Natural Chamomile Soap Recipe
Natural chamomile soap recipe using cocoa butter, chamomile essential oil, and a strong chamomile tea. This is a small batch that makes about 5-6 bars. Technical information: 1lb / 454g batch -- 6% superfat -- 33% lye solution
Servings 6 bars
Cost 25
Equipment
Ingredients
Chamomile Tea (water infusion)
- 175 g distilled water 6.17 oz
- 2 TBSP dried chamomile flowers or 4 TBSP fresh
Lye solution
- 62 g sodium hydroxide 2.19 oz
- 124 g cooled chamomile tea 4.37 oz
Solid oils
- 114 g coconut oil (refined) 4.01 oz
- 68 g shea butter (refined) 2.4 oz
- 45 g cocoa butter 1.59 oz
Liquid oils
- 204 g olive oil (light colored or pomace) 7.2 oz
- 23 g castor oil 0.8 oz
Add after trace
- 1 tsp Roman chamomile essential oil 3.8 g / 0.13 oz (optional ingredient)
Instructions
Make the Chamomile Tea
- Measure the distilled water into a mug or kettle and heat it to scalding. Pour over the chamomile flowers and leave to steep until the tea is at room temperature.
- Strain the tea through the sieve, and reserve the liquid to make the lye solution. Measure it to get the amount needed to make the lye solution, and if for some reason there isn't enough, you can make up the difference in distilled water.
Prepare to Make 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. Put on 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 chamomile tea into another heat-proof jug, and the lye in another container such as a glass jar or ramekin.
Make the Lye Solution
- Next, dissolve the lye (sodium hydroxide) crystals in the chamomile tea. 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 (inside or outside) to cool.
Make Cold-Process Chamomile Soap
- 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 them 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 solution and the oils. You should aim to cool them both to be about 100°F / 38°C. A digital thermometer is great for soapmaking but an infrared temperature gun is miles better. There's less mess and it's much quicker.
- Pour the chamomile lye solution into the pan of oils. If you can, gently pour it against a spoon or spatula since this will reduce the chances of air bubbles.
- 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 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 will be like thin custard.
- Next, add the essential oil and stir in. You really don't need very much (relatively speaking) chamomile essential oil to make a big aromatherapy impact. This is 1/3 the amount of essential oil as you'll find in my other soap recipes.
- Working quickly, pour the soap into the mold. Give it a tap to settle it. I'm using a 1-lb silicone loaf mold in this recipe but you could use another type if you wish. The loaf mold is handy for gelling soap though.
- Next, add texture to the soap top if you'd like (a skewer comes in handy) and decorate it with dried chamomile flowers. Less is more in my opinion, but go as wild as you'd like. Just remember that if you have to cut through any of them, they may leave drag marks in your soap.
- The soap now needs to harden and cool. If you want an opaque white-cream color of soap, place the soap in the fridge overnight. If you want the same creamy color as mine, place the soap in an oven warmed to about 77°C (170°F) and keep it at that temperature for 30 minutes or until you see the soap slightly darken. It begins with a circle of darker color in the center and eventually spreads to the entire loaf. When you see this, turn the oven off then leave it there overnight.
- The next day, take the soap out of the oven and set someplace to rest for another day. Once 48 hours have passed, you can take the soap out of the mold. You can get around six decent-sized bars of soap from this batch. Also, if you're using a loaf mold want to avoid drag marks from the flowers, cut the loaf from the bottom.
Curing and storing your Chamomile Soap
- Cure the bars 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. The soap will also scent your room as it cures.
- 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. If your handmade soap is destined as gifts, check out these eco-friendly soap packaging ideas.
Video
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. Learn more
Nutrition
Serving: 1g