Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Soap Recipe

This is by far one of the most popular soaps I ever sold. I think people love it because it’s 100% natural. I don’t add any colours or fragrances, which makes it a perfect soap for people with sensitive skin. The oatmeal makes a lovely exfoliator too!

If you’ve never made cold process soap before, I recommend watching Anne-Marie’s beginner guide to cold process soap making videos. They’re a great resource and a must watch for newbie soap makers.

https://zenaroma.wpengine.com/beginners-guide-to-soap-making/

I have a custom size wooden loaf mould which my Dad made for me that I use for most of my soap making. It makes 13 x 140 gram (approx) bars of soap. The total oil weight for my mould is 1200 grams, when you include the water, lye, fragrance etc the total size of my soap loaf ends up around 1850 grams.

In order to adapt my recipe to fit your mould, I’ll include the percentage of the ingredients so you can calculate the exact weight of the oils you’ll need to fit your own mould. If you make any adjustments to the recipe below, make sure you run your recipe through a soap calculator to ensure you use the correct amount of caustic soda. I recommend this calculator.

Ingredients
(makes 1850 grams of soap)

180g (15%) Canola Oil
240g (20%) Coconut Oil
300g (25%) Pomace Olive Oil
240g (20%) Palm Oil
180g (15%) Rice Bran Oil
60g (5%) Shea Butter

163.8g Caustic Soda
396g Distilled Water
30g (3 scoops) Goat’s Milk Powder

1/2 heaped cup Oatmeal (ground)
45g Manuka Honey

Preparation

Before we can get on with making the actual soap, we need ground oatmeal. You can buy it already ground, but I like to do it myself. That way I can control how fine the oats will be – the chunkier the oats, the more exfoliating your soap will be.

Making ground oatmeal is simple. Just add your regular breakfast oats into a food processor and blitz until you get the desired consistency! I do a few cups of oats, then just store what I don’t use in an airtight container for next time.

Step One:

Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.

Step Two:

Combine the coconut, olive, canola, rice bran, palm oils and shea butter, heat in the microwave or stove top until the oils are melted.

Step Three:

Add the honey to the oils. If your honey is too firm, pop it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds until liquid. Blend until combined.

While I’m waiting for my lye and oils to cool, I usually tidy up a bit and line my mould if I haven’t done so already.

Step Four:

Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to about 50 degrees (I like to make this recipe at a cooler temperature because it heats up a lot due to the milk and honey!) Add the milk powder to the lye water and mix very carefully with the stick blender until fully combined. You’ll notice the lye starts to turn a horrid yellow colour and smell pretty awful, don’t worry this is normal!

Step Five:

 Add the lye water/milk mixture to the oils and stick blend until medium trace.

Step Six:

Once at medium trace, add the oatmeal and combine using a spatula.

 

Step Seven:

Pour into the mould and tap down to get rid of any air bubbles. I like to sprinkle the top of my soap with oatmeal for decoration.

 

Put your soap away to cure before cutting in 24 hours. Do not insulate this soap as it will heat up a lot due to the milk and honey! Cure for 4-6 weeks then enjoy!

Note: This soap can smell a bit funky for a while because of the goat’s milk, but don’t worry this will eventually go away and you’ll be left with a lovely natural bar of soap that’s excellent for your skin 🙂