Oatmeal Honey Soap – a Soap for Beginners
This natural oatmeal honey soap recipe is the perfect soap for beginners. With a few soap making ingredients and simple instructions, you will have an amazing skin nourishing soap.
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Soapmaking. Can one word be any more awesome? The ability to produce a chemical free item from the comfort of your home screams, “I’m a homesteader!”. Or it could simply mean that no toxic item will any longer touch this temple of mine.
Either way, you get the enjoyment of knowing that homemade soap with natural ingredients can be made to your liking, and there’s no holding back from creating delightful dreamy recipes.
I’ve dreamt of the day when I would be brave enough to make bath bars for my family. Truly, it didn’t need to be anything fancy, yet it should be pretty and smell nice, and for my children’s sake, something that lathers…well, at least slightly.
Simple & Natural Soapmaking with The Nerdy Farmwife
When Jan Berry, of The Nerdy Farm Wife, published her soap making book, Simple & Natural Soapmaking, I knew I had to have it. This book is romantic, beautifully written, easy to understand and you can smell the bars of soap through its pages ~ not literally, but I’m hoping you get what I’m saying.
How one little book encouraged me to buckle down and put the fear of soapmaking aside is beyond me. Whatever caused the fear, I’m moving past it. There, it’s now been said, my declaration has been made and we’re moving forward with making soap.
As I began flipping through the pages, I knew instantly that the oatmeal honey soap would be the very first item I’d make. Is there anything better than soothing oats combined with nourishing honey? I think not.
This simple natural soap recipe is something I know my family’s going to love. But more importantly, it’ll get them clean. Amen to that!
Oatmeal Honey Soap Recipe
Through a simple request Jan has graciously allowed us to share the recipe for her oatmeal honey soap. And as you can tell, I am bursting with excitement to share it and get started on our first batch!
If you’re a beginner or a seasoned soapmaker, this is a book you’ll want to have on hand. She’s one talented lady, and you’ll thank me for recommending it. For that I’ll say, you’re welcome!
Oatmeal Honey Soap Bar- Ingredients
Oatmeal Honey Soap is made of soothing oats combined with nourishing honey to make this simple natural soap. When making soap, the oils, fats, liquids and lye should all be measured by weight instead of volume. You will need an accurate scale to make soap. This natural soap recipe will yield: 2.5 lbs/1.13 kg
Lye Solution
- 9.25 oz (262 g) distilled water
- 3.95 oz (112 g) sodium hydroxide (lye)
- Oils/Fats – 14 oz (397 g) olive oil, 7 oz (198 g) coconut oil, 7 oz (198 g) tallow or lard (*or substitute)
Recommended brands of lye include Red Crown High Test Lye, ComStar, and Essential Depot Food Grade Lye – all can be found on Amazon.
Add-Ins
- 1 tbsp powdered oatmeal
- 1/2 tbsp honey diluted with
- 1/2 tbsp water
Optional
- 1.23 oz (35 g) lavender essential oil, for scent
You’ll also need a loaf style mold. The Crafter’s Choice Regular Silicone Loaf Mold – 1501 will fit this recipe perfectly.
Oatmeal Honey Soap Recipe- Tips & Substitutions
To replace tallow or lard, try using 4 oz of cocoa (or kokum) butter plus 3 oz of sunflower (or sweet almond) oil instead. The lye amount will stay within an acceptable amount and won’t need to be changed.
To make ground oatmeal, run rolled or cut oats through an electric coffee grinder until finely powdered.
Directions for Making Oatmeal Honey Soap
Step One
Make the Lye Solution while wearing protective gloves and eyewear. Carefully stir the lye (sodium hydroxide) into the distilled water until dissolved.
Work in an area with good ventilation and be careful not to breathe in the fumes. The lye solution will get very hot, so set it aside to cool for about 30-40 minutes or until the temperature drops to around 100 to 110°F (38 to 43°C).
To prepare the oils, gently heat the coconut oil and tallow (or lard) on low heat until melted. When the solid oils are melted, take the pan off the heat and pour into the olive oil. This helps cool down the melted oil/fat, while warming up the room temperature oil.
Step Two
Pour the cooled lye solution into the warm oils. Using a combination of hand stirring and an immersion blender, also called a stick blender, stir the soap batter until it thickens and reaches trace.
Trace is when the soap has thickened enough so when you drizzle a small amount of the batter across the surface, it will leave a fleeting, but visible imprint or “trace” before sinking back in. Trace can take anywhere from 2 to 8 minutes, depending on how warm your ingredients are and how much you use the immersion blender.
Stir in the oats (make sure they are in a fine powder), honey and essential oils, if using, and mix well.
Step Three
Pour the soap batter into your soap mold. Cover lightly with wax or freezer paper, then something light, such as a pillowcase. Peek at the soap every so often; if it starts developing a crack, uncover and move to a cooler location.
Step Four
Keep the soap in the mold for 1 to 2 days, or until it’s easy to remove, then slice it into bars when it’s firm enough not to stick to your cutting tool.
