap base” but I thought that just meant white soap so I bought a bunch of bars of Ivory. Would ivory soap work with your method or am I just stuck using that as my own soap and need to go out and find actual soap base and just try the recipe I found. I’ve never done anything with soap before so would love any tips/pointers 🙂 thanks
ps awesome blog!
Hmmmmm….I think it would work. But depends how much of the flowers, etc. that will show since it’s probably more opaque. Might be OK though. Thanks for the kind words!
Can I use gumamela in this kind of soap making ?
Hi there. I had never heard of that flower. I don’t know why not — is it different from other flowers in some way that you think you couldn’t?
Do you think this method would work if i use breast milk as the liquid? Thanks!
I don’t see why not. I would be careful about sterility issues, however, as with any ingredient. Is there a reason you want to do this?
I just have some frozen breast milk that are not suitable for drinking anymore as its over 3 mths old. So, was thinking of turning them into breast milk soap for my lil boy to shower in. Just tot the milk is so full of nutrients so why not, The method calls for it to be boil along with the shaved soap therefore it would be sort of sterilised in a way i guess?
I would think so. Sounds like a good idea!
I don’t understand how you call this melt and pour soap homemade. That is like buying a pie crust and pre made filling and saying its a homemade pie. There is a huge difference between melt and pour soap purchased at a store and hot/cold process soaps made from scratch.
Hi Candace. I’m sorry you feel this way — I tried to make it clear in the title of the post “you’ll see what I mean” that it wasn’t really homemade. Of course there’s a huge difference, but you can see from the comments that there are many people who are happy to have something that they can make without it being a bigger job. Thanks for commenting :).
I have been reading through all of the comments here and… I understood when searching for a “lye free soap recipe” that I was looking for a way to make my very own soap with the oils I prefer and scents? I grew up my grandmother always made true soap and I remember her constantly having to keep me back so I didn’t get hurt? She set up outside due to the not being able to breath those fumes. Gloves yes and her lol I always thought it was what witches used to mix potions in I recall but seriously I think this is a really great way to help people learn to rebatch and customize and scent as they choose. Thinking of doing this with my 5 year old myself. The true homemade soaps I have used always left me dry and were great for my face? I’m assuming they had added something to them or others are correct that true homemade soap is drying or harsh? I myself have been searching for a good moisturizing recipe and stumbled on your site. Thank you 🙂 this will be a fun day project and will make for good gifting for her teacher an such. I believe I am going to stick with my body butters and scrubs for now 🙂 and this but there are several natural recipes I’ve found and think I will try. I hope everyone understands by now that…. You are not saying there is no lye in soap and just giving people who do not have access to a place or the tools to actually Make Soap or who may be afraid because it can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing? Lol after I swam through comments I have forgotten if you had explained all of this by updating your page so if so I apologize…. I was going to suggest explaining exactly how soap is made and lye is used yadda yadda and that this method allows you to customize soap as you would like or need…. Shape, size, smell, essential oils to aid with dry skin, oily skin and things as such? Maybe you have combination skin? My face is very oily, and I have issues with an eczema like rash on my arms and legs we are currently trying to find out which skin condition it is but…. Going with this method I believe I can try making the two or three types of soap I do need? Its inexpensive compared to others I’ve seen. So I am going to try making a soap for oil regulation, acne, and skin conditions using essential oils and the carriers specifically best for each. I’m hoping I can figure it out! I do know coconut oil is known to clog pores so I think I will go with jajoba and grape seed 🙂 I will have to let you know if I can use your recipe(method) here to come up with the perfect soaps for each 🙂
Did you end up making them? How did it go?
You haven’t “made” anything if you do this. You’ve just decorated something that someone else “made”. Truly making soap is no more dangerous than cooking is. Yeah, you were probably scared to death the first time you had to pull a big old roast or turkey out of the oven. This is like ordering thanksgiving from the local deli, and because you poured the gravy in a bowl, sliced the turkey, and rewarmed the dressing, you convince yourself that you ‘made’ Thanksgiving dinner.
Hi there. I complete agree with you – except that it is adding things and making a nice shape. That is why the post has the title it does — suggesting that it isn’t really making soap. I think the same kind of disclaimer has been made around many Thanksgiving tables. But not mine :).
My grandmother used to “rebatch” soap when I was a kid. She would save all of those little pieces and the end of the bar in a drawer and when she got enough would melt them all down and add what she wanted just like these. Reminds me of my childhood 🙂
I love that. Reminds me of the melted crayons when you take a bunch and melt them into a giant multi-colored crayon :)!