Oatmeal Soap Recipe
This natural oatmeal soap recipe uses an oatmeal infusion, oat pieces, and honey to give the bars a creamy color. It's a cold process soap recipe that makes 4-6 bars. Technical information: 1lb / 454g batch -- 5% superfat -- 33% lye concentration. There's a full DIY video at the bottom of the recipe.
Servings 6 bars
Cost 10
Equipment
- immersion blender (stick blender) also called a stick blender
- silicone slab mold (1 lb) or another mold of your preference
Ingredients
Lye solution
- 63 g sodium hydroxide 2.22 oz
- 126 g distilled water 4.44 oz
- 1 TBSP oatmeal 6.5 g / 0.23 oz
Solid oils
- 109 g coconut oil (refined) 3.84 oz (24%)
- 64 g shea butter (refined) 2.24 oz (14%)
- 32 g cocoa butter 1.12 oz (7%)
- 1 tsp honey 8.3 g (optional)
Liquid oils
- 227 g olive oil (light colored or pomace) 8.01 oz (50%)
- 23 g castor oil 0.8 oz (5%)
After Trace
- 3 tsp lavender essential oil 14 g (optional)
- rolled oats to decorate (optional)
Instructions
Prepare 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.
- Prepare your workstation with your tools, equipment, and safety gear. Wear long sleeves and wear rubber gloves, eye protection, and an apron. Carefully pre-measure the ingredients. The solid oils into the pan along with the honey, the liquid oils into a jug, the water into another heat-proof jug, and the lye and oatmeal (for the lye solution) in separate containers.
- Set out your mold and ensure you have everything you need laid out. Being organized at this stage will help you to successfully make soap.
Make Oatmeal Soap
- The first step is to dissolve the lye (sodium hydroxide) crystals in the 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 breathe it in. After they're dissolved, stir in the oats.
- Leave outside in a safe place, or in a shallow basin of water to cool. If you use rolled oats, the liquid will only slightly thicken as the starch is released. It may be thicker if you use porridge oats (quick oats) or colloidal oats. Don't worry if this happens.
- Melt the solid oils and honey on low heat in a stainless steel pan on the stovetop. Leave it on the heat until all the oils are melted and you notice the honey sizzling a little at the bottom of the pan. This sizzling is the honey slightly caramelizing which will help the soap have a creamier finished color.
- 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 into the pan. Castor oil is thick and sticky and it's easier to pour when mixed with a lighter oil.
- Measure the temperatures of the oaty lye solution and the oils. Aim to cool them both to be 100°F (38°C) or just below.
- Pour the lye solution into the pan of oils. Don't use a sieve unless you want to remove the oatmeal pieces from the lye solution. If your lye solution is thick and gloopy, don't use a sieve at all. Just pour/scrape it all into the oils.
- Dip the 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 stick blend 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 and look of it will be like thin custard. It will quickly thicken up to a medium trace, which is more like pudding, which is actually better for this recipe. A medium trace will help suspend the oatmeal pieces in the soap. A thinner consistency may lead to them falling to the bottom of the mold.
- Stir in the essential oil, if you're using it. Mix thoroughly but quickly. Essential oil adds scent to your soap, but it's an optional ingredient and you can leave it out if you'd like unscented oatmeal soap.
- Still working quickly, pour the soap into the mold(s). Give it a tap to settle it and release air bubbles. If you wish, you can sprinkle rolled oats over the top. The color of the soap will be more golden right now than what it will end up.
- If you're using cavity molds or a slab mold, you can leave it on the counter with no other covering. In the case that you're using a loaf mold, I'd recommend that you either take steps to ensure it gels completely or doesn't gel at all. The honey and the oats in the soap will cause it to heat up a bit after its in the mold. It may form a partial gel in the middle if you leave it on the counter uninsulated.
- Once 48 hours have passed, take the soap out of the mold and cut it into bars using a soap cutter or kitchen knife. Cut the loaf from the bottom to avoid dragging the decorative oatmeal pieces on the top through the soap. Otherwise, they may leave drag marks as you drag them down the bars with your knife.
- Cure it for at least 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.
Video
Notes
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.
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