Simple Calendula Soap Recipe
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This calendula soap recipe uses calendula petals infused in olive oil to create beautiful and natural yellow soap. This cold process soap recipe also uses dried flower petals for decoration and shares how to make the final color bright and beautiful by oven-processing it.
Years ago, when I first started making handmade soap, there were very few natural soap colorants around. In fact, I remember browsing the listings for a local soap ingredients supplier, and the only things even close were a handful of clays and the nature-identical (but not natural) ultramarines and oxides. It was then that I started experimenting with using plants and flowers from the garden to see what colors I could get. This calendula soap recipe is the successful result of one of those experiments.
Calendula flowers are edible, a natural dye plant, have skin-healing properties, and are extremely easy to grow. For soapmakers, they’re a rare flower that doesn’t fade in color in the alkaline pH of soap. That means that we can use the petals in various ways to add cheerful yellow to orange color to our soap recipes. The recipe that you’ll find below uses calendula-infused oil to make natural yellow soap. Steep the orange flowers for longer, or use a 100% olive oil soap recipe, and you could even get vibrant orange soap bars.
Natural Yellow Soap Colorant
In my quest to discover ways to naturally color soap, I’ve come across some beautiful shades. Some are truly special, such as the vibrant magenta-red from Himalayan rhubarb or the soft blue of indigo. Yellow soap colorants are some of the most common (just like in fiber dyeing), and both carrot soap and calendula are my favorites. Using the flowers to create an infused oil, then using it in your soap recipes, creates stunning yellow-to-orange soap. You can even mix the flower petals into the soap batter since they’re the only flower that truly retains its color in soap bars.
Ingredients used to color soap are considered soap additives, and they are completely optional in soap recipes. They also have different methods of use and can be used as techniques to color almost any soap recipe. I’ve based this calendula-infused oil soap recipe on my eco-friendly soap recipe because it produces a pure white bar of soap. You get to see a true reflection of the color that way since the calendula displays true on the white base. Feel free to use the calendula-infused oil step for other recipes, though. Those with more olive oil or yellow oils, like cocoa butter, could intensify the yellow.
Use Orange Flowers to make Calendula Soap
One of the most important aspects of this calendula soap recipe is choosing the right calendula flowers. If you buy dried calendula, you’re often sent yellow flowers and no information on which type of calendula it is. If you grow it instead, which I highly recommend, you can choose to grow an orange variety. It’s important that you use orange flowers if you want to get a vibrant color.
Calendula officinalis, also called the pot marigold, comes in several hues, including yellow, orange, and pink. They are unrelated to the common marigold (Tagetes type) that many people are more familiar with. Any orange variety will do for this soap recipe, including the common ‘Indian Prince’ and the less common Erfurter Orangefarbige – the type that I grow. The color of the petals will translate into the shade you get in calendula-infused oil soap. The paler the shade of the flowers, the paler the shade of the soap.
Making Calendula-Infused Oil
The soap recipe and instructions below are beginner-level. It’s a basic soap recipe with simple instructions and a straightforward process. There are a couple of things that you should do to get the color right, though. First is making the calendula-infused oil with the right flowers, as explained above. It takes about a month with the cold-infusion method, but there are quicker methods you can try, too. Dried calendula flower petals are the safest way to make it, too, since they won’t mold if they float to the surface of the oil. Fresh flowers will. Mold and other microbes can affect the shelf-life of the oil and your final soap.
The brief instructions below give exact measurements for making calendula-infused oil. You don’t have to be as meticulous, though. I used 25 g dried flowers to 500 g olive oil, but you can use the folk method for making infused oil. Half-fill a pint jar with dried calendula flowers, then fill the jar up to the neck with olive oil. You can use any type of olive oil that you wish — extra virgin will give you a yellower soap. If you wish to use the technique for another soap recipe, you can infuse the calendula flowers into other liquid carrier oils. At the end of the process, you can bottle any leftover calendula-infused oil and store it in a dark, cool cupboard for up to a year.
Calendula Soap Recipe
The other thing that is important for getting a vibrant color is ensuring that your soap gels. Gelling is a heating action that takes place while your soap ingredients saponify. However, it only happens if the ambient temperature is very warm, the soap is kept warm and insulated, or it is oven-processed. Though gelling doesn’t affect the cleansing or lathering properties of the soap, it does affect color by deepening it. If you pour soap into loaf molds, it can be easier to gel than soap poured into individual cavity molds. That’s why I use a small loaf soap mold for making calendula soap.
