100% Palm Oil Soap Recipe

This is another easy one-fat homemade soap recipe, made with 100% palm oil. Palm oil is, in my opinion, a great ingredient with a bad reputation.

In Africa, palm oil is quite common and this would be a great handmade soap for african soap makers, cheap and acessible to everyone. The result is a great, well balanced soap, with enough conditioning and cleasning properties, with good stable lather (although not abundant), pretty much like a lard soap.

Difficulty: Easy

Weight: 210g (7,4 oz)

Superfat: 5%

Lye Concentration: 30%

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 1

Method: French

Cosmetic: Drinks

Servings: soap bars

Author: Sofia Matias

Cost: $3 - $10 / 2,6€ - 8€

Equipment

Ingredients

Lye Water

Instructions

Get Ready!

Wear goggles and gloves! Look at “Safety Recommendations” in the video above or in How to Make Soap From Scratch
Watch the video above about "Cold Process Soap Making tutorial" or read the post How To Make Soap by Cold Process Step-by-Step 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!
The essential oil is optional. It adds scent to your soap. You can choose the one from the recipe or another like lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemongrass. You can also choose a fragrance oil. But do not exceed the 6,5 ml limit. Your soap will be really cheap if you skip this.

Heat the Oils

Melt the palm oil as it remains solid at room temperature.

Make the Lye Water

Make the lye solution according to How To Make Lye Water. Mix it until the vapors start to dissipate. Add the dried petals at the end.

Make the Soap Batter

Use as target temperature 28ºC for the oil-solution mixture. If necessary, heat the palm oil a little.
Reach trace with the immersion blender. You will reach trace very, very fast, be ready.
Add the extract, essential oil and calendula dried petals/powder after tracing. Mix with a spoon. Be swift with this operation and molding.

Molding and Curing

Pour the dough in the molds with a pitcher and sprinkle with alcohol or witch hazel.
Let it set for 48 hours.
Unmold and let the bars cure for 4 to 6 weeks. See How To Cure Soap.