Oatmeal & Honey Soap Recipe

This skin soothing oatmeal & honey soap bar is filled with gluten free oats & fresh honey. It’s perfect for those with itchy irritated skin!

bars of oatmeal and honey soap

Not long after my children went gluten free for celiac disease, they came down with chicken pox. It sounds silly, but I couldn’t stop dwelling on the sad fact that I couldn’t use the traditional oatmeal baths and lotions that are so helpful for itchy skin afflictions.

I determined I’d make my own skin-soothing oatmeal & honey soap free of gluten, dairy, and soy. (My son was also allergic to wheat, milk, and soy.) This recipe is the product of that quest!

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Here’s a video of me making oatmeal and honey soap! (Often an ad plays first, but the video will be right after. If you have an ad blocker enabled, you won’t be able to see this video player.)

bottle of honey beside a small bowl of oats
This nourishing soap recipe features wholesome ingredients such as whole oats and pure honey!

Oatmeal & Honey Soap Recipe

(Recipe can be exactly doubled.)

  • 22.5 ounces (638 g) olive oil (75%)
  • 7.5 ounces (213 g) coconut oil (25%)
  • 9 ounces (255 g) distilled water
  • 4.16 ounces (118 g) lye (sodium hydroxide) (6% superfat)
  • At trace add: 1/2 tbsp finely ground oats and 1 tsp honey mixed with 1 tsp warm water
  • Optional: You may wish to add 1/2 tablespoon of your favorite oil or butter at trace too. This will make your soap more moisturizing for dry skin.

For full details on making handmade soap, be sure to visit my article: Soap Making 101: How to Make Soap (+printable checklist).

For a vegan version, replace the honey with an equal amount of agave nectar.

Where to buy supplies: You can buy the oils needed for this recipe at local health or grocery stores. Oats (we use gluten free), honey, and distilled water can be found at most grocery stores. I like Essential Depot’s food grade lye from Amazon.com.

To make ground oats: Just take regular rolled or whole oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats) and grind them in a small coffee grinder.

Tips for making oatmeal honey soap: Soaps containing honey do not need to be heavily insulated or covered, because the natural sugars in honey makes the soap warmer than usual. If you see a crack forming across the top, that means the soap is getting too hot in the mold. If that happens, move the mold to a cooler place or in front of a box fan for several hours to help.

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bars of oatmeal and honey soap
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5 from 4 votes

Oatmeal & Honey Soap Recipe

This skin soothing oatmeal & honey soap bar is filled with gluten free oats & fresh honey. It’s perfect for those with itchy irritated skin!
Keyword gluten free, honey, oatmeal, soap
Cook Time 1 hour
Time in Mold 1 day
Total Time 1 day 1 hour
Servings 8 bars

Equipment

  • pair of gloves (dishwashing gloves work well and can be reused)
  • safety goggles to protect eyes from splashes
  • a digital scale
  • a small cup for weighing lye
  • a 1 quart container for mixing lye solution
  • a 2 1/2 quart container for mixing soap
  • a saucepan for melting coconut oil
  • an immersion blender (stick blender)
  • a soap mold (that holds 40 to 50 oz of soap)

Ingredients

  • 22.5 oz olive oil (638 g) (75%)
  • 7.5 oz coconut oil (213 g) (25%)
  • 9 oz distilled water (255 g) (2.16 times as much water as lye)
  • 4.16 oz sodium hydroxide lye (118 grams) (6% superfat)
  • 0.5 tbsp finely ground oats
  • 1 tsp honey, mixed with 1 tsp warm water to dilute
  • 1/2 tbsp optional extra: your favorite butter or oil (such as melted shea butter, or rosehip seed oil)

