Recipe and instructions on how to make honey and beeswax soap. Includes tips on how much beeswax to use in a soap recipe, and how to use honey to tint soap caramel-brown.
When I first taught myself to make soap I was determined to make some with my own honey and beeswax. With two hives of honeybees, I had buckets of the stuff to use and I thought it would be a wonderful idea to create products for Lovely Greens Handmade. I won’t lie — it was a difficult process. Batch after batch was either cracked or crumbly and I couldn’t work out what I was doing wrong. After a lot of trial and error I finally mastered using honey to make soap. It’s all down to the amount you use and your soaping temperature.
This honey and beeswax soap recipe will make you six creamy yet cleansing bars. Although it’s an advanced soap recipe, you can make it as a beginner if you stick to the recipe.
This recipe makes a hard, creamy bar with plenty of cleansing lather
Benefits of Honey and Beeswax Soap
Aside from wanting to use my own produce, both honey and beeswax have some incredible soap properties. Honey is used to add moisture and a sweet scent. It also increases lather which comes in useful if you’re making soap with beeswax too.
If you’re after natural color, you can also use honey in a technique that tints your soap a warm brown.
Beeswax is mainly used in soap to harden it. At small amounts it can add a firmness and silky texture to your bars while not affecting lather. It also has quite a high melting temperature which means you have to make soap at a slightly higher temperature too.
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Using beeswax in soap
Beeswax is a tricky one since up to 50% of the amount used in a soap recipe will not actually change into soap. If you use too much beeswax, this “un-saponifyable” portion of beeswax can stop your bars from lathering and give them a waxy feel. That’s why I don’t use any more than 1-2% beeswax in soap recipes.
That small percentage is more than enough to harden up the bars and give them a good texture. Even at just 1-2% beeswax in soap it will also speed up the tracing time — I’m talking less than a minute. Using more would dramatically speed things up and I imagine it would be liquid to thick gloop in a matter of seconds.
You might bemoan not being able to use more but there are plenty of other ideas you can use your leftovers in. Beeswax furniture polish and healing skin salve to name two.
Beeswax is used at 1-2% in soap recipes to harden your bars
Using honey in soap
Honey is just as tricky to use in soap as beeswax can be and you need to be careful about amount and temperature. Honey is a sugar, and just like all sugars will heat up your soap after its poured into the mold. This can cause all kinds of things, from changing the color to causing cracks and making the soap go crumbly. The color change can make your bars turn brown, because the sugars are heated and caramelize. Sometimes they can scorch through, and the color is very dark and the scent isn’t great. When this happens the bars usually crack too.
Another issues is that if you use too much, or if the honey isn’t fully liquid, you can also get honey oozing from your bars.
The key to using honey in soap is to be moderate in the amount used and conscious of heat. I use no more than 15g (1.5 tsp) of honey per 454g (1 lb) batch of soap. When trying to make a light colored soap I’ll keep the soaping temperature as low as possible, add the honey at trace, and potentially refrigerate the soap after its poured. The first two are problematic when you’re also working with beeswax since it needs a warmer soaping temperature and traces so quickly. You barely have enough time to stir anything in at the end. I share my work-around in the recipe below.
Honey increases soap lather but can also cause your soap to heat up and scorch
Sustainable Palm oil
You’ll notice that I’ve included Sustainable Palm oil in this recipe. After a LONG hiatus of not using palm at all, I’m back. It’s one of the best oils for the job but is very controversial. It stems mainly from the way its grown and how it has utterly destroyed rainforests in south-east asia. We’re talking an area the size of New Zealand folks. It’s a devastating blow to our environment which is why we should all avoid dirty palm oil. This is ALL palm oil that hasn’t been certified by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm oil (RSPO). It’s used in a lot of things including prepared cookies, bread, and Crisco, not to mention soap.
So why am I using palm at all? It’s complicated and I encourage you to read my piece on How avoiding Palm Oil in soap making could INCREASE deforestation. I am now a staunch supporter of the RSPO’s efforts and in helping whichever way I can. Please ensure that the palm oil you use for this recipe is sustainable. If you can’t find it, then please make one of my palm-oil free recipes. You can also adjust this recipe to not use palm oil with these directions.
RSPO certified palm oil is available from soap ingredient suppliers like this one in the UK
Making this Honey and Beeswax soap recipe
This is an advanced soap recipe. Both honey and beeswax are amazing ingredients to use in soap making but both can cause so many issues. If you stick diligently to the recipe you should be fine though.
Another issue with making soap with honey is its potential to turn a bit crumbly. This can happen at the corners and edges and is a nightmare. It’s especially a pain if you’ve poured the soap into a loaf mold, only to find that each bar you cut is crumbly. To avoid any issues with heat, cracking, or crumbling, follow this recipe to a T and pour your soap into a 6-cavity silicone soap mold. You’ll thank me for it later.
