14 Homemade soap recipes

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You might want to make your own soap because you want to avoid some of the common chemical ingredients in store-bought soap, or because it saves money, or just for the fun of mixing your own scents and molding them into decorative shapes. Making soap from scratch isn’t a simple process, and you will need to be careful with the lye – make sure you understand what the dangers are and how to avoid them before you start.

Or you can make things much simpler and “rebatch” your own soap, using another soap (like Ivory, which already has the lye) as a base. You can also make a smallish batch of soap right in your blender, following the instructions here or here. You can also make liquid soap in a blender.

Whatever method you choose, here’s where it gets fun: the recipes. You can get very creative with the ingredients. Anything you want to use for scent is fine, but you can also put in ingredients like milk and honey or coffee grinds (great for exfoliation).

Recipes for homemade soap

The following homemade soap recipes vary in difficulty. Not all of them use lye. Some of them are simple re-batching or “melt and pour” recipes which are more suitable if you want to keep it simple.

1. Shea butter soap recipe: coconut oil and shea butter are awesome for dry skin. This is a very basic recipe to which you could add essential oils for fragrance. If you have sensitive skin that reacts badly to many ingredients, this may be just the sort of very simple soap you need.
2. Cucumber soap recipe: cucumber is actually an astringent. This recipe harnesses its supposed curative properties along with its wonderful scent.
3. Vegan lavender soap: made from olive oil and palm kernel oil (see this comment on why palm kernel oil might not be such an animal-friendly choice) instead of animal fat, with the relaxing fragrance of lavender.
4. Lollipop soap: terrific for kids or as a party favor. Yes, it’s soap on a lollipop stick.
5. Chocolate soap: you’ll find a variety of chocolate soap recipes there, and some are vegan. Some add flavors like orange or vanilla, which will give you ideas for your own recipes.
6. Milky Rosebar soap recipe: uses goat’s milk, which is moisturizing, and rose petals, which are used to prevent signs of aging. Looks and smells gorgeous!
7. Coffee and Cream soap: this recipe is melt and pour – no lye! Very easy for beginners or even supervised kids, and fantastic smelling.
8. Apple Tart soap: another easy melt and pour recipe. Red and apple-scented.
9. Dead Sea mud bar: a mild exfoliant with a stress-relieving ginger and grapefruit scent.
10. Vanilla and Almond soap: a “re-batching” recipe that’s all about the delicious scent and not drying out skin.
11. Oatmeal soap: I love oatmeal soap for my sensitive skin. This recipe is so simple: Dove + oatmeal = whole new soap.
12. Spicy Tea Glycerin soap: add tea and dried flowers to boring bars of glycerin soap.
13. Avocado oil soap: just what it sounds like. Avacado is awesome for all types of skin.
14. Ginger coconut lime soap: this one’s all about the scent, but it comes out with a pretty green swirl, too.

Making soap at home can be a very fun and rewarding hobby. Once you’ve made a few batches from recipes, you get a feel for how it’s done and then you can create your own recipes. Decorative bars can be great as gifts, too (and much less expensive, and more thoughtful, than pretty bars from stores).

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Updated: December 29, 2011
Copyright: Jan 7, 2008