Dandelion & Honey Liquid Soap Recipe

How to make dandelion and honey liquid soap recipe

Every spring, I look forward to making one of my all-time favorite soaps – Dandelion & Honey. I’ve been making some version of it for about 14 years or so now, changing up the recipe here and there for variety.

This year, I decided to switch things up and turn it into a liquid soap, instead of bars.

Liquid soap is one of those things that seems complicated, and some methods are overly so, but this recipe is fairly straightforward. 

If you’ve made cold process or hot process soap before, this liquid soap recipe shouldn’t give you any trouble!

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Dandelion Tea

Dandelion & Honey Liquid Soap Recipe

All measurements are by weight. You must use an accurate scale to make soap. 

  • 8 oz (227 g) coconut oil (40%)
  • 4 oz (113 g) dandelion-infused olive oil (20%)
  • 4 oz (113 g) sunflower oil (20%)
  • 4 oz (113 g) castor oil (20%)
  • 4.63 oz (131 g) potassium hydroxide (KOH) (3% superfat)
  • 13.75 oz (390 g) dandelion tea and/or distilled water
  • 1 tsp honey mixed with 1 tsp warm water

Also needed for dilution phase:

I use a 4 quart crockpot (slow cooker) picked up from my local big box store for making soap.

(You can buy cute dispenser pumps that go on the top of mason jars at Amazon.)

A cup of dandelion flowers

Preparation

Liquid soap requires a different type of lye than bar soap. For this recipe, you’ll need to order some potassium hydroxide (or KOH). I usually buy mine from Essential Depot. It’s 90% pure, so this recipe is calculated for that purity level. If your potassium hydroxide has a different purity, you’ll need to run the recipe through Soapee’s lye calculator with a 3% superfat for the new lye value. (Higher superfats aren’t needed in liquid soap, since extra fat tends to separate out of the finished soap.)

After you’ve obtained some potassium hydroxide and are ready to make the soap, you’ll next need to make a dandelion tea and dandelion infused oil.

To make the tea, place 1 cup of dandelion flowers in a heat proof jar and pour 1.5 cups of simmering hot distilled water over them. Let the tea infuse for about 20 to 30 minutes then strain. Cool completely before using in soap recipes.

To make the infused oil, please see #1 on my post 12 Things to Make With Dandelion Flowers.

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Straining Dandelion Infused Oil

How to Make Dandelion & Honey Liquid Soap

Once you have a dandelion tea and dandelion infused oil, you’re ready to make your soap!

Add potassium hydroxide to dandelion tea

Step 1

Place the cooled dandelion tea in stainless steel or heatproof plastic container. If you don’t have quite enough dandelion tea, you can just add more distilled water until the liquid weighs 13.75 oz (390 g).

Wearing gloves and goggles, weigh out the potassium hydroxide and sprinkle it into the dandelion tea. Stir well.

The lye solution will turn a bright yellow-orange, but that’s normal. Set the lye solution aside while you prepare the oils.

Oils mixed with dandelion lye solution

Step 2

Weigh the coconut, olive, sunflower, and castor oil into a slow cooker.

Turn the heat on low then pour in the dandelion tea and lye solution. Hand stir for about 5 minutes until incorporated.

Liquid Soap at Trace

Step 3

After hand-stirring for several minutes, start blending with your immersion (stick) blender. Blend on and off until you reach trace. Don’t run the immersion blender continually or you’ll risk burning out the motor.

Stir with the immersion blender for a few minutes, then let the soap rest for several minutes before stirring with the blender again. It will take about 25 to 30 minutes before trace is reached.

The photo above shows my soap at trace. You can see it got a little foamy from the stirring, but that’s okay.

At trace, thoroughly stir in the honey and water mixture.

Liquid Soap Stages

Step 4

Now, it’s time to cook!

The photos above show how this batch of soap looked over cook time. Your times and appearances might vary some, depending on how hot your slow cooker runs.

Keeping the heat on low, cover the slow cooker (crockpot) and check every 30 minutes or so, stirring with a heat proof spatula or spoon each time you check.

The soap will turn darker and gel-like in spots and you’ll probably see some clear or cloudy liquid separating from the soap. Just stir everything back together, cover and cook some more.

After about 2 hours, you should notice that the soap batter has gotten thicker and more concentrated as you stir.

