Homemade Soap Recipes

On this page you will find a growing collection of various cold process soap recipes — from classic and traditional, to palm-free, vegan-friendly recipes.

Always follow standard cold process procedures, unless noted otherwise. Make sure you follow all the appropriate safety precautions, and don’t forget to run all recipes through a lye calculator before you begin.

If you are new to soapmaking, you may want to check out Jan Berry’s “Natural Soap Making” ebook collection. It’s full of priceless information for beginners, and there’s also an optional soapmaking video course. Click here to learn more.

Cold Process Recipes

Avocado Soap Recipe

Avocado has many benefits for the skin, whether you eat it or use it topically. The oil contains pretty much the same benefits as the fruit, such as healthy fats (like omega 3), phytonutrients and vitamins A, D and E. It’s also rich in minerals (specially potassium),...

Beer Soap Recipe

When making cold process soaps, you can substitute the water with other liquids when making your lye-mixture. It’s easy to find recipes with milk, coffee and tea. But beer also makes for a very interesting water substitute. You can get different shades of amber in the...

Bamboo Charcoal Soap Recipe

Bamboo charcoal powder is prized in Asia for its skin care benefits. It’s great to use with any skin type, but absolutely heaven for oily skin! Charcoal powder absorbs toxins, impurities and excess oil by penetrating deep into the pores. It will gently exfoliate your...

Vegan Soap Recipes

Veganism is not simply a diet, it’s a lifestyle. Vegans not only abstain from eating meat and other animal by-products such as eggs and diary, but they also avoid using animal-derived goods such as leather, wool, silk and any cosmetics containing animal product or...

Tea Tree Soap Recipe

Tea tree oil comes from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia, a shrubby tree native to Australia and New Zealand. It has been used for over 100 years in all kinds of natural products because of its many medicinal properties. Tea tree oil is antiseptic, anti-fungal...

Soap Recipes Using Lard

Soap Recipes Using Lard Soap recipes using lard are among the best for beginners, because it’s sold in grocery stores and is very cheap. When the recipe contains only Lard, Lye, water, FO or EO, with no other oils, it makes a hard, white bar of soap with lots of...

Soap Recipe for Beginners

On the internet you can get hundreds of soap recipes with a few clicks, but sometimes a simple, foolproof soap recipe for beginners can be hard to find. A basic soap recipe for beginners should contain no fragrance or color additives. For your first batch, stick with...

Shea Butter Soap Recipe

Shea butter (also known as karite butter in other parts of the world) is a natural fat comes from the seed of the karite or African shea tree and takes a long time to mature, as much as fifty years!  It is a complex fat, which when processed and applied to skin melts...

Sea Salt Soap Recipe

Sea salts have many benefits for the skin. Not only they draw toxins out of the body and reduce inflammation, but they also contain many skin nourishing minerals such as magnesium, zinc, calcium, potassium and iodine. This powerful combination of minerals will help...

Rosemary & Mint Goat Milk Soap

In this recipe, the combination of lard, coconut oil and shea butter makes for a nice hard bar that lasts very long in the shower. It’s naturally white, with a lovely creamy lather, although not overly bubbly. The shea butter locks in the moisture and the castor oil...

Palm-Free Soap Recipes

There is a lot of debate in the soap making community regarding the use of palm oil. In a nutshell, increased demand for palm oil has been linked to major environmental and social issues — from deforestation, habitat degradation of endangered species such as the...

Mocha Soap Recipe

Coffee and chocolate, enough said. A combination made in heaven. This recipe makes a soap bar that is thick, creamy and super rich. The subtle smell of coffee and chocolate will make you want to eat it! Mocha Soap Recipe 25% coconut oil 25% palm oil 25% palm kernel...

May Chang and Loofah Bar

May Chang (Litsea cubeba) is a tree native to China, Indonesia and other areas within Southeast Asia. Its essential oil has an intense, citrusy scent, often reminiscent of lemongrass or even verbena. Like most citrus oils, its scent is refreshing, stimulating and...

Insecticidal Soap

As summer approaches and we all start having to deal with bugs. Do you want to know what to use for your very own insecticidal soap recipe? Citronella and lavender soaps have very good insect repelling properties and very good stay power even though they are in a wash...

Indigo Antiseptic Soap

This is a natural antiseptic soap with lavender and peppermint essential oil. The rich blue color is obtained with natural indigo powder. True indigo is a natural dye that has been used by ancient civilisations in Egypt, India, Mesopotamia and Asia. Indigo is a potent...

Honey Soap Recipe

Honey has been used for centuries for skin care due to its moisturizing and anti-bacterial properties. The recipe below makes for a very lathering soap bar that will keep your skin soft and moisturized. Honey Soap Recipe 48% beef tallow, rendered 25% olive oil 20%...

