Neem oil is used in this soap for eczema
A neem oil soap recipe that helps combat dryness, itchiness, and inflammation making it the perfect soap for eczema
When people ask which soap I’d recommend for eczema my first advice is always the same — use less soap. It can strip your skin of natural oils that help flare-ups to heal and can contribute to dryness, redness, and further skin issues. We all need to use soap at some time though. That’s why my second bit of advice is to choose soap that’s gentle, unscented, and most of all leaves your skin feeling nourished. This soap recipe will do just that.
A simple and rich soap perfect for hydrating and nourishing skin
Natural soap is made from rich oils that each have their own special properties. One lesser known than others is Neem oil. This rich oil is effective in soothing the symptoms of eczema which is why I use it in this recipe for Healing Balm for Eczema & Psoriasis. When used as the superfatting oil in soap, it helps leave a protective barrier on your skin. Its natural compounds help treat the irritation and dryness caused by eczema.
What is Neem oil?
Little known in the west, Neem oil is used in India as a remedy for many health issues. It’s extracted from the neem tree which grows throughout the Indian sub-continent as a native species. Since being discovered by science, neem trees are now grown in other parts of Asia, Australia, and Africa.
Neem trees, Azadirachta indica, have large canopies and are drought resistant which is one reason that they’re grown. Shade is in high demand in arid climates. Their long pinnate leaves are used neat on skin to treat eczema and psoriasis among other things. However, their olive-like fruit is where the oil comes from. It’s thick and earthy coloured and has a sharp and distinctive scent.
Neem oil has traditionally been used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat skin complaints, internal health issues, dental care, and even as an insecticide. The last use makes neem oil an important natural gardening product.
Neem oil tends to come as a solid oil that needs melting. It can also come in a liquid form.
How Neem oil helps Eczema
Oils extracted from both the leaves and the seeds of the neem tree help soothe the symptoms of eczema. They’re rich in compounds such as Nimbidin, Nimbin, and Quercetin that work as natural anti-inflammatories and anti-histamines. This helps reduce redness, swelling, and itching.
Often presented as a thick green or brown oil, neem is also great for moisturizing. When used as part of a skincare recipe its lipids help tone and lock moisture into dry skin. You should only use a small amount of neem in a recipe though — this neem oil soap recipe contains just 5% neem. Larger percentages can not only smell unpleasant but can cause skin irritation in some people. The exact opposite of what you want in soap for eczema.
Neem oil soap lather
Neem oil Soap Recipe
This neem oil soap recipe makes about six bars. Although neem is the most important oil in the recipe, the others are also there to help protect and nourish the skin. The soap you make with this recipe will create a creamy lather that feels slick and smooth. When rinsed off, your skin will feel moisturized — this soap will not strip your skin as other bars might do.
Lye water
65g (2.3oz) Sodium hydroxide (also called lye or NaOH)
127g (4.9oz) Water (preferably distilled)
Solid oils
143g (5oz) Coconut oil (refined)
24g (0.85oz) Shea butter
Liquid oils
214g (7.56oz) Olive oil (pomace)
24g (0.85oz) Castor oil
Oils to add after Trace
24g (0.85oz) Neem oil
24g (0.85oz) Avocado oil
Special Equipment needed
The soap lather will leave a fine layer of creamy moisture on your skin
Natural Soap Making for Beginners
If you’re new to making handmade soap, you might also want to check out my four-part series on natural soap making. It gives a good introduction on what to expect from ingredients, equipment, recipes, and how to combine everything together to make soap. Also, I recommend reading this recipe all the way through before attempting to make it. There are a lot of steps and things to prepare for making this neem oil soap recipe.
1. Ingredients
2. Equipment & Safety
3. Basic Recipes and Formulating Your Own
4. The Soap Making Process: Make, Mould, and Cure
Neem oil soap for eczema
1. Preparing the lye solution
The first thing you’ll want to do is prepare your work space and organize your ingredients. Everything should be pre-measured and your should be prepared to safely make soap. That means wearing close toed shoes, long sleeves, rubber gloves, and eye protection.
The water should be measured into a heat-proof jug. Next, pour the Sodium hydroxide crystals into the water in an airy and well-ventilated place. Outside is best but an open window will do. There will be heat and steam so be careful not to breathe it in. Set the lye water aside in a shallow basin to cool.
2. Melt the solid oils
The solid oils should be measured in a stainless steel pan. As soon as your lye solution is made, turn the hob on to its lowest setting and let the oils melt together. The oils to be added after Trace include neem oil which you might have in a solid form. Have this in a heat proof container and either keep it on hand to microwave or begin melting it using the double boiler method.
