Christmas Soap Recipe with Festive Swirls
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This cold-process Christmas soap recipe makes ten bars of candy-cane-scented and festively swirled soap. The instructions lead you through the ‘In-The-Pot-Swirl’ technique, which is ideal for intermediate soapmakers but doable for determined beginners. You create the pretty tops with simple drizzles of colored soap batter and a chopstick.
With the holiday season approaching, you might be thinking about making Christmas gifts. I certainly am! And you can bet that as a soapmaker, there’s a high chance that loved ones will get bars tucked into their stockings. I may be biased, but I think homemade soaps are the perfect gift. They can be pretty, festive, and practical; plus, they’re a handmade item that seems really valued.
If you’d like to make soap to give as gifts, I have a few recipes you can use. More than a few! But to keep things in the festive spirit, I’ve created this Christmas soap recipe to naturally smell like candy canes and kind of look like one, too. It’s made with green, red, and white swirls that you create using a simple ‘In the Pot Swirl’ technique. Then, you finish the tops with an easy linear pattern you create with a chopstick. As for the soap itself, it’s gentle and palm-oil-free and creates big fluffy bubbles.
Making this Christmas Soap Recipe
Swirling cold-process soap can look very easy, but there are several tips to ensure success. This recipe has more water than I usually use to help slow the soap from thickening too quickly. This recipe is also high in olive oil, though it’s not as slow-moving as extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO). Pomace olive oil gives your bars a much lighter final color and doesn’t interfere with the soap colorants. You can, of course, use EVOO for this recipe, but the white areas will be more off-white to light yellow.
You also create the main pattern of this soap using the ‘In the Pot Swirl’ technique. It’s one of the easier swirled soap techniques and less work than the one in the Honey Fudge Soap Recipe. It involves making the main soap batch, dividing it, and coloring parts of it green and red. How you add the colors, stir, and pour will all affect the final pattern. Gelling the soap after is essential for intensifying the colors.
Christmas Soap Fragrances
Though many Christmas soap fragrances are available, most are perfumes called fragrance oils. Many soapmakers use them, but I try to use natural ingredients instead. Fortunately, one of the most known Christmas scents is the simple peppermint of candy canes. It works beautifully in this recipe, and peppermint essential oil is one of the least expensive you can get. I also have a simple peppermint soap recipe that doesn’t involve swirling if you want to try making that one first.
There are other essential oils that you can use to achieve a Christmasy scent, but each has a specific maximum usage rate. Pine, clove, cinnamon, and orange essential oils all come to mind. Vanilla is also lovely, but be aware that vanilla extract for cooking doesn’t work in soap and will turn soap brown. Essential oils made with spices, such as cinnamon and clove, can be highly sensitizing to the skin, and their usage rates are tiny. If you want to look at other essential oils, I have more details on how much to use in soap recipes in this essential oils usage chart.
More Christmas DIYs
Beginners can make this Christmas soap recipe, but it takes quite a few steps. If it feels daunting, I recommend trying these Easy Soap Recipes first. They make simple natural soaps that are as lovely for the holidays as any other time of the year. I also have plenty of other Christmas inspiration for you to check out. Begin with the ideas below, but look around the site, too. There’s a lot to discover!
- Cinnamon Soap Recipe
- Sweet Orange Soap Recipe
- Christmas Tree Bath Fizzies
- Yule Log Cake Recipe
- How to Make Soy Candles
Christmas Soap Recipe with Festive Swirls
Equipment
- medium stainless steel pot (2.5 quart/liter)
- four additional plastic jugs or bowls
Materials
Lye solution
- 110 g sodium hydroxide 3.88 oz
- 250 g distilled water 8.8 oz
Solid oils
- 200 g coconut oil (refined) 7.05 oz (25%)
- 160 g shea butter (refined) 5.64 oz (20%)
Liquid oils
- 400 g olive oil (light colored or pomace) 14.1 oz (50%)
- 40 g castor oil 1.41 oz (5%)
Add after Trace
- 5 tsp peppermint (mentha piperita) essential oil 23 g / 0.81 oz
- 1/8 tsp madder root powder *
- 1/8 tsp red iron oxide *
- 1/8 tsp chromium green oxide (mineral pigment) *
- 2 tsp olive oil (light colored or pomace) for mixing the colors
Instructions
Prepare Your Soap Making Station
- 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.
- Ensure that your kitchen workspace is clean and set up with all of your tools, ingredients, and equipment. Please also prepare yourself by wearing long sleeves, closed-toe shoes, goggles, and plastic gloves.
- Using a digital kitchen scale, measure the solid oils into the pan, the liquid oils into a jug, the sodium hydroxide (lye) into a jug, and the distilled water into the heat-proof jug.