Instructions

  • Assemble your ingredients, equipment, and safety gear.
  • Make sure kids and pets can't access the area you're working in, and you're able to devote your full attention to making soap.
  • Prepare your mold.
  • Weigh out the water into the 1 quart mixing container.
  • Make sure you have on gloves and goggles.
  • Weigh out the lye into the small cup.
  • Sprinkle the lye into the water and stir until completely dissolved. There will be momentary strong fumes released that you don't want to breathe in.
  • Set the lye solution aside in a safe spot to cool.
  • While the lye solution cools, melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan.
  • Weigh the olive oil into the larger mixing container, and add the coconut oil once it's melted.
  • When the lye solution is around 90 to 115 degrees F, pour the lye solution into the container of warmed oils. (You don't have to have the oils and lye solution the same temperature – it's okay if the oils are a little under 90 degrees.)
  • Use the immersion blender (stick blender) to mix the oils and lye solution together in a few short bursts.
  • Add the ground oats and diluted honey. If adding the extra oil, do so now too.
  • Stir by hand a few seconds, then burst the stick blender a few seconds. Alternate hand stirring and the stick blender. Don't run the immersion blender continuously.
  • Mix until you reach trace. Trace means when you drizzle a small bit of the soap mixture over the surface of itself, it will leave a faint pattern or 'trace' before sinking back into the mixture.
  • Pour into your soap mold. Because this soap has honey, it may heat up quicker than other soap. Cover lightly with a piece of parchment paper and then a light piece of cloth, like a pillowcase or dish towel.
  • Keep the soap covered, but peek at it every so often. If you see a crack forming in the top, it's getting too hot and should be uncovered. You may also want to place it on a cooling rack to allow cooler air to circulate underneath.
  • Keep the soap in the mold for at least 24 to 48 hours.
  • Unmold and slice into bars right away, or if the soap is on the soft side, you can wait a few days before cutting into soap bars.
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92 Comments

  1. Hi I forgot to ask last email on soaps…how many bars do you get average? Size? Also on the tools, you probably answered this but do you use wooden spoon or rubber? Also can I use plastic for the lye/water mixture due to heat? How do you get the colors you have like with Rugosa? Finally, SORRY to bambard you what do you use to cure, or what do you set them on? Thank you in advance. Lory Rendon

    1. Hey Lory, no problem on the questions – ask away! :) There’s also a lot of this info in the post:
      https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/soap-making-101-making-cold-process-soap/

      For the size mold I use (homemade wooden box of 16″ x 11.5″ x2″ inner dimensions), I usually cut 18 bars, with a bit of edges left over (that I use for us here at home.)

      I use a heat safe plastic spoon for stirring lye or a stick of wood (I have woodworkers in the family & have a supply of fresh clean hardwood ones for each time. Otherwise, over time the lye eats away at the wood, leaving little splinter pieces in your lye eventually.)

      You can mix in a plastic container, in fact someone commented that glass/pyrex has a chance to shatter so plastic is a safer choice. Just make sure it’s heavy duty plastic and not something thin that will melt from the heat. Look for the recycle symbol number 5 on the bottom which means it’s heavy duty polypropylene plastic. You can also use stainless steel (never aluminum though.)

      For colors I use clays and herbs! I cure my bars in a single layer on wax paper or brown paper bags cut open and laid flat or parchment paper. I turn them every few days to make sure that they cure evenly.

      I hope this answered your questions and good luck with your soap making! :)

  2. Jan,
    One more…sorry…how do you clean up your tools?
    Hand blender, bowls etc. Thanks your a sweetheart for replying.

    1. Hi Lory, that’s actually an important topic that I meant to address!

      In the past, I ran my items through the dishwasher when I was done, but it completely ruined it and I had to have several pipes replaced in my kitchen because of that. (It’s still raw and uncured soap, so somewhat like pouring grease down the drain in that state.)

      Once you let it sit for a few days, it’s more soap like and you can scrape off most of the dried layer (throw those scrapings in the trash) and wash as usual. OR if you want to clean up the day of soap making, you can use old rags or paper towels to wipe your items clean and then wash as usual. Be sure to wear gloves though since it can still burn your skin at this point, until it’s cured & have tools & dishes and such dedicated just for soap making.
      Hope that helps!

  3. Hi
    I am very new to soap making. I am a hobby bee keeper and want to use my honey and beeswax in some of my soap. I discovered your website and blog.. I love it and already posted to my FB page as y new favorite site. At trace where you are the extra oils do you add all that are listed of do you choose from them. My husband has psoriasis and I would like to make something that might help his skin. Thanks for your help and your beautiful website. I posted my blog above.

    1. So happy you like the site and thank you for posting it on your FB page as well. :)
      I love your blog and have bookmarked it to browse through later – we are looking into top bar hives and a garden area just for the bees & butterflies and it looks like you have some good ideas and links there!

      Okay, as far as the soap: things added at trace are all extras and optional, so you can change things around a bit to suit you. (The additives at trace are tiny amounts, so have more leeway than the main part of the recipe, which shouldn’t be changed without a lye calculator on hand.)