Keep cooking until the soap looks like the final photo in the collage above – it will resemble the glossy look of vaseline. (Or, if you’ve ever made homemade coconut pecan frosting before, it reminds me of that look, minus the pecans & coconut.)

This particular batch cooked about 4 hours, but yours may not take as long or may take a little longer.

When you think the soap is done, scoop out a small amount, let cool until comfortable enough to handle, then mix with a bit of distilled water to dilute.

Touch the diluted paste with the very tip of your tongue – if it gives your tongue a “zap” then it needs to cook longer. If it just tastes kind of gross and like you just licked soap, then it’s good to go!

Diluting Liquid Soap

Step 5

At this point, you could store your paste in covered jars until you’re ready to dilute, or you could dilute the whole batch. (Keeping portions of it undiluted will extend shelf life, since once you add water, shelf life is shortened.)

The pH of this finished diluted soap runs around 9. Because of its natural alkalinity, many soapmakers don’t add a preservative, as long as you dilute with only distilled water and/or vegetable glycerin.

If you try to dilute with fresh ingredients like herbal teas or milk though, then you’ll definitely need to explore a preservative of some type since they spoil so easily. (For that reason, I add those types of things to the recipe BEFORE cook time.)

Liquid Germall Plus is often used in liquid soap, if you’d like to explore that route.

To figure out the dilution amount:

Weigh the fully cooked soap paste.

The cooked soap paste in this batch weighed about 26 ounces (737 g).

Multiply the weight of the fully cooked soap paste by 0.20 (or 20%) to get the amount of glycerin needed, then multiply the weight of the soap paste by 0.80 (or 80%) to get how much distilled water you need.

For this batch, that means I needed 5.2 oz (147 g) vegetable glycerin and 20.8 oz (590 g) distilled water.

Combine the glycerin and distilled water in a deep stainless steel saucepan and bring to a boil. Scrape the soap paste into the boiling glycerin/water mixture, stir a bit so the paste is covered by liquid as much as possible, then cover the pan and turn off the heat, leaving the pan on the still-hot burner.

Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, stirring and mashing with a fork, spatula or potato masher occasionally.

Once cooled, bring the mixture back to a boil once or twice more and then allow to cool again, stirring occasionally to break up larger lumps of soap paste.

Keep the soap in the covered stainless steel pan for a few days, stirring occasionally, until all of the soap paste is dissolved.

Pour into jars (I pour through a fine mesh strainer to catch any stray lumps) and allow the soap to settle for a few more days, though you can use it right away if you’d like.

And, that’s it! You’ve made liquid soap!

Dandelion and Honey Liquid Soap Recipe
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84 Comments

  1. I assume you would add essential oils for scent when you are finished with diluting the soap? What would you recommend as a shelf life?

    1. Hi Jenny! I normally leave this unscented, but you can definitely add some essential oils for scent if you’d like.
      The fragrance calculator at Bramble Berry will give a good range for your chosen essential oil, which can then be adjusted slightly to personal preference.
      https://www.brambleberry.com/pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
      A nice thing about liquid soap is that you don’t need tons of essential oil to give it noticeable scent.
      For shelf life of liquid soap – the undiluted paste is similar to bar soap & should last for at least a year.
      We use the diluted soap up within 3 or 4 months, so I know it stays fresh at least that long, though it may last even longer than that. (I have some microbial tests planned for this summer, so stay tuned!) :)

      1. Hello :-)

        Thanks so much for sharing this recipe I just discovered your blog and your facebook page !! so happy !!! By any chance do you have a return about the microbial tests on your diluted soap Jan?
        Thanks a lot

          1. Do you sell your soap? I work full time, and my hubby is disabled – so don;t think I have time or energy to make it.

    2. Hi Jan,
      Plz can u let me know how many days will it last without preservative ?

      1. Hi Hemani! It’s hard to know an exact amount of days. The high pH keeps it well preserved in my experience.
        I’ve kept diluted liquid soap for over a year before and it looked and smelled fine even after that long, though it wasn’t lab tested, so I can’t be sure what was or wasn’t in it. :)

  2. Thanks Jan, you have inspired me to revisit the big glob of liquid soap paste I made last year. I didnt really know what I was doing, and diluted some of it to make the liquid soap but think I added too many other ingredients at that stage. It was OK, and everyone says how they like it (I added a bit of lemongrass oil for scent), but I am not happy with it. I will try your %’s of glycerine and water. Thanks again, Sarah ?