- Measure the colorants into separate jugs with one teaspoon of olive oil each. One jug gets the chromium green oxide, while the other gets the red iron oxide and madder root powder. Mix the powders into the oil with spatulas until no chunks are visible.
Make the Lye Solution
- Work in an area with good ventilation when mixing the lye and water together. There will be steam and heat in this step so be cautious. Don't breathe in the steam and ensure the lye solution doesn't get on your skin. If it does, rinse it with water thoroughly.
- Pour the lye into the water and then mix with a stainless steel spoon until the lye crystals are fully dissolved.
- Set the lye solution aside to cool. I like to set the jug in a basin (or sink) shallowly filled with cold water to speed up the process. Take its temperature with a digital thermometer. You're aiming for it to be around 100°F (38°C). It will be much hotter than that initially but keep coming back to stir and take its temperature.
Melt the Solid Oils
- Place the pan of solid oils on the stovetop and turn the hob on to the lowest heat setting. The oil will melt quicker than you expect, so stay with the pan, moving the oil around in the pan to help speed up melting. When there are a few small pieces of solid oil still floating, take the pan off the heat and set it on a potholder. They'll melt with the residual heat and a few stirs of your spoon/spatula.
Add the liquid oils
- Pour the liquid oils into the pan of melted oils. Use the spatula to get every last drop out of the jug, and then stir the oils together gently.
- Take the temperature of the mixed oils. You're aiming for around the same temperature as the lye solution, 100°F (38°C), but they don't have to be exact.
Bringing the Ingredients to 'Trace'
- When the temperatures are right, carefully place the head of the immersion blender (stick blender) into the oils. Insert it at an angle so that any air inside the head can escape as you submerge the head.
- Pour the lye solution through the sieve and into the pan of oils.
- Gently stir the contents of the pan, using the immersion blender as a spoon. Then, bring it into the center of the pan and hold it against the bottom of the pan. Not moving the immersion blender, pulse for a couple of seconds. Then gently stir.
- Keep repeating this 'pulse then stir' process until the soap mixture thickens to a very light trace. It will have the thinnest warm custard consistency. At this point, stop blending, tap off the immersion blender's head, and put it aside. You will not use it again.
After Trace
- Pour in the peppermint essential oil and gently stir with a spatula until completely mixed in.
Mixing the Colors
- Place the jug with the red color on the digital scale, tare the scale if necessary, and measure in a quarter of the soap batter. That will be about 290 g (10.2 oz). With the spatula, gently blend the soap batter into the color until completely mixed in.
- Place the jug with the green color on the digital scale, tare the scale if necessary, and measure a quarter of the soap batter in. That will be about 290 g (10.2 oz). With the spatula, gently blend the soap batter into the color until completely mixed in.
- Pour the rest of the uncolored soap batter into another jug. It can be the same jug you used for the liquid oils or a clean one.
Pouring the Soap to Create Swirls
- What you do next will create the swirls in the soap. Work quickly and stay focused.
- Place the jug filled with uncolored soap in front of you. You will pour the colored soap into it at four different spots. Think of the circular shape as a clock: red will go in at twelve and six o'clock and green at three and nine o'clock.
- To pour, hold the jug of colored oil about a foot (30 cm) above the jug of uncolored soap. This will help the colored soap plunge down to the bottom. Pour about 80% of the red soap in spots at the top and bottom. Then, pour 80% of the green soap at the spots to the sides. Leave about 20% of the green and red soap in their respective jugs for later. Look at the photo for reference.
- The next part is crucial. Insert a clean spatula into the jug of soap batter at 12 o'clock. Dip it in all the way to the bottom. Next, rotate it in one clean circular movement around the clock, and when you get back to 12, pull the spatula out. Do not stir any more than this, or the colors will muddle.
- Place the loaf mold in front of you*. Choose a spot on one end of the mold and pour the batter only there until the mold is at least half-filled. At that point, you can continue filling from that one spot or move the pour around if you wish.
- When filled, settle the soap batter by gently lifting the mold and tapping it on the counter.
Creating the Top Design
- Preheat the oven on to 170°F (75°C)*
- The top design on the bars is much easier to create than you'd think. The first step is to drizzle the remaining colored soap on top. First, one color, then a layer of the other. Use a spatula to scrape as much out of the jug as possible.
- Gently tap the mold again to settle it, and clean the edges of the mold if necessary.
- Beginning on one end, insert a skewer just under the surface of the drizzled soap. No more than that, or you can muddle the main swirl. Move the stick across in one stroke, slide it the tiniest bit over, and then move it back in a stroke, going the opposite way. Keep repeating until you reach the other side of the mold. Gently tap the mold to settle it again.
Ensuring vibrant color
- Bring the soap to gel to encourage the colors to be as vibrant as possible. There are a few ways to do this, but the most dependable one for me is using the oven process method. I will continue with that process now but will mention other methods in the notes*.