      So, at trace add:

      ~ 3 tablespoons ground oats (but you can add less or leave it out)

      ~ 1 tablespoon of honey – I actually add more than this is my dandelion soap recipe and I add beeswax as well. (Actually I add the beeswax that is still oozing with honey and hasn’t been filtered yet.) You can see this recipe in my free dandelion ebook or I plan on popping it on the website in the next few days so it’ll be on my soap making page. ( https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/things-to-do-with-dandelions/ ) This dandelion soap recipe is the one that a relative uses for her psoriasis and she loves it so much, so gets it from me a whole batch at a time. You could use the oatmeal soap recipe and the items from trace used in the dandelion recipe, if you wish.

      ~ up to 2 extra tablespoons of any oil or butter that you like (or leave it out.) Sometimes, I use 3 tablespoons in a batch, but keep in mind too much extra oil will make your bar too soft/oily. For psoriasis, you might want to try tamanu oil or rosehip seed oil (or a tablespoon of each!)

      ~ and then for essential oils – you can add much higher amounts (mine tend to be on the conservative or barely there side) or leave them out.

      I hope that helps, but feel free to ask further questions! Good luck soap making! :)

  4. Thank you so much for responding to my email. I do have one more question. I understand that when you add honey to a soap recipe it continues to heat up through the gel cycle. Do you insulate you wooden molds when you add honey. Do you leave open or refrigerate to prevent gelling? Thanks so much for all your information.
    Maureen Russell

    1. Hi Maureen, Honey will make your soap heat up more, but with the small amount I use, I haven’t had to do much differently. I usually cover my molds with a few layers of quilts, but in the case of soaps with honey, will usually just use one small one. I also lift a corner of the blanket and feel the outside of the mold a few times over the 24 hours, and if needed, do a quick peek into the mold, but haven’t had trouble with overheating yet! :)

  5. Hi Jan
    Wanted to let you know that I followed your oatmeal honey soap recipe yesterday. it was my first time making cold process soap. I made it exactly to recipe except I sized it to my mold. I only added the 1 Tbsp of honey and it heated up and started to gel. I freaked out cause I didn’t think that was suppose to happen. Anyway I put it in the refrig. I didn’t know as a new soap maker if you want gel or not. So I may have a partial gel. The soap was a really pretty creamy white, yellow color. Thank you for sharing your recipes. Can wait to try it.
    Maureen

  6. Can’t wait to try this recipe! One question, on the 2 extra tablespoon of oil can i add sweet almond oil instead of rosehip seed oil. Thanks for your lovely recipe!

    1. I usually let mine cure from four to six weeks before giving to others. But, because they are superfatted and so gentle, I’m able to start using them on myself & family after 3 weeks.

      1. Also, what would be the right temperatures for the lye and oils? Sorry! I’m totally new to this soap making method. Once again thanks so much.

        1. Hi Lisa!

          All of that info is in the Soap Making 101 post referred to above:
          https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/soap-making-101-making-cold-process-soap/

          You just plug these ingredients into the step by step process.

          I also have a Soap Making page:
          https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/soap-making/

          There are some video tutorials listed there that might help you get a feel of the whole method. Also, I LOVE the Soap Queen’s blog – she has some really great ideas and helpful information that you might enjoy!

          I think reading through those resources should answer most of your questions, but if I missed one – just let me know! :) Happy Soap Making!

  7. Hi, I’ve never made soap before & have been confused until I stumbled on your site. Thank you for the easy explanation. I have a question about essential oils that are used as preservatives. I heard that grape seed oil helps from the oils in the soap from going rancid… do your recipes also contain the essential oils to preserve the soaps? Also, what does the oatmeal and honey soap from your recipe smell like? I know it’s a silly question, but I’m wondering if it would have the honey smell or more of a lavender scent. Also, can I use coconut oil that I use to cook with to make soap? Thank you!

    1. Hi Candice, I’m happy to hear that I could help clear up some confusion! :)

      I’m not using essential oils as a preservative in my soap. I add them for extra skin benefits or scent. (I’m REALLY light on them, due to extended family members with sensitivity to strong smells, so they are barely detectable at the levels I list.) Grapefruit seed extract can be used as a preservative, sort of… along with vitamin E or rosemary antioxidants, but with a well balanced cold process soap recipe, you don’t really have to have one. (Though I do often add rosemary extract to soaps made with foods – like cucumber or carrot, etc. as a just-in-case thing.) If you make a super fatted soap (heavy on the oils), it’s more moisturizing, but it will go rancid a bit quicker. You can trade off and put less oils, but it’s not as soothing to dry skin. I’d rather super fat and take a bit shorter shelf life. Even then, your soap won’t go bad as in grow mold or anything. It just starts to smell a bit like old oil or may develop orange-ish spots. I have some soap bars my mother-in-law made about 3 years ago that are still in excellent condition and smell just like clean, fresh soap!

