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 orangutan, as well as indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced.

While I won’t go into further details (you can read about it all over the internet, like here and here), suffice to say that requests for palm-free soap recipes are increasingly frequent.

That’s why I decided to create this page, listing all the recipes I have here on this site without palm oil for easy reference. Keep in mind that some of the pages below contain more than one recipe (e.g. shea butter soaps), and not all of the recipes are palm-free. But at least one in each link below is, and new palm-free recipes will  be added here as I publish them:

Palm-free soap recipes: how to make palm-free cold process soaps

Palm-Free Soap Recipes (CP)

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...

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 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...

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%...

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...

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...

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....

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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