Make Your Own All-natural Hand Soap with Olive Oil

Making your own all-natural hand soap is fun, easy and inexpensive. Making your own soap is a wonderful alternative if you are allergic to the artificial dyes and perfumes used in commercial products. You can control what you put in your soap, including using a lye-free recipe. In addition, it is a fun hobby or family activity, and homemade all-natural hand soap makes a great gift. In this article, I will explain how to use the cold process method to make olive oil soap. This method is very simple and it does use lye, but it is a very easy first soap-making adventure, and it produces a very refined, high quality soap.

It is not difficult to gather the items you need to make your own all-natural hand soap. All you need are:

Equipment

Large stainless steel bowl - the bigger the bowl, the less splatter to deal with!

2 cup heat-proof glass measuring cup - to mix the lye and water. You want to use glass so it will be resistant to the lye and so it will be microwave-proof.

A pot - thick bottomed is best.

A candy or fry thermometer for the oil.

An instant-read meat thermometer for the lye.

Protective clothing. Really. You don't mess with lye. Long sleeved shirt, long pants, shoes (no sandals or bare feet!), rubber gloves. Also, keep a bottle of white vinegar nearby to neutralize lye spills.

Soap molds - plastic, cardboard, wood or silicone. Wax paper to line them. Silicone molds do not need to be lined.

Digital scale capable of measuring to grams accurately.

Ingredients

16 oz. pure olive oil - the cheap stuff is fine here! You don't need extra-virgin.

2 oz. lye - available through soap-making supply stores online.

6 oz. water

Method

Heat the oil in the pot to 120° to 130° F.

Carefully mix the water and lye in the glass measuring cup, and microwave, 1 minute at a time, until it reaches 90° to 100°F.

Stir the lye mixture into the oil, mix until it comes to a trace (faint lines in the mix)

Optionally, you may add colors, herbs and/or scents at trace.

Pour into molds and allow to set at least 72 hours before un-molding.

This will make a wonderful, wholesome all-natural hand soap, with a delicious olive oil fragrance. This particular soap marries well with rosemary and mint fragrances and herbs. Additionally, you can add soap colorants, but be very certain that you are using a dye specifically intended for soap-making and use a light hand with it - olive oil lends a beautiful natural color to the soap which is a shame to lose. I have included a link in the reference section of this article of an online merchant who sells soap-making supplies. Once you have tried this recipe, you are sure to want to try other scents and recipes to make more all-natural hand soap at home!