Making honey and beeswax soap is simple but you need to keep an eye on temperature and measurements.
Soap Making Equipment
Much of the soap making equipment you need could already be in your kitchen. Rubber washing-up gloves, bowls, and even silicone molds. If you don’t have everything, you can purchase it online relatively inexpensively. Also make sure to check out second-hand shops for pots and other items. A list of needed soap making equipment will be a little further below.
To protect yourself from the lye-solution you should always wear eye protection (goggles) and rubber gloves.
Now on to the recipe…
Honey and Beeswax Soap Recipe
Equipment
- Stainless steel pan for melting the solid oils
- A large bowl for measuring the liquid oils into
- Heat-proof jug for the lye-solution
Ingredients
Lye water
- 64 g Sodium hydroxide 2.27 oz
- 121 g Distilled water 4.27 oz
Solid oils
- 135 g Coconut oil (refined) 4.76 oz
- 67 g Sustainably Sourced Palm oil 2.36 oz
- 7 g Beeswax 0.25 oz
Liquid oils
- 98 g Olive oil 3.46 oz
- 97 g Sunflower oil 3.42 oz
- 50 g Castor oil 1.76 oz
Add after Trace
- 10 g Real Honey 1 tsp
- 8 g Oatmeal Optional/ 1 TBSP
To decorate
- 2.5 g Oatmeal or rolled oats Optional / ¼ tsp
Instructions
- Time to suit and boot. Make sure you're wearing a long-sleeved shirt, pants or a long skirt, and closed-toe shoes. Put on eye protection (goggles) and rubber gloves.
- 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 breath it in. Leave outside in a safe place, or in a shallow basin of water, or sink, 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 pot holder. Pour in the liquid oils and stir.
- Measure the temperatures of the lye-water and the oils. You should aim to cool them both to be about 130°F / 54°C for light-brown colored soap. If you want your bars darker and the honey scent stronger, then mix your soap at 150°F / 66°C. For the darker color it's better to pour the soap into a loaf mold too. If you're a beginner, stick to the temperature and mold for the lighter soap.
- Pour first the honey then the lye-solution into the pan of oils. I tend to pour the lye through a sieve to catch any potential undissolved lye or bits.
- 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 blitz it for just a couple 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 will be like thin custard at first but it will thicken quickly thanks to the beeswax.
- Working quickly, stir in the oatmeal and pour the soap into the mold(s). Use a skewer to create a texture on the top. For these, I dipped the end of the skewer in one corner then made tiny circles all the way to the other side. Four columns of this and each bar is complete. Sprinkle the top with just the smallest amount of oatmeal or rolled oats.
- Set the mold on a heat-proof surface and leave uncovered for two days. Alternatively, you can pop the mold in the fridge overnight. This will ensure a light color.
- Once 48 hours have passed, you can pop the soap out. 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.
- 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.
Video
More Honey and beeswax ideas
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- Lavender & Honey Soapless Facial Cleanser Recipe
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Maria says
Hi Tanya,
I made this recipe today for the first time. I was surprised at how long it took for it to reach trace, and am wandering if (apart from not enough beeswax*) temperature is a factor in reaching trace?
*You mentioned that too much beeswax isn’t good for the soap, and I wasn’t sure if my digital kitchen scales would be accurate to within 1-2gr, so I used slightly less (5gr) than your recommended quantity. Also after I had melted it, I took it off the heat to check on my lye solution, and then had some trouble mixing it with the oils as it had started to re-solidify (!).
Also as a novice soap maker, can I just say how much I appreciate that so many of your recipes are small batch, as I really don’t want to be risking large batches and potentially wasting all those oils!
lovelygreens says
Beeswax tends to make soap trace quickly so you’re fine with that amount. Temperature is a factor in trace as well and the warmer it is, the quicker it traces. Slow trace is not a bad thing especially for this recipe. Lower temperatures mean the honey won’t discolor and you have time to work. If your soap traced, it comes out looking great, and feels good on your skin then well done 🙂
Maria says
Hi Tanya,
I am keen to try this recipe… I am also wondering if you have any experience of adding honey and beeswax to a castile soap recipe? I really like the simplicity and of castile soap (olive oil only!) and the end result, and am interested to try adding honey to it…
lovelygreens says
I’ve not made a soap recipe like that before but think it would turn out great 🙂
Emma says
Hi! Is it possible to leave Castor oil out from the recipe? Because it’s a little bit expensive for me 🙂
And of course thanks to this recipe 🙂
lovelygreens says
Sorry no, it’s required for this recipe. Castor oil shouldn’t be that expensive though. All you need is a small bottle 🙂
Nicole says
Hi Tanya thank you for the amazing recipe i am from Chile so some things arent here can i repleased de solid oils justo using only coconut oil ? For the honey lavander soap and if i can what will be the ammount in g
? Thank you 🤗
Amina says
Hi Tanya for this recipe when you say temperature at 130. Do you mean that’s the temperature they should be together or each separately. Also if I wanted to make 2 lb batch would I just double the recipe.
