How to make honey and oatmeal soap – Cold process Recipe

Soap making level – BASIC

Honey and oat soap is a popular soap that has been around for a long time. There are many variations on the ingredients and technique used to make the soap using the cold process method.

With this in mind this honey and oat soap recipe is another variation of this popular soap. The beauty of this soap is that the honey when incorporated properly in the soap helps boost the lather of the soap but at the same time acts as a humectant to help draw moisture to your skin.

The soap itself will become more resistant to microbes as honey is a natural anti microbial substance. The benefits of honey can take an entire article to write for now lets just stick with the soap making process.

The oats that are used in the soap art to exfoliate the skin but only slightly. This helps the honey and oils to adhere better to the skin as a moisturizer.

To make honey and oat cold press soap requires two additives honey and oats. Add 1tsp of honey mixed with warm water to your soap batter at light trace along with grounded oats to make honey and oatmeal soap.

Making this soap is easy once you follow the instructions and add the honey at the right way and at the right time. The sugar in honey can also cause the soap to heat up fast and volcano so the amount is also important.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Safety
• Ingredients
• Tools
• Instructions
• Lye water
• Carrot preparation
• Oil preparation
• Scent addition
• Combine lye and oils
• Unmolding
• Cutting and curing
• Congratulations

Honey and oatmeal soap recipe

Making honey oat soap requires minimum preparation however it does require careful preparation. If too much honey is added to the soap at high temperatures it could cause the soap to volcano and ruin your soap loaf.

If you add too much oats to your soap you can reduce the lather and make your soap crumbly because of too much oats. Also if your oats are not grounded properly it can go beyond just being an exfoliant into and abrasive soap that could scratch your skin.

Cold Process Soap Making Safety

The one key point that is stressed as we teach and we will stress here at Bahamas Candle and Soap is the importance of safety in candle and soap making.

When making soap you will be working with super heated materials with the potential to cause major skin burns. You must be sure that you are properly prepared.

The main ingredient in soap making is sodium hydroxide also known as lye. This corrosive chemical reacts with water and begins to heat up drastically, however this chemical reaction is needed to convert oils into soap.

It is good to make safety procedures a standard and a habit when it comes to making cold process soap. Many soap makers have stated that after making soap for a while it becomes easier and less scary once they stick to safety protocols

Sodium Hydroxide – Lye SAFETY

Sodium hydroxide is an inorganic compound used to emulsify the fats of oils into soap. When used properly in soap there will be no lye left over in the soap as its chemical makeup changes to create the actual soap.

When handling lye be sure to protect your exposed skin. Here are a few items we recommend you have.

• Gloves
• Long sleeve shirt
• Long pants
• Closed toe shoes
• Safety Glasses

These items will ensure if there are any accidents such as splashes you will keep your skin safe from the burning sensation of lye.

NOTE

• Use an appropriate container to hold your lye and to mix your lye water. Heat tempered glass works very well or hard plastic containers.
• When making your lye water remember to add the LYE to the WATER and never the other way around.
• Mix you lye solution in a well ventilated area. The fumes that will arise from mixing water and lye can become noxious to some persons while its chemical scent can burn your nose and make your eyes water.
• Ensure that you are wearing your safety glasses, rubber gloves, long sleeve shirt and pants and close toe shoes. This is to avoid any splashes getting on your skin. Another reason is that if you use a container that cannot handle the heat created by the lye water solution it could break and the entire solution can get on your body.
• Learn more about lye safety HERE

Oils

In some recipes and depending on where in the world you live you may have to pre heat your oils. Oils can also burn the skin when heated hence ensuring that you are safe from splashes or spills is very important.

This soap is made with three types of oils and one butter. Olive, coconut and castor oil along with coco butter.

Honey and Oatmeal cold process soap recipe Ingredients

Ingredient	Pecentage	Weight
Olive Oil	35%	11.55oz
Coconut Oil	30%	9.90oz
Cocoa Butter	30%	9.90oz
Castor Oil	5%	1.65oz
Distilled Water		11.55oz
Lye		4.71oz
Honey		2tsp
uncooked oats		2tbs
Scent (optional)		1.5oz
Sodium Lactate (optional)		2tsp

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Tools needed for honey and oatmeal soap making

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Instructions to make honey and oatmeal soap

The honey and oats of this soap are the only additives that will require special preparation. The other ingredients such as oils and lye water follows the same procedures but just in case you are not sure the steps are below.