      The oatmeal and honey bar smells mildly like oaty honey to me – I find it pleasant, but not strongly scented to speak of. There’s not really enough lavender in there to detect; if you want it to smell more like lavender, then increase the amount of lavender EO significantly. Here’s a fragrance calculator you can use to get an idea of how much to use: https://www.brambleberry.com/pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx

      And, yes, you can use the coconut oil that you cook with to make soap! I hope I answered your questions well enough, but if not – let me know! :)

  8. Im planning to make skin products using oatmeal as an ingredient and am wondering if the oatmeal goes bad after being in simmering coconut oil for a couple minutes before being cooled and hardened.

    1. Hi Helen, That is a great question! Your oatmeal should be fine that way. You want to make sure that it’s super fine and incorporated very well into your oils. You may want to look into colloidal oatmeal. From the product description here:
      https://www.brambleberry.com/Colloidal-Oatmeal-P5565.aspx
      it says: “This product is excellent in face masks, milk baths, soap, and creams. Usage rate varies depending on the product. Soap recommended usage rate is up to 5%, milk bath, up to 50%, masks, up to 25% and creams up to 1%.”

  9. Jan,
    Thanks for the modifications to the above recipe eliminating coconut oil and making substitutions as you recommended. My sister who is allergic to coconut oil was thrilled beyond to receive these soap bars.
    You are amazing and extremely generous with your knowledge. Thanks again for caring!
    Roberta

    1. Hi Roberta, I’m so happy that your sister likes her soap! I know a bit about how it feels to be allergic to something that everyone else can have and I bet that your thoughtfulness & caring really made her day. Thanks for letting me know – I love hearing great news like that! :)

  10. Hi! I love your site! I am a rather inpatient sort of person and was wondering if anyone has had any luck making this as a hot-process soap rather than cold-process. ;) Would there be anything that would need to be altered to make this a hot-process recipe?

    1. Hi SarahFae, I haven’t tried this recipe hot-process yet, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, as is! :)

  11. I’m curious. I want to try this as a hot process recipe, and I don’t plan to tweak it. When you add the extra oil at trace with the honey, do you incorporate it or let it cook on the top?
    I should know this, but I recently scalded a batch of honey soap and had to throw it out. My daughter really needs a soothing soap and I want to make her one so her father stops using peppermint castile soap on her, which dries her out so much.
    I don’t want to ruin it and I learned to lower the heat (a lot!) but haven’t tried honey again. So, mix it in on very low heat and let it cook or put it on top?
    Thank you!

    1. That’s a great point I didn’t consider when converting this to hot process! Yes, I’d stir the extra oil and honey in AFTER the soap is completely cooked and right before putting it in the mold. Just stir, stir, stir really well then spoon into the mold. Thanks for pointing that out. I hope the soap helps your daughter!

      1. Jan, thanks and I appreciate all your great tips and advice. I hear oatmeal is great for eczema and I hope this helps me.:)

  12. Thanks so much for your wonderful recipes and website! I just made my first ever batch of cold process soap (or any soap, for that matter), and I used your recipe. I did substitute sweet almond oil at trace, and when I poured the molds it was a light, creamy yellow color. I took a peek at the molds a few minutes ago, and the soap looks completely different now – it’s much darker and slightly translucent. Is this normal? I’m really hoping this is just part of the gel process and I didn’t mess up my batch!

    1. Hi Lauren, That’s just the gel phase (the soap heating up in the mold) and it’s perfectly normal, but it scared me the first time I saw it too! :) Hooray for making your first batch of soap!!

      1. Thanks for responding! The bars are curing well, and they smell AMAZING. My corners stayed slightly white compared to the rest of the mold, so I think I got a partial gel. Overall, I’m delighted with my first batch and can’t wait to try again.

  13. I would like to try your oatmeal honey soap. I have what is probably a dumb question (this is only my 2nd batch of soap), but why the range of water amount? How do I decide how much to use?

    1. Hi Leasa, That’s a great question! I usually pick a number in the middle. If you’re worried about your soap setting up too fast, then pick a higher number (more water = slower time to trace & longer time in the mold). If I’m dealing with a silicone mold, I’ll go a smidge under the half way mark so it unmolds faster for me.

  14. My digital scale only goes to one decimal point(7.8 oz). So I’m guessing I need a different scale to measure the lye (7.86 oz) correct?