lovelygreens says
That’s the temperature they should be at once mixed together. However, there should not be a wild difference in temperature before they are mixed. They should be within 10 degrees F of one another.
As for doubling — go for it but I’d recommend using cavity molds.
Vicki Farley says
Hi Tanya,
I’m excited to make this soap. Will the oats work as an exfoliant? If so, would I be able to leave the oats out?
lovelygreens says
A very light exfoliant but you can leave them out either way 🙂
Ruchi says
Hi, firstly thanks for this awesome recipe. Not sure if I’ll get a revert since this post is quite old but still gonna try my luck. I was wondering if I can use soywax instead of the beeswax? If yes then what qty / % is advisable in soaping? I have been trying to search for soywax soap recipe but no success 🙁
lovelygreens says
Hi Ruchi — you can use soywax but the quantity and amount of sodium hydroxide (lye) you’ll need will be a little different. Pop my recipe into the SoapCalc. Take the beeswax out and fiddle around with the calculations. I’d recommend that you head over there if you’re thinking of editing any soap recipe: http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
Helen says
Hi Tanya, Could I substitute babassu oil for the palm (using a lye calc!). Thanks for the recipe. Helen
lovelygreens says
Babassu is similar to coconut oil so I probably wouldn’t try to sub palm oil for it — the soap could be too drying.
Elise says
Hello
I am just wondering if i wanted to do this recipe or any recipe as a hot process soap is it just a matter of cooking it for about 45-60mins? Im new to this and just used this recipe to make a cold process one with a few substitutes castor oil for Almond oil, palm oil for Shea butter and more oats. hoping it will work
lovelygreens says
Hi Elise, as a beginner you should not make any substitutions with soap recipes. They’re a careful balance of different oils and the correct amount of sodium hydroxide for each. Each oil also has different properties in soap making and each can affect how hard or soft it turns out or how cleansing or not cleansing it is.
Pauline says
Would it be possible to replace any of the oils with Sweet Almond oil, as I was given 500mls
lovelygreens says
You could replace the olive oil with sweet almond but make sure to pop your final recipe into the Soap Calc. It will tell you what your new lye amount will be: http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
Jacob says
My soap turned very dark brown when I mixed they lye in with the oils. I’m also concerned the soap isn’t going to be “soapy” at all (suds). I rubbed the mixture between my fingers and it was just oily. As you can tell, this is my very first time making soap. I have bees so I figured I should try projects like this since I have an endless supply of beeswax and only keep pure organic oils around the house for cooking and DIY face, body products. Please help!<3
lovelygreens says
Your soap takes a full month to turn into soap Jacob — don’t rub the soap at all until it’s cured as bars for this amount of time.
Anne says
Thank you so much for the recipe! it really help a lot!
Anonymous says
I have only helped another beekeeper make soap twice so am pretty new to this. I have now branched off and do my own bees with honey and beeswax as a result. I have wanted to try making a traditional honey soap for some time and this definetly fits the desired ingredients! I'm wondering about curing. I seem to recall the guy I helped letting his soap cure for 6 weeks. Do you need to do this with this soap to harden it? And also, I remember him telling me it can be really hard to get the honey to incorporate well since it will want to seperate from the soap in pockets. Have you found that to be true or how do I avoid that happening? Lastly, I don't have a stick immersion blender. Can I use standard electric hand mixers? I saw that it's important to keep air from getting in….I was hoping that could be reduced but submerging the beaters in the liquid before turning them on and not raising and lowering them above the mixture. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Tanya from Lovely Greens says
Honey incorporates into soap just fine providing you don't use too much and that it's well mixed in. Saying that, if you do have too much, it's no bad thing for the honey to be on the soap. In fact, your skin will benefit from it 🙂
Liz says
Hi Tanya,
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
I was wondering if there is anything else I could use instead of the grapefruit seed extract as a preservative? I know you've mentioned the use of Vitamin E as a substitute but would that be enough to preserve the soap in the same way?
Thanks,
Liz
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Grapefruit Seed Extract isn't a preservative…rather, it's an antioxidant. It helps free floating oils in the soap to not go rancid. Another choice other than GSE or VITe is Rosemary Oleoresin Extract (ROE).
