Best Lavender Soap Recipe With Layers

Try the best lavender soap recipe you will find, with colorful layers. A very foamy and creamy soap, made with olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and castor oil. Scented with lavender essential oil and colored with violet ultramarine, in pretty but simple layers.

Another classical among handmade soaps: a lavender soap with pretty layers! Try this recipe at home!

Table of Contents

Why Everyone Loves Lavender

Lavender is well known for its two specific traits: its fragrance and its color.

The lavender flower and its oil have long histories in herbal medicine. Its name derives from the Latin root “lavare,” which literally means “to wash”. The earliest recorded use of lavender dates back to ancient Egypt. There, lavender oil played a role in the mummification process.  

Later, lavender became a bath additive in several regions, including Persia, ancient Greece, and Rome. These cultures believed that lavender helped purify the body and mind.

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Clinical studies in both animals and humans have shown that the plant has calming effects, reducing anxiety and helping to bring on sleep. The key ingredient is linalool, an alcohol component of lavender odor (this is also an allergen, so be careful if you are sensitive to it).

Still, the best from lavender it’s its fresh, floral, slightly wooden scent. Dried lavender flower buds can be used as natural air fresheners with no other preparation. When crushed, they release their unique lavender scent. They always remind me of being in a garden.

Lavender essential oil is commonly used in cold process, usually in blends with other essential oils. In this soap recipe, it’s the main scent, grounded with benzoin and cedarwood essential oils.

Lavender Soap Recipe With Layers

This recipe uses a mix of olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil (RSPO) and sunflower oil. The choice of oils allows for a well balanced and complete soap: hard, long-lasting, foamy, creamy, conditioning. It also allows to make layers and a shaped top, as the soap batter easily reaches trace.

If you are new to soap making, you can simply add the colorant after trace and pour the soap in individual molds, without trying for the layers. If you wish to use a fragrance with this soap batter, be warned that it accelerates trace -highway speed! In that case, add your fragrance as the very last ingredient, and pour your soap batter fast into a loaf mold (forget time for individual molds).

best lavender soap recipe with layers in bulk bar

A Simple Technique To Make Layers

If you already have some experience, you can try this simple layer technique, that avoids the usage of several pitchers and a lot of malabarism mixing and handling with a lot of soap batters at same time:

  • Using a loaf mold soap (1 kg or 2 lb), one third of soap batter is poured from a pitcher with after trace ingredients already added, excepting the violet mica (mixed in oil). The botton of the soap will then be of a creamy whitish color.
  • Mixing half of the colorant, we pour the second third of soap, this will give a middle hue between white and strong violet.
  • At last, we mix the rest of the colorant and pour the remaining soap batter, which should be at heavy trace by now.

The effect is a layered soap with 3 color tones, while you only need to handle one pitcher with soap, allowing you to fully control soap trace.

It uses an essential oil blend, as I don’t advise to use any fragrances with this soap mixture (read above). A light trace and low temperatures are also needed, to have time to work the layers. To have a perfect soap, without color spots (mica lumps), mix each tsp of mica in a table spoon of oil using a milk frother.

I hope you have an much fun and pleasure making this recipe as I did!!

Find Where to Buy Handmade Layered Lavender Soap

If you’re not yet ready to try to make this recipe at home, but you still wish to enjoy natural soaps, you can find handmade lard soap in the following links: 

Looking for more natural soaps? Check out my review about Apple Valley Natural 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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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.

How To Make Soap – Homemade Soap Making for Beginners – Shona O’Connor

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layered-lavender-cold-process-soap-recipe

Layered Lavender Cold Process Soap Recipe

Another classical among handmade soaps: lavender soap! A very foamy and creamy soap, made by cold process with olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and castor oil. Scented with lavender essential oil and colored with violet ultramarine, in pretty but simple layers. Try this recipe at home!
Difficulty: Difficult (experienced soap makers)
Weight: 900 g (31.74 oz)
Lye concentration: 30%
Superfat: 6%
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Method: Cold Process
Cosmetic: Soap Bar
Servings: 12 soap bars
Author: Sofia Matias
Cost: $10 – $15 / 13€

Ingredients

After Trace Ingredients

Instructions

Get Ready!

