Basic Liquid Soap Recipe

1. 16.5 oz. sunflower oil.

2. 7 oz. coconut oil.
3. 5.5 oz. potassium hydroxide KOH.
4. 16.5 oz. distilled water for the lye mixture.
5. 40 oz. distilled water to dilute the soap paste.
6. Either 2 oz. of boric acid or 3 oz. of borax mixed into 10 or 6 oz. ...
7. Approx. 3 oz. ...
8. Soap dye or colorant, if desire

 If you are comfortable with the basics of cold process soap making and looking for a new challenge, try making liquid
soap. It is more complicated and takes a lot of patience. You'll likely notice a few changes in your soap making process, but if
you follow the steps carefully, it is not too difficult.

The major difference between bar soaps and liquid soaps is the alkali used to saponify the oils. All soap, whether hard or liquid,
starts with a simple chemical reaction between oils and an alkali. With bar soaps, it's sodium hydroxide. With liquid soaps, it's
potassium hydroxide.

Liquid soap is a bit more complicated to make at home. For beginners, it's best to use a tried and true recipe that results in a
good balance of lather and moisturizing.

For this recipe you'll need:

o 16.5 oz. sunflower oil

o 7 oz. coconut oil

o 5.5 oz. potassium hydroxide KOH

o 16.5 oz. distilled water for the lye mixture

o 40 oz. distilled water to dilute the soap paste

o Either 2 oz. of boric acid or 3 oz. of borax mixed into 10 or 6 oz. of water

o Approx. 3 oz. fragrance or essential oil, as desired

o Soap dye or colorant, if desired

You'll also need:

o Basic tools for mixing the lye

o Large crockpot

o Thermometer, scale, measuring cups

o Stick blender

o Potato masher and/or flat whisk

 02of 10

Mix the Lye-Water Solution and the Oils for the Liquid Soap
A major difference between making liquid soap and bar soap is that that it is a "hot process" soap. Instead of relying on the heat
generated by the saponification process, heat is added using a double boiler, oven, or crockpot. This recipe can be made in a
double boiler or the oven, but a crock pot is preferred. It keeps everything in one pot and lets it cook evenly without having to
monitor the water in a double boiler.

Begin the Soapmaking

Measure out your oils and put them in the crockpot on low. You want this mixture to be at about 160 degrees (give or take 10)
throughout.

While the oils are heating up, mix your lye-water, using the standard lye-making procedure. If you've never used potassium
hydroxide before, don't be alarmed. It's a bit more volatile in the water than sodium hydroxide. It makes an odd boiling/groaning
sound as it's dissolving. This is normal.

When the lye-water is completely mixed and clear, slowly add it into your oils. (You don't need to wait until it is cool.) Don't turn
the stick blender on just yet. Just stir the oils and lye together. Then, like in cold process soap making, start using the stick
blender. At first, it will seem to want to separate. Keep blending.

 03of 10

Bring the Soap Paste to Trace

Depending on your mixture of oils, it will take a long time to get to trace, up to 30 minutes. "Trace" for liquid soap looks pretty
much like cold process. It's kind of pudding-like, or a blend of pudding and applesauce, with the characteristic "traces" and/or
ridges when you dribble the soap back into the pot or stir. You can't really stir it too much, so it's best to make sure you've got a
good solid trace before moving to the next step.

 04of 10

Cook the Paste for Liquid Soap

Once the soap has reached trace, you'll need to give the soap one more good stir, shake off your stick blender, put the lid on the
pot, and wait.

Check on the soap in about 15 to 20 minutes. If there's any separation, just stir it and put the lid back on. Keep checking on the
soap every 20 to 30 minutes.

In the 3 to 4 hours it will take this soap to cook, it will transform and go through several "stages." Don't worry if you don't see
one, sometimes a stage will be brief and you'll miss it. The "stages" usually are:

o Thick applesauce

o Cooked custard with small bubbles

o Watery mashed potatoes

o Solid taffy

o Chunky/creamy Vaseline

o Translucent Vaseline

Keep stirring every 30 minutes or so through each of the stages. It will be difficult to stir through the taffy stage. Do the best you
can. The potato masher will help break the taffy up. Then, just when you think it's never going to finish, it will start to get creamy
and move into the Vaseline stage, getting more translucent.

2. 05of 10

Test the Liquid Soap Paste for Doneness

Once you've reached the 3 to 4-hour mark and the soap has softened and turned translucent, it's time to test it to see if it's
cooked long enough. Take two ounces of boiling water and add one ounce of your soap paste. Stir the soap, breaking it up and
helping it dissolve in the water. Once it's completely dissolved (several minutes) check to see how clear it is. If it's just very
lightly cloudy, that's ok. The soap will "settle" after it's finished and get even clearer. If the dissolved soap mixture is milky or very
cloudy, you've either not cooked it long enough or you've mismeasured something.

3. 06of 10

Dilute the Liquid Soap Paste

If the test mixture stays clear as it cools, it's good to continue. The last measure of patience is needed when diluting the paste.
Take the remaining 40 oz. of distilled water and bring it to a boil. Add the water to the soap paste. Stir it in a bit with a spoon or
the potato masher.

Turn the heat off on the crockpot. Put the lid on and wait.

After an hour or so, stir it some more. It should have softened some by now, but will likely still be very chunky and gooey. Put the
lid back on and wait some more.

You can put the lid on and leave it to sit overnight and dissolve. If you prefer a more active role, just keep waiting and stirring,
waiting and stirring. The potato masher will help to break up some of the larger chunks of paste, but nothing will help more than
just waiting.

4. 07of 10

Neutralize the Liquid Soap

In addition to the different alkali, and the cooking of the soap, liquid soap is different from bar soap in the way it is formulated. If
you run most recipes through a lye calculator you'll see that there seems to be way too much lye! Indeed, liquid soap recipes
are usually formulated with about a 10% lye excess. This is to ensure that all of the oils are saponified.

After the soap paste has completely dissolved in the water, it's time to neutralize the soap and add your fragrance. Turn the
crockpot back on and bring the mixture back up to 180 degrees or so.

In a separate container, mix the neutralizing solution. You can make either a 20% boric acid solution or a 33% Borax (20 Mule
Team) solution. For the boric acid, take 8 oz. of boiling water and add 2 oz. boric acid. For the Borax, use 3 oz. Borax in 6 oz. of
boiling water. It's important to stir very well and make sure that it stays very hot. As this mixture cools, the Borax or boric acid will
start to precipitate out of the mixture and it won't mix into your soap!

Add about 3/4 oz. of neutralizer for every pound of soap paste (just the paste, not the added water.) So, for this recipe which
has about 2.8 lb. of paste, add 2 oz. (2.13 rounded down to 2) of neutralizer solution. Too much neutralizer (especially the boric
acid solution) can cause cloudiness, so it's best to round down and err on the conservative side.

Slowly pour the neutralizer into the re-heated soap mixture and stir well. Add one ounce first and let it sit for a bit. Then add
another half ounce. Then, if you still have no cloudiness, add the final half ounce.

5. 08of 10

Add Fragrance or Color to the Liquid Soap

After you've neutralized the soap, but while it's still hot, it's time to add your fragrance and color, if desired. A good rule of thumb
is to fragrance liquid soaps at about 2 percent to 3 percent. For example with this batch, that's about 3 oz. of fragrance. Add the
fragrance to the soap and stir well. Likewise, if you're adding color (remember to take the amber color of the soap base into your
coloring), add it a few drops at a time, stirring well.

