I’m not a big fan of having my shower crowded with two dozen bottles. I’ve had friends with roommates that had so many shower products there was barely room to stand in the shower! Their showers were crowded with a different shampoo and conditioner for every day of the week, plus one of everything the Body Shop sells (that’s my best guess, at least).
Anyhow, that’s not my style at all. My shower has one bar of soap, my razor, a shaving brush, and my apple cider vinegar rinse, and I’m pretty proud of that. It makes travelling super easy, and leaves plenty of room on my shower shelf for the collection of puddles and soggy hair elastics I’m curating.
This bar is a doozy that I’ve been developing for over a year. It’s a fairly hard bar, but it’s got great lather and moisturizing properties. It has clay for added slip, meaning it’s a great shaving bar. The clay also boosts the cleansing properties of the bar, making it wonderful for getting you and your hair squeaky clean.
Castor oils gives soap its great, creamy lather. You can tweak the percentage of castor oil (USA / Canada) to your liking; 5% is what you’d put in a normal bar of soap, 7% is for shaving soap, and 20% is for shampoo. I’ll generally go for 5–7%, but you could go up to 20% if you love your lather and you’ve got lots of time to let it age (since more castor oil (USA / Canada) will make a softer bar).
And that’s it! This is my go-to soap recipe for its versatility. It’s all I use—for everyday, for travel, for everything. Try it! You’ll love having extra space in your shower.
My All-in-One Soap Recipe
40% olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
25% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada)
15% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
15% lard or beef tallow
5% castor oil (USA / Canada)Per 500g (1.1lbs) oils: 1 tbsp clay
5% superfat (or lye discount)
If you increase the amount of castor oil (USA / Canada), decrease the amount of olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) to balance it out.
Follow standard soap making procedures, adding clay at trace.
Do you ever use anything other than lard or tallow in your soaps. I’m not liking the idea of including that in products.
Thanks.
Brenda—due to the number of inquiries I’ve had about using tallow & lard in soap, I’ve written an entire entry about it! It’ll be up tomorrow 🙂
Got a question (don’t we all?). If you had to replace the coconut oil with something else (makes me scaly), what would you use?
Ouida—You’ll find coconut oil in pretty much every soap recipe around because it gives soap a wonderful lather! You can try replacing it with Babassu oil, which has similar properties to coconut oil, but it more expensive.
I love multi-function products! I have yet to attempt soap-making, mainly because I have major project-ADD and usually have too many things on the go at once–not good since I get flustered while multitasking. Go figure! The other reason, at least as of late, is that every decent-looking recipe I’ve seen has tallow or lard… not exactly vegan-friendly 🙁
Not that I’ve researched extensively, but since you’re pretty well versed in soap-making I was wondering if you had ever come across any suitable replacement for lard/tallow that would still give a solid bar instead of a pile of greasy slop? If not, no harm done, but if there is some magical vegan ingredient, I may promote soap-making from back burner to middle burner (AKA the “warming zone” in the case of my particular stove). Thanks, as always!
Sarah—I’ve got lots of thoughts on this topic (as usual, ha!), so I went and wrote an entry entry on the subject. It’ll be up tomorrow, with my reasons and some alternatives!
Awesome, I’ll be there with bells on!
I started following your blog recently and am really enjoying reading through your experiences in DIY. I have been making the transition away from commercial bath/body and face products for a while. I sometimes make my own stuff, and other times I use stuff handmade by others.
I recently tried a handmade soap that is quite awesome as a soap (and I know others use it as shampoo), but I found that the shea butter in it just would not come out of my hair. My hair is currently a few inches past my shoulders but the shea butter seems “stuck” in the bottom half, starting around my jaw line. Now, I’m not sure I’ll want to try any other handmade soaps or shampoos that have shea butter on my hair. I haven’t found many other reports of this, but have you had any issues with that or heard of it? Have any advice on how to deal with the stickiness I now have left?
