This cold process coconut oil bar soap recipe is not only cleansing, but moisturising, too. Made with cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter, it can be very soothing and gentle for dry skin.

I’ve been dabbling in the art of soap making these past few months, with coconut oil soap being the first soap bar I ever made!

I just loved how simple cold process coconut oil soap bars were to make, requiring just three ingredients: Coconut oil, lye, and distilled water. The result was very hard white bars that gave an excellent lather to the skin. The only downside was that coconut oil soap, whilst cleansing, could also be quite drying on the skin. So, to counteract this, I experimented by incorporating shea butter and cocoa butter into the recipe to produce a more moisturising soap bar. And it worked!

It’s common thought amongst soap makers that coconut oil soap can be over-drying. So, to compensate this, other milder oils are used to balance out the recipe. However, this isn’t always necessary. The recipe I’ll be sharing below shows how to use just coconut oil to make a really good bar of soap that is not only cleansing, but moisturising, too.

Recipe Tutorial Video

Ingredients Needed for Making Homemade Soap

A great thing about making your own homemade soap bars is they can be fully customised using a soap calculator. Simply enter the ingredients that you want to use into the soap calculator, and it will factor in the percentages needed of those ingredients as well as the lye and water quantities. This one at SoapCalc is free to use.

To keep this recipe simple, I only use 5 ingredients: Cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter, lye, and water.

Cocoa Butter

Cocoa butter smells absolutely amazing (like chocolate) and helps to trap moisture by forming a protective barrier over the skin. This in turn helps to protect the skin against sun damage, and assist in slowing down the signs of aging. 

Shea Butter

Shea butter contains high levels of fatty acids and vitamins that can help to soften the skin, making it another great moisturiser to add to this homemade bar soap.

Coconut Oil

While coconut oil can be an excellent moisturiser in its natural state, when added to bar soap recipes it can be quite drying because of its high lauric acid content. This fatty acid has a fantastic cleansing ability, but it can also strip away natural oils from the skin if used in too high a concentration, which in turn makes the soap feel drying, especially for people with dry skin. 

To counteract the drying effects of coconut oil in soap bar recipes, adding moisturising ingredients like olive oil, avocado oil, shea butter, or jojoba oil, or increasing the superfat percentage, can help in balancing out the strong cleansing power of coconut oil.

If using just coconut oil along with lye and distilled water to make the soap bars, it is recommended to have a superfat percentage of around 20%. This simply means that 20% of the oil that is used in the soap recipe has not reacted with the lye, allowing it to moisturise the skin. 

To work out the superfat percentage and how much of each ingredient is required to reach that percentage, it can be helpful to enter the ingredients that you wish to use in a soap calculator (such as SoapCalc), and it will factor in the percentages needed of those ingredients in order to achieve a certain superfat percentage for the soap.

The best approach is to experiment with different superfat percentages and see what works best for your skin and preferences, especially when using moisturising oils like shea butter. 

Lye

Lye is an important ingredient in making soap bars, as it helps to create a chemical reaction known as saponification. This chemical process converts the oils and fats into soap. Without it, the ingredients wouldn’t incorporate properly.

It is very important to note that lye should be used with caution, as it’s very dangerous on its own. But once it has mixed with the fat, it is safe for use on the skin. Make sure there are no children or pets in the area while you are making the soap.

When using the lye, it is important to avoid any contact with it. Use proper safety gear like eye protection, long sleeves, and gloves when handling it, and if possible, mix the lye outdoors or in a well-ventilated room to avoid breathing in the fumes.

Distilled Water

When making soap, a liquid is needed to mix in with the lye. In most soap recipes, this is usually distilled water. Common alternatives include goat’s milk and coconut milk.

Distilled or filtered water is recommended, as regular tap water can often contain chemicals such as fluoride or chlorine, which may interact with the lye, impacting on the quality of the finished soap.

Before we get started in learning how to make this cleansing coconut oil bar soap, if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my email newsletter at the bottom of the page to keep up to date on the latest recipes, DIYs, gardening and health tips I share!

Tools Needed for Soap Making

Please note that any kitchen utensils or pieces of equipment used for making soap shouldn’t be used for anything else. Here are some of the absolute basics that you will need when making soap:

• Small plastic container for measuring the lye
• Larger heatproof plastic container for mixing the lye and liquid
• Digital kitchen scale
• Rubber gloves, apron, goggles, and long clothing as PPE for handling the lye
• Stainless steel pot for mixing the soap in (avoid aluminium)
• Cooking thermometer
• Immersion blender or hand mixer
• Large stirring spoon
• A rubber spatula
• Soap mould of some sort
• Parchment paper for lining the mould

Cleansing Coconut Oil Soap Bars

I used a soap calculator to get the exact measurements I needed for each ingredient in this recipe. If you want to change up the recipe at all, you will need to get new measurements as it is imperative to use the exact amounts to attain the same type of soap bars.