3. Take temperatures
Don’t leave the oils unattended on the stove, whatever you do. You don’t want them hot, just barely melted. When they’re at this stage, pour the liquid oils (but not the neem or avocado) into the pan of melted oil. Stir and take its temperature. You want the oils a few degrees of 125°F (52°C).
Take the temperature of the lye solution now too. You want it within 10 degrees of the oils.
4. Mix the soap
When the temperatures are right, pour the lye solution into the pan of oils through a sieve/strainer. This will catch any Sodium hydroxide that might not have dissolved. Now comes blending.
Dip the stick blender into the pan at an angle to reduce air in the head. Use it turned off as a spoon at first and stir the mix together gently. Bring the stick blender to the middle of the pan and hold it stationary against the bottom. Turn the stick blender on for a few seconds then turn it off and use it to stir again. With such a small batch I recommend not moving it around while it’s on since it can spit up soap batter. Just hold it still while pulsing, and use it to stir when it’s off.
The soap batter will begin coming to ‘Trace’ fairly quickly — in a matter of a couple minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when little trails of soap linger on the surface when it’s dribbled on.
5. Add the Neem & Avocado oils
Next pour in the melted neem and avocado oils and stir them in well. All the other oils up to this point have reacted with the Sodium hydroxide and are turning into soap. These extra oils will have a better chance of free-floating in your bars if they’re added afterwards.
While the batter is still fairly liquidy (it does firm up quickly), pour it into your mould. This silicone soap mould fits the recipe perfectly.
6. Hardening & curing your soap for eczema
Set the soap aside either without covering, or lightly covering with plastic wrap and a tea towel. Leave it undisturbed for at least 24 hours if not 48. After this time you can take the bars out of the mould and cure them.
The soap will be safe to touch at this point but the water content needs to evaporate out. Space out the bars on a piece of grease-proof paper in a dry, dim, and airy place. Leave them there for a month before using. For full instructions on how to cure handmade soap head over here
Shelf-life & making Eczema Cream
As for shelf-life, soap has a longevity of the closest best by date of the individual ingredients. If the olive oil expires next month, then your soap is only good until then too. Make sure you use high quality and in-date ingredients when soap making and creating other beauty products. If you’re looking to make a neem oil based eczema cream, I have a great recipe you can use over here.
Learn how to make neem oil based Healing Cream for Eczema and Psoriasis (click image)
Maria says
Could you also use this soap as shampoo?
lovelygreens says
Natural soap tends to make my own hair look like a birds nest after using it. It might be okay for short hair though.
ines pires says
Hi!
Thanks for the recipe!
Im trying to make a soap for a friend with eczema.
Is it possible to use neem powder instead of neem oil?
How can I incorporate the neem powder?
Thank you!
Maryam says
Can i substitute avacado oil with any other oil as thats the only ingredient i dont have
Lea says
Hi there,
I ran into this website several weeks ago, and have already tried several soap recipes. They are all really amazing, I especially love the combination of essential oils you use (my boys cannnot get enough of cedar wood plus lemongrass)…
But the very special thanks belongs to you for the neem oil recipe. I’ve tried it because a friend of mine has been suffering from ekzema on her hands for several years, nothing has helped. 4 days ago – she started using my/your neem oil soap, and immediately – she can see results. Her hands are smooth, no wounds, no itching. She washes her hands very often, as they have a dog inside the house. Now, she has just asked me to make one more batch of neem oil soap. Thank you, once again.
What has caught my attention is that -unlike the others soapmakers- you add the precious oils only after the trace, which makes the soap really nice, creamy and moisturising. However, you do not use that technique in all recipes – is there a reason? Are there any oils, that cannot be added after the trace?
Hope, you’ll find this message, wish you all the best
lovelygreens says
It’s to make the superfatting simpler for beginners — most people on my site are new to soap making and reducing the procedure by one step helps, I think. Very happy to hear that my recipe, and your making it, has helped your friend 🙂
jane says
love your entire site…one question, are you superfatting at 5%
thanks
lovelygreens says
That’s generally what I superfat at, yes. Thanks for your feedback Jane 🙂
Karen says
Do you think I could substitute Babassu Oil for the Shea Butter? Just trying to save a little money and already have the Babassu on hand. Would I be giving up too much or would it behave similarly? Thanks!
lovelygreens says
If you’re planning on changing any soap making recipe, pop the original into the online SoapCalc. Have a look at the readings, and then change ingredients and see what the values turn out to be. Your lye amount will change if you change the oils so that’s one of the most important things to look at.
Carl Jasinto says
I tried plugging your recipe into Soap Calc and came up with a different lye and water amount. what is your lye:water ratio? And what would be your supefat/discount??
lovelygreens says
I don’t use the SoapCalc suggested ratios for water since it usually too much and leads to soda ash. I ‘water discount’ so my water is generally at 1.8x the lye. As for lye, the amount used reflects the amount of superfat. I can tell from your questions that you’re a relative beginner — check out my Natural Soap Making for Beginners series over here to help answer any questions you might have: https://lovelygreens.com/natural-soapmaking-for-beginners/
Tanya says
What is the superfat in this recipe? Why does the extra oil get added at trace?