    1. Hi Sarah! Liquid soaps vary in how much water/glycerin is needed to dilute, depending on the recipe used, but the amount in this post is a good starting place! I hope that you like the ratio & that you give liquid soapmaking another try sometime! :)

  3. Hi Jan, love your work and your books. I’m not a fan of sunflower oil – it’s the only oil that has ever gone rancid on me in soap. What could I substitute that with?

    1. Best to stick with high oleic sunflower oil, it will stand up to the whole saponification process better and won’t go rancid.

  4. Hi, I really love the things you do. I also have your book, very nice!
    One thing that has been bothering me with ls is that it doesn’t really foam. How is the “foamability” of your ls?
    Thank you in advance!

  5. Hello,

    So… just curious, could I use this soap as a homemade body wash?

    Sincerely,

    Kristy

  6. Hi! I am very interested in making this liquid soap, however would like to use some milk with it. You talk about adding it early on so a preservative wouldn’t be needed. Would I use the milk to replace the tea/water (as in amount to add)? Or would I need a different recipe? Thank you so much!

    1. Hi Katie, Yes, you can use milk to replace the tea/water (frozen or slushy milk), but one of my preferred ways to add milk is to reduce the water amount used to make the lye solution by a few ounces, then use the rest of that amount as milk, blended into the oils before adding the lye.
      So, that would make this recipe look like:
      8 oz (227 g) coconut oil (40%)
      4 oz (113 g) dandelion-infused olive oil (20%)
      4 oz (113 g) sunflower oil (20%)
      4 oz (113 g) castor oil (20%)
      4.63 oz (131 g) potassium hydroxide (KOH) (3% superfat)
      3 oz (85 g) milk —– BLEND THIS WITH OILS
      10.75 oz (390 g) dandelion tea and/or distilled water — USE THIS FOR LYE SOLUTION
      1 tsp honey mixed with 1 tsp warm water
      Then make as usual.
      If using powdered milk, I blend about a tablespoon into the oils before adding the lye solution.
      One thing to note with hot processing soap made with milk this way is that it will affect the final color of your soap, making it darker and browner than it’d be otherwise.

  7. Hi Jan,

    My name is Anuj Agarwal. I’m Founder of Feedspot.

    I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog The Nerdy Farm Wife has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 100 Soap Making Blogs on the web.

    http://blog.feedspot.com/soap_making_blog/

    I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 100 Soap Making Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this!

    Also, you have the honor of displaying the badge on your blog.

    Best,
    Anuj

  8. Hello , just found your site from sunny Scotland. Just been out and picked my left over dandelions cleared them out last week before I found this.

    Ordered your book and signed up for emails, cannot wait to get started. Made soap once and have been looking for ideas.

    Thanks lorna

  9. Jan – does this only work with all high-oleic oils? I see your note about a sub for Sunflower, but what about a full or partial sub for Olive?

    1. Hi K! You don’t necessarily have to use all high-oleic oils. My first choice for an olive oil sub would be rice bran oil. (Also sunflower oil, but if you need to sub that out already, that wouldn’t be a factor.) :)

      1. I don’t have any Dandelion tea. We’re in quarantine and unable to get it. I was wondering if I could use calendula instead?

        1. Hi Debra! Yes, you sure can use calendula, or chamomile, or any other herb you like, OR you could just use plain water if you’d like as well. :)

  10. I see this made 26 oz of soap paste. How many ounces do you get when diluted? If I just want to make a 12 oz container or two (because I’ve never done liquid soap before) should I halve the recipe or quarter it? Castor oil seems to be one of the few oils I do not have in my cupboard. Is the drugstore variety okay to use or is there a good substitute?

    Thanks for the recipe. My 5-year old has been harvesting dandelions for me and is so excited for dandelion soap :)

    1. Hi Jessica! Since you’re diluting with an equal amount of liquid (water + glycerine), then the 26 ounces of paste becomes 52 oz of liquid soap. You could try halving the recipe, but I found that recipes much smaller than this size are more difficult to work with as far as stirring (completely submerging the immersion blender in the soap mixture) and uneven heating of crockpot. Though I do have to note that I don’t own a smaller crock pot – if I did, it might be much easier! :) You should be able to use castor oil from the drugstore. Some brands are processed with hexane (a solvent that’s associated with some health risk), so I try to source brands that are made without. I hope you have good luck with your soap! :)

  11. Hi. Can I replace potassium hydroxide with sodium hydroxide? Because I own a quantity of sodium hydroxide and I would like to use it. Thanks

  12. Jan, I have your lovely book and thank you for this recipe. Will definitely give it a try. Have a blessed Memorial Day weekend!