Follow the steps carefully to ensure that you remain safe during the process. Although this is a basic soap recipe, handling lye water can still pose a problem if safety steps are not taken.

1. Prepare your honey before hand so that you don’t have to rush when its time to be added. The recipe calls for 11.55oz of distilled water. Take a small container and add 2tbs of the distilled water to it. Heat this water for 8 seconds in a microwave.
2. Add 2tsp of honey to the warmed water and stir to help it dissolve as best as it can. (when adding honey to soap add 1tsp per pound of oils. This recipe calls for 33oz of oils which is a little over 2lbs. hence 2 tsp of honey)Prepare your honey before hand so that you don’t have to rush when its time to be added. The recipe calls for 11.55oz of distilled water. Take a small container and add 2tbs of the distilled water to it. Heat this water for 8 seconds in a microwave.
3. Add 2tsp of honey to the warmed water and stir to help it dissolve as best as it can. (when adding honey to soap add 1tsp per pound of oils. This recipe calls for 33oz of oils which is a little over 2lbs. hence 2 tsp of honey)

1 – Lye water preparation for cold process soap making

Remember to observe the safety protocol for handling sodium hydroxide.

1. Using your heat tempered measuring cups measure out by weight using your scale the remaining 10.55oz of distilled water (this is minus the 2tbs of water used to dissolve the honey. 2tbs of water is about 1oz in weight)
2. Use your second measuring cup to weigh out 4.71oz of sodium hydroxide/lye.
3. Add your lye to the water (never the other way around) slowly and mix using the steel whisk until dissolved. Check the temperature of the lye mixture once the lye has been dissolved. It can be up to 200 degrees fahrenheit.
4. Set your lye water to the side to cool but safely away from any accidents such as bumping the table or knocking over the measuring cup. (NOTE – depending on your location and ambient heat, you can place your lye water in the refrigerator to cool quicker. You will want to check on it every 5 minutes taking its temperature using the infrared thermometer. 120-130 degrees fahrenheit is a good temperature that you are looking for.)
5. To ensure an even harder bar and to make it easier to remove from the mold add the 2tsp of sodium Lactate to the lye water mix.

2 – Oil preparation for honey and oatmeal soap recipe

Using multiple oils can become difficult to manage especially when it comes to combining all the oils together.

If you are unfamiliar with ways to combine multiple oils into one bowl properly you can visit How to combine multiple oils for soap making and familiarize yourself with the techniques involved.

Which ever technique you use make sure you add all of your oils together in the 2qt large mixing bowl. If you did not read the article on adding oil you may have missed the part about ensuring all your oils are melted and clear.

You will need your oils in a liquid state and at the right temperature roughly between 80-120 degrees Fahrenheit, before continuing. Again if you are not sure how to do this skip over to the other article How to combine multiple oils for soap making.

With all you oils combined in the mixing bowl I find it a good practice to stir the oils together either with a spatula or more vigorously with a stick blender the more oils used. This is to ensure that the oils marry well within the mixture and are prepared for the lye water.

3 – Add Essential or Fragrance Oils (optional)

If you have an essential oil or fragrance oil that you would like to add to your recipe this is a good time to add it to the oil mixture.

There is one caveat to this however. Not all fragrance oils behave well in cold process soap making. You must ensure that you now how the fragrance oil will react to the soap.

Sometimes this means that it will accelerate trace, it will discolor or it some cases when adding the carrot puree it can cause the soap to begin to separate. Make sure you choose the right fragrance oil. We recommend using essential oils as they are more reliable

Measure out fragrance in a glass container. (do not use plastic container for essential oils) When measuring use wax paper on top of your scale to avoid the oil spilling on the plastic of the scale. Essential oil eats at plastic and will destroy your scale.

Make it a habit when using fragrance or essential oil to use a glass container. Add the fragrance to your oil mixture in the mixing bowl and stir. Now you are ready to add your lye water.