6. 09of 10

Let the Liquid Soap Rest or "Sequester"

Let the soap cool and pour it into large bottles or jars. Put them aside in a cool place and just let it rest. During this resting
phase, the insoluble particles should settle to the bottom and any minor cloudiness caused by insoluble particles in the oils or
added fragrance oils should clear up. It will need to settle for one week. When you are pouring your soap into their final bottles
or tubes, be careful not to disturb the settled solids, or you'll have to let them settle out again.

Enjoy Your Homemade Liquid Soap

That's it! If you've made it this far, you've entered the world of liquid soap making. There are nearly as many recipes and
variations with liquid soaps as there are with bar soaps. Different oils and slightly different techniques will all give a different final
product, ranging from a light liquid hand soap to shampoo to a shower gel.

How to Make Liquid Soap: The Recipe

This gorgeous liquid soap can be used as shampoo, body wash, hand soap, and even dish soap!

Ingredients

 10 ounces coconut oil (find unrefined coconut oil here)

 10 ounces olive oil
 3 ounces rice bran oil (find it here)
 13 ounces other oil (I use safflower and grapeseed oils if I'm making a body soap, or soybean oil if I'm
making dish or laundry soap)
 5.5 ounces sunflower oil (find organic sunflower oil here)
 9 ounces KOH, a.k.a. potassium hydroxide (find it here)
 25 ounces distilled water
 60 ounces distilled water (for diluting the soap paste)
 16 ounces liquid vegetable glycerine (find organic glycerine here)
 3 ounces (more or less to your taste) of essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice (find pure essential
oils here)
 the natural colorant of your choice, use a very small amount (get ideas for natural soap colorants)

Instructions

Liquid Soap Process

1. Ventilate your work area well, cover your workspace with newspaper, and put on your gloves and
goggles. Be sure pets and kids are not running underfoot as you begin this project.
2. Start by measuring your oils and placing them into the crockpot. Remember: For this recipe,
we're measuring all ingredients by weight, not by volume, so you must have a scale (like this).
3. Turn your crock pot on high and melt all the oils. I use a smaller crock pot to cook my ingredients down
and then move to a larger one once I start adding the liquids.
4. Place 25 ounces of the distilled water into a glass or stainless bowl. Measure out the KOH and slowly
pour it into the water (never the other way around) while stirring. You may notice it making groaning
noises as it dissolves; this is normal.
5. Once mixed, add the water/KOH mixture to the oils. Combine by hand to blend the solutions, then
start using the stick blender. The mixture will be kind of chunky and want to separate, but don't worry.
Blend for about 5 minutes, then walk away.
6. Cover and keep on high for the first 30-60 minutes, then turn to low.
7. Keep coming back once in a while to stir or blend. It will start to take shape soon. After about 2 hours
it will look kind of translucent like petroleum jelly. By this point, it is harder to work with - heavy and
sticky. I use a stainless steel potato masher to break it up more easily. Once it looks cooked through with
no opaque spots, you can test it.
8. To test: Place a small spoonful in some hot water and stir really well. It'll take a bit to dissolve it all. If
the water is clear, you can continue to the dilution stage. If it's at all cloudy, continue cooking.

Liquid Soap Dilution

Once your soap paste is fully cooked, you can dilute it.
 1. Heat 60 ounces of water until hot, not boiling. (Remember to measure by weight, not volume.)
2. Add the liquid vegetable glycerin. Mix together well.
3. Add this mixture to the crock pot and stir, or use the masher if needed. Leave on low, cover, and walk
away. You can leave it for a few hours and then go back to it. I like to do this step in the evening so I can
leave it overnight.
4. In the morning, stir the soap well and let it settle an hour or so. The soap paste that's not diluted
should rise to the top, leaving good liquid soap underneath. I push the chunky stuff aside and spoon the
good stuff into pint or quart jars. Then I can scent and color each one differently if I want to.
5. For the chunky stuff that remains, add a bit more water and turn the heat off. Leave this overnight and
it should all be diluted by morning. Depending on the consistency you want, you may need to add a bit
more distilled water. Start with a very small amount (1 teaspoon) so it doesn't get too thin.

Notes

ALL ingredients are to be measured by WEIGHT!

Method1
Making Liquid Soap from a Bar
1.

1
Pick out a bar of soap to use. You can make liquid soap from any bar of soap you have around the house.
Use whatever leftover or half-used bars you have, or put some extra thought into your choice to create a
liquid soap you can use for a specific purpose.[1] For example:
 Use a bar of facial soap to make a liquid soap you can use on your face.
 Use a bar of antibacterial soap to make a good cleansing hand soap to use in your kitchen or
bathroom.
 Use a bar of moisturizing soap to make a liquid soap you can use as body wash.
 Use unscented soap if you want to add your own scent to create customized liquid soap.
2.

2
Grate the soap into a bowl. Use a fine cheese grater to grate the entire bar of soap into a bowl. Use the
finest grater you have so that when it's time for the soap to melt, the process goes more quickly. You can cut
the soap into chunks if that helps you grate it more easily.
 You should end up with about 1 cup (229 g) of soap flakes. If you have less, grate a second bar
of soap.
 This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you want to make a lot of liquid soap. It makes a
great gift, especially when it's stored in pretty jars.
3.

3
Blend the soap with boiled water. Boil 1 cup (235 ml) of water, then pour into a blender along with the
grated soap. Whip the water and soap until it takes on the consistency of paste.
 Making soap in your blender may leave a residue that's hard to clean out, so if you'd prefer not
to use it, you can make your soap on the stove instead. Simply add the soap flakes to the water once
it has started to boil on your stove.
 Try making soap in the microwave as another alternative. Place a cup of water in a microwave
safe dish, bring it to a boil in the microwave, add the flakes, and let them sit for a few minutes to
melt. Place the dish back in the microwave and heat it up in 30-second increments if it needs more
heat.
4.

4
Add glycerin to the mixture. Glycerin acts as a moisturizer for the skin, making liquid soap a little gentler
on your body than regular bar soap. Mix in 1 tsp. (5 g) glycerin, stirring until it is thoroughly combined.
5.

5
Customize it with extra ingredients. Here's where you can get creative with your liquid soap, especially if
you started with an unscented bar. Consider adding the following ingredients if you want to make your liquid
soap special:
 Mix in honey or lotion to add moisture.
 Stir in a few drops of essential oil to scent the soap.
 Add 10 to 20 drops each of tea tree and lavender essential oils to make your soap naturally
antibacterial.
 Use some natural food coloring to change the color. Avoid using standard chemical-based
coloring, since it's not good for your skin to absorb.
6.

6
Create the right consistency. Continue to whip the mixture in the blender once it has thoroughly cooled.
Gradually pour water into the mixture as it whips until your soap is an ideal consistency. If you're not using a
blender, just stir in the water and whisk it vigorously.[2]
7.

7
Pour the soap into containers. Once it has completely cooled, you can pour it into jars or pump containers
using a funnel. If you have a large amount of soap, put whatever doesn't fit in your containers into a large
bottle or jug. Keep the remaining soap on hand to use when refilling your smaller bottles.
Method2
Making Liquid Soap from Scratch
1.

1
Gather ingredients. In order to get liquid soap to transform and form bubbles, you need the right mix of oils
and a chemical called potassium hydroxide, also known as lye. This recipe yields six quarts of soap.[3] You
can get these ingredients at health stores, craft stores or online:
 11 oz. potassium hydroxide flakes
 33 oz. distilled water
 24 oz. coconut oil
 10 oz. olive oil
 10 oz. castor oil
 3 oz. jojoba oil
2.

2
Get the right equipment. When you work with lye, you need to wear safety gear and set up your work area
properly. Plan to work in a well-ventilated room with good lighting so you can see what you're doing. You'll
need the following supplies:
 A crock pot
 Plastic or glass measuring bowls
 Kitchen scale
 Stick blender
 Gloves and protective goggles
3.