    1. Hi Leasa! I was going through this old post’s comments and saw that I missed answering yours last year. I’m so sorry about that!
      It’s good to have a scale that measures to 7.86, however, in this recipe –
      a 5% superfat is 7.94 oz
      a 6% superfat is 7.86 oz
      and a 7% superfat is 7.78 oz
      so, if you measured anywhere on the 7.8 oz range, you’re going to fall within an acceptable amount. In this case, your scale will work just fine!

    1. Hi Juli! I use the Majestic Mountain Sage calculator and it returns a range of water that you can use in a recipe.
      If you’re new to soap making and don’t want to risk your soap setting up too fast while you’re working with it, then you use water on the higher range. Water on the lower range can be used, but your soap will reach trace faster – sometimes too fast! I usually aim for a middle number so that I can make soap quicker, but still have time to add things at trace. It also helps to reduce the water if you use a silicone mold, so it firms up sooner.
      So, if you’re familiar with the soap making process, I’d go with 18 ounces of water, or if you’re just learning then probably 20 ounces will be best.
      (Water is the only ingredient that has a little flexibility in amount – the lye & oils should all be precise.)

  15. Hi Jan! I want to make this recipe for my eczema guys. I’ve mentioned before we have a nut allergy including coconut oil. What oil would you substitute in its place?

    1. Hi Sherry! To substitute coconut oil, my first choice would be babassu oil, in equal measure since it has such similar properties. If that’s not easily available, you could try using using cocoa butter (which adds hardness to the bar like coconut oil does) and castor oil (which helps boost lather since high olive oil soaps tend not to have much.)

      The recipe, as is, is roughly 72% olive oil and 28% coconut oil. You could make this a similar “almost castile” type soap with something like:
      43 ounces olive oil
      7.5 ounces cocoa butter
      5.5 ounces castor oil
      7.1 ounces lye (6% superfat)
      18 ounces water

      EXCEPT, once I figured and typed that all up, it occurred to me that cocoa butter is probably off limits too (but I’ll leave that variation up in case someone else can use that option), sooooo….

      Idea #2 is to substitute the coconut oil with tallow or lard (bonus of that is that tallow is supposed to be good for those with eczema.)
      40 oz olive oil
      16 ounces tallow
      7.21 ounces lye
      18 ounces water

      OR Idea #3 – if you ‘d like to keep the soap vegetable based, you might want to just do a castile bar of say 100% olive oil or perhaps 95% olive oil and 5% castor or meadowfoam oil (to try to get a little lather in the bar.)

      You can take any soap recipe that you like and just change up what you add at trace to make it into an oatmeal and honey soap.

      1. Thank you so much! I’m on the search for Babasuu! You are right! Cocoa is not an option! Thank you for thinking of that as well and giving me the other alternatives! You are so very awesome! I appreciate you very much!

        My gang is also very used to Aveeno lotion (Ugh) and think it solves their dry skin (not). Some lotion recipes would be great that don’t leave them feeling greasy! I can’t wait to own a hard copy of all of your books!

        Blessings!
        Sherry

        1. Hi Sherry! I bought my babassu oil at amazon.com. It’s wonderful stuff! They even sent me a sample of a cream that was really nice. I had horrible eczema as a kid and my mom used those types of lotions on me too. I well remember how miserable it was – they burned & didn’t really help. :/ It sure is nice of you to make things to help them feel better! :)

  16. Hi, Would this recipe be good for a dog soap? I’ve read the PH needs to be around 7 for dogs. I have not picked up any PH testing strips for the online recipes I’ve found.

    1. Hi Jennifer! I haven’t tested the pH of it, but it will run on the alkaline side. I’ve made a few for my dogs, but none that I’m super impressed with. You’re right, they do need a little different soap than we humans. I’m still working on the perfect dog soap recipe and will definitely share if I make one I like!

  17. Hi Jan,
    I am fairly new to soap making (probably 7 batches so far) and I just tried honey in my recipe and I loved it! Not having to cover it made it to where I could steeple the top and the hotter process made it to where I didn’t have to worry about soda ash. My question is: can you use honey in other recipes? Specifically- I have some clays coming in soon from brambleberry and was wondering if it was okay to use honey with the clay at trace? Thank you so much for your wonderful blog!!

    1. Hi Dani, I love honey in my soap too! You sure can add honey with clay at trace. I like to make a slurry of honey, clay & water (plus any EOs) so that everything mixes in quickly and smoothly.

  18. I made the oatmeal & honey soap and am fairly new to soaping. It is still really soft. How long do you wait to cut it?

