For those who prefer using vegetable based instead of animal based products, this vegetarian soap is a great choice. The bars are mild and lather quite well. This is a good soap to choose to hand mill with additives, as it accepts things like herbs, spices, and oatmeal nicely.
The following is a set of basic instructions to make vegetarian soap at home.
Vegetarian Soap Ingredients
- 42 ounces olive oil or blended vegetable (grade B olive oil is best)
- 30 ounces coconut oil
- 28 ounces vegetable shortening
- 6 ounces cocoa butter
- 3 ounces castor oil
- 14 ounces sodium hydroxide
- 41 ounces cold water
- Additional water as needed
Grade B olive oil is best because it is fattier than grade A olive oil which is intended for eating. Using olive oil instead of blended vegetable oil will make the soap a little harder.
Other ingredients can be found in some grocery stores, health food stores and co-ops, or even online from soap making suppliers.
Materials Needed
All soapmaking tools should be kept separate from food preparation tools. Purchase extra bowls, graters, etc. for soapmaking.
- Kitchen scale
- Two plastic pitchers (must be labeled "dishwasher safe")
- Soap pot
- Long handled wooden spoons
- Ladle
- Two kitchen thermometers
- Large plastic container with lid
- White butcher paper, or large needlepoint screen, or rigid plastic cutting board
- Old towel
- Sharp knife
- Rubber gloves
- Safety goggles
Sodium hydroxide is available in hardware stores and online from soap and candle manufacturing suppliers. Sodium hydroxide is also called lye.
Safety First
Lye is caustic. Before making soap, prepare your workstation by covering surfaces with old newspaper or old towels. Wear protective rubber gloves and protective eye goggles.
If lye touches skin or eyes, flush immediately with cold water. If a burn ensues, contact a physician.
Prepare Sodium Hydroxide
- Place one empty, plastic pitcher on the kitchen scale and set to 0. Carefully add 14 ounces of sodium hydroxide.
- Use the same method to add 41 ounces cold water to the second pitcher.
- Without splashing, gently pour the water into the lye. Do not pour the lye into the water.
- Stir gently until you are certain that all of the lye has dissolved.
- The lye solution will be hot; takes its temperature and it should reach 150 - 200 degrees F.
- Secure the lid and place pitcher in cold water bath (either in your sink or in a large pot.)
Prepare Oil
- Place soap pot on kitchen scale and set to 0.
- Measure the oils listed above in the correct amounts into the pot.
- Place pot on stove and set on medium heat.
- Stir as the oil warms, and bring the oil to 100 degrees F.
Make Soap
- Check the temperature of the lye solution. When both the oil and the lye solution are at about 100 degrees F., remove oil from heat and continue.
- Gently and carefully pour the lye solution into the oil while stirring gently and constantly.
- Continue to stir the solution gently for fifteen minutes to an hour.As the soap mixture is stirred, "trailings" become visible. Trailings are the visible drops of soap on top of the mixture that take a moment to be incorporated back into the solution. Vegetarian soap trailings can be hard to see, but if the solution has been stirred for almost an hour it is ready, even if its hard to see trailings.
- Pour the warm soap solution into the primary mold, the large plastic box container. Scrape all of the soap out of the pot and into the mold.
- Secure lid and wrap the mold in an old towel to keep it warm.
- Open the mold every 12 hours and, if there is liquid on top, stir to mix it all together again.
- When at least 48 hours have passed, and the soap has stopped separating, open the mold and let the soap continue to dry in the mold. The soap is still caustic at this point.
- Within a few days the top should seem firm and the soap should easily break away if you pull on the sides of the mold. Turn the mold over and press the bottom to release the soap. If the soap does not easily release, let it continue to cure for another day or so.
- Release the soap and store it on butcher paper, or a rigid piece of plastic, or needlepoint screen. Let the soap continue to air dry for a week.
- Slice the soap with a sharp knife into bars.
Now is the time either hand mill the bars or leave to continue to cure for another week. Vegetarian soap must be milled while it is still relatively soft. The longer the bars are exposed to the air and cured, the harder the soap bars will be (and, therefore, the longer lasting.)
Consider adding herbs or spices to vegetarian soap. Vegetarian soap may shrink more than animal-based soaps, so when hand milling choose large molds to let the soap finish in, rather than small molds for hand soaps.
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