There are other ways to use calendula in soapmaking, too. Aside from using calendula-infused oil, you can also use the flowers directly in the soap. I sometimes add about a Tablespoon per 1-lb batch directly to the solid oils as they melt. The stick blender chops them up into fine pieces later on in the process. However, the easiest way to use calendula flowers is to decorate the tops with dried flowers, as I do in this recipe. You can also use calendula tea for the lye solution instead of distilled water, and that can intensify the color, too. Or go ahead and use all three techniques if you want! But for now, let’s focus on making calendula soap using calendula-infused oil. This technique shows you how to make soft yellow soap that’s simple, beautiful, and completely natural.
Calendula for Skincare
Before we get to the calendula soap recipe, I’d also like to share some other ways that you can use calendula officinalis. It’s one of the easiest skincare herbs that you can grow and is well-known for its anti-inflammatory properties and helping speed up the healing of small wounds and cuts. It also soothes eczema and sensitive skin, which is why you’ll often find it in healing salves, creams, and skin moisturizers. In the recipe below, you’ll make calendula-infused oil to use as a natural soap colorant. Use whatever excess you have to make these other recipes. You can replace the sweet almond oil or other liquid oils with the calendula-infused olive oil:
- Calendula lotion recipe
- Homemade body butter recipe
- Herbal healing salve recipe
- Get the Calendula for Skincare Ebook
Calendula Soap Recipe
Equipment
- immersion blender (stick blender) (also called a stick blender)
Materials
Calendula-infused oil
- 25 g dried calendula flowers 0.88 oz
- 500 g olive oil (light colored or pomace) 17.6 oz
Lye solution
- 63 g sodium hydroxide 2.22 oz
- 113 g distilled water 3.99 oz
Solid oils
- 114 g coconut oil (refined) 4.02 oz
- 91 g shea butter (refined) 3.21 oz
Liquid oils
- 227 g calendula-infused olive oil 8.01 oz
- 23 g castor oil 0.81 oz
After Trace
- 3 tsp may chang (litsea cubeba) essential oil Or lavender essential oil (optional)
Instructions
Make the calendula-infused oil
- A month before you make this calendula soap recipe, start infusing the olive oil with dried calendula flowers. Make sure that the petals are orange, not yellow. For this recipe, I used 25 g dried flowers to 500 g olive oil.
- Mix the calendula and oil together in a sealed jar and leave them to steep in a dark but warm place for a month. Give the jar a shake every now and again.
- After a month, strain the flowers from the oil and discard (or compost). You will have enough orange-tinted calendula oil to use for two batches of this soap recipe. Or you can use whatever you have left to make this salve.
- If you're in a hurry, check out these six ways to make infused oil. Some are quicker than others.
Prepare to make calendula soap
- Cold-process soapmaking is chemistry, and this recipe uses lye. Lye is a caustic substance that is completely neutralized in the soapmaking process, but it can be harmful if not handled correctly. Please read this soap making safety guidance before proceeding.
- Prepare your workstation with your tools and equipment. Wear long sleeves and wear rubber gloves, eye protection, and an apron. Carefully pre-measure the ingredients. The solid oils into the pan, the liquid oils into a jug, the water into another heat-proof jug, and the lye in another container.
- Set out your mold and ensure you have everything you need laid out. Being organized at this stage will help you to successfully make soap!
Make the calendula soap
- The first step is to dissolve the lye (Sodium hydroxide) crystals in water. In an airy place, outdoors is best, pour the lye crystals into the water and stir well. There will be a lot of heat and steam so be careful. Try not to breathe it in. Leave outside in a safe place, or in a shallow basin of water to cool.
- Melt the solid oils in a stainless steel pan on very low heat. When melted, remove from the heat and set on a potholder. Pour in the liquid oils. If you have the olive and castor oils in the same container, stir them together first before pouring into the pan. Castor oil is pretty sticky and it's easier to pour when mixed with a lighter oil.
- Measure the temperatures of the lye-water and the oils. You should aim to cool them both to be 100°F / 38°C, or just below.
- Pour the lye solution into the pan of oils. I recommend pouring the liquid through a sieve to catch any potential undissolved lye. The soap mix will still look somewhat transparent until you begin mixing it.
- Dip your immersion blender into the pan, and with it turned off, stir the mixture. Next, bring it to the center of the pan, and with both your hands, hold it on the bottom of the pan and stick blend for just a couple of seconds. Turn it off and stir the soap batter, using the blender as a spoon. Repeat until the mixture thickens up to 'Trace.' This is when the batter leaves a distinguishable trail on the surface. The consistency and look of it will be like thin custard. It will quickly thicken up to a medium trace, which is more like pudding, so work quickly from this point.
- Stir in the essential oil, if you're using it. Mix thoroughly but quickly. Essential oil adds scent to your soap, but it's an optional ingredient and you can leave it out if you'd like unscented bars.
- Still working quickly, pour the soap into the mold(s). Give it a tap to settle it and release air bubbles. If you wish, you can sprinkle dried calendula flower petals on top. If you live in a humid climate, don't do this since any kind of botanicals in/on your soap can mold.