    1. Hi Kay, You want to keep it in the mold for at least 24 to 48 hours, but sometimes it takes a little longer to set up. I’ve found that silicone molds take the longest! I’ve kept some soaps in the mold for up to a week before and then had to handle gingerly. One thing that helps palm free soaps set up faster is adding sodium lactate to the batch. The Soap Queen has information on that: https://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry-news/sunday-night-spotlight-sodium-lactate/

  19. Thanks, I will buy some sodium lactate for next time. I made the soap in a parchment lined box and have waited 2 days. The soap came cleanly away from the sides of parchments but stuck to the knife when I cut it. I cut it into thirds lengthwise & a small bar from one of the lengths. It is honey colored and feels like playdough. Do you this this will harden up or should I start over?

    1. Hi Kay! I would give it more time to harden up. If it came away from the mold cleanly and you don’t see any oil separation going on, then maybe it just needs more time.
      One thought, since this happened to me in the past before I realized what was going on – did your lye have any clumps or anything in it? If you shake it and hear some in there, then that means some moisture has gotten in and it won’t measure out properly, making your soap a little short on lye and little softer.
      Also, did you keep the mold at room temp or did you chill it? Chilled soaps that don’t go through gel phase, will take longer to firm up too.
      I’d give it another week of curing before I tried cutting any more and see how it is then.
      Keep me posted!

  20. Hi,

    I am new at soap making but I am excited to try out your recipes. I am especially looking at the oatmeal recipe. I am not sure how to use the lye calculator so I will just use the recipe you have posted. So, I have a couple of questions: How many bars of soap can I make with the recipe you posted? and can I use Shea butter ? and how much do I add? THanks so much and I really enjoy reading your posts.

    Ana Gonzalez

    1. Hi Ana! This recipe is one of my larger ones and will make somewhere between maybe 15 to 18 bars (which will vary depending on what type of mold you use and how thick you cut the bars.) If you want to use a smaller recipe, that makes around 7 or 8 bars, you can use this one: https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/hot-process-oatmeal-honey-soap-crock-pot-method/ (If you don’t want to cook it in your crock pot, you can just add the honey and oats and pour it into a mold, exactly like this recipe does, just let it cure for about 4 weeks after unmolding it.)

      Shea butter would be a really nice addition to this recipe. If you use this one, you could change the recipe like this:
      16 oz coconut oil
      36 oz olive oil
      4 oz shea butter
      18 oz water
      7.83 oz lye
      same amounts of oats and honey and such at trace

      In case that recipe is too big for you, I decreased it so it would fit in a mold around the size of a 9″ x 5″ bread loaf pan. (In fact, I sometimes use my glass bread loaf pan and just line it with parchment paper or an inexpensive trash bag.)

      Smaller Sized Oatmeal & Honey Soap With Shea Butter:
      8.5 oz coconut oil
      19 oz olive oil
      2.5 oz shea butter
      10 oz water
      4.19 oz lye
      (then add half the amount above of things to add at trace like honey & oats & such)

      I hope that helped answer your question, but if it doesn’t, just let me know!

  21. I love this recipe!

    I recently found a milk soap recipe that used the same measurement of milk in replacement of water, only, they froze the milk in cubes before adding the lye.

    I was wondering if I could do that and sub out the water in this recipe for milk?

    1. Hi Alyssa, I think that would work out nicely! Milk gives soap such a creamy lather and goes really well with oats and honey.

  22. Hi, I get a lot of goose bumps and have researched that oatmeal can be used to get rid off them. Is this true? If so, do you sell your soap?

    1. Hi Kokila! Oatmeal can be soothing to dry skin which might help, though bumps can be caused by many things. (Sometimes, even what you’re eating or they can indicate that you need more essential fatty acids in your diet.) I don’t sell any products right now, but if you check on Etsy and do a search for oatmeal soap, you will find lots of great options!

  23. How much honey is to much honey? I just put 1cup in a 5 lb loaf. It’s dark golden, I wasn’t expecting that. I think I goofed.

  24. Wow, I had no idea it could do all that bad stuff if you added to much honey. It didn’t volcano, or is it to soft. What do you mean by scorch? I did everything wrong, even covered it up like I do for all my soap. It did turn a dark golden color tho. Do you think it will still be sudsy?

    1. Hi Coral! When a batch of soap I made scorched from honey, it turned from the pale yellow I had colored it to an unattractive brown color (with a bit of pale yellow marbling). It also just smelled slightly burnt and not at all good. I would just let your soap cure and then give it a test run. If it still lathers up and it smells good, then I’d use it! It seems to me that all that honey would be good for your skin. Soap guidelines are only guidelines and not set in stone, so I think it’s admirable that you experimented outside the bounds to see what would happen and I hope that it turns out really great for you!