NOTE – if your fragrance accelerates trace then adding it to the oil is not the best option. Wait until you have reached a light trace to add your fragrance.

4-  Oil and Lye Mixture to make honey and oatmeal soap

1. Take note of the temperature of your oils and your lye water. At this point they both should be between 80-100 degrees Fahrenheit but closer to 100-120.
2. With your stick blender in your oils well burped, pour your lye water into your Oil mixture along stick blender to prevent bubbles.
3. Begin to blend the lye water and oils together with short pulses from your stick blender and then longer sustained mixing. (Depending on your fragrance oil, trace may be accelerated if you added the fragrance to the base oils, be sure to work quickly and blend to light trace. If you did not add the fragrance to the base oil then continue.)
4. Mix your batter until you have reached a light trace.
5. Add your carrot puree to the batter and stir well with the spatula or whisk to incorporate it into the soap making process. (If you needed to add fragrance to your soap that will accelerate the batter make sure you add your carrot puree and stir well before adding the fragrance.)
6. Continue to sick blend the soap batter to a medium thick trace. At this point the batter is still fluid enough to pour into your mold easily. Remove the stick blender and continue to mix with your spatula or whisk to keep the batter fluid.
7. Pour mixture into the loaf mold, and ensure you scrape out any remaining batter into the mold. Tap the mold on your work bench to remove any bubbles from the poured batter. You can design the top as needed
8. Depending on ambient temperature of your work room, cover with cardboard or wax paper over top then put to bed with towels to go through trace. (NOTE – If in a room at 75deg or more leave open and exposed as putting it to bed with a covering will most likely cause it to overheat and volcano. If in a cooler room cover the soap to let its own heat help take it to gel phase for brighter colors.)

5 -Removing your soap from the mold

1. Let you soap sit for 24 hours before removing from the mold.
2. Check its readiness to be handled and removed by pressing lightly on the top of the soap. It should be slightly hard to the touch if it is still soft leave it in the mold for another 24 hours.
3. After 48 hours and the soap has not hardened enough, you can place in the refrigerator for an hour to cool to a point to make it easier to remove from the mold without damaging the soap.
4. After cooling remove the silicon and soap from the wooden mold by turning the mold upside down. The silicone part should slide out easily.
5. Pull the sides of the silicone mold away from the soap slowly. If it looks sticky as you pull place the soap back into the refrigerator. If not continue to gently pull the sides away from the soap.
6. Once all four sides are pulled away turn the silicone mold upside down and while pulling at the two narrow end of the silicone press down gently on the bottom of the silicone onto the soap.(this will help release the soap from the mold)
7. As the soap begins to slide out of the mold help it along the way by pushing on the bottom of the mold until it slides completely out of the mold.

6 – Honey and oatmeal soap cutting and curing process

Cutting your soap is completely up to you. You can cut as thick or as thin as you like. The most standard thickness is often at 1 inch. For a typical soap loaf this will yield 10 bars of soap.

1. Cut your soap using a soap cutter, a knife dedicated to soap cutting or a wire cheese/soap cutter.
2. Cut them 1 in thick, or to any thickness you like (Just do not leave it as one full loaf for long, the longer you wait the harder it becomes to cut the soap because it will begin to cure and get harder)
3. Let your soap bars sit in a cool dry place for 4-6 weeks to cure. (Curing removes the excess water from the soap, this causes the soap to last longer.)
4. Rotate your soap, changing the part that it sits on around to allow even evaporation of water from your soap.
5. If you want to track its rate of curing you can weigh the soap bar directly after cutting it and over the next few weeks weight it again. When the weight becomes negligible to track your curing process has completed.

Congratulations on making your honey and oat cold process soap

Adding new ingredients to a soap recipe will open your soap making world to a myriad of options. Although we used carrot this time you can use any type of vegetable that can be boiled and pureed.

Practice this technique at least two more times to make sure you get the hang of it. If any questions please do not hesitate to send us a message via our contact page or leave a message below in the comments section.

We would love to hear your success stories or if you are having trouble we would love to help you our.

We also carry soap making kits that are great to get started with if this is your first time making cold process soap.