  • Wear goggles and gloves! Look at “Safety Precautions” in the video above or in Soap Making Safety Precautions
  • Watch the video above about "Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial" or read the post Learn To Make Cold Process Soap for instructions on cold process soap making before starting. These are generic but important steps for all recipes.
    Pouring essential oils into soap batter
  • Assemble everything: ingredients, equipment, safety equipment. Prepare your workstations. Measure all the ingredients. Don’t start the recipe without having everything ready!
    soapmaking-workspace-preparation
  • After measuring the oil, pour 1 tablespoon of the measured oil into a small bowl. Add 1 tsp of violet mica with a bit of oil, and mix well. Pour another tablespoon of the measured oil into another small bowl and add 1 tsp of violet mica and mix well. Use a milk frother to remove clumps of mica. Put both bowls with mica aside.
    two-bowls-with-violet-mica-in-oil

Heat the Oils

  • Heat the oils until the solid oils are completely melted (it is not necessary to heat all the time).
    Heating soaping oils in a microwave

Make the Lye Water

Make the Soap Batter

  • Use as a target temperature 38ºC or even less for the oil-solution mixture. If necessary, you can reheat the oils, but not the lye solution.
    measuring-lye-water-temperature
  • Pour the lye water into the bowl with heated oils, carefully to not spill.
    pouring-lye-into-oils
  • Start mixing the soap batter with the immersion blender to reach light trace.
    light-trace
  • Add the extract and essential oil (s) after trace and stir with just a spoon.
    add-after-trace-ingredients

Molding and Making Layers

  • Pour around 1/3 of the soap batter into the large loaf mold. This will be the botton lighter colored layer: creamy-white.
    making layer1
  • Add one of the bowls with violet mica and oil. Mix very well and pour another 1/3 of soap batter into the large loaf mold. This will be the middle colored layer: light violet.
    making layer2
  • Add the second bowl with violet mica and oil. Mix very well and pour the rest of the soap batter into the large loaf mold. This will be the top colored layer: darker violet.
    making layer3
  • Shake or tap gently the loaf soap mold to level the soap batter. Do some designs on the top of the soap and/or sprinkle with golden mica for decoration. This step is optional. Check out this video for several designs:
    soap designs
  • Cover the loaf soap mold with a blanket or towel, or pre-heat the oven with 40ºC. Turn it off then place the loaf mold inside. This will prevent an uneven gel phase to happen (it causes a darker circle in the middle of soap).
    covering-mold
  • Wait 48 hours, keeping an eye on the hardness of the soap. Then unmold your soap carefully.
    bulk-unmolded-layered-soap
  • Cut it into small bars with your soap cutter or with a knife.
    cut-bars
  • Let the bars cure for 4 to 6 weeks. See How To Cure Soap.
    cure-soap6

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

9 thoughts on “Best Lavender Soap Recipe With Layers”

  1. Well, this is a recipe I will definitely love to try out. I love trying out new things, especially when it has to do with making something and cooking. Since the lavender is well know for it’s fragrance, then having a lavender soap to bathe with will definitely be nice. I can already imagine coming out of the bathroom and smelling so nice.

    • Hello Nelson and thanks for your comment.

      Lavender soap and lavender scent are pretty nice 🙂 But I want to inform you that natural soap doesn’t leave a strong scent on the skin. That is done at the cost of several chemicals added to the soap – that would be a commercial soap. And that would also be a not so good soap in my opinion, as commercial soap is too drying and a bit aggressive to skin. Besides, soap is mainly made to wash 🙂

      Want to make a natural product to leave a nice scent on your skin? Make a natural lotion. I will be posting a few very very soon.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

  2. 5 stars
    How wonderful, a lavender soap recipe! The scent fades more than you would expect, but still it’s a really good soap bar.

    • Hello and thanks for your comment.

      Lavender never gets old, and its essential oil is proven to be relaxing and fight anxiety. A great soap for a relaxing shower!

      Cheers,
      Sofia

  3. A lot of people love lavender. I actually use lavender insense around my house and it smells amazing. So if I am able to use lavender soap, it will be amazing. I will definitely purchase myself one. I am sure that my partner will love it as she loves lavender too. Thank you so much for this 

    • Hello Daniel and thanks for your comment.

      Yes, lavender scent is amazing, indeed. It’s also my favorite as standalone, among all aromas.

      While you can definitely purchase this soap, namely at Etsy, I challenge you to make the simple version (without layers) yourself. Not only you will have a great product, you will also have the satisfaction of making it yourself.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

  4. I love handmade soaps and I’ve always fantasized about making my own. It does seem like a lot of work though. I enjoyed your soap recipe and seeing all the photos. I think I’ll leave the soap making to the pros. I do appreciate all  I learned from your article though. 

    Cheers!

    • Hello JarieLyn, thanks for your comment.

      Soapmaking can be simple, you can start with beginner’s recipes: Soap REcipes For Beginners This is a complicated recipe 🙂 Give it a try before deciding it’s not for you. 

      Anyway, you may still enjoy handmade soap by purchasing it.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

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