  13. Hello,
    I always enjoy reading your site. My husband is allergic to coconut and mangoes is there another oil that I can substitute for the coconut? I always find it difficult to locate a recipe for soap and lotions that do not require the use of coconut.

    Thank you

    1. Hi Michelle! Babassu oil is often used as a substitute for coconut oil in soap recipes, is he able to use that? I understand how difficult it is to work around allergies! This summer, I hope to write up a blog post with some coconut-free soap recipes which I hope will help those who are allergic. Stay tuned! :)

  14. Hi Jan,

    Other liquid soap recipes I’ve seen use borax to neutralize the potassium hydroxide, but yours doesn’t. I like the idea of not using it because I can’t seem to get the borax to dissolve. I’m looking forward to try your recipe.

  15. Jan I made your recipe! I think I had it to the right consistency except for a couple lumps. Heated it up again and it got thick and I can’t get it back to the clear looking soap again. Seems to keep getting thicker. Any ideas?

    1. Hi Cindy! How long did you heat it for and was the pot covered when you did? You may have evaporated off a bit too much of the water. You could try gently stirring in some more distilled water & let it sit (still covered) overnight & see if that helps. How thick is it? If it’ll still work in a pump-style soap dispenser, then it might not need much, if any, thinning back out. Keep me posted on how it’s doing!

      1. Thank you! I think that’s what I did! It’s almost has a taffy consistency. I added water. It’s pretty thick to get stirred in but I’ll let it sit overnight and see what happens. Thank you!

  16. I LOVE your blog and recipes! I have been making a glycerin based liquid soap for some time now and have found that scenting it poses some issues like clouding and even clumping of the Essential oils. I’ve tried gently reheating my diluted soap in the crock pot and adding the Essential oils and not stirring or messing with it and after awhile shutting off the crock pot to let it slowly cool, which is somewhat successful but also proves to be risky and creates a certain portion of wasted product. Do you have any better suggestions for how to do it without the risk of clouding or having globs of essential oil sitting at the bottom of the batch? I sell it and people seem to really like the clear beautiful soap scented with EO’s.

    1. Hi Lucy! My best suggestion would be to try adding the essential oils while the soap is gently heated, but it sounds like you’ve already tried that. I’m a little stumped past that idea as it usually works for me, though I also have to note that I most often leave soaps unscented for our household use. I’ll look through some of my liquid soapmaking resources & if I spot a possible solution mentioned, will update my comment to let you know! :)

  17. Just finished a batch of the dandelion & honey liquid soap. Success. I have 2 comments to make. I had the setting on my slow cooker on the lowest setting #1. Hours past and was not getting the results as per your instruction. I had to increase the setting to a #2, then a little more and it progressed, finally at midnight I just unplugged the slow cooker and; went to bed after about 12 hours. In the morning just went ahead and diluted with glycerin and water. My lowest setting must be just a warm setting. Also, my advice is not to use a slow cooker that has a coating such as Teflon. The lye attacks the finish and it is ruin. Live and learn. All and all, I am pleased with the results of the soap. I diluted it by 50% and am using it in my foamer pump.

    1. Hi Mary, Happy to hear the recipe was a success! My slow cooker runs hot, so thanks for the feedback on other models! Great point too about mentioning that non-stick coatings (along with aluminum) aren’t recommended for making soap as they can have negative reactions with the lye!

  18. Hi Jan,
    I have Glycerin from WSP. I don’t know if it’s vegetable glycerin though. Is it okay to use in place of the vegetable glycerin you have listed? I’d like to use this up before buying something else.
    Thanks!
    Dana

  19. You are the Best. Love your common sense recipes
    Been using them for quite awhile now and so happy with the results.
    Have the dandelion infusion all ready to go, so am going to try the liquid soap.
    thanks again for being there.
    Helena

  20. Not only do I love your recipes from your books that I have and also your e books but I am very grateful to you for raising awareness about using palm oil. I support the Orangutan Project and there are so many animals losing habitat because of palm oil plantations. Thank you so much for offering substitutes for palm oil and hopefully raising awareness of using it.