- Take steps to ensure that the soap gels. This is a process where the soap heats up, and the color deepens. It's important if you want bright colors. There are a couple of ways to do this, but the best I've found is to place the mold in an oven that has been preheated to about 75°C (170°F). Turn the oven off and close the door. Leave the soap inside for at least 12 hours or overnight.
- The next day, take the calendula soap out of the oven and set it someplace to rest for another day.
- Once 48 hours have passed, you can take the soap out of the mold and cut it into bars using a soap cutter or kitchen knife. If you've opted to decorate the top with flower petals, cut the loaf from the bottom to avoid dragging the petals through the soap with your knife.
- You can get five or six decent-sized bars of soap from this batch if you use the square mold that I have. In the six-cavity molds, you'll get six perfect bars, but it can be more challenging to gel the soap.
- Cure it for 28 days. Curing means leaving the bars spaced out on a protected surface out of direct sunlight and in an airy place. This allows the extra water content to fully evaporate out. Here are full instructions on how to cure soap.
- Once made, your soap will have a shelf-life of up to two years. Check the oil bottles that you're using though — the closest best-by date is the best-by date of your soap.
Can you confirm that the recipe is correct. I entered it in soapcalc with your measurements intending to convert to my mold capacity and it doesn’t add up to 100% oils (only 73%). Just thought something might have been left out.
Hi Sheila, the recipe is correct – just add up the amounts of each oil and you’ll get 455 g (or 16.02 oz) for a single batch. The fact that you’re referencing percentages makes me think that you’re having trouble using the Soapcalc. I recommend that you add my exact recipe into the Soapcalc using grams. When it’s completely filled in, toggle the radio button over to % and then put the batch size you’re aiming for in at the top. Recalculate and you’ll have your recipe. Also, Soapcalc have changed recently but you can find the same style soap calculator they used to have here.
This soap looks lovely! I already made a batch of calendula oil with jojoba oil. Could I substitute that for the olive oil? I checked your post about changing soap recipe but didn’t see anything about substituting jojoba oil.
Hi Sophia, your infused oil sounds wonderful but no, it would not be a good substitution for this recipe. Jojoba oil is not a commonly used soapmaking oil since it doesn’t saponify (transform into soap) well. If it is used, its purpose is the superfat oil and so is used at no more than about 5-8% max.
I just LOVE your soap. I have made a lot and given much as gifts. Everyone loves it. Thanks! I much appreciate your kindness and sharing. I do also.!!(Share)Blessings!!PS I love all your videos.
Thank you so much, Judith, and I’m so happy that you’re enjoying making the recipes :)
This is such a gorgeous smelling soap that feels luxurious. I dried my own calendula petals to use in the soap. I use it as both a face and body soap. I gifted it to friends who asked me when I’m making more so they could buy a bar. Thanks or such a lovely recipe.
You are so welcome, Dina :)
Will it turn out if I make a double batch and put it all in one larger mold?
Absolutely :)
Hello ! Do you think I Can use this soap on my newborn ? 🙂
The best soap for newborns will be gentle, without any fragrance and essential oils, and full of extra conditioning oils.
Hello. I have a question about this calendula recipe.
I have made calendula oil already and have made your recipe for calendula salve. So…
-how much calendula oil do you actually use for the calendula soap recipe? In the instructions to make the calendula oil it states to use 500 gm olive oil with 25 gm dried calendula flowers. Then it said later that that recipe makes enough for 2 batches of soap…. I don’t really know if 500 gm of oil with the 25 gm of flowers will yield 500 gm of calendula oil or more or less, so I don’t really know how much calendula oil to use to make to make the soap. Have I missed something in the recipe that notes this?
Hi Trish, you need 227 g of calendula-infused oil to make the soap recipe. You start off the process by making calendula-infused oil, though. I recommend making enough so that you can make two batches of soap, which is why I instruct to use 500 g of oil. That way, if you mess up or want to make a second batch you have oil ready to go! To do the math for you, 227×2=454
Could Almond oil be used in place of the olive oil? I have a large amount of calendula infused almond oil that I would love to use up. Thank you!
Hi Melissa, technically yes, but I wouldn’t do that. Using any more than about 15% sweet almond oil in soap recipes usually leads to the soap going rancid quickly. Instead, you can use that oil for loads of other calendula recipes such as the ones in my Calendula ebook.
I really messed this recipe up. Looking for a solution. The soap look so so pretty when I poured it into the molds. I added dried petals to the soap after I poured it. Darn!!!!
I placed it into the oven as the recipe stated. I have done this on other soap recipes of your & really liked the results. On this batch I forgot to turn the oven off for about 10 minutes. When I realized my mistake I opened the oven to see my beautiful soap rising like a loaf of bread. I pushed the bars back down, turned off the oven (so mad at myself)
I left the soap in the oven over night to cool. Now I have these ruined bars. Is there anything that I can make out of these bars now or is it better to trash them & start over?
