This simple cold process soap recipe has it all—lovely lather, long lasting bar, well moisturizing. It makes an amazing bar of soap, but takes just two oils that you can buy at the grocery store.
It’s the perfect starter recipe for beginning cold process soap makers. You can hone your soap making skills with simple, inexpensive oils before moving on to pricey, exotic ingredients.
If you’re more experienced, this is a nice recipe because you probably have these oils on hand all the time. And you can jazz it up however you like.
This lovely soap recipe was formulated specifically for a cold process soap making class that I taught at Gavilan College in Gilroy, California. Collectively the class made over 40 pounds of soap!
Since we had a fairly large group, and the vast majority were brand-spankin’ new to soap making, I wanted a very simple and straightforward recipe.
And, since 40 pounds of ingredients needed to be carried, by me, to the classroom that was located at the top of a very steep hill (not to mention all of the pots, hotplates, bowls, and molds needed to make that much soap) I wanted as few ingredients as possible.
So, I created a very basic two-oil soap with just coconut and olive oils. Let me tell you, I loved the results.
This simple cold process soap recipe creates a nice, hard bar with plenty of lather and moisturizing properties. The best part is you can get all of the oils at your grocery store.
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Since I liked it so much, I thought I’d share the recipe with you. You can dress it up any way you like, with oatmeal, herbs, or fragrance of your choosing. Or, just leave it naked because it’s lovely that way too.
If you’re new to cold process soap, make sure you read the posts listed below FIRST. They’ll run you through the step-by-step processes of cold process soap making, plus give you all the safety info you need to know before getting started.
Because you can hurt yourself making soap if you’re not following all of the safety rules. I don’t want you to get hurt. I love you.
Read them, friend:
Did you read all the posts above? Do you have your goggles and gloves? Good. Now let’s make some soap!
Get the Step-By-Step Soap Making Cheat Sheet
You might also like to grab the Step-By-Step Cold Process Soap Making Cheat Sheet + Lye Safety Checklist along with a bonus printable easy cold process soap recipe.
This printable cheat sheet walks you through the entire soap making process, from start to finish. It also includes a checklist to ensure you never forget a lye safety step, so you can soap safely. And it includes my basic palm-free soap recipe that is moisturizing and lathers like a dream.
This cheat sheet is typically reserved for students in my How To Make Soap From Scratch course, but I’m sharing it here because I know it will be super helpful to you as a brand new soap maker.
Enter your info in the form below, and I’ll send the checklist + cheat sheet to your inbox right now.
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Simple 2-Oil Cold Process Soap Recipe
OK, so you’ve read up on lye handling safety and you’ve signed up for the step-by-step soap making cheat sheet. Now you’re ready to make some soap!
This recipe makes about 2 lbs. finished soap, at approximately 6.5% superfat and a slight water discount. You’ll get about 8 average-sized (4 oz.) bars.
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Ingredients:
- 12 oz. coconut oil
- 20 oz. olive oil
- 4.5 oz. 100% lye
- 12 oz. water
You’ll also need:
- Soap making safety gear (gloves, eye protection)
- Stainless steel pot
- Digital scale
- Various containers for weighing ingredients
- Heat-proof container for mixing lye water (I like to use a heavy-duty plastic pitcher)
- Silicone spatulas
- Soap mold – 2 lbs. size
STEP 1: Don your goggles and gloves and weigh out the water into a plastic heat-proof pitcher. Set aside.
NOTE: I like to set my water pitcher into the sink, and do all the mixing of the lye here. This way, if there is an accidental spill, the lye water simply goes down the drain rather than all over your countertops and floor.
STEP 2: Into a separate container, weigh out lye. Carefully pour lye into container of water, stir to dissolve. Take care as this mixture will get hot. Let stand to cool down.
STEP 3: Weigh your oils and put them into a pot. Warm on low heat to just melt the coconut oil. Remove from heat.
STEP 4: Let the water and oils cool considerably until they are approximately the same temperature (anywhere between 85 and 110 is what I typically shoot for).
While you’re waiting, use this time to prepare your mold.
STEP 5: Pour the lye water mixture into the pot of oils. (You’re still wearing your gloves and goggles, right?) Place your stick blender into the mixture and blend until medium trace (a thick pancake batter consistency).
STEP 6: Are you adding in any herbs or fragrance? Stir them in now. Some ideas:
- 2 tablespoons ground oatmeal (learn how to make it yourself)
- 2 teaspoons dried herbs (some nice additions are chamomile, peppermint, rose petals, calendula, sage)
- 1 ounce soap fragrance oil or essential oil of your choice (please ensure your fragrance/essential oil is skin safe and not over the IFRA safe usage rate)
You can just leave the soap naked, too! Years ago when I used to sell my soap, my no-fragrance no-additives “Bare Baby” soap was a best-seller! So don’t discount plain soap. When it’s handmade, it’s lovely.