  21. Hi, thank you for sharing your recipe! Would it be possible to infuse the olive oil with other flowers/herbs (skin safe of course)? Also, I’m wanting to make a body wash with my completed soap. What would you suggest for a natural exfoliating agent to add that wouldn’t shorten the shelf life of my soap? Thanks!

    1. Hi Shawntai! Yes, you could definitely infuse the olive oil with other herbs and flowers. For exfoliation that won’t cause the soap to spoil – that’s a great question! I haven’t really experimented with that thought before, so I’m afraid I don’t have any good ideas for that. (Will put that on my things-to-look-into list though!) :)

  22. Hi Jan, just finished this wonderful recipe, but instead dandelion, I went with yarrow as I had some great olive oil infused with it. It came all very great ,26 oz in the end, a little bit darker in color, smell amazing and I don’t think adding E.O. Tomorrow I will receive some good glycerine and do it liquid…I just wait to finish this soap, thank you…your recipes are the best!

  23. Hi Jan,
    I’ve been loving all the recipes in your book(my favorite so far is the lavender chamomile bar). This will be my first attempt at liquid soap so I followed your advice in the book and ran the recipe through a lye calculator(I’ve been using thesage.com). It gave me lower values for KOH and water, so I tried a couple other calculators online and I can’t seem to get a consistent recipe. I understand using more water to make the cooking process easier, but I’m confused as to how much lye I should use.
    Thanks:)

    1. Hi Becky! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the book! :) Most potassium hydroxide is not pure (including the two brands I buy – Bramble Berry and Essential Depot) so for those you have to calculate the purity at 90% pure.
      To do this, you need to use soapcalc instead of the lye calculator at thesage.com.
      At http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp if you look in the very first box (#1), it says “Type of Lye” and gives you three choices. You want to select the third choice (90% KOH).
      Here’s the recipe ran through soapcalc (except you want to use roughly 3x the amount of water as lye.):
      https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dandelion-liquid-soap-in-soapcalc.jpg

  24. I finally broke down and tried my hand at liquid soap. Thank you for the recipe and instructions. I tried to dilute a small batch of the paste, I did the 20 /80 and it got thick. I let it cool mashed it turned into a snotty texture. So then added more water. It’s runny now but works in the foam dispenser. Was my problem not reheating and waiting?

    1. Hi Teri! Yes, I think you would get better results by reheating and waiting. It takes a pretty good stretch of time to get the soap paste nicely diluted, but the end result is worth the extra wait. :)

  25. Hi Jan,

    I love your blog and just recently purchased my first book of yours and made the calendula infused CP recipe! :)

    I was wondering if this liquid soap can be made with the No Paste method, adding a dilution water solution (w/Potassium Carbonate) before the cook? I just did my first liquid soap this way and love that it was no paste. Thanks so much for the help!

    1. Hi Laura, thanks for buying the book! I’ve only made liquid soap with the paste method, so I’m not really sure. I’ll have to research that method & give it a try myself – it sounds great! :)

  26. Hi,
    First i just want to say thank you for not using any palm oil in your recipes :) It is the reason i started making instead of buying, and i love your recipes!

    I would love to try out this recipe (maybe not with dandelion now, but something else in season), but i have one tiny little problem. I do not have a crockpot or a slow cooker. Would it be possible to use the cold process to make this? And if yes, when and how should i dilute, if the soap became a bit harder?

    Thank you

    1. Hi Julia! If you have a large enough pot, you could make this on a stove top with low heat and constant attention.
      There is also a cold process liquid soap method; though it’s not one I’ve tried yet to be familiar with how this recipe would work with it.
      Here’s a great place to read some information about it & you might find a good recipe to try there to get a feel for it: :)
      https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/cold-process-liquid-soap.49852/

  27. Hi I was wondering if the glycerine is a necessary ingredient and why? I cannot seem to find a way to make real liquid soap without it.

    1. Hi Jill! Yes, you’ll likely need more water for foamer bottles. Each batch can be a bit different, so add a little extra water at a time, testing it in the bottle as you go, to get the right amount for it.

  28. Hey Jan thank you for your work it is great. I am from québec, I got your book Simple and Natural soapmaking and I just love it.
    My question is, can I use any kind of flower instead of dandelion , I love calendula and others. Also do you have a book with many recipe of liquid soap or one with many in it. ? Thank and merry Chrismass

    1. Hi Danielle, I’m so happy to hear that you like the book! :) Yes, you can use other types of flowers and herbs – calendula, chamomile, plantain… will all work in this recipe. I don’t have a book on liquid soaps, but I have and ebook or mini course started – or it might become a series of blog posts; it depends on how big the collection of recipes grows. Stay tuned later this year for updates on it! :) Happy soapmaking!