3
Heat the oils. Weigh the oils and place them in the crock pot on low heat. Make sure you add the exact
amount specified for each oil; adding more or less will throw off the recipe.
4.

4
Make the lye solution. Put on your protective gear and make sure the window is open. Weigh the distilled
water in a large bowl. Weigh the lye in a separate bowl, then add it to the water. Stir it constantly as you pour
it in.[4]
 Make sure you add the lye to the water, and not the other way around! Adding water to lye
causes a dangerous reaction.
5.

5
Add the lye solution to the oils. Pour the solution into the crockpot slowly, making sure none splashes
back onto your skin. Use the stick blender to blend the lye with the oils to make sure they get thoroughly
combined.
 As you blend the liquids, the mixture will begin to thicken. Continue stirring until it reaches
trace, which happens when the mixture gets thick enough that you can run a spoon through it and
see the line in its wake.
 The mixture will continue to thicken into a paste.[5]
6.

6
Cook the paste. Continue cooking the mixture on low for about six hours, checking it every 30 minutes to
break it up with a spoon. The paste is finished cooking when you can dissolve one ounce of paste in two
ounces of boiling water and it comes out clear, rather than milky. If your test comes out milky, keep cooking.
7.

7
Dilute the paste. You should have about a pound of paste after it's finished cooking; weight it just to make
sure, then put it back in the crock pot. Add 33 oz. of distilled water to the paste to dilute it. It may take a few
hours for the paste to get completely dissolved into the water.
8.

8
Add fragrance and color. Use your favorite essential oil and a natural food coloring to add a special scent
and color to your soap once it has been diluted.
9.

9
 Store the soap. Pour the soap into jars you can seal, since you'll have a lot more than you can use at one
time. Pour the soap you want to use into a soap bottle with a pump dispenser.
Can sodium hydroxide be used instead of potassium?
These two cannot be used interchangeably. Sodium Hydroxide is used to make a hard bar
soap and Potassium Hydroxide is used to make liquid soap

Liquid Soap from a Bar

 Bar of unscented soap or soap scraps

 Fine cheese grater

 Water

 Blender

 Glycerin

 Funnel

 Small pump bottles

 Large bottle or jug

Liquid Soap from Scratch

 11 oz. potassium hydroxide flakes

 33 oz. distilled water

 24 oz. coconut oil

 10 oz. olive oil

 10 oz. castor oil

 3 oz. jojoba oil

 A crock pot

 Plastic or glass measuring bowls

 Kitchen scale

 Stick blender

 Gloves and protective goggles

 We’re going to start by learning how to formulate a liquid soap recipe.

 Let’s start with the ingredients. These are the 5 oils I use most of the time that create a wonderfully
thick liquid soap. Let’s talk about each oil and discuss why they are my favorite.
 Olive Oil – creates a gentle soap, clear in LS
Safflower Oil – creates a gentle soap, clear in LS, you can sub with sunflower, sweet almond or
apricot kernel
Coconut Oil – adds bubbling action to the soap, clear in LS
Castor Oil – creates bubbles, castor is a solvent so it helps with the clarity of LS
Palm Oil – adds body, can cloud soap, can sub with cocoa butter, shea butter, mango butter, lard or
tallow

 You’ll have a lot of people tell you not to add palm oil, butters and solid fats to LS because it can
cloud the soap. I’ve found that if you add 3-7%, especially palm oil, it really does add some body to
your soap and helps thicken it up a bit. Using about 6% palm oil in the below recipe I still get pretty
clear soap. If I sub shea butter I do get cloudy soap (which I’m okay with!). I make LS with shea butter
instead of palm for those who do not want to use a product with palm oil.

 Here’s one of my favorite recipes using these oils. The high olive and safflower creates a gentle
nourishing soap, the coconut and castor oils add lather, the castor oil acts as a solvent and the palm
oil adds body to the finished soap.

 Olive Oil – 40%

Safflower Oil – 20%
Coconut Oil – 14%
Castor Oil – 20%
Palm Oil – 6%

 We’re going to figure out how much KOH to use by hand. I found that once I started formulating my
own recipes and not relying on online lye calculators I became much more successful making liquid
soap. Unfortunately there are just too many variances between all of the online calculators and it just
gets to be confusing. So to do this you’ll need to get the KOH SAP values for your oils. I use the list
from Soapers Choice you can find here… http://soaperschoice.com/products_list.php.

 You’ll see values for both KOH (liquid soap) and NaOH (solid soap). Be sure to use the KOH values.
You’ll notice also that these are higher; it takes more KOH than NaOH for any given oil to saponify.
Multiply the KOH value by the amount of oil in your recipe. Let’s use grams so we can be as accurate
as possible.

 KOH Value Our Recipe KOH needed to saponify oil

Olive Oil – 40% .19 350 g 66.5 g
Safflower Oil – 20% .19 170 g 32.3 g
Coconut Oil – 14% .256 115 g 29.44 g
Castor Oil – 20% .18 170 g 30.6 g
Palm Oil – 6% .203 50 g 10.15 g

 Add up your KOH and this is the total amount of KOH needed to saponify your oils. We end up
with 168.99 so let’s round it to 168 g.

 We need to take it into consideration that KOH is not 100% pure KOH. It contains about 8-12%
“other” stuff- mostly water. If you’ve read Failor’s book, Making Liquid Soap, you’ll notice that she
uses a 10% lye excess in her calculations. I like using 8%.

 There is much discussion on superfatting or using a lye excess in liquid soap making. If you use a lye
excess you’ll need to bring the PH down a bit but if you superfat you’ll run the risk of cloudy soap (not
a big deal) or soap that separates or has a layer of unsaponified oil floating on top (this is a big deal
to me).
  I choose to use a lye excess because I want all of my oils/fats as close to 100% saponified as
possible. I don’t want any sort of floating layer of soap/oils and I reduce the risk of any type of
rancidity setting in especially since I use Safflower oil. Free fatty acids go rancid so if all of the oils are
saponified; there aren’t free oils to go rancid.

 From our calculations above we end up with 168 g KOH. We want to add a lye excess of 8% to this.
So we multiply 168 x .08 (8%) to get 13.44. Add 168 to 13.44 and we get 181.44. I’m going to go
ahead and round down to 181 g.

 You’ll have two phases of water for your liquid soap.

1. The initial water for the paste
2. The water needed for dilution (we’ll discuss later)

 To find the water needed for the paste multiply the KOH amount by three. So we’ll end up with 543 g
of water. So here is what we’ll need to make our soap paste.

 Olive Oil – 350 g

Safflower Oil – 170 g
Coconut Oil – 115 g
Castor Oil – 170 g
Palm Oil – 50 g
KOH 181 g
Distilled Water 543 g

 We end up with a paste that is about 55oz. (Give or take – there will be slight water evaporation.)

 This is simply our paste. We’ll discuss more of the process in a bit.

24oz soft oil of choice (I use Soybean oil)

21oz coconut oil
3oz Cocoa Butter
12oz Lye
36oz distilled water (to dissolve the lye)

To neutralize: 3oz Borax + 6oz water heated until borax dissolves,

then add to your soap
To dilute your soap: depends on how thick or concentrated you want
your soap.

Here is link to some free

recipes: http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/form_liquidsoaprecipes.html
This instructable is only meant to serve as a 'picture guide' with
basic instruction. It is written under the impression that the reader
has some experience with soapmaking, and is looking to explore hot
process liquid soapmaking. Please observe all the usual
soapmaking precautions!
Check out my blog at http://jesplayin.blogspot.com

Here is a very basic list of what you will need.