    1. Hi Sim, you sure can! Just freeze your milk or have it at least partially frozen before using so it won’t scorch or overheat.

  25. Hi jan. Can I put my soap straight in the fridge to stop it from gelling, have already made a batch and dsnt look to good with a brown ring in the middle, and white around the edges, so thought I wud try another way

    1. Hi Virginia! You could definitely try that. Conversely, you could try popping it in the oven for an hour to make sure it fully gels.

  26. Hi!
    Can I replace water with a mix of raspberry juice and frozen buttermilk?

    Also, can I replace honey with maple sirup?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Mylene! You can use frozen buttermilk instead of water, but the raspberry juice will likely turn your soap a brownish color. (Juices rarely stay the same color, though cold carrot juice will give it an orange tint!)
      The honey is added for skin benefits that I don’t think maple syrup has. You could add a little bit of maple syrup, just for label appeal, so you can call it Maple Oatmeal Soap (or something similar) – but be aware that the sugars in it will heat your soap up further and if you use too much, your soap will probably be sticky.
      This post:
      https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/how-to-make-soap-with-milk/
      has some information on using milk in soap that might help you as you experiment with the recipe. Good luck! I hope it turns out well for you!

      1. Many thanks! I’ve just made your baby carrot soap, which I’ve modified to add dried rosemary and honey. Pretty sure it will be awesome :).

  27. Hi,

    I just made my first batch of honey oatmeal soap and I am so excited! Just a quick question, I didn’t add any fragrance but next time I would like to add peppermint oil. How can I calculate that?
    Thanks so much for your posts, they really inspired me to just go ahead and make my own soap. :)

  28. Hello! First I would like to say I am enjoying your website. Very informative. I am new to the cold process soap making world! And I have a question. I have been doing lots of research and I am ready to start making my own soap. I have found a couple recipes on your site that I would like to try, but I would like to substitute some of the oils or butters. If I substitute the oils or butters but keep the same measurements, will it change everything? To where I have to use a soap calculator? Thank you for your time!

    1. Hi Courtney! You can substitute oils and butters in any recipe you’d like, but yes, you’d need to run it through a lye calculator.
      This one is the most user friendly one, I think:
      https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html
      (I have found though, that interchanging shea, mango and cocoa butter for each other doesn’t really change lye amounts enough to matter, so if you’re just swapping butters, they can usually be done pretty equally.)
      If you read up on this post:
      https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/how-to-make-any-soap-recipe-palm-free/
      It will give you more details on how you can substitute an oil and using lye calculators.
      Be sure to check out the printout of soap making oils linked near the beginning of the article, since that will help guide you as you make substitutions. Lye calculators look tricky and I was very intimidated by them at first, but they are pretty easy once you see how they work!
      Good luck with your soap making adventures! :)

  29. Awesome! Thank you! One more question…. For now! ;) I have seen people wrap there soaps when they are letting them sit for the 6-8 week. I have seen people ceramic wrap them but this is mainly for melt and pour. Do you have to do the same thing for cold process or can you just let it sit on Parchment paper? Also, when using essential oils does the smell or the benefits evaporate when the soap is sitting for the 6-8 weeks? I know this sounds like a stupid question but I came across a lady that wrapped her soaps up and let it sit for 6 to 8 weeks so it doesn’t loose its benefits…. Thank you for your time!!

    1. Hi Courtney! For melt and pour, you do want to wrap in plastic wrap or else it might develop little beads of moisture on the surface. For cold process though, you need plenty of air circulating for them to cure. Wrapping them isn’t a great idea during that time, since a point of curing is to evaporate moisture so the bar hardens and will last longer. Even when cure time is up, I like to keep my soaps where some air can get to them. (Nowadays, I sell them in a little muslin bag with a tag attached, so they can breathe, but still be protected from handling and dust.) Essential oils will fade faster than a fragrance oil, but some will last a lot longer and better than others. Some good ones that will stick around include: peppermint, lavender, 10X orange (ten fold orange), eucalyptus and lemongrass. Some that won’t stick around for long include regular lemon and orange essential oils. You also need to put a large amount of essential oils in, a few drops won’t do. I scent mine on the lighter side and still put 1 to 2 tablespoons of essential oil for around a 2 1/2 pound batch. This is when the big bottles of essential oil from Bramble Berry works well – they’re much more economical than buying tiny little bottles that you’d have to use the whole thing of.