I am worried that the calendula flower petals will be the issue here with grating the soap & adding water for a liquid soap.
Thanks in advance
Susie
Hi Susie, your soap might not look how you like but it’s definitely not ruined. Set them aside for personal use and make another batch if you want to give them as gifts? Soapmakers always have a pile of “ugly soap” lying around for personal use only :)
Love all your recipes. Is there a way to use goats milk in this recipe? It makes my skin so much soft than just water. Thanks in advance
Hi Susie, and yes you can :) I’d recommend that you substitute half of the water in the recipe for goats milk and follow the instructions in my goat milk soap recipe to make it. Goat milk (and other milks) scorch if the temperature is too hot, and when you mix the lye solution it can get almost up to the boiling point (200F/93C). For that reason, you can add the liquid goat milk to the melted oils before mixing in the cooled lye solution. Alternatively, you could freeze the goat milk and add it to the lye solution after it’s cooled down some. The frozen goat milk help to speed up it cooling down to the temperature you’re aiming for with soapmaking.
Why does the pumpkin cold process get put in the oven but this one doesnt? Is that an option for both recipes?
See step 8 for gelling the soap in the oven.
Hi Tanya, is this soap better for the skin? Are the Calendula properties stays after the process with the lye? Thanks!
Hi Maya, it’s really hard to say if any of calendula’s medicinal properties survive the soapmaking process. There haven’t been scientific studies on this! Also, since soap washes off, any remaining tiny residue on your skin would probably have little effect. If you wanted to harness calendula’s skin-therapeutic properties, it’s better to use it in leave-on products such as this healing salve recipe or this calendula cream recipe.
What can I substitute coconut oil with? I want to make a batch without it as my youngest is slightly allergic to coconut consumption. I dont want to take chances and flare up a toddlers eczema. I did make a batch with coconut oil and it was fabulous. It was the first soap I ever made and was a huge hit.
Hi Veena, the allergies people have to eating foods are different from the allergies you have on your skin. She may have no reaction at all to the coconut oil in soap but if you’re worried, you can substitute babassu oil for coconut oil in any recipe. You will need to recalculate the lye amount though by running the recipe through the SoapCalc. I have more info on changing a soap recipe if you’d like to take a look :)
Hi, great recipe and blog. However, I have a question with regards to this recipe. I would like to make a calendula oil infusion as oppose to the classical virgin olive oil I normally use. May I, add turmeric and leave it to infusionate together with the calendula infusion , so it goes turning orange colour, or should I add the turmeric at the end, in the trace ?Thank you.
Hi Berta, all a calendula oil infusion is, is calendula flowers steeped in a carrier oil. That oil might be olive oil or another liquid oil such as sunflower oil. The important thing when making calendula-infused oil soap is that the oil matches the type you need for the soap recipe. As for adding turmeric, you can of course infuse it into oil at the same time as calendula or you can add dried turmeric directly to the soap as in this recipe.
Hi! Thank you for this recipe!
I was wondering if there’s any difference using cold pressed oil and butter or refined while making soaps.
What do you use usually? Does the refined Shea butter looses all its benefits?
Thanks! Abigail
Hi Abigail, cold-pressed is some of the highest quality oil and as the name suggests, is pressed without using heat. This retains more of the vitamins and nutrients and also flavor! If you use it in soap, it’s subjected to heat (even with cold-process) and lye. For that reason, I don’t personally use cold-pressed oils and butters in soapmaking. You also lose the scent of coconut oil if you use virgin coconut oil in soapmaking. Instead, I use refined oils. Refined coconut oil is used in healthier frying and gives all the soap properties of coconut oil without the added cost of cold-pressed. Refined shea butter doesn’t have the characteristic scent of shea butter that some people dislike. I suggest saving cold-pressed oils for food or low-heat skincare and using refined for soapmaking. The oil qualities you need for soapmaking are still retained in refined oils.
Is the lye and water correct? When I run this through SoapCalc, it’s high, so I was wondering if it’s correct.
Yes, both are correct — I water discount all of my recipes to ensure success for beginners. The SoapCalc often recommends far too much water and it leads to all sorts of issues including bar shrinkage, soda ash residue, glycerine rivers, and other issues. Stick to the amounts listed and you’ll be pleased with the results.
Could I make calendula soap with the melt and pour base as I really don’t want to make the actual soap? I also want to make the carrot soap too.
Hi Chrissie, M&P soap isn’t really suited to having much added to it. A little extra superfatting oil, sure, or a little scent or color. I wouldn’t recommend using carrot puree with it though, or enough calendula-infused oil to make a huge color difference. I do have a M&P calendula recipe that you might want to look at, though.