I'm going to say right now that I am not an expert when it comes to making bar soaps. I've experimented with this craft enough to teach it to someone else, but because it works so well I'm just happy with the basic soap. The benefit of learning from a soap-making non-expert like me is that I can help you make a basic bar soap that just works (no frills), but works well.

There's loads of great material online & in books on soap-making; Elly from Elly's Everyday Soap Making has great content for both novices & experts on this subject.

The recipe I'm referencing below is from Elly's channel — check out her recipe in video form called "100% coconut oil soap for bathing – 3 ingredients – no stick blender soap". Elly demonstrates how to make this bathing soap without use of an immersion blender (good for beginners who might not already have a stick blender and aren't yet sure if they like the craft enough to purchase one).

Plus, Elly's ratio of more lye to oil gives the resulting soap a 25% superfat level, which ensures the resulting soap isn't too drying for bathing purposes. Coconut oil based soaps are so efficient at cleaning that they can leave your skin dehydrated if you're not careful. The 25% superfat level just means some unsaponified oil remains in the finished product, making the soap a little more gentle (i.e. less drying for the skin).

Alternatively, you can add olive oil to the recipe for extra hydration.

Different oils possess different properties, so you shouldn't add or subtract oils to your soap recipe willy-nilly style. If you wish to experiment with using BOTH olive & coconut oil, and want to see how to make the soap with an immersion/stick blender, check out Elly's other video "Soap Making Tutorial for Beginners – Full Demonstration & Cold Process Soap Beginner Recipe".

Lye (a chemical compound known as sodium hydroxide) was historically derived from wood ash & used to make soap for centuries. Lye that's commercially available today is most commonly manufactured through a chemical reaction involving salt water (i.e. electrolysis of brine); this standardized version, manufactured from salt water, helps make soap recipes more reliable — i.e. easier to measure out the ratio between lye, water & oils.

First thing — make sure you have all of the proper soap making equipment. Having everything ready and within reach is key, because chemical reactions can occur very quickly and lye burns if it contacts skin.

Any kitchen tools used for making soap shouldn't be used for anything else, so try to use old or inexpensive items. Here are the absolute basics:

• Small plastic container for measuring lye
• Larger heatproof plastic container for mixing the lye and liquid
• Digital kitchen scale
• Rubber gloves for handling the lye
• Goggles (if you're not already wearing glasses) to shield from any accidental lye-water splashes
• Container for mixing the soap in — aluminum will react with lye, so avoid aluminum. If a magnet doesn't stick to your metal container, it's aluminum.
• Thermometer
• Immersion blender
• Big stirring spoon and silicon spatula
• Soap mould — you can go DIY-style and use cut-out tetra pak cartons, or get fancier and use silicone moulds
• Optional: keep vinegar nearby, in case you accidentally splash lye water onto skin — the vinegar helps neutralize the alkaline in the lye, preventing the burn
• Optional: essential oil & food colour of your choice, to give your soap a little pizzazz

Silicone soap moulds

Bathing soap (100% coconut oil)

Instructions:

1. Measure ALL 3 ingredients and put them into their separate containers.
2. Combine lye and water. IMPORTANT! Add lye to the water (NOT the opposite) — do this part outside or somewhere with good ventilation, and let the lye-water cool down to a warm temperature.
3. Combine the lye-water with the coconut oil.
4. Use the immersion blender to mix the oil. Alternate between stirring by hand (with the blender) and blending with electricity, so you can see when the liquid starts to thicken.
5. Add food colour now.
6. If the liquid is thick and smooth like pudding, then stop blending — this is called reaching trace, and it's the consistency that shows saponification is underway.
7. Add fragrance or essential oil. Mix.
8. Pour the liquid into silicone moulds.
9. Let it rest for 24 hours.
10. After 24 hours, remove soaps from the moulds. Put the soaps in a paper bag or cardboard box, somewhere they can dry.
11. Use the soap after 6 weeks. The curing time allows all the moisture to evaporate and prevents the soap from dissolving too quickly during use.

If you make ice cubes out of the water portion of the recipe first, then when you add the lye to the ice cubes, there will be no fumes to worry about — so no need to do the mix in an area with heavy ventilation. Elly discusses this tip in one of her later videos.