Stainless Steel Pot

Stainless Steel Utensils (Very important, Lye will eat any other
metal, and heat will melt plastic.
A very accurate Scale that will measure up to the size of your batch
Candy Thermometer
Gloves
Mask
An assortment of bowls, and spatulas
Your oils
Distilled water (very important, tap water will keep your soap from
forming. Not sure what spring water will do, I've never tried it.)
Your lye (Potassium Hydroxide, KOH, Caustic Potash)
Fragrance Oil.
INGREDIENTS
72g (2.5 oz) of cold, clean water
29g (1 oz) Potassium Hydroxide (Caustic Potash) Flake
110g (3.8 oz) Coconut Oil (Standard White Solid Coconut Oil, not fractionated nor hydrogenated
varieties)
2nd stage...
72g (2.5 oz) of cold, clean water (again)
1/2 tsp Pure Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil (Optional)
3rd stage...
250ml (1 cup) cold, clean water (again)
HOW TO.....
First, dissolve the potassium hydroxide flake into 72g (2.5oz) of water and set aside until cooled to
between aprox 30/35 degC (86/95 degF).
Meanwhile heat the coconut oil and the second 72g of water together in a heavy-bottomed suitable
saucepan until they reach aprox 80 degC (176 degF) (the oil globules will suspend in the water at this
stage).
Take the water/oil off the heat and drizzle in the potassium hydroxide solution, gently stirring to blend.
Place the pan back on a low-medium heat and bring the temperature back to aprox 80 degC (176
degF), stirring continuously but gently until it becomes a uniform mixture. At first it will appear the water
and oil are not fully blended, but after a few minutes it will gradually become a uniform and thicker
consistency. DO NOT allow the temperature to exceed 82 degC (180 degF) or fall below 70 degC (158
degF), so remove from the heat periodically if necessary.
After approximately 15 minutes the mixture will become gel-like but still liquid. Before it gels completely
remove from the heat and pour into a suitable container and leave to solidify and cool for 24 hours.
After a minimum 24 hours OR up to aprox 8 weeks max, this gel can be successfully turned into finished
liquid soap as follows...
For the purposes of economy you can choose to use only part of the gel to turn into liquid soap, but for
the whole amount you'll need the 250ml (1 cup) of water in the ingredients above. If using half or less,
use proportionally less water.
Put the soap gel back into the heavy-bottomed pan and add 250ml (1 cup) of water, then over a low-
medium heat and WITHOUT stirring, slowly and carefully 'scrunch' the soap into the hot water until you
have a uniform liquid. Stirring will cause lather and you don't want too much later so 'careful' is the word
to remember at this stage.
Add optional essential or fragrance oil. You may also choose to colour using a suitable liquid soap dye
at this stage.
Finally, using a suitable strainer, strain the soap into a container to remove any undissolved soap or
unwanted lather and pour into a suitable pump-dispenser.
The final viscosity of the liquid soap will alter with more or less water in the final stage and will only
become apparent when completely cooled.

Ingredients
 1/2 cup castile soap liquid
 1/2 cup distilled water
 1 TB vitamin E oil (optional)
 1 TB sweet almond oil or olive oil or jojoba oil (optional)
 15 drops tea tree essential oil
 5-10 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions
1. In a mason jar or recycled soap dispenser, add the water first (to prevent bubbles) then the liquid
castile soap, followed by the oils. Shake the ingredients together.
2. Shake the soap dispenser before using, then squirt a small amount on your hands as needed,
rinsing with water.

Recipe Notes
You don't have to use the essential oils I add to my soap. You're welcome to skip the essential oils, or
experiment with other options. If you're using this soap with young children, I recommend skipping the
peppermint essential oil, just to be cautious.

The oil and vitamin E are added to moisturize the skin. You're welcome to skip these if you'd like. The oil
won't blend with the water, so you'll need to gently shake the soap before use.
Castile soap is a concentrated natural vegetable-based "soap" that greatly differs from the toxic soaps we
are accustomed to on store shelves.

When you introduce water into a product without a preservative you always run the risk of introducing
bacteria, so use water-based products quickly.
The “where to buy” links provide you with information on the products I use to make this
soap and many other DIYs.

Ingredients
 24 oz weight (680 grams) olive oil
 16 oz weight (454 grams) coconut oil
 9.35 oz weight (265 grams) Potassium hydroxide lye flakes
 32 oz (4 cups | 907 grams) distilled water, for lye-solution
 10 to 12 cups distilled water, to dilute, plus extra as needed

Instructions
Make The Soap Paste
1. Add the olive oil and coconut oil to a large, (6 quart minimum) crock pot. Turn the crock-pot on
high.
2. While the oils are warming, put on your safety gloves and goggles, and carefully measure the
potassium hydroxide lye into a stainless steel or pyrex bowl.
3. Measure the water into a medium stainless bowl or pyrex pitcher. Set the container with the water
into your sink, then very carefully tip the lye flakes into the water. Stir to dissolve.
4. When the oils in the crockpot are warm, carefully tip the lye solution into the oils. Leave the
crockpot on high.
5. Use an immersion blender to blend the oils and lye solution together. Immediately after adding the
lye solution to the oils, blend for about 5 minutes, until the mixture looks uniformly opaque and begins
to slightly thicken. For the next 30 minutes, come back and blend the soap paste about every 5
minutes. The mixture will get thicker and thicker, progressing through an icing texture to something
like Elmer's glue.

Cook Soap Paste

1. When the soap mixture becomes too thick to blend with an immersion blender, lid the crock pot
and cook the soap mixture for 3 hours on high.
2. Every 30 minutes or so, come back and fold and stir the soap paste with a heat-resistant silicone
spatula or heavy wood spoon to ensure the soap paste cooks evenly.
3. As the soap cooks, it will become increasingly translucent, moving from a runny white liquid to a
puffy taffy texture to, eventually, a yellowy-clear, thick, translucent gel.

Test Soap Clarity

1. After 3 hours, or once the paste looks fully translucent and gelled throughout, check the soap with
a clarity test.
2. Measure out an ounce of soap paste (about a golf-ball sized blob will do it). Add 4 oz (1/2 cup) of
boiling or very hot water to the soap paste. Stir gently until the soap paste is totally dissolved.
3. Allow the dilute soap to cool. If the soap is opaque, or if a scum of oils floats to the surface,
continue cooking your soap paste for another hour before re-testing.
4. If the dilute soap is clear (it needn't be colorless, just translucent), proceed with dilution.
Dilute the Soap Paste
1. Add 10 cups water to the soap paste in the crockpot. Break up the soap paste into the water as
best you can but don't worry about the paste dissolving fully.
2. Lid the crock pot and turn the heat to warm for 8 hours or overnight. If you happen to walk by,
give the soap a stir to help it along but don't worry if you can't.
3. After 8 hours, if you notice chunks of remaining soap or thick skin of soap forming even after the
chunks of soap dissolve, add another cup or two of water to further dilute the paste.

Bottle Soap
1. When your soap is fully dissolved with no chunks of soap paste remaining, ladle your dilute soap
into a perfectly clean and dry 1-gallon glass or plastic jug.
If you are familiar with making soap from scratch, you probably know that solid soap is made with sodium hydroxide
and that liquid soap is made with potassium hydroxide (KOH). Potassium hydroxide is similar to sodium hydroxide, but
makes soft soap, which combined with water, makes liquid soap. This guide will teach you how to make liquid soap
from scratch, using potassium hydroxide.

Liquid Soap Ingredients

Combining a potassium hydroxide solution with various carrier oils and cosmetic butters makes liquid soap. Some
carrier oils do better in liquid soap and some are best if left out or used in smaller quantities.