Christy says
Forgot to hit notify me
Christy says
This looks like such lovely soap. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful tutorials, they are so very helpful and informative. I have 1 question: Is the honey in this recipe what you are superfatting with? I just read your tutorial (I wish I had read it before I made my first batch, it's so much better than anything I had read before) Make, Mould, and cure and it mentioned putting the superfat oil in at trace. This tutorial didn't mention any oils at trace. I just want to make sure I understand.
Thank you
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Good eye! This soap is superfatted but instead of adding the extra oils at the end, all the oils are added at the same time. That way it works out that some of all the different types of oils are leftover to 'superfat' the bars. It's more imprecise than adding it at the end but when you're using beeswax in recipes you'll find that you'll hit trace a lot quicker and it can sometimes be difficult to mix in superfatting oils and extras. Especially for a beginner.
Roberta Devers Scott says
same question here. . .if you are wanting to increase this recipe to a 5# batch through soapcalc.com how do you do so? i wish you would do a tutorial. your are so good!!!!
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Just enter in all the ingredients and their measurements from this recipe into the SoapCalc. Hit the button 'Calculate Recipe'. Next, click the radio button next to the ingredients' quantities so that it's on % rather than measurement. Go then to section two where the batch weight is listed and change it to 5lbs. Hit 'Calculate Recipe' again and you'll have the amounts you need.
Krystal says
Can you make this soap using the Hot Process Soap Method??
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Absolutely…the recipe would be the same but the method in Hot Process is obviously different.
Lysi Browneyez says
Great Post Tanya….first time reading your blog. Very interesting thank you!
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Thanks Lysi 🙂
l collet says
Hi, what size soap mould does this fit? I would like to try this but have a 2kg mould. How much will I need to increase the recipe by? Thanks, Lauren 🙂
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
This is for an 700g batch of soap so you'll need to adjust the recipe accordingly. Try using the Soap Calc at this url: http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
l collet says
Thanks Tanya. I was also wondering what the recommended curing time is? Is curing time different for different types of soap or a standard set of weeks?
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
4-6 weeks 🙂
Amanda Rose says
What would your recommended substitution be for the palm oil?? I really want to try this recipe. Haven't started making soaps yet, but am in the process of collecting some recipes that I really like first 🙂
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
The best substitution is tallow.
Anonymous says
Hi do you have to use lye.
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Yes. Contrary to what some people think, there's no such thing as soap that isn't made with lye.
Anonymous says
Just curious as to what can be substituted for the palm oil as it is not a product I will use as it's production is the main cause of the murder of orangutans?
Jodi says
So, I am really interested in making this soap. My concern is, I'm not quite sure how to change the measuring system from grams to using measuring cups and spoons? Do you have any suggestions on how to do this?
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
With soap making Jodi you should always weight your ingredients. Using cups/tsp is fine for cooking but too inaccurate for science 🙂 Soap making is a science and involves the chemical reaction between fats and alkaline.
What I'd suggest is investing in a digital kitchen scale. You'll find that all proper soap recipes will be in grams in Europe and in oz's/lbs in the US so it will make your life easier and ensure that you're making good quality soap (opposed to the infamous 'Lye Soap' of our grandmothers' time).
Anonymous says
I see. Thank you for explaining it to me. I didn't realize the importance of weighing out the ingredients.
I did make the soap and it was a success. The only concern I had was that after the 24 hours of letting it sit it was still a little soft…not as firm as I thought it would be. But when I used it I loved how it makes my skin feel afterwards. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I do have one more question, is there anyway dilute it…to make it into a liquid soap?
Stephanie Wilson says
Can I substitute anything for the grapefruit seed extract? I am allergic and would really like to try this recipe otherwise.
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Try using the same amount of Vitamin E, Stephanie. You'll need a natural preservative though since the extra oil in the soap will eventually turn rancid without it. Good luck 🙂
Stephanie Ware says
Thank you so much! I'm excited to make this 😀
Tia says
I like this content. Very useful to increase my knowledge. thank you.
Dörte says
all nice Soaps!
liebe Grüße
Dörte
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Thanks Mo and glad to help 🙂 And just want to reassure that as long as the stick blender is completely submerged and very little air is trapped under it there won't be much splashing. That said, I do have a tiny spot on my goggles from where a drop of lye must have splashed up on it and eaten the top layer off – so be careful and always wear protective gear!
Mo and Steve says
Great post, Tanya! You explain it so well and it has certainly been helpful to me. I like that you explain how hot the lye solution gets, and it's good to see how you use a stick blender – I was scared of splashing everywhere 🙂
Your soap looks wonderful.