Cold Process Liquid Soap

Want to make liquid soap, but don't want to spend hours laboring over a hot crock pot? Well, this might be a great alternative.

It's not a fast process, but it's nice to mix it up and let it sit while you tend to other things.

-Safety Glasses

-Gloves (latex or nitryl gloves) something that is safe to use with lye

-Silicone Spatula(s)

-Potassium Hydroxide (Important: If you use Sodium Hydroxide, you will get a hard bar of soap and not liquid soap)

-Selection of oils

-A lye safe container with a lid to mix your lye and oils

-A lye safe container to mix the Potassium Hydroxide and water

-A blender or stick/hand mixer

In my liquid soap, I used 30% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 20% avocado oil, 15% castor oil, and 10% almond oil with 38% water as a percent of oil weight and 0 Superfat.

You will want to research the properties you are looking for in your liquid soap before you begin.

There are a number of tools and resources available to help you with the process of finding the right oils and you can use a hot process liquid soap recipe for this cold process version, but please make sure to check the amounts using a soap calculator before you begin. Good soaping calculators include www.the-sage.com/lyecalc, www.soapcalc.net, www.brambleberry.com/calculator?calcType=lye, and www.soapguild.org/tools-and-resources/product-price-calculators/lye.

**Before attempting this process, please make sure you are very well versed on lye safety. Read all safety information on the container, in the material safety data paperwork from the manufacturer and follow all safety guidelines.**

Mix a little Potassium Hydroxide at a time into the water and stir. Be careful as Potassium Hydroxide can be more volatile to work with than sodium hydroxide. Make sure not to use an Aluminum Container as it can react with the lye and try to avoid glass containers which have been known to shatter.

Do this in a well ventilated area.

Using a blender or stick blender, mix the oils and lye together in a lye safe bowl (this is usually a container with #5 or a Stainless Steel pot that can be covered). The first picture is just after mixing the first time.

Cover the mix with a lid or plastic wrap where air cannot get to the mix and set it aside for about an hour.

Mix again and let it rest for about an hour. This is what mine looked like after the second mix.

Did you know during this time, you could knock out a cold process bar soap? I have a tutorial for that too. :)

At about hour 3, I mixed again and it reached what is called the Mash Potato stage. Cover and let it sit some more. This is what mine looked like after the third mix.

In this picture, this is about a half hour later and another mix. At this point, cover and let the mix rest overnight or longer in a cool dark place.

I let this sit for more than 6 months. It is now considered a paste.

You will want to test the mix to ensure the lye is no longer active before moving on to diluting the mix to make the final liquid soap product.

There are several resources out there to help you with testing such as this video with Kevin Dunn for the Soap Guild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hone0KqVUI8.

I diluted the soap paste in water in a one to one ratio (2 ounces of paste to 2 ounces of distilled water). You can adjust the amount of water to paste to get the desired consistency and that's it.

If you want to add fragrance, be sure to follow IFRA safe usage rates. Most fragrance oil and essential oil suppliers provide this information to help you fragrance safely.

Happy soaping.