Herbal Provence Soap

“Beautiful herbs — chockfull of nutrients and scent — are the perfect addition to this lovely soap. Infused oils and vitamin E make for a nourishing and caressing bar of soap. Add calendula petals at trace for color and texture. Scent with a herbal blend of pure...

Green Clay Soap

I love green clay masks. I try to do a homemade facial at least once a week with a good, deep cleansing and a face mask. I find it really helps with excess oil and afterwards my skin feels super clean and smooth. Green clay also helps with minor breakouts, redness and...

Cucumber Soap Recipes

Cucumber juice has long been used as an astringent face-wash, and in these recipes it works as a mild cleansing agent and skin toner. Cucumber Soap Recipe I 1 & 1/2 c. clean rendered tallow 1 c. cucumber pulp 1/2 c. vegetable oil 3/4 c. cold soft water 1/4 c. lye...

French Rose Clay Soap

Lately I’ve taken an interest in clays as an ingredient for homemade soaps, and I started experimenting with different types of clays. After the green clay soap I posted earlier, I decided to try a new recipe using french rose clay (or pink clay). This is actually...

Floral Soap Recipe

This soap is loaded with the healing properties of flower petal oils: essential, infused and fixed — perfect for extra sensitive and dry skins. It’s scented with a delicate, feminine blend of jasmine and rose. The original recipe was from Snow Drift Farm (sadly no...

Coconut Soap Recipe

Coconut oil is one of the most commonly used oils in cold process soap making, along with olive oil. It’s also incredibly popular among natural beauty bloggers and DIYers, due to its amazing skin properties. But there are two ways to incorporate coconut-derived...

Chamomile Soap Recipe

Chamomile is widely known for its anti-anxiety properties and other health benefits. The tea can be used as an all-natural antidepressant, muscle relaxer and immune system booster. But it also has many beauty benefits. It soothes irritated skin, calming down...

Castile Soap Recipe

Castile soap is a name used in English-speaking countries for olive oil based soap made in a style similar to that originating in the Castile region of Spain. It’s an all-vegetable soap made primarily with olive oil, although sometimes it can also contain small...

Borax Soap Recipe

Borax is a natural occurring boron compound, a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water. It’s widely used as a flux or cleansing agent, as well as an antiseptic, preservative, cleanser and as a water softener. It has a similar...

Beeswax Soap Recipe

Beeswax is a natural product of nature that we would have to give credit to the honey bees: it takes ten pounds of honey to make a pound of beeswax! Beeswax has been utilized over history for different purposes and a variety of niches, from paintings to Paschal...

Anise Soap

Anise is native to Egypt but cultivated widely for its aromatic seeds and the oil from them used medicinally and as a flavoring in cookery. It’s sweet licorice aroma is irresistible. This herb is also known for it’s ability in hiding the human scent. That makes it...

Aloe Vera Soap

Aloe Vera is the most prestigious herb used for skin care. It contains almost 20 amino acids, minerals like calcium, magnesium and sodium in sufficient quantities, enzymes, vitamins, polysaccharides, nitrogen and other components that make it a miracle beauty herb....

African Black Soap

African black soap, also known as Anago Soap, Alata Simena or Ose Dudu, is a traditional, rough looking soap handmade by several west african tribes. it has been used for centuries to naturally treat various skin conditions such as acne, oily skin, eczema, rashes and...

Acne Soap Recipes

I’ve suffered with acne for decades, my husband has had cystic acne and 5 of our kids have dealt with acne in varying degrees. I make a lot of acne stuff. My can’t-live-without-it item is my acne serum which is very simple. I add a few drops of helichrysm EO and a few...

Other Recipes

Glycerin Soap Recipes

When people ask for a glycerin soap recipe, they usually mean a melt & pour recipe. Melt & Pour (MP) is one of the easiest methods for soap making. It basically consists of buying a pre-made glycerin soap base, that can be transparent or opaque, melting it and...

How To Make Bath Bombs

How To Make Bath Bombs & Fizzies 2 cups baking soda 1 1/2 cups citric acid 2oz oil of choice (I generally use either Almond or Evening Primrose) 1oz fragrance of choice (either EO or FO, doesn’t matter which, really) aprx 1.5oz water or witch hazel in a spray...

Laundry Soap Recipe

Today I’m going to share with you a very simple laundry soap recipe. If you have never made laundry soap before, you will love this one. It’s super simple. I know there are tons of laundry soap recipes on the internet and many of them feature these very same...

Want to make your soap, but don't know where to start?

If you never made soap before, I high recommend Jan Berry's "Natural Soap Making" eBook Collection. It's great for beginners, filled with guides and helpful insight, handy printables, and tons of natural soap recipes.

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Do you want to make your own soap, but don't know where to start?

It's not as hard as it seems! Check out this post for easy to follow instructions that will show you everything you need to know to whip up your first batch.

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