I’m a big fan of coconut. It smells just like summer. And pina coladas. And yum. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as coconut essential oil, so I had to go the fragrance oil route if I wanted a coconut scented anything. After holding out for a while, I cracked and bought a bottle so I could have a coconut lime soap. Yummy.

To rev up the coconutyness of the soap, I used coconut milk for the liquid, and coconut oil as one of the fats (of course). I decided to make a lime streak through the centre, coloured with green chromium oxide and scented with lime essential oil. Like a coconut lime sandwich. Unfortunately, the coconut fragrance oil had other ideas. It caused the soap to start saponifying right away, so I was forced to pour sooner than I wanted to, and I ended up with swirls. Oh well. I’m trying a different attack plan next time.

Coconut Lime Soap

30% olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
25% beef tallow
25% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada)
5% castor oil (USA / Canada)
15% avocado oil

5% Superfat

Coconut milk for the liquid, frozen in cubes

Coconut lime fragrance oil

Green oxide, for the swirls

Follow my basic soap making instructions with these changes:

  • Freeze half the coconut milk into cubes, and when you weigh out the liquid, aim for a 50/50 split between frozen a liquid coconut milk. This will speed cooling along when you add the lye, and keep the coconut milk from getting too excited.
  • Choose your fragrance oil carefully—make sure it’s approved for cold process soap making. All the same, be prepared for a quick pour if your soap starts to thicken a lot right after adding the fragrance oil.
  • To offset the possibility that the fragrance oil will ruin your chances of creating swirls or layers, separate out part of the batch into another container and add the green chromium oxide then. After that, stir the fragrance oil into each container.