Potassium hydroxide (KOH) - KOH is the caustic substance used to turn skin-loving oils and butters into soap.

Water - Water is used to dissolve the caustic to make soap.

Clear Liquid Oils - Olive oil, rice bran oil, apricot kernel oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil,
etc. are all wonderfully nourishing oils to use in liquid soap. A combination of these oils should makeup the bulk of a
liquid soap formulation. All of these oils contribute to a clear liquid soap.

Castor Oil - Castor oil is great in liquid soap because it is also a solvent. This means that it can help with the clarity of
your liquid soap.

Coconut Oil - Coconut oil adds bubbling and cleansing action to liquid soap. Coconut oil makes a clear liquid soap.

Palm Oil & Cosmetic Butters - Palm oil and cosmetic butters such as shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, etc. are
great in liquid soap in smaller percentages. They tend to have higher amounts of stearic acid or other non-saponifiable
material that can cloud liquid soap or contribute to sediment. Keep them to 3-7% of your formulation.

Additives in Liquid Soap

Both fragrance oils and essential oils can be used to scent liquid soap. Let’s discuss each:

Fragrance Oils - Fragrance oils are synthetic man-made aromatic ingredients that are used to scent soap and other
products. Sometimes they can even contain natural essential oils. The typical usage rate is about 2% of diluted liquid
soap.

Essential Oils - Essential oils are considered a natural way to fragrance your soap and are concentrated hydrophobic
liquids containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are extracted from plant materials (flowers,
bark, seeds, peel, roots, leaves, etc.) by expression, steam distillation or solvent extraction. The typical usage rate is
about 2% of diluted liquid soap.

Liquid Dyes - are the best way to color liquid soaps. Colorants that color by particle suspension, such as mica,
pigments, natural herbs and spice, etc. do not work well in liquid soap because the particles will just fall to the bottom
of the liquid soap bottle.

Dye Powders - Dye powders are super concentrated colorants and are approved by the FD&C for use in soap.
Dye powders are best if premixed with distilled water. Add drop-by-drop using a dropper until you get your desired
color. Using too much colorant in your soap can result in staining.

Liquid Soap Packaging

Liquid soap is best packaged into bottles with pumps or foamers.

Foamer Bottles - Foamer bottles are a popular way to package liquid soap. Foamers produce just that, a foam of soap.
It is important to note that liquid soap used in foamers needs to be very watery. You can mix 1 part liquid soap paste
with 2 parts water for dilution. (The standard is 1 part paste with 1 part water.)

Bottles with Pumps - There are numerous sizes and styles of bottles with pumps.

Using a Lye Calculator

Just as when making solid soap with sodium hydroxide, you will need to use a lye calculator to know how much
potassium hydroxide is needed to make liquid soap based on your oils selected.

Wholesale Supplies Plus has a lye calculator, Click here.

It is important to note that potassium hydroxide is only 90-95% pure. This means that when the lye calculator is set to
0% superfat, we still have 5-10% of unsaponified fats left in our liquid soap. This is important to note, because
unsaponified fats can cloud liquid soap. To reduce cloudiness, we actually use a negative superfat with the lye
calculator to reduce the amount of fat left unsaponified. -3% to -7% is the typical range to experiment with.

Using liquid glycerin in the dilution phase helps to add emoliency and a clear ‘superfat’ back into the soap.
You can play with using different superfats on the lye calculator and examine the results. In the sample recipe below,
we use a -7% superfat in the lye calculator.

For liquid soap, ignore the water amount suggested by the calculator and simply use three times the potassium
hydroxide to make a solution. You can see below in the sample recipe that we used 9 oz. of potassium hydroxide and
27 oz. of water. 9 x 3 = 27. This just keeps it simple.

Diluting Liquid Soap

Once your paste is made, you will need to dilute it to make a liquid soap. Liquid soap paste is comprised of the base
oils and caustic solution (potassium hydroxide + water).

The amount of liquid you use to dilute is calculated based on your paste weight. You can use anywhere from 50-200%.
In the recipe below, our paste total (add base oils, potassium hydroxide and solution water) is 78 oz. (100% dilution).

50% dilution rate = 39 oz.

100% dilution rate = 78 oz.

It is always a good rule of thumb to start low and raise the amount during dilution. You can always add more water, but
it’s hard to take it out. In the recipe below, we go ahead and use 100%, but feel free to start at 75% and go up from
there.

What can you dilute with?

Distilled water is most commonly used to dilute liquid soap. Liquid glycerin is another common liquid used. You can use
varying percentages of your total dilution rate of each. You can use 50% water and 50% liquid glycerin. You can use
80% water and 20% liquid glycerin. This is what we use below.

Never use a liquid that is perishable, such as beer, wine, milk, vegetable juice, etc.

Keep careful notes and modify as needed for your next batch. If your soap is too runny, you can use less liquid at the
dilution phase. If your soap is too thick, you can use more liquid during the dilution phase. Different base oils will
require different amounts of dilution, so it really is trial and error based on your formulation.

How to Formulate a Basic Liquid Soap Recipe

Here is a great recipe for liquid soap if you don’t know where to start.

Base Oils:
Coconut Oil - 10 oz.
Olive Oil - 10 oz.
Rice Bran Oil - 8 oz.
Avocado Oil - 8 oz.
Castor Oil - 6 oz.

Caustic Solution:
Potassium Hydroxide - 9 oz.
Distilled Water - 27 oz.

Dilution Phase:
Distilled Water - 62.4 oz.
Liquid Glycerin - 15.6 oz.

Additives:
Essential or Fragrance Oil - 3.12 oz.

Equipment

 Crockpot - A Crockpot or slow cooker is a great way to cook liquid soap.

 Immersion Blender - An immersion blender is what is used to mix the liquid soap to emulsion.

 Digital Scale - Liquid soap ingredients are measured by weight.

 Stirring Utensil - You will need a stainless steel spoon or silicone spatula.

 Stainless Steel Pot - To dilute your soap.

 Hair net and gloves

Potassium Hydroxide Safety

Potassium hydroxide is a caustic substance and can burn you. It can permanently damage eyesight if it splashes into
your eyes. When using potassium hydroxide, wear safety gear including goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Have a
copy of Potassium Hydroxide MSDS on hand in case of emergency.

 If you get potassium hydroxide splashed on your skin, flush with water.
  If you get potassium hydroxide in your eye, flush with water and get to the emergency room.

 If you spill potassium hydroxide on a surface, spray with vinegar solution to neutralize, wipe up with towels, and
launder as usual. Never use vinegar solution on potassium hydroxide on your skin or in your eye.

 Potassium hydroxide reacts with certain metals. Only use stainless steel when making soap.

Potassium hydroxide is used to turn the oils into soap. There is no potassium hydroxide left in the finished product.

Basic Process
Step 1: Weigh out the water needed for the caustic solution. Weight out the potassium hydroxide.

Step 2: Pour the potassium hydroxide into the water while stirring gently. Sometimes it will ‘hiss’ at you while it
dissolves. Set aside to cool down.

Step 3: Weigh all of the oils into the Crockpot. You can melt any solid oils before putting them in the crockpot.

Step 4: Turn the Crockpot onto high and let the oils heat up.

Step 5: Pour the potassium hydroxide solution into the oils. Heat helps to emulsify the caustic solution with the oils, so
you don’t need to let your solution cool down. As soon as the oils are all melted and the solution turns clear, you can
mix.

Step 6: Stickblend to trace. Sometimes getting to trace with liquid soap can take awhile. Stickblend for about 10
minutes. Keep your Crockpot on high because heat helps. Walk away for about 10 minutes. Come back and stickblend
some more and you should get to trace. If you still aren’t there. Walk away again for 10 minutes and come back to try
again. You’ll get there eventually. Don’t stress, because it will all come together. Some liquid soap formulas are quick
and some take a long time to trace.