  29. Is there any way I could use m&p soaps with the dandelion and honey liquid soap? I prefer to not use lye.

    1. Hi Kathy! I actually have a project I want to try like that this spring once the dandelions arrive here!
      I’m going to use Stephenson’s liquid suspension soap base as the base for it:
      https://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/liquid-suspension-soap-base.aspx
      It can be heated and it can hold up to 5% additional ingredients, so there’s lots of fun stuff you can make with it.
      That recipe will go on my other website: easymeltandpour.com if it turns out like I’m hoping it turns out, so check back there this spring! :)

  30. Hi Jan,
    Thank you for the recipe. I’ve been looking for a recipe that are using infused oil for making soap paste. And I found this page which very helpful. I’m very new in soap making. My question is, can you still smell the fragrance in infused oil after the process? Or should I just add EO after diluting?
    And using part glycerin as a dilution, does it make the soap more moisturizing or making it thicker consistency so I don’t need to thicken it with salt?

    1. Hi Sisi! The scent of the infused oil won’t carry through to the final soap, so you’ll need to add essential oils for natural scent. Those are added after diluting & it helps to add when the soap is slightly warmed so they incorporate better. The calculator at EO Calc is excellent to figure out how much essential oil your recipe will need:
      https://www.eocalc.com/enter-your-own-blend/

  31. I’d like to make other scents of honey soap, not dandelion. If i use your recipe but eliminate the dandelion tea, will it still work?

    1. Hi Em! Yes, you sure can use water or other herbal teas instead of dandelion tea! The resulting soaps won’t have natural scent though (plant scents don’t normally survive the soapmaking process); you’ll have to add natural fragrance later with essential oils.

  32. Hello! We run a honey operation and sell soap and other products with honey or beeswax in them along with our honey so your liquid soap recipe was perfect to add! The first couple batches turned out perfect and people loved it. The last 2 batches everything seemed to be going well and the paste looked the same but when I diluted it, it was just cloudy. I’ve gone over everything to figure out what I did different but can’t come up with anything. It seems fine, just doesn’t look as nice. Any thoughts?

    1. Hi Betsy, So glad you like the recipe! I’m sorry to hear the last two batches acted differently!
      Here are a few ideas that come to mind:
      Cloudy soap is sometimes caused by a higher superfat, which even though you didn’t change the recipe – could still come about by either using a new brand/bottle of potassium hydroxide with a different purity level or your scale batteries may be going bad, which could cause weights to be slightly off.
      Or, perhaps your bottle of potassium hydroxide has absorbed too much moisture from the air when in use and during storage (which it’s even more prone to than sodium hydroxide) and is causing the soap to be a little too superfatted. If that’s the case – using a fresh bottle of potassium hydroxide might help. (That’s actually what I’d try first, if you’ve used the same bottle for all 4 batches.)
      Another idea is if the temperature/humidity/general weather was different? Really hot and humid weather can cause soap to behave a bit wonky sometimes.

  33. Hi Jan! I purchased your soap making class and have thoroughly enjoyed an made a variety of soaps for my family for Christmas. So I’m excited to try liquid soap next! This might sound like a silly question but the directions say add oils to crock pot, turn on low then stir in lye solution. Should I wait for the coconut to melt before adding the lye solution?

    1. Hi Rachel, I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed the soapmaking class! :) That’s a great question! Yes, I would let the coconut oil melt first, before adding in the lye. Happy soapmaking!

  34. Hi there! I tried making this soap this week… it was my first time making liquid soap and doing hot process. It was a learning experience for sure. I found it fairly straightforward but struggled to know when it was ready. I was wondering, is possible to cook it for too long? Or is ok to go a bit longer to make sure it’s done?

    1. Hi Melaina! Liquid soap & hot process can be pretty forgiving. If you’re not sure it’s done, it’s fine to go a little longer. (I tend to do that myself!)
      If you do go too short on the cook time for liquid soap, the nice thing about it is that any unreacted lye will eventually get “used up” as it reacts with the oils left in the recipe, so just letting it sit, covered, in your crockpot for overnight or for an extra day will really help with that.

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