Amber—What an interesting conundrum! Do you happen to know the superfat percentage of this bar? I’ve been using shea butter as 15% of my shampoos and soaps for ages (with a 5% superfat) and never encountered any such problems.
I do know shea to be a very sticky fat, so if the bar is made entirely (or almost entirely) out of shea butter, and if it hasn’t been left to age long enough, I would guess that the final product might be quite soft and sticky. Most soap recipes state a minimum aging time of 3 weeks like it’s the be-all and end-all of soap aging, but I’ve found that if shea butter, or another not-very-hard oil makes up the majority of the bar, a year is a better idea, so it is very easy to under-age bars like that.
Also, how do you know it’s the shea butter that’s sticking? I only ask because all the fats are melted together, and after that it’s pretty much just a big ‘ol bucket of fats, and I find it’s pretty much impossible to distinguish them from one another.
Something else that could be a problem is your washing technique. I don’t mean to offend here, I obviously have no idea how you wash your hair (lol), but I know when I first started using shampoo bars to wash my hair, I had issues getting all my hair clean. I’ve got a lot of it, but thanks to the turbo-power strength of the industrial shampoos I was used to use, I’d never had to actually wash the length of my hair as the industrial strength suds would get everything clean by just washing down from the roots of my hair as I rinsed. Once I switched to homemade bars, which are nowhere near as strong, I found I actually had to pay attention to all of my hair, taking care to really rub the bar up and down the length of it, and all over my scalp (and then to take care to wash it all out when my new soapmaking skills gave me super soft bars of soap that really got clumped into my hair). I definitely had a few sticky/greasy/icky days while I worked on transitioning. So, that might be it? Perhaps you’ve just got some shampoo left in your hair, or the hair lower down is still dirty after washing? Just a thought.
To get rid of the stickiness, I’d recommend giving your hair a good, thorough washing (probably with a different bar, haha), being extra-double sure to thoroughly scrub and rinse everything. Then, follow up with an apple cider vinegar rinse, perhaps with some essential oils that will boost the cleansing power (I’d recommend my rinse for greasy hair). You can also try a hair mask—they’re great for drawing out excess oils and carrying off impurities.
That said, if you’re still uneasy about using shea butter in your soaps, you can easily replace it with another rich oil. If you want to use a liquid oil (I love avocado oil for soaps), I’d up the lard/tallow by 5%.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions 🙂
I’ve never made soap before but I’m thinking about trying this recipe and I have a few questions. You don’t mention exactly how you mix all the ingredients together but I’m assuming you melt them. If so, what is the best method… in a double boiler, directly in a saucepan, etc.? At what temperature? What should I use as a mold? What is the conversion from grams to ounces for measuring? Can you point me to an article or post that can give me general guidelines that I can apply to this and other recipes? Thank you so much.
– Gitana
Whoops! Looks like I forgot to include the link to my article on how to make soap. I’ve edited the entry so it’s there now—thanks for pointing out the oversight. That article should answer most of your questions.
You can actually just use Google to convert grams to ounces—just type in something like “10g in oz” and it will bring up a handy converter for you. Super useful!
What works best for me is SoapCalc.net. One can enter oils by percentage or by weight (grams, oz, or lb). The site will produce a wonderful report that tells the user how much water and lye to use, as well as the projected properties of the bar made with that recipe (hardness, creaminess, lather, etc.). AND the report gives the amounts needed in all three formats: oz, gram, lb., as well as suggested amounts of fragrance. It’s awesome!!
I love SoapCalc, I use it for every batch I make 🙂
Oh, and one more thing…what do you use to color the soap? Thank you again.
– Gitana
Gitana—I use a variety of things to colour my soap. Oxides are generally the most reliable way to get any colour you like, as they don’t really change during saponification. I’ve also found buriti oil, which is a deep orange oil, is great for getting yellows and bright oranges. Spirulina powder will give you a nice, dark green, though it does fade somewhat quickly. I also like different coloured clays for colouring soaps—you can get nice greens, reds, pinks, and browns with them.