The below recipe makes 500 g (1 lb) worth of soap, with a 5% superfat content.

Ingredients:

Lye solution
79.88 g (2.82 oz) sodium hydroxide (lye)
190 g (6.70 oz) distilled water

Solid oils
350 g (12.35 oz) refined coconut oil
75 g (2.65 oz) refined cocoa butter
75 g (2.65 oz) refined shea butter

After the “trace”
600 drops (30 mL or 1.06 oz) of coconut essential oil (optional)

To Make:

1. Before getting started, please note that the lye is completely neutralised in the soap-making process, however, it can be harmful if not handled correctly. So please ensure you read up about the proper handling techniques of lye and what PPE will be needed before proceeding.
2. Prepare your workstation with all that you will need. Wear long sleeves, rubber gloves, eye protection (goggles), and an apron when handling the lye. Carefully pre-measure the ingredients and have them ready to go before starting.
3. Set yourself up in an area with good ventilation. Next to an open window is good. Using a digital scale, measure out the distilled water and pour it into a heat-resistant glass, plastic, or metal pot. Measure out the lye (sodium hydroxide) and pour it into the water. Stir the lye into the water slowly with a stainless steel spoon to dissolve the crystals. Please note, the chemical reaction will cause the solution to heat up quickly. Avoid breathing in the fumes. Stir the mixture until the lye has completely dissolved, then set the solution aside to cool to 38°C (100°F).
4. While the lye solution is cooling, move on to melting the solid oils. Using the digital scale, measure out the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter. Pour the ingredients into a large stainless steel saucepan, and heat the oils on very low heat until they just liquefy. Avoid the temptation to turn up the heat, as this will cause the oils to take a long time to cool down.
5. Once melted, take the pan off the heat and allow the oils to cool to 32°C (90°F).
6. When the lye solution has cooled, and the oils are at the right temperature, slowly pour the lye mixture into the oils. Pour the lye solution against a spoon to reduce the amount of air bubbles that may form in the soap bars later on.
7. Using an immersion stick blender or a hand mixer, place the blender into the pan and use it (turned off) to stir the mixture together. Then bring the stick blender to the middle of the pan, hold it still, and pulse for a couple of seconds. Repeat the stirring and pulsing process until you notice what is called a “trace.” This is when the mixture is thick enough that the soap leaves a pattern on the surface before sinking back in.
8. If you’re using the optional coconut essential oil, you can stir it in here.
9. Working quickly, pour the soap into your preferred mould(s), whether it be a silicone mould, an empty paper milk carton, a wooden mould, or something else. If you’re using silicone soap moulds, it’s not necessary to do anything to them before pouring the soap in. Other moulds may require parchment paper. Protect the exposed part of the soap with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and allow the soap to set in the mould for 24 hours or up to three days. Give it a tap to settle it and release any trapped air bubbles.
10. To cut the soap into bars, an ordinary kitchen knife will do just fine. You can decide on how thick you would like your bars to be.
11. After cutting them, leave the bars someplace well-ventilated and out of direct sunlight to cure for four to six weeks. The soap is safe to touch 48 hours after making it but it needs time to cure to allow the excess moisture to evaporate out of the bars.
12. To cure, you can place the soap bars on a bookshelf, metal racks, cardboard boxes, stacked milk crates, or even make towers of soap. Stacking soap during curing is perfectly fine. Just ensure you flip the bars every so often during this time to make sure each side of the bar is receiving adequate air flow. The cure time begins not from the day you made the soap but from the time you set it on the shelf to cure.
13. When it comes to cleaning up the equipment, it’s best to leave it aside in a safe place to wash the next day, as it won’t be as harsh after it sits for a while. This is because the chemicals of the lye could still be present. So it’s best to wait.

Using your cleansing coconut oil soap:

1. This homemade coconut oil bar soap creates a rich and creamy lather on the skin. These bars are ideal for anyone with sensitive or dry skin.
2. Once made, these bars can last up to two years. Just ensure you keep a close eye on them and if there are any signs of contamination or mould, discontinue use. As the bars contain natural oils, they can go rancid over time.

This blog is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice. The use of information on this blog or materials linked from this blog is at the user’s own risk. The content of this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard, or delay in obtaining, medical advice for any medical condition they may have, and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.

Have you ever made your own soap bars before? How did it go? Share in the comments below.

Lots of love,

Vanessa