Step 7: Put the lid on the Crockpot and let cook for about 30 minutes. Don’t stir. The soap will get puffy and rise a bit.
Some of it will turn translucent.

Step 8: After 30 minutes, stir really well.

Step 9: Let cook for another hour or so until most of the soap has turned translucent. It helps to not stir, because then
you can see which soap has turned translucent and which hasn’t.

Step 10: Boil 62.4 oz. of water and 15.6 oz. of liquid glycerin in a stainless steel stockpot.

Step 11: Spoon liquid soap paste into the pot. Turn off heat, cover tightly and let sit. Dilution takes hours. As you walk
by the pot, stir every now and then. When it cools off, turn the burner onto med and heat it up again. Stir. Turn off. Allow
the mixture to sit. It takes time for the liquid soap paste to absorb all of the water. Start dilution at night so it can sit
overnight to do most of the work. Time and heat are your friends during the dilution phase.

Step 12: Once diluted, you can add scent. You can scent the whole batch or you can divide out into different scents.
Scent is added at 2% of liquid soap base. Weigh out the soap that you want to scent, multiply by 0.02 and that is the
amount of scent you will use.

Important note: Fragrances and essential oils effect liquid soap in different ways. Sometimes they can thicken liquid
soap, they can loosen liquid soap, they can cloud liquid soap…etc. ALWAYS test a fragrance oil or essential oil prior to
scenting a large amount of soap. To test, weight out 200 grams of liquid soap. Add 4 grams of scent and see what
happens. Allow it to sit overnight and examine the next day.
Step 13: Bottle and enjoy!
- Chickens in the Road - https://chickensintheroad.com -
How to Make Liquid Soap

Posted By Suzanne McMinn On March 24, 2011 @ 1:05 am In Handmade Soaps,House &
Garden,Primitive Crafts & Country Style | 68 Comments
Note: What follows is a complicated method for making liquid soap based on Catherine Failor’s book on
the subject of clear liquid soap. I wrote this post five years ago, and have gained a lot of experience in
the meantime. If you read this tutorial and want to tear your hair out, see how I make liquid soap now,
the easy way, here.

*****
In preface to this post, I want to say that this isn’t the only way to make liquid soap. In fact, the more I
research liquid soap, the more I realize how inventive, creative, and limitless it is. What I’m going to
present in this post is how to make clear liquid soap, using Making Natural Liquid Soaps by Catherine
Failor, among other resources.
Liquid soap, like any soap, is created by combining fat with lye. The fat can be all sorts of things–-but
for liquid soap, as opposed to hard soap, coconut oil (for lathering) in combination primarily with soft
oils is generally recommended. Soft oils are oils that are liquid at room temperature (such as olive oil).
You can use hard fats, but if you are in pursuit of clear liquid soap specifically, it may make your effort
more difficult. When formulating your own recipes, research the types of oils/fats you want to use. Even
amongst soft oils, every oil behaves differently.

The lye used in solid soap is sodium hydroxide, otherwise known as caustic soda. Liquid soap requires a
different type of lye–potassium hydroxide (caustic potash). Potassium hydroxide is more soluble than
sodium hydroxide, which makes liquid soap possible. The same safety precautions remain–use goggles
and gloves when handling potassium hydroxide, avoid inhaling fumes, and store securely out of reach
of children and pets. (Review safety precautions here.)
You don’t have to learn how to make solid soap before learning to make liquid soap, but if you’ve
already tried your hand at solid soap, you’ll find some of the procedures in liquid soap to be
comfortingly familiar.
When pursuing clear liquid soap, it’s important that all the fatty acids are saponified (to avoid
cloudiness or separation). For that reason, clear liquid soap recipes are formulated with a lye excess.
Potassium hydroxide flakes intrinsically contain water and other impurities, around 10 percent, which
means the lye excess in clear liquid soap recipes is not as high as it initially appears. Even so, this soap
must be further neutralized to get rid of the excess and lower the pH. This is done by adding a solution
of boric acid, borax, or citric acid after diluting the soap.

Do you care if your liquid soap is clear? Maybe not. Many liquid soap crafters begin with the lye excess
method then move on to creating their own opaque liquid soaps without lye excess and no added
neutralization. This is a slightly perilous path for the beginning liquid soaper because there isn’t a lot of
expert information available to the home crafter. I’ve already experimented with a recipe that way, and
had a failure with it. I learned from that failure, and will continue to experiment. If you are interested in
pursuing that path, you will want to do your own research and learn to formulate your own recipes. To
formulate liquid soap recipes without lye excess, I recommend the recipe calculator at Soap Calc here.
As I said, slightly perilous path for the beginning liquid soaper due to the research required in this
pursuit. In my opinion, it’s best suited to the advanced liquid soaper.
Keep in mind that you will find liquid soap calculators at many sites, but they are often calibrated to a
lye excess. (And there’s some confusion about it.) I’ve seen Summer Bee’s calculator referred to as a 0
percent calculator, but it’s not. It’s calibrated to a lye excess, and they state that on their page. The
liquid soap calculator at Bramble Berry is also calibrated to a lye excess. (Run any Failor recipe through
them and you’ll see.) If you want to calculate your own recipes using the lye excess method, I
recommend the Bramble Berry calculator. It’s dead simple. However, there are some additional features
at the Summer Bee calculator that aren’t available elsewhere, so it’s a handy resource for more
advanced formulations.
You can also find a wealth of information from fellow liquid soapers, many of them working with recipes
with no lye excess, at the Yahoo Liquid Soapers group. I’ve also opened a topic for discussion and
questions about making liquid soap on the CITR forum here. (Come join us!)
Meanwhile, if all that is too much for you as a beginning liquid soaper, I recommend starting with the
lye excess/added neutralization method, for which the most expert information is available for the
home crafter. In every recipe I’ve tried, I’ve found this method to be no-fail. If you’re after immediate
gratification, have I got the liquid soap for you!
No matter what kind of liquid soap you’re making, it all starts with cooking a soap paste, which is then
diluted into liquid soap–and it’s super easy. Let’s go! (Specific recipes follow.)

You can print this page:

How to make a soap paste:

Prepare your work area. Gather all tools, utensils, safety gear, and ingredients. Along with a large
(unchipped) enamel crock pot, you will need a number of bowls and utensils for holding, measuring,
stirring, etc. Do not use aluminum, tin, or copper. Use stainless steel, glass, or heat-resistant plastic for
your bowls and utensils. You will also need a kitchen scale and a stick blender. (Note: You may want to
weigh your crock, empty and removed from the outer heating pot, before you start. I’ll explain below.)
Weigh the oils and place in the crock pot on Low.

Prepare the lye solution. Weigh soft or distilled water in a large bowl.

Weigh the lye.

ALWAYS ADD LYE TO WATER. NEVER ADD WATER TO LYE. Add the lye gradually, stirring constantly. (I
was taking a picture, but otherwise you should be stirring.)

The mixture will appear cloudy at first.

It will quickly clear.

Pour the lye solution slowly into the warm, melted oils. Your crock pot remains on Low.

The mixture will darken and not look very appealing.

Place the stick blender in the crock pot, making sure the blade is completely immersed in the mixture to
avoid creating splatters.

