Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Soap isn't nearly as difficult to make as you might think. I've known several people who were intimidated by the idea of making their own bath and beauty products. They assumed there would be a steep learning curve.
In reality, just about anyone can learn how to make soap. Now if you want to make really fancy soaps that look like little flowers and smell like lavender, or if you want to make soap from fat and ashes, then yes, you'll have to spend some time learning and practicing.
But if you just want some ordinary old-fashioned bar soap, you can make some right now with just three ingredients. In this video, Brad from Big Family Homestead explains how to do it. You can watch the video below, but I also typed up the instructions.
Here are the three ingredients:
- 8 ounces of filtered water – Do not use tap water, especially if it’s chlorinated or hard.
- 22 ounces of coconut oil – This is your fat base. Coconut oil makes a hard, long-lasting bar with good lather. You can use other fats (like tallow, lard, or olive oil), but coconut oil is simple and beginner-friendly.
- 2.8 ounces of lye – This is the active ingredient that reacts with the fat to create soap through a process called saponification.
Important: Lye is highly caustic. It can burn your skin and lungs if mishandled. Always wear gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection. Make soap in a well-ventilated area or outdoors.
And here are a few things you'll need (in the order that you'll need them):
- Regular pot for melting the coconut oil
- Cooking thermometer
- Rubber gloves so the lye doesn't burn you
- Stainless steel pot for the lye and water
- Wooden spoon
- Stick blender (optional)
- Plastic tray (to use as a mold)
One other thing you may want to keep on hand in a bottle of white distilled vinegar. If you get lye on your skin, it will burn you, but vinegar will immediately neutralize it.
How to Make Soap with Three Ingredients
1. Melt the Coconut Oil
Melt the coconut oil in a regular cooking pot over low heat until it reaches 100–120°F. Use a thermometer to keep it within this range. If it gets too hot, just remove it from heat and let it cool until it’s in that range.
2. Prepare the Lye Water
Put on your gloves and eye protection, and make sure you're in a well-ventilated area (preferably outdoors).
- Pour the 8 ounces of filtered water into a stainless steel pot or heat-safe container.
- Slowly sprinkle in the 2.8 ounces of lye, stirring constantly.
Warning: Always add lye to water—never water to lye, or it could erupt violently.
This mixture will heat up rapidly (often above 150°F) and emit fumes for about a minute. Let it sit until it cools to 100–120°F, the same temperature as your melted oil.
3. Combine Oil and Lye
Once both your melted oil and lye water are between 100°F and 120°F, carefully pour the oil into the lye mixture.
Warning: Be very careful not to splash. Lye can cause serious chemical burns on contact.
4. Stir and Saponify
Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula. You can do this entirely by hand, but it may take 15–20 minutes to reach “trace” which is the point where the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency.
Using a stick blender speeds this up significantly, cutting the time to 5 minutes or less.
5. Pour into Mold
Once you’ve reached trace, pour the soap mixture into your mold.
Let the soap sit undisturbed for 24 hours at room temperature. After that, you can pop it out and slice it into bars.
Tip: Cut it while it's still soft. After curing, it’ll harden and be tougher to cut cleanly.
6. Cure for 30 Days
The soap isn’t ready just yet. It needs to cure for about 30 days to fully harden and finish the chemical process. Place the bars on a wire rack or tray in a dry, well-ventilated spot. Turn them every few days if you can.
After a month, your soap is ready to use! Here's how it should look like.
This basic recipe makes about 2 pounds of soap, which is typically 6–8 standard bars, depending on how thick you slice them.
Be sure to check out the original video to see it done.
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