- Turn the pre-heated oven off, and place the soap mold inside.
- Leave the soap inside for at least twelve hours, and the residual warmth will cause the soap to gel. It heats up from the inside out, intensifying the final colors. After the time is up, set the soap mold somewhere safe.
- After two days, you can cut the soap into bars. The size is up to you and you may use an ordinary kitchen knife and a cutting board. After two days, the soap is safe to handle, but it's best to wear gloves to stop the soap from getting fingerprints.
Curing
- Though the saponification process is complete after two days, the soap bars must be cured to make them gentle and have the best lather.
- When fully cured*, you can begin using the soap and gifting it to others. Try these ideas for eco-friendly soap packaging.
I made this soap the other day but I wish the colors were a bit brighter. Where is a good place to purchase the iron oxide nature identical colors? I can’t wait to try this soap. Thank you
Hi Judy, I’ve included links to where you can get them on Amazon.com in the recipe card. They’ll work for you if you live in the USA. Otherwise, I can recommend purchasing them from a soapmaking supplier. There’s a list of where to get them by country here.
Hello,
Thank you so much for your expertise and recipes.
I have been making soap for several months. I followed the Christmas Soap recipe but the colors came out quite muddy. The Amazon link I followed on your site for the colors indicated they were out of stock. I purchased these from Amazon:
Natural soap colorants Sampler – 5oz – for Soap Making and Cosmetics. Beet Root, Black Walnut Hull,Madder Root, Alfalfa, Safflower. Soap Making Supplies.
Brand: Traverse Bay Bath And Body
Any suggestions?
Thank you!
Mary
Hi Mary, the colorants used in the soap in the photos are mineral pigments. 1/8 tsp Chromium green oxide for the green, and 1/8 tsp red iron oxide plus 1/8 tsp madder root powder for the red. I had updated this to use plant-based colorants (opposed to mineral), but they can give less consistent colors. I’ll change the recipe back to reflect these original colorants.
Hi,
Can you use Titanium Dioxide in the uncolored Part? If so, how would you add it so that it blends correctly. If it is premixed with oil, how would you used that?
Thank you!
Jolene
Hi Jolene, yes you could. For the 1x soap recipe (an 800 g batch), mix 1/4 tsp titanium dioxide with a little (1-3 tsp) of the olive oil called for in the recipe. Add it to the uncolored soap and stir well after you’ve poured off the soap to make the green and red portions. Be aware that TD is not a natural ingredient, though, and that it can sometimes misbehave in soap. It’s known for causing glycerin rivers.
Hi! I was looking for Christmas gift ideas and would love to make this soap. I picked up soap making about a year ago and do try to make sure the ingredients I use are not synthetic in any way. Do you have any recommendations for purely natural substitutions for the dyes?
Thank you!
Hi Alexandria, the colorants used are not synthetic dyes, but rather nature-identical mineral pigments. The same materials that are used to create mineral make-up. If you’d like to use an alternative, you could substitute french green clay for the green oxide and French red clay for the red iron oxide. The colors won’t be the exact same though – they’ll be softer and more earthy in tone.
Hi Tanya,
i made this soap 5 days ago, but still have not been able to cut the bar, as it is still soft. I followed the recipe, except that I used lavender, rosemary, and geranium essential oils, and mica for the colourants.
I took the bar out of the mould, but would not want to cut it yet, for fear of smearing the bars in the process.
Any suggestions?
Thanks a lot, and best greetings from Germany.
Maria
Hi Maria, I’d just wait a few days until it firms up a bit. Did you use more water than was called for in the recipe, by chance? That could be why but don’t worry, as the water in the soap begins to evaporate it will be easier to cut :)
Hi! I just made a test batch of this recipe because I plan to make some Christmas gifts using the recipe. Do you have any tips on slowing down the trace? Mine trace accelerated rather rapidly and I was not able to use the swirl method described. Instead I had just barely enough time to get the soap in the mold and manually swirl. Hopefully I can get the next batch to trace slower.
Hi Rosie, first I’d check the fragrance that you’re using. Many fragrance oils (and some spice/floral essential oils) can accelerate trace. It may be that you’re using fragrance oil instead of essential oil? To slow down trace, you can use a little more water (up to 3x the amount of lye by weight). Stirring by spoon instead of an immersion blender slows things down too, especially if you’re new to soapmaking and aren’t quite sure when to finish stick blending.
Hi Marriane, please keep in mind that the SoapCalc’s default full water value (38%) is for hot process soap, not cold process. 35.7% is a moderate discount and my favorite amount of water to use. It’s also one that reduces the chance of soda ash appearing on soap, which is an irritation for soaps that you want to give as gifts.