The mixture will turn opaque and become thicker and smoother as you blend it. To avoid burning up
your stick blender, blend with it on for a few minutes, then turn it off and just stir with it. Then on, then
off, as you watch for the mixture to come to trace.
What is trace? Trace is the stage in soapmaking where you can draw a line across the mixture and it
will remain visible for several seconds before disappearing. (Sort of like when you’re making a thick
gravy or a pudding.) Trace is even easier to recognize in a liquid soap recipe than a solid soap recipe. In
fact, you can’t miss it. And it will go from starting to thicken to trace so fast, you will be lucky to get
your stick blender out in time.

Right before trace:

A minute later, so thick I can’t shake the mixture off the stick blender, I have to scrape it off.

With the crock pot still on Low, put on the lid and begin the cook. Check it a couple of times during the
first 30 minutes to be sure there’s been no separation of the oils. If you see any liquidy oils at the
bottom of the crock pot, stir them back in.
The mixture will quickly become so thick, a spoon will stand up in it.

The paste will become very difficult to stir during the cook. Do your best. You can try a potato masher.
It’s nearly impossible to stir at some points. Check the mixture about every 30 minutes during the cook
and stir/break up/move it around the best you can to continue to mix the mixture as you watch for
signs of finished paste.
Finished paste looks like thick Vaseline with a translucent quality.

Another look at a finished paste:

Finished paste close up in a sample:

How do you know if your paste is finished? Aside from looks, you’ll need to dilute a sample to test.
Testing for finished paste:
Dissolve 1 ounce of soap paste in 2 ounces of boiling distilled water. If it tests clear, your paste is done.
If it tests slightly cloudy but you’ve cooked for the expected period of time, that’s okay, you’re done. If
it tests milky, you are so NOT done. (If it tests milky forever, you did something wrong. Probably mis-
measured something.) In the recipes below, I’ve given you my cook times per recipe. Don’t test sample
constantly. Wait at least 3 hours before test sampling, and then test sample about once an hour. Don’t
be impatient, grasshopper. (Extra cook time will not hurt your soap, so never fear.) Tip: Start with 2
ounces of boiling water and the 1 ounce of soap paste–then zap 45 seconds in the microwave, stir, zap
again, stir, zap again, several times over and your test sample will dissolve more quickly.
Sample testing clear (the paste is done):

Sample testing cloudy (this is still done):

Sample testing milky (NOT done!):

Once your paste is finished, weigh it. (You will need this information, and soap paste weight can vary,
even when using the same recipe a second time, due to even slight differences in measurements, cook
time, and evaporation.) You can either weigh your crock pot before you start (crock removed from
outer heating pot) or remove the paste to weigh. I weighed my pot, but found later that when I tried to
weigh the pot and paste combined, my scale couldn’t take it. It’s a pain, but not impossible, to remove
the paste to weigh. Scrape it out with a big spoon and transfer to a bowl. You don’t have to get every
last bit, just close enough. (Weigh the bowl first to deduct from the total weight or hit tare after you
place the bowl on your scale and before you add the paste.) Weigh the paste, then return it to the crock
pot.
You may at this point want to store half the paste for later use. As you move the paste back to the pot,
keep your bowl on the scale and weigh out half the paste to return to the crock pot. Store the other half
in a plastic baggie labeled with the recipe name and the weight of the paste for future reference.
Depending on your rate of dilution, you might not even be able to dilute the entire paste in your crock
pot anyway, but you will have no trouble diluting half the paste in your crock pot even at 20 percent
dilution.

Another reason to divide your paste in half, or even in thirds, is to experiment with different dilution
rates in preparing the soap. You may also want fragrance it in separate batches to please family
members or friends, or make one part unscented for someone who doesn’t like scent while still
fragrancing the rest. When you divide the paste, you have room to play with each part separately in
dilution, scent, color, thickening, and so on.

Dilution:
Use soft or distilled water to dilute your paste. Here is a dilution table showing percent of soap and
percent of water added per pound of paste.
For 15 percent soap — 48 ounces water (3 pounds) added per pound of paste
20 percent — 32 ounces (2 pounds)
25 percent — 22 ounces (1 pound 6 ounces)
30 percent — 16 ounces (1 pound)
35 percent — 12 ounces
40 percent — 9 ounces
Soaps made from 100 percent coconut oil will dilute at 40 percent (though that would be a very drying
soap). You will have a hard time getting a recipe with any significant amount of olive oil to dilute at
anything other than 20 percent. I started out trying all of my recipes at 30 percent. If a soap doesn’t
dilute in a reasonable period of time (several hours) then you’re probably at the wrong dilution rate. A
soap that isn’t going to dilute at your current dilution rate will start forming a layer on top. No matter
how many times you break it up, it will keep layering.

An olive oil soap layering at 30 percent dilution:

You have two choices. You can either dilute the soap further, or emulsify it with a 33 percent borax
solution. Emulsification with a borax solution allows you to dilute soap at higher concentrations. Your
other choice is to dilute further then thicken with glycerin. Borax is a natural mineral/salt. Glycerin is a
byproduct of soap fats. Which path you choose will depend on the type of soap you’re making, its
intended use, and your personal preferences. I used a borax solution to emulsify my home cleaning
soap at 25 percent. For my hand soap and shampoo, I chose to dilute to 20 percent then thicken back
with glycerin.

Your diluted soap weight = the weight of your paste plus the weight of your dilution water. (You will
need this information, so after you finish diluting, add it up!)

Emulsification:
To emulsify liquid soap at a higher concentration than it will naturally dilute, add up to 2-3 tablespoons
borax solution per pound of diluted soap. (See how to make a borax solution below.) If you choose to
emulsify a recipe, you don’t need to add any further neutralization. You can do this before or after
sequestering, but if you do it before sequestering, your soap is as clear as it’s going to get because this
level of borax solution addition will interfere with further clearing.
Neutralization:
You can neutralize your liquid soap one of three ways–with citric acid, boric acid, or borax. You will add
this to your diluted soap, but the amount you add is based on your paste weight.
To make a citric acid or boric acid solution (these two solutions are made at 20 percent), add 2 ounces
of citric or boric acid to 8 ounces of boiling distilled water. Stir until dissolved. Use while hot. Add 1 1/2
tablespoons per pound paste weight to neutralize.

To make a borax solution (made at 33 percent), add 3 ounces of borax to 6 ounces of boiling distilled
water. Stir until dissolved. Use while hot. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons per pound paste weight to neutralize.
(Borax means, for example, the 20 Mule Team stuff.)

Following neutralization (or neutralization by emulsification), while your liquid soap is still hot, add (if
using) scent, coloring, superfatting, thickening (if by glycerin), and sequestering agents.

Scent:
Add fragrance or essential oils, if desired, at 2-3 percent of your diluted soap.
Coloring:
You can dye your soap with specially prepared liquid soap dyes or use food coloring from the grocery
store. (No, this won’t cause staining.) Fabric dyes are not recommended for liquid soap. Add color
gradually–a few drops can color a lot of soap! Take into account that you are, with most clear liquid
soap recipes, starting with a light to dark amber natural color.
I did color experiments in small samples, just for fun.

I usually prefer my homemade soaps in their natural color.

Superfatting:
Sulfated castor oil is the only recommended oil for superfatting liquid soap because it is completely
water soluble. Other oils will cloud your liquid soap. Superfat at 1 percent of the diluted liquid soap
weight.
Thickening:
For thickening purposes, add 1/2 to 1 ounce per pound of a 33 percent borax solution per pound of
diluted soap. (Add to cold–aka room temperature–diluted soap.) If your soap is cloudy, do NOT use a
borax solution for thickening until after sequestering. (This is more borax solution than used in
neutralization and can interfere with clarity before sequestering.)
If you don’t want to use borax to thicken, add 1-2 ounces of glycerin per pound of diluted soap instead.
Glycerin will also add moisturizing, lather, and emollience. You can add glycerin for thickening before
sequestering as it is also a sequestering agent. Start with 1 ounce per pound diluted soap. Don’t expect
to see the results of the glycerin until the soap cools and sequesters. After sequestering, if it’s not as
thick as you like, you can add more.