STEP 7: Pour the soap batter into the mold. Let set undisturbed for 48 to 72 hours.
STEP 8: After the soap has set for two to three days, it’s time for the unmolding! Put your gloves back on, remove from the mold and cut into bars.
The soap will be slightly sticky, that’s OK. It will harden as it cures.
STEP 9: Place your soap bars on a drying rack or brown paper sack in a dry place and let cure for at least 30 days. Turn occasionally to expose all sides to air.
After a 30 day cure, your soap is ready to use. Enjoy your handcrafted soap!
Hello! I’d like to try this recipe, I love the short ingredient list. But can I use shea butter instead of coconut oil? Coconut oil dries my skin and hubby is allergic.
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Carmela! Thanks so much for your question, and I’m so glad you asked.
With cold process soap, you can’t substitute out oils unless you also recalculate the amount of lye for the recipe. This is because each oil has its own fatty acid profile, and requires a different amount of lye to turn into soap. This is called the oil’s saponification value or SAP value. So, to make any substitutions to a recipe, run the new recipe through a lye calculator first. Bramble Berry has an easy to use one: https://www.brambleberry.com/calculator?calcType=lye#
Second part of your question, I’d not use shea butter to replace the coconut oil in this recipe. Shea butter is very moisturizing in soap, but it has low cleansing ability and doesn’t lather. Coupled with the olive oil, you’d end up with a bar that doesn’t bubble and feels slimy.
Instead, I’d suggest substituting the coconut oil with either babassu oil (my first choice) or palm oil. Babassu has very similar properties to coconut oil, so it lathers up really nicely and produces a hard bar of soap, and it’s often used in place of coconut for those who are allergic.
Palm oil is another good option. It doesn’t give quite as bubbly lather but is still a very nice soap making oil.
To substitute babassu oil: swap coconut for babassu and all other ingredients stay the same. (Babassu has a similar SAP value as coconut)
To substitute palm oil: swap coconut for palm and reduce lye to 4.2 oz. All other ingredients stay the same.
I hope this helps, my friend! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I’m always here to help.
Happy soap making!
Angela
So excited to try this recipe! I do have 2 questions though:
1. Can I use parchment paper instead of freezer paper?
2. My coconut oil is virgin and has a mild scent of coconut. Will it be ok to use this?
Thanks and many blessings!
Yay! I’m so happy you’re excited and hope you like the recipe. To answer your questions:
1. I would not use parchment paper to line your mold. Parchment paper is coated with a type of silicone that can react with the soap batter. So, the paper becomes “adhered” to the soap, and is very difficult to peel away. Freezer paper will give you the best results. But many soap makers use thick plastic trash bags to line their molds and they work great too.
2. Yes, you can use virgin coconut oil for this recipe. The coconut scent won’t come through in your finished soap, but it will still work wonderfully.
Thanks so much for your great questions! Let me know if I can help you with anything else, and I’d love to see a picture of your finished soap.
Happy soap making!
Angela
Angela!!! I did it! I am enjoying the soap (for the most part)! The soap lathers beautifully. I also use it as my shampoo and with coconut oil as leave-in conditioner afterwards, my hair feels clean. I have taken a picture of the soap but I don’t know how to attach it to this. Sorry 🙁
I do have some questions though, if you don’t mind. 1). Can I re-batch it to add some scents to it? My husband prefers it to have some scent. I have some essential oils that I can use. He thinks Thieves would smell good but we’re wondering if it might cause some kind of irritation. Do you have any suggestions? 2) speaking of irritation, when I used this soap for the first few times it felt a little “hot” on my hands and when I use it as topical feminine wash (sorry, that’s a little too personal). I still feel it every now and then. What do you think could that be about?
Thanks for all your help and expertise! I look forward to more soap-making experience!
Thank you, Angela.
This recipe is just fantastic! The best soap. I added vertiver patchouli & bergamot. My friends love it.
Can you convert the measurements for UK, i.e. grams and it the temp celcius or F I assume F
You mentioned adding castor oil in the beginner’s guide and making soap with the 3 oils.
How much would you add or do you have the recipe written somewhere? TIA
What types of olive oils can I use…does it have to be what you use?
Thanks for the great question, Brenda! Any olive oil will work, so if you have some on hand or can get locally for a good price, go with that. 🙂