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Cucumber Soap Recipe

This cucumber soap recipe featuring a minty essential oil fragrance blend is a 1lb (454g) batch with a 5% superfat, creating up to six bars. It also includes fresh cucumber juice to replace some of the water content, Greek yogurt, and French green clay for color. The juice and yogurt are added once the pot of oil and lye solution is cool enough not to scorch them and discolor your soap.
Keyword salt, soap, soap recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Curing time 28 days
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 6 bars
Author Lovely Greens
Cost 10

Equipment

Ingredients

To Make the Cucumber Juice

Lye Solution

Solid Soaping Oils

Liquid Soaping Oils

After Melted Oils & Liquid Oils Are Mixed

  • 1 TBSP Greek yogurt 16 g / 0.56 oz
  • 50 g cucumber juice 1.76 oz

After Trace

Instructions

Make the Cucumber Water

  • Homemade cucumber water replaces some of the water content of this soap recipe. Making it is easy but requires a food processor or blender.
  • Cut up the cucumber and place it in a food processor or blender with the distilled water. Blend until a chunky puree.
  • Strain the puree through a fine mesh strainer (sieve) or cheesecloth. The cucumber juice will be a stunning green color.
  • Measure out the amount of cucumber juice called for in the recipe which is just 50 g (1.76 oz). You'll have quite a bit of juice left over that you can drink as a treat or freeze to use in another soap recipe.
  • You can either discard the cucumber pulp or eat it. I think it would be a nice base for a tzatziki-like dip!

Organize Your Workspace

  • 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.
  • Before you make this cucumber soap recipe, it's safety first! Make sure to be wearing closed-toe shoes, long sleeves, eye protection (goggles), and rubber/latex gloves.
  • Pre-measure all of your ingredients and ensure that your work surface is organized with all of the tools and equipment you'll need. Open a window for ventilation, close doors on pets and children, and have everything you need prepared.

Create the Lye Solution

  • In a heat-proof jug, blend the French green clay with the distilled water so that there aren't any lumps. A whisk will help.
  • Work in a ventilated place – near an open window or outside– and ensure that your goggles and gloves are on. Pour the lye into the clay-water and stir well. Steam, fumes, and heat are the product of water and lye interacting. Be prepared and don't breathe in the fumes.
  • Place the steaming lye solution someplace safe to cool. I tend to set it in cold water in the sink.
  • Please also note that this is a STRONG lye solution with equal parts lye and water. The additional water amount needed for the recipe is added later on as the cucumber juice.

Melt the Solid Oils

  • Melt the solid oils (the coconut and mango butter) on low heat on your stove. When just a few pieces of solid oil are floating in the pan, turn off the heat and move the pan to a potholder. Stir with your spatula until all of the oils have fully melted.

Add the Liquid Oils, Greek Yoghurt, and Cucumber Juice

  • Next, add the liquid oils to the pan of melted oils. Use the spatula to get as much of the oils in as possible as castor oil has a tendency to stick. Mix well and take the oil's temperature. You're aiming for 110°F (43°C) at this point.
  • Once at this temperature, gently mix the yogurt and cucumber juice together in a bowl or jug. Pour the mixture into the pan of oils. If you're using thick yogurt that looks a bit chunky in the pan right now, you can give the mixture a whizz with the stick blender.

Balance the Temperatures

  • Next, measure the temperature of the lye solution and the oils. You want both to be around 100°F (38°C) now. The temperatures don't have to be exact but they should be within around ten degrees of one another and close to that 100°F (38°C) target. When the temperatures are within range, it's time to mix the lye solution with the oils.

Bring the Soap Ingredients to Trace

  • Gently pour the lye solution into the pan of warm oils. If you pour it against the side of a spatula held just above the oil it can help reduce any future air bubbles in your bars.
  • Next, stir gently with your spatula for a minute or two as the mixture might thicken up quickly without the aid of an immersion blender.
  • The thickness of the soap needs to become the consistency of warm pudding - when it does, the soap batter has hit 'trace' and you're ready to proceed. If it thickens to this stage, you can skip the next two steps.
  • If the mixture seems very liquidy (watery) after stirring, place the immersion blender into the pan and use it to stir the mixture together gently. The head of the stick blender should be completely immersed in the liquid.
  • Bring the immersion blender to a standstill in the center of your pan and then press pulse for a few seconds. Then stir gently again for a moment and repeat. Continue pulsing and stirring your soap batter until it reaches trace.

Add the Essential Oil

  • Working quickly, gently stir in the essential oils if you're using them. I've included a minty-citrus blend in this recipe because it has a similar cooling yet energizing aspect as fresh cucumber on the skin. You could use another essential oil blend, though, or leave the essential out completely.

Pour the Cucumber Soap into the Mold

  • Pour the pan of soap batter into your mold(s). I'm using a small 1-lb loaf mold here but you could use a small slab mold or cavity mold if you wish. Use your spatula to get as much of your soap out of the pan and into the mold. Settle the soap so that it has a flat top. You do this by gently shaking or tapping the mold.
  • You could decorate the tops now if you wish. I've kept it simple and have added just a light texture by moving the edge of the spatula across the top with a tight figure of eight movement.

Cool the Cucumber Soap

  • When you've finished, I'd advise that you take steps to ensure that the soap remains cool. Both the yogurt and the cucumber juice can discolor the soap if you allow this recipe to warm up and gel. Either place the molds in a cold room or put the mold in the fridge. I've done the latter with this soap, leaving it in overnight before taking it out and setting it on the kitchen counter.

Unmold and Cut Your Soap Bars

  • After two days have passed since making it, you can take the cucumber soap out of the mold(s). If you've used cavity molds, proceed to the next step. For loaves, you can now cut the soap slab into bars. Use a dedicated soap cutter or an ordinary kitchen knife for this step, and how you cut your bars is up to you.

Cure the Cucumber Soap

  • Now is the hard part — waiting for your soap to cure. Curing is a necessary step for all cold process soap, and it's a process that requires at least four weeks of waiting. The soap finishes saponification during the cure time, and excess water evaporates from the bars. Another thing that happens is that the crystalline structure of soap forms. The latter cannot be hurried up and is essential for a good, gentle soap.
  • Cure the cucumber soap recipe by placing the bars on a layer of grease-proof paper in an out-of-the-way place. It should be airy, out of direct sunlight, and away from curious pets and kiddos. Leave them there for a whole month before using the bars. 
  • Once made, your soap will have a shelf life of up to two years. However, the shelf life is dependent on the exact ingredients you use. Look on all of the backs of the bottles and the closest date is your soap's best-by date.

Notes

Lastly, are you a beginner soapmaker looking for more guidance on how to make handmade soap? Enroll in the Natural Soapmaking for Beginners Online Course to get up to speed quickly. You'll learn all about soap ingredients and equipment and be guided through step-by-step soap recipe videos.