Sequestering Agents:
You will already know from your test sample if your soap is slightly cloudy–and you can fix it now. (This
will NOT fix milky liquid soap!) To clarify slight cloudiness, you can use isopropyl or ethanol alcohol, a
sugar solution, or glycerin–or a combination of all three. Whatever mixture of sequestering agents you
choose, add them at no more than 5 percent of your diluted liquid soap weight. To make a sugar
solution, bring 1 pound of water to a boil. Add 1 1/2 pounds of sugar. Bring to a boil again and cook
until the sugar dissolves.
Sequestering is the time the liquid soap sits before it clears. Some soaps are clear immediately. Others
take days or up to 2 weeks to clear. Your liquid soap is ready to use immediately after you finish
making it, but you may want to sequester some recipes for added clarity. I transfer my liquid soaps to
quart jars for sequestering and storage. You may want to use something else, but clear glass enables
you to see the soap as it’s sequestering, which is handy if you are looking for clarity. Save your empty
water jugs and, after sequestering, transfer your soap to them for longterm storage and use to refill
your dispensers.

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Recipes:
The Failor book is a fantastic resource and I highly recommend it. The book’s drawbacks are the way
the information is organized and the lack of detail presented with the recipes. You have to flip back and
forth hunting all over the book to find what you need when you need it, and recipes give no hint to
suggested soft oils, recommended dilution rates, probable cook time, likelihood of cloudiness, etc. I’ve
done my best with this tutorial to present the information as you need it, and to specify exactly how I
made each recipe. These recipes are all adapted from the Failor book. You can replace the olive oil in
these recipes with another soft oil (or combination of soft oils) and alter the dilution rate and other
matters to your liking. If you do so, your results may be different. Feel free to experiment! For even
more recipes and a lot of great resource information, get the Failor book. You can also create your own
recipes using a liquid soap calculator.

Each of these recipes, the way I made them, yielded about 6 quart jars of liquid soap. Each quart jar of
liquid soap weighs approximately 2 pounds, so that’s 12 pounds of soap!
I didn’t superfat any of these recipes, but you can. Remember also that if you want to dilute at a
different rate, you could dilute all of these recipes at 30 or even 35 percent if you don’t mind
emulsifying with a borax solution to the fullest recommended emulsification allowance. Homemade
liquid soap is typically thinner than store-bought liquid soap. (Store-bought liquid soap is thickened.)
How you make your recipes is all about what you want–do it your way.
How much did these soaps cost to make? I don’t know. I don’t like math and I didn’t figure it out. If you
want the cheapest liquid soap possible, you can buy store-bought liquid hand soaps and shampoos for a
dollar a bottle. You may not be able to make homemade liquid soap for that–but then, you might not
want to know what’s in your cheap store-bought liquid soap. If you want to make homemade liquid
soap for frugality purposes, find the best deals on lye and coconut oil. Use the cheapest soft oils you
can find. Use borax to emulsify and thicken (borax is cheap) and don’t use any essential oils. If you
want to make homemade liquid soap out of an interest in the craft or to provide the most natural,
quality product you can for yourself and your family, then you will choose your ingredients with those
goals in mind. (And your soap won’t be quite as inexpensive.) How much your liquid soap costs is up to
you and it’s all about your perspective.

Moisturizing Hand Soap with Jojoba:

Notes: This recipe yields an initially slightly cloudy soap due to the jojoba. You’ll need to use
sequestering agents to clear it up, and it will require sequestering time to clear and thicken. It also
takes a very long cook time–but it’s worth it!
Oils
24 ounces coconut oil
10 ounces olive oil
10 ounces castor oil
3 ounces jojoba oil
Lye Solution
11 ounces potassium hydroxide
33 ounces distilled water
Trace Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours
Dilution Rate: 20 percent
Neutralization: 33 percent borax solution, 1 1/2 tablespoons per pound finished paste
Sequestering Agent: sugar solution, 5 percent per pound diluted soap
Thickening: 2 ounces glycerin per pound of diluted soap
Scent: 3 percent fragrance or essential oil per pound diluted soap
Moisturizing Shampoo with Lanolin:

Notes: This one also resulted in an initially slightly cloudy soap due to the lanolin, but not as cloudy as
with the jojoba in the previous recipe. You can clear it up with sequestering agents. Even at 20 percent,
it wasn’t completely diluted. Rather than dilute further, I added a reduced measure (1 tablespoon per
diluted soap weight) of the 33 percent borax solution. If you prefer to not do that, you may have to
dilute to 15 percent and increase the thickener. Since I emulsified slightly with the borax solution,
added neutralization wasn’t necessary. If you don’t emulsify, neutralize. This soap was clear
immediately after adding the sugar solution, but required sequestering time to thicken.
Oils
24 ounces coconut oil
13 ounces olive oil
11 ounces castor oil
2 ounces liquid lanolin
Lye Solution
12 ounces potassium hydroxide
36 ounces distilled water
Trace Time: 13 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours
Dilution Rate: 20 percent
Emulsification: 33 percent borax solution, 1 tablespoon per pound diluted soap weight
Sequestering Agents: sugar solution, 5 percent per pound diluted soap
Thickening: 2 ounces glycerin per pound diluted soap
Scent: 3 percent essential oil per pound diluted soap
All-Around Home Cleaning Soap:

Notes: This recipe is the easiest one to make. (It’s a good one to pick to practice on first.) It cooks
relatively quickly and is clear immediately. I used the highest proportion of borax solution
recommended for emulsifying so I didn’t have to dilute further than 25 percent. The high olive oil
content in this soap would make dilution difficult even at 20 percent. Since borax is a detergent agent
and I intended this soap for home cleaning, I went right ahead with lots of borax. No further
neutralization or thickening was needed.
Oils
23 ounces coconut oil
25 ounces olive oil
Lye Solution
12 ounces potassium hydroxide
36 ounces distilled water
Trace Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Dilution Rate: 25 percent
Emulsification: 3 tablespoons of 33 percent borax solution per pound diluted soap
Scent: several drops fragrance or essential oil per pound diluted soap
For laundry, I use this at 1/3 cup per load and add some washing soda and baking soda with a splash of
vinegar. (How much washing soda and baking soda per load is up to you. You can find per-load
recommendations on the side of the boxes. I use less than the manufacturers recommend because I
think they recommend too much.)

You can use it straight up for washing dishes in the sink. It cuts grease! For the dishwasher, fill your
dishwasher cups almost completely with it and add a little borax for detergent power.

Resource List (not exhaustive, but will get you started)

Supplies:
Wellington Fragrance
Bramble Berry
Summer Bee
Soaper’s Choice
Discussion/Questions:
Yahoo Liquid Soapers
CITR Liquid Soapers
Calculators:
Summer Bee
Bramble Berry
Soap Calc
Also:
The Catherine Failor book: Making Natural Liquid Soaps
Lye Safety Review
All My Soapmaking Posts and Tutorials
Soap Math
If you have trouble with all this soapy math (I do), here’s a tip. If you want to figure ounces for
anything that’s in pounds, change the pounds to ounces (multiply the pounds by 16). To find a percent
of anything, move the decimal two places to the left and multiply it. 2% = .02. Pounds times 16 times
the percent (in a decimal). For example, say you want to fragrance six pounds of liquid soap at two
percent. What is two percent of six pounds? 6 times 16 equals 96, and 96 times .02 equals 1.92
ounces. You’d add 2 ounces of fragrance.
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