Honey and Oatmeal Soap Recipe

Another handmade soap classic is this Honey and Oatmeal Soap Recipe, renowned for its soothing, nourishing properties and gentle exfoliation, ideal for sensitive skin.

This soap recipe uses honey and oatmeal, two ancient ingredients in skincare, both known for its moisturizing and mild exfoliating properties. A rich oil mixture adds several other properties to the soap, such as hardness, gentle foaming and additional conditioning. Naturally colored with honey and red palm oil, with a blend of woodsy essencial oils.

What Does Honey Do In Soap Making?

Adding honey to soap is not only a delightful touch but also brings a wealth of benefits to your skincare routine. Honey, known for its natural sweetness and numerous health properties, has been used for centuries in beauty rituals and skincare preparations.

Honey possesses great moisturizing properties, making it a coveted ingredient for skincare enthusiasts. When used in soap, honey acts as an extra humectant, attracting and locking moisture into the skin. This helps to keep the skin hydrated and supple, preventing dryness and promoting a radiant complexion. As a natural emollient, honey also aids in soothing and softening the skin, leaving it feeling velvety smooth and rejuvenated.

One of the remarkable attributes of honey is its ability to act as a gentle exfoliator. The enzymes present in honey work harmoniously with the oatmeal in the soap, gently sloughing away dead skin cells and revealing a fresh, glowing complexion. This natural exfoliation process helps to improve skin texture, unclog pores, and promote a healthy, even skin tone.

Moreover, honey boasts powerful antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. These properties make it an excellent ingredient for combating acne-causing bacteria, reducing inflammation, and promoting faster healing of blemishes and minor skin irritations. Honey’s anti-inflammatory properties also help soothe sensitive or irritated skin, making it suitable for individuals with various skin conditions, including eczema or psoriasis.

Be aware that honey can accelerate the trace in soapmaking. The natural sugars present in honey can speed up the saponification process, causing the soap mixture to reach trace more quickly than when honey is not used. This means that you will need to work efficiently and be prepared to pour the soap into molds once it reaches trace.

Additionally, honey has a tendency to darken or turn the soap a shade of brown. This discoloration is a result of the natural sugars in honey reacting with the lye used in soapmaking. We will use this effect to color our soap bars.

How Much Oats To Add To Soap?

While there is no fixed rule, a general guideline suggests using around 1 to 2 tablespoons of oatmeal per pound of oils. This ratio ensures that your soap receives the desired exfoliating effect without compromising its texture and lather. When crafting a batch from this Honey and Oatmeal Soap Recipe, using the right balance between honey and oatmeal is crucial.

Oatmeal, a time-honored skincare ingredient, adds a gentle exfoliating element to your soap. When finely ground, it helps remove dead skin cells, unclog pores, and reveal a fresh, radiant complexion. The oatmeal’s texture not only aids in cleansing but also provides a soothing effect, making it ideal for sensitive or irritated skin.

It is also a great moisturizer. Oatmeal acts as a humectant, attracting and retaining moisture, which helps to alleviate dryness and restore the skin’s natural balance.

While the suggested oatmeal-to-soap ratio provides an excellent starting point, feel free to adjust it to suit your personal preferences. If you desire a milder exfoliation, reduce the amount of oatmeal slightly. For a more invigorating scrub, you can increase the oatmeal content accordingly.

Also, you can ground oatmeal yourself at home and choose the right oatmeal powder texture for your soap. I simply bought oat flour and use it in soap. The soap gets an added creamy, very smooth texture,

In addition, oatmeal will function as well as an excelent scent fixer, helping to enhance and prolong your soap fragrance. Oatmeal is so good as a scent fixer that my first batch using oatmeal, that had no fragrance, “absorbed” the scent from the nearby soap batch that smelled strongly of roses!

Is Oatmeal And Honey Soap Good For Skin?

Oatmeal and honey soap has gained immense popularity for its numerous benefits. This delightful combination serves as a gentle exfoliator, moisturizer, and soothing agent, making oatmeal and honey soap a fantastic addition to your skincare routine, and for all skin types, sensitive skin included.

One of the remarkable qualities of oatmeal and honey soap lies in its exfoliating properties. Both ingredients act as a natural exfoliant in different ways. They gently slough away dead skin cells and impurities, help to cleanse the skin by unclogging pores and preventing acne breakouts, unveiling a fresh and glowing complexion beneath. Together, honey and oatmeal form a dynamic duo that leaves your skin feeling clean, renewed, and revitalized.

Dry and dehydrated skin often craves intense hydration. Again, both oatmeal and honey fulfills this need effortlessly. Oatmeal acts as a humectant, attracting and retaining moisture, which helps to alleviate dryness and restore the skin’s natural balance. Honey, renowned for its humectant and emollient properties, works harmoniously to moisturize and soften the skin. This double combination helps to lock in moisture, promoting a supple and nourished complexion.

Skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis can cause discomfort and irritation. Oatmeal and honey soap offers a soothing and calming effect, providing relief to these sensitive skin conditions. Oatmeal’s anti-inflammatory properties help reduce redness and itchiness, while honey’s gentle and moisturizing nature helps soothe and heal the skin. This harmonious blend offers a much-needed respite, leaving your skin feeling soothed and calm.

Find out how oatmeal or honey can further help you with sensitive skin or skin conditions.

Honey And Oatmeal Soap Recipe: How To Make Honey And Oat Soap

Creating your own Honey and Oatmeal Soap allows you to indulge in a skincare ritual that nourishes, cleanses and revitalizes your skin.

Honey and Oatmeal

By maintaining a balance of approximately 1 to 2 tablespoons of oatmeal per pound of oils (~450g), you can achieve the perfect blend of gentle exfoliation and cleansing. In this recipe, we use 10g, which makes exfoliation extremely mild.

Honey not only provides the soap with its numerous skincare properties, but also acts as a natural light brown colorant. This depends on the temperatures you use. The higher the temperature of mixture, the stronger the brown color. This recipe is made at around 45ºC (113ºF), which will give your soap a light brown color.

Soaping Oils

We talked a lot about the two main ingredients, oatmeal and honey. But this soap is special also due to its rich mixture of oils: palm oil, sunflower oil, castor oil, coconut oil and sweet almond oil. They all contribute for a hard and lasting soap, with gentle creamy foam and lots of moisturizing properties.

Natural Colorants

I love to use natural colorants in handmade soap and this recipe is no exception. This soap natural color actually comes from the combination of the red palm oil and the scorched sugars from honey. The dark yellow, orangy color of red palm oil and the light brown from honey actually combined into this earthy, beautiful dark orange.

Fragrance: Essential Oils

The woodsy scent from cedarwood and cinnamon combine perfectly with the color of this soap. However, if you plan to use this soap in sensitive skin better to skip cinnamon essencial oil , as cinnamon essencial oil is very prone to become irritant for skin. This recipe uses a safe quantity but I would recommend it only in normal skin. Use very mild essencial oils such as lavender or frankincense, or skip the fragrance entirely.

This oatmeal and honey soap recipe is an exceptional choice for those seeking a natural, gentle, and effective skincare solution. With its exfoliating, moisturizing, and soothing properties, this soap offers a multitude of benefits. Regular use can help improve skin texture, promote a healthy complexion, and provide relief for sensitive skin conditions. Treat yourself to this natural delight, and let your skin bask in the goodness that nature has to offer.

Find Where To Buy Natural Oatmeal and Honey Soap

So, you loved this soap, you wish to enjoy it in your bath, but you don’t feel ready to try this recipe at home? You can buy handmade soaps with oatmeal, honey or both in the following links: 

• Gentle Oatmeal Soap (Etsy)
• Honey and Oat Soap (Etsy)
• Cinnamon Oats and Honey Handmade Soap (Etsy)Honey and Oat Soap

How To Use This Soap

In the shower or bath, wet your hands and rub your soap in them to create a lather. Wash your hands first, then repeat the process and apply soap to your whole body using the soap directly and your hands. You may also wash your face with it. Rinse hands and body abundantly. Also wash your soap from lather before placing it in your soap dish or bag saver.

Washcloths and sponges should be avoided. Avoid washing your intimate zone and your hair, soap pH in not adequate for those parts of your body. Avoid eye contact with soap to prevent stinging. Make a patch test before using your soap. Stop using your soap if you feel any immediate adverse reaction in your skin (red skin, rashes, itching).

To take best advantage of your handmade soap (made by yourself or store-bougth), read How Do You Use Handmade Soap?

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• Essential oils: Best Essential Oils for Soap Making
• Colorants: How To Color Your Soap With Kitchen Ingredients
• Beginner Recipes: Soap Recipes for Beginners
• Cold Process Soap Recipes: Free Cold Process Soap Recipes

Soap Making Techniques and Troubleshooting

• Cold Process Tutorial Guide: Learn To Make Cold Process Soap?
• Soap Making Methods: How To Make Soap At Home
• Soap Making Trace: Know Everything About Trace in Soap Making
• Soap Acceleration: Causes, How To Avoid It Or How To Fix It
• Soda Ash In Soap: What It Is, How to Remove It

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Watch This Video About Safety

Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial Video

Cold Process Soap Making Lessons

The tutorials in this blog are a great – and free! – help to start with cold process soap making. Practice is the next step to harness the art of making soaps at home. However, I understand if you prefer to have some formal lessons, where you will feel more supported with the steps. Feel free to join these courses at Udemy.