Try this easy pink clay soap recipe, an olive oil soap scented with rose geranium essential oil and colored with french pink clay and red clay. You will get a very gentle cleansing, conditioning and wonderfully scented soap.
Table of Contents
Rose Geranium Essential Oil
Rose geranium essential oil is distilled from Pelargonium graveolens. It grows for essential oil production mainly in Egypt, China, Morocco, Crimea, Ukraine, Georgia, India, and South Africa. It is a type of geranium plant with leaves that smell strongly like roses. This species of geranium is native to certain parts of Africa. The plant has velvety, plush leaves and flowers that bloom pale pink or almost white.
Pelargonium species have been used medicinally by the Hottentots and Zulus of South Africa for hundreds of years. They’ve used it for dysentery, coughs, upper respiratory irritations, gastritis, tuberculosis, and other problems.

Rose geranium oil is an active ingredient in some cosmetic products, like lotions. A 2017 review of studies demonstrated that antioxidant properties in rose geranium oil may help reduce the signs of aging. It has also shown anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral properties.
Rose Geranium For Cold Process Soap
However, rose geranium essential oil is famous in cold process soap not because of its medicinal properties, that most likely won’t survive saponification. But because it is a great and relatively cheap substitute for the very expensive rose otto essential oil, the true rose essential oil.
Geranium essential oil rosy scent goes better in soap than if you smell it undiluted. Mixed with patchouli essential oil makes for a delicate, exquisite rosy scent blend. I personally love it and use it often in my soaps and other skincare.
A word of caution: although rose geranium essential oil is safe for most people, it is very potent and may cause reactions to very sensitive skin. If you plan to make this soap for sensitive skin, or you have allergy to this essential oil, you can use a smaller quantity than the one on the recipe, or skip it entirely. Unscented olive oil soap still smells great :).
French Pink and Red Clays
French pink clay is one of the mildest of all the clays. Works well for normal, sensitive and mature skin types. In this recipe, pink illite clay works as a natural colorant, helps with its mild cleansing properties, and works as a “scent fixer”.
Red illite clay is also used for coloring purposes. Red clay is stronger than pink clay, being more effective at cleaning oily skins. The difference is due to the amount of red iron oxide, bigger in red clay and smaller in pink clay.

Use Clay At Your Convenience
So, if you have oily skin, pink and red will be a very good combination for your soap. But with more sensitive skin, only pink clay is preffered. Actually, you don’t need to purchase both clays for this soap, you can use only one of them.
If you have really sensitive skin or skin with conditions, consider using white kaolin clay, or skip the clay in this soap. Afterall, is mostly used as a colorant, it will still be a worderful olive oil soap without it.
Depending on the strenght of your clays, namely the iron oxide content, this soap might have a stronger or softer pink shade. As the soap is fresh, it will look more cream/skin colored than pink, due to the olive oil color. Once the olive oil color begins to fade, the pink hue will be more prominent. In summary, the more the curing, the more pink/less creamy the soap will become.
Still, I find handmade natural soap beautiful in any way. Even if the soap doesn’t have the desired pinky-pink color.
Pink Clay Soap Recipe
With rose geranium essential oil, pink and red clay, and the mildness and conditioning properties of olive oil, this soap recipe provides a very gentle cleansing, conditioning and wonderfully scented soap to enjoy at home. A great alternative to the French Green Clay Soap Recipe if you have oily skin, but more sensitive.
Find Where to Buy Handmade Pink Clay 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 soap at the following links:
- Rose Geranium and Pink Clay Soap
- French Pink Clay Soap
- Bella Rose Shampoo Bar
- Other Soaps – Handmade Soaps and shampoo Bars – Apple Valley Natural SoapsApple Valley Rosemary Mint Shampoo Body Bar
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?
Related Posts
Ingredients and Recipes
- Vegetable oils: Oil Properties For Soap Making
- 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
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.
Equipment
Ingredients
Lye Water
- 103 g distilled water
- 58 g lye (100% sodium hydroxide)
- 1 tsp sodium lactate or fine salt
- 1 tsp french pink clay optional
- 1 tsp red clay optional, only pink clay can be used
Oils
- 450 g extra virgin olive oil
Add After Trace
- 8 drops grapefruit seed extract (GSE) (anti-oxidant)
- 14 ml essential oils blend optional
- alcohol or witch hazel to sprinkle
Essential Oils Blend
- 2,5 tsp essential oil rose geranium
- 1 tsp essential oil patchouli
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.
- Assemble everything: ingredients, equipment, safety equipment. Prepare your workstations. Measure all the ingredients. Don’t start the recipe without having everything ready!
Heat the Oils
- Heat the olive oil to approx. 45ºC
Make the Lye Water
- Make the lye solution according to How To Make Lye Water. Add the french pink clay and the sodium lactate to the solution and stir well. Mix it until the vapors start to dissipate. The solution will take a dark pink/brick red color.
Make the Soap Batter
- Use as a target temperature 38ºC for the oil-solution mixture. If necessary, you can reheat the oils, but not the lye solution. Strain the lye water to catch all clay lumps and lye crystals.
- Reach trace with the immersion blender.
- Add after trace ingredients: the extract and essential oil (s). Stir with just a spoon.
Molding and Curing
- Pour the dough into the rectangular molds with a pitcher and sprinkle with alcohol or witch hazel. As the clays give a very soft color, the olive oil color will be predominant when the soap is still fresh, looking more cream than pink.
- Let it set for 2 to 7 days, keeping an eye on the hardness of the soap.
- Unmold and let the bars cure for 4 to 6 weeks. See How To Cure Soap. The pink color will come out with additional curing (around 2 months), when the olive oil looses its color.
What I found so amazing is the ability to make soaps at home, I always looked at this product being made in factories but acquiring this will enable you to be able to save a few bucks making your own soaps especially the ones that you like. Thanks so much for sharing your post on homemade natural rose soap recipe.
Hello Norman, and thanks for your comment.
Yes, save a few bucks and save your own skin as well (literally lol, no pun intended). Save it from being constantly attacked from harsh chemicals present in most commercial skincare products! This soap also has a very mild clay to help sensitive skins with additional cleansing. Try this recipe and see it for yourself 🙂
Best Regards,
Sofia
Hello there, thank you for sharing this wonderful information and I have been my glad that there is some really good information online for all of us at see and make the best of and this is one very good information you have here for us. Learning to do some of these things for yourself is really safe you’ll keep some money to save and that is special
Hello Sean and thanks for your comment.
Loved this recipe of a rose soap! So simple, with olive oil, pink clay and a rose essential oil. Thanks for sharing.
Hello and thanks for your comment.
I’m so glad you’ve liked this recipe! You should also try this Heart Shaped Rose Soap recipe, if you like rose scented soaps.
Cheers,
Sofia