  30. Hi, I was just wondering if the measurement of oil is by weight or volume. Do I measure 8 oz of olive oil by filling up a 1 cup measuring cup OR do I weigh out 8 oz on a digital scale? I know the lye is measured on the scale but I am confused about the rest of the ingredients.

    Thank you!!

    1. Hi Gillian! Everything in soap (oil, butter, lye and liquid) is measured by weight. The lye amount is based exactly on how much oil that you have in a recipe, so you want to be very precise. Sometimes measuring cups come in slightly different sizes (depending on manufacturer) and sometimes we fill them a little bit fuller or lower, so it’s hard to be consistent without a scale. I hope that helped! :)

  31. At the top of your web page for oatmeal & honey soap (cold process) you have 16 oz coconut oil and 40 oz Olive oil and 4.5 oz castor. Just wanted to check that those were the correct amounts as some of the other recipes in comments don’t match this. Thanks for clarifying :)

    1. Hi Helen!

      I tweak a soap recipe each time I make it and if it improves it, I go on the site and update it. That appears to be what happened here.
      Thanks so much for letting me know! I can see how the comments could be confusing since they don’t line up with the current recipe – I’ll go through and clean those up a bit.

      The recipe’s current version is:

      Oatmeal & Honey Soap
      (5 lb mold version)

      16 ounces coconut oil
      40 ounces olive oil
      16-21 ounces distilled water (I used around 18 or 19 oz, but these days I go even lower and would probably use 16 or 17 oz)
      7.86 ounces lye (sodium hydroxide) (this is a 6%)
      At trace add: 1 tablespoons ground oats, 1/2 tablespoon honey, plus an extra tablespoon of your preferred oil or butter (I like using half tablespoon of rosehip seed oil and half a tablespoon of meadowfoam seed oil)
      Optional: At trace add about 10 drops of tea tree oil & 15 drops lavender essential oil

      I don’t see castor oil listed on my end, but it would make a nice addition, so if you did
      16 oz coconut oil
      40 oz olive oil
      4.5 oz castor oil
      you’d need
      8.4 oz lye (for 6% superfat)
      15 to 23 oz water (I’d go with about 18)
      plus the oatmeal & honey as per the other recipe

      Thanks again! :)

  32. I made the HP version as my first foray into soapmaking and gave it as gifts at Christmas. My family, who has dry, sensitive skin, has had rave reviews so far. My sister and her kids, who are prone to eczema, have been able to stop using lotion since using this soap. In January! It also inspired me to play around with my own recipes. I came up with a nice one using lard, coconut oil, castor oil, sunflower seed oil, and Shea butter. I don’t use olive oil much, because it has a very definite fragrance and is kind of expensive, though it is wonderful for the skin. My recipe is very cost effective and has very little fragrance of its own, so it’s been a lot of fun to play around with additives and essential oils. Thanks for the inspiration!

  33. Hi, this is my first time making my own soap and I wanted to make a smaller batch of your recipe

    https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator-Results.aspx

    I used the above lye calculator. And got the following measurements:

    Coconut Oil (Virgin) 8.000 oz
    Olive oil 20.000 oz
    7% Lye 03.817 oz
    Ounces of liquid 09.240 oz

    I re-sized the oil weight to 28 oz.

    Please let me know if this is correct. And how will the amount of Essential oils,honey and oatmeal change according to this batch.

    1. Hi Samiaa! That’s the exact numbers I get from Bramble Berry too, so you’re correct in your calculations.
      Since you’re using half the recipe, I would just also halve the other ingredients.
      So, at trace add:
      1/2 tbsp ground oats
      3/4 tsp honey
      1/2 tbsp of your favorite oil to enrich the soap (which you could leave out, since your superfat is 7%)
      then 5 drops tea tree and 8 drops lavender (This won’t really give the soap any scent, it’s more for skin benefits. If you want a stronger scent you could add 1 tbsp lavender essential oil and around 1/4 to 1/2 tsp tea tree. You could also leave it out if you wish.)
      Good luck with your soap making! Let me know how it goes! :)

  34. I made a batch of oatmeal honey soap and it has been curing fo a couple weeks now. The bars are light around the edges and darker every where else. Just wondering if this is normal. This is only our second time making soap. Just made the Avocado shampoo bars last night and plan on making milk soap tomorrow. I am really enjoying making homemade soap. Getting away from chemicals. Thank you for your time and sharing your recipes.

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