Cure on coated cooling racks or sheets of wax paper for about 4 weeks before using. The soap is safe to touch without gloves 48 hours after making, but it needs extra time to allow excess moister to evaporate out so the bars are harder and longer lasting.
If you want more homemade household recipes, check these out: All-Purpose Cleaning Spray and Homemade Dish Detergent Cubes!
Printable Recipe Card – Oatmeal Honey Soap
A printable recipe card is available for your convenience, enjoy!
Oatmeal Honey Soap
Oatmeal honey soap is an excellent soap for beginners. The oats work to exfoliate the skin as the honey and natural fats soothe it.
Materials
- 9.25 oz Distilled Water, (262 g)
- [3.95 oz Sodium Hydroxide (LYE)
- 1 tbsp powdered oatmeal
- 1/2 tbsp honey, diluted with water
- 1/2 tbsp water
- 1.23 oz Lavender Essential Oil, for scent, 35 g
Oils and Fats
Instructions
1. STEP ONE
Make the Lye Solution while wearing protective gloves and eyewear, carefully stir the lye (sodium hydroxide) into the distilled water until dissolved. Work in an area with good ventilation and be careful not to breathe in the fumes. The lye solution will get very hot, so set it aside to cool for about 30 or 40 minutes or until the temperature drops to around 100 to 110°F (38 to 43°C).
To prepare the oils, gently heat the coconut oil and tallow (or lard) on low heat until melted. When the solid oils are melted, take the pan off the heat and pour into the olive oil. This helps cool down the melted oil/fat, while warming up the room temperature oil.
2. STEP TWO
Pour the cooled lye solution into the warm oils. Using a combination of hand stirring and an immersion blender, also called a stick blender, stir the soap batter until it thickens and reaches trace. Trace is when the soap has thickened enough so when you drizzle a small amount of the batter across the surface, it will leave a fleeting, but visible imprint or “trace” before sinking back in. Trace can take anywhere from 2 to 8 minutes, depending on how warm your ingredients are and how much you use the immersion blender. Stir in the oats, honey and essential oil, if using, and mix well.
3. STEP THREE
Pour the soap batter into your soap mold. Cover lightly with wax or freezer paper, then something light, such as a pillowcase. Peek at the soap every so often; if it starts developing a crack, uncover and move to a cooler location.
4. STEP FOUR
Keep the soap in the mold for 1 to 2 days, or until it’s easy to remove, then slice it into bars when it’s firm enough not to stick to your cutting tool. Cure on coated cooling racks or sheets of wax paper for about 4 weeks before using. The soap is safe to touch without gloves 48 hours after making, but it needs extra time to allow excess moister to evaporate out so the bars are harder and longer lasting.
Notes
Recommended Products
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This handmade soap is excellent to moisturize dry skin, to be given as a baby shower gift, or for everyday use for all skin types (even sensitive skin)!
My Book
The Farm Girl’s Guide to Preserving the Harvest is a comprehensive book covering multiple methods for preserving foods in the comfort of your home. Learn how to safely can, dry, ferment, cure, freeze, and store foods fresh as a sustainable homesteader would. The tips, tricks, and recipes within this book will provide you the confidence and knowledge needed to own your food source.
This recipe is not in jan berrys new book. The ratio of lye and water is around the wrong way and its misleading. The honey and water ratio is not as per jan berrys similar recipe in her book, but what the heck, do whatever you want. A similar recipe in her book Oatmeal, milk and honey states 1/2 tspn honey mixed in 1/2 tsp water, not 1 tblspoon of each. This recipe is on page 80.
You’re dedication to Jan and soapmaking go strong, so let me get a chance to squeeze in a comment. 1. The recipe is indeed Jan’s, with consent from her 2. The format shuffled once it was published, sadly that occurs at times 3. It has indeed been fixed, prior to even reading your kind comment. Thank you for taking the time to pointing out the error, to make sure that other’s were safe in making this recipe.
Why is my soap crumbling when I slice it? I let it set for 2 Days and was looking pretty until I started to cut it.
Its crumbling because there was too much lye which dried the soap.
*Tip would be add water and beeswax it will solidify nicely.
Hello! I am allergic to sunflower and sweet almond oil… can i substitute lard for shea butter and another kind of oil (more olive or coconut oil or even canola oil)?
When do you add the honey and oatmeal?
Anne
Please let me know if this recipe is good or if I need to make the corrections noted. Thanks!
Hello there, the recipe IS GOOD. When it was first shared it had scrambled, but is now fixed. Thanks for checking.
Thank you! I’m anxious to try this.
I hesitate to write about a typo that I found in the “Oatmeal Honey” Soap recipe:
At the beginning where it lists “Prep time” “Active Time” and “Additional Time,” the “Additional Time” says 4 months, when it should say 4 weeks.
I found the correct time on the second page, under “Step Four,” where it says “Cure on coated cooling racks or sheets of wax paper for about 4 weeks before using…”
Thank you! I have corrected the typo.