Chung says
Hi! I just bought all the ingredients to try this recipe out. Can you add lavender essential oil to this recipe? and, would doubling the recipe work? My mold fits almost 3 pounds.
lovelygreens says
Definitely — go ahead and adjust the recipe to fit your mould. As for essential oil, of course you can add it too. Here’s a guide to using essential oil in soap and the percentage you should aim for when calculating amounts: https://lovelygreens.com/make-soap-with-essential-oils/
Chung says
Thank you!
Tammy says
This soap looks like it will help my eczema. But I don’t see myself actually making it, so do you have a recipe for something similar that stays a liquid?
ANNA RAGER says
CAN I BYE THE NEEM SOAP FROM YOU ANNA
lovelygreens says
I don’t offer Neem soap as a product at this time
Kim says
Hi, love your blog! This soap was the first for me. My neem oil and olive oil are green. When it hit trace it was yellow/brown. In the mold it was even darker. When I melted my solit oils it was only 28 degrees celcius. I had to heat the oils a littlebit more to come about 48 degrees like my lye was at that time. Could that be the color explaining? Many greets from Belgium 🙂
lovelygreens says
It’s the type of olive oil you’re using — I suspect you’re using extra virgin olive oil. Don’t worry about the colour 🙂 33-50C is a good range for small batch soap making
Kim says
Hello from Texas 👋 This was my first time making soap and now I’m hooked. Thank you for the easy to follow instructions. Love reading your blog and cant wait to soap some more!
Jo says
Hi could I use a melt and pour base ,as someone else has asked but I don’t see the reply?
lovelygreens says
Hi Jo, I’ve not tried that yet but yes it could be done. If I were thinking of trying it out, I’d start by adding a teaspoon of neem oil per pound of m&p. As said before though — I’ve not tried it yet personally.
Christelle says
Hello Tanya,
Is it ok if I use unrefined coconut oil? does it make any difference in the soap?
lovelygreens says
It doesn’t, except it will make your soap a lot more expensive to make. Personally, I prefer using virgin unrefined coconut oil in food or direct on the skin.
Manju says
5%Hi Tanya,
this is Manju from India… your site is such a delight to read… we made our first batch of soap in june with coconut oil, sesame oil, aloe vera, fullers earth (curing right now) … much later, stumbled over here. how wonderfully you’ve blended information & simple writing … so pleasant & sincere appreciation for the seva. Of-course our first batch measurments were in cups with lots of hand stirring… now we plan to invest in a stick blender & buy some essential oils… already purchased silicon moulds, digi thermometer & a digi scale…doing lot of reading up here (making soaps only for personal use only)
we would like to request a neem soap recipe from you with these ingredients added…. need your help on the max % allowed. ( Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Neem Oil, Fullers Earth, powdered green gram(Vigna radiata), chickpea flour). Olive oil is imported into india & quite expensive. so not planning to use them soon
another question do we always need to warm the oils… here in india… all oils are available in liquid form
do we still need to warm them ?
sorry on the long post… & please let us have your thoughts
best wishes & stay happy
Andrea says
Hi,
Can you use pure olive oil instead of pomace? Would I need to change the amount of lye?
Thanks,
Andrea
lovelygreens says
Yes you can and no, the lye quantity would remain the same
gayathrie says
hi, can i use goat’s milk in this recipe?
lovelygreens says
Making goat milk soap uses a different technique — here’s my recipe if you’d like to try it out instead: https://lovelygreens.com/how-to-make-natural-goat-milk-soap/
Wendy says
Hello !! Can I use a Melt & Pour base ? If so, what measurement should I use for the Neem ?
Valerie says
Hi! My man & I really liked your strawberry planter video on YouTube so I looked up your website and happily found your neem soap. What’s the superfat percentage & water to oils percentage in this recipe?
lovelygreens says
Hi Valerie — for this and any other soap recipe, you can type the amounts into the online SoapCalc and it will give you all the info you need. Thanks for liking the planter video and happy soaping 🙂
Brenda says
Can you use this on hair? I have eczema on my scalp. Very hard to treat.
lovelygreens says
It’s a moisturizing soap recipe so yes, I’d say you could potentially use it on your scalp/hair.
Monique says
I love reading your blog-soapmaking. Your pictures are lovely and your writing is soothing and sweet. It is really nice reading and seeing pictures from someone far away.😊💕
lovelygreens says
What a sweet message — thank you Monique 🙂 Waving from the Isle of Man