Hi Marie. I discovered your blog recently (via Pinterest) and have spent many hours enjoying it. Of course, that means none of my chores got finished…oh well…I’m thrilled to have found your recipe for a shampoo/body bar that I’ve been wanting for ages! I already have all the oils but need to buy some lye (?). I didn’t see lye listed in your recipe so want to confirm it’s needed and, if so, how much?
“Humblebee and Me” is a beautiful blog and I’ll continue to let the chores wait so I can learn lots more from you! 🙂
Chores, smores 😛 I’m honoured to be your procrastination inspiration! Lye is definitely needed for all my soap and shampoo recipes, but since I just supply percentages and a recommended superfat amount, I leave it up to you to use a soap calculator to determine exactly how much of everything you will need (this also skirts the Imperial/metric issue as I use metric but my American readers are generally baffled by my love of grams). So! If you’d like to make some soap or shampoo (and I so hope you do!), this is my favourite soaping calculator. You just select the oils from the list there, enter in the percentages, choose the amount of oils and the superfat percentage you want, and calculate away! When you hit the “2. View or Print Recipe” button you will get a page that tells you exactly how much of everything to use, including water, lye, and of course, the oils. Hope that helps 🙂
Thanks for the detailed response, Marie! For a “total weight of 1 pound of oil” I got an answer of 63 gms of lye using the soap calculator. I hope to make your all-in-one soap this weekend. Woo hoo! Hugs to you!
That sounds about right 🙂 I generally get somewhere around 115g for 1kg of soap, which is 2.2lbs 🙂 How’s the soap going/gone?
Thanks, Marie! I haven’t had a chance to get started but have been collecting all the necessary supplies/equipment. Will let you know how it goes! 🙂
Awesome, please do!
Hi again, Marie. Your soap recipe worked great! No problems making it.
I found that no conditioner is needed after using the shampoo and a final leave-in rinse of 12 oz. chilled chamomile tea diluted with a cup of cold water make my hair shine. (The cold, the chamomile, and the proper ph do this. I have light brown hair with some honey highlights, hence chamomile is the appropriate herb.)
Friends and family will definitely be getting this soap for Christmas! I like to make it in a very small size for travel purposes and so a large bar isn’t
being unnecessarily “melted” away with each use.
Thanks again for sharing your recipe! Have a wonderful day. 🙂
I’m thrilled to hear it! Did you end up using an immersion blender? I always find it traces so quickly that I don’t need to. Have you tried shaving with it yet? I love whipping up a good lather with this bar and a shaving brush 😀
For Christmas gifts… start early! I never seem to start early enough and I always run out of soap in December 😛
I did use an immersion blender. Thanks for the heads-up on starting Christmas gifts early! Will do.
I’m rather proud of myself—I made 6 batches of soap last weekend! I should be more than prepared for Christmas 🙂 In fact, I may need another area to age my soap…
Hi Marie. Absolutely love your blog….takes time but its worth it. For religious reasons, I don’t use lard nor tallow, is there any substitute for them? Tks.
Hey AG, thanks for reading! I’ve written an entire blog about why I use tallow/lard, and what you can use instead. You can read it here. Have fun!
Hi Marie,
I stumbled upon your website as I was researching natural beauty recipes I can make from home. I use to make my own cold process soaps 4 years ago but stopped after I discovered I was pregnant. I’m going back to making my own soaps. Your all-in-one soap sounds wonderful and as soon as I my ingredients arrive I’m going to make a batch of it. Also, thank you for showing us how to make our own lard. I made myself a batch. I LOVE making my own stuff. Your website has sparked lots of ideas for beauty products, so thank you for taking the time to share your recipes!
Hi Dawn! I’m so glad you stumbled across my website 🙂 And I’m thrilled you’re planning on using my recipe to get back into soap making! Let me know how it works out for you. If you want to do swirls, I’d recommend letting the oils & lye water come to room temperature (I like to mix them in the morning and make the soap in the evening after work) so the batch doesn’t thicken up too fast—this soap recipe traces & thickens really quickly!
Thanks for reading and have fun! 😀
Thanks for the tips! My first batch was a success. I’m “patiently” waiting for my bars to cure. I think waiting for soap to cure is the hardest part in soap crafting.
Awesome, I’m glad to hear it, Dawn 🙂 The best way to improve on the curing part is to just make more soap 😉 That’ll keep you busy until the first batch is ready, and then you’ll have new stuff to try every day! Well, that’s just my strategy, anyways, and my basement is suffering for it 😛
I’ve had an interest in making soap for awhile now. My biggest concern- does it leave that squeaky film-like residue that most bar soaps make? I HATE those. I’d rather not drop any amount of money on this endeavor if it will.
I certainly haven’t noticed any squeaky film-like residue. I always do a “squeak test” on my hair when I shampoo it, but that’s so I can be sure there’s no shampoo left in it at all (it won’t squeak until thoroughly rinsed). Though, to be honest, I’ve never really noticed a residue from bar soaps (but I also don’t use any that aren’t homemade).
next time you make it try using Meadowfoam Oil instead of Jojoba. I think it’s a great substitution, it has so many wonderful qualities for hair care.
Thanks, Penguchan—you’re very right, meadowfoam is awesome! However, I have no idea what you’re talking about as there is no jojoba oil in this recipe, and nobody’s mentioned it anywhere in the comments… ?
Sorry about that, I had like 4 different recipes up at the time. A million things going through my head. I can’t wait to try this. I have come up with a tweaked version of this using BrambleBerry’s Lots of Lather Quick Mix, mostly because it will be cheaper for me than buying all of the individual oils, and it will be a little less clean up. can’t wait to order my supplies. * bounces in chair excitedly*
also, which clay do you use. I’m in a toss up between Kaolin, Bentonite, and Rhassoul clay, almost want to do a purple Brizilian, just because I love purple .
It really depends, lol—usually on the colour I want the final soap to be. Kaolin is good for an all-around, but bentonite is also great. I’ve never come across Purple Brazillian, but it sounds amazing! Just be aware that darker clays can make the final product rather messy (like Australian red), so if you’ve got a super dark clay you want to use, you should consider cutting it with something lighter, like kaolin, to avoid having your shower & soap dish hate you forever 😛
ok, I think this is my last question. what are your recomended % uses for EO’s and extracts? I want to add Evening Primrose Extract and Lavender and Rosemary EO’s to it, but I’m not sure how much to add.
The rule of thumb for essential oils in soap is 30g/500g of oils (or 1oz/1lb of oils). This works well almost all the time, though if an EO is particularly strong (like peppermint or 5x orange), you could probably step it back a bit if you wanted. The soap will smell very, very strong when it’s first made, but the scent will fade as the soap ages (and some EOs will just vanish—so far I’ve found all the coniferous tree ones do 🙁 ).
As for extracts, I’m not sure if you’re talking about powdered ones or something else? If it’s the powdered ones, 1tbsp/500g oils is a good place to start, but be sure to check the recommended usage of the specific extract—you don’t want to overdo it!
Ha, no problem! Before you buy that Quick Mix you should read my article on using tallow in soap, since palm oil is pretty dodgy, environmentally and socially. It’s worth understanding both sides of the issue, if nothing else 🙂 Have fun!
thank you so much for all of your advice. I definitely will read that article. I’m not Vegan(my favorite meme is about “save the plants, eat bacon”. yum, bacon), but I have this wierd thing about using animal fats. Probably related to the fact that I can’t stand having ground beef and chicken fat on my hands while prepping food. But I will read it.
Hey—I’m a vegetarian who hates bacon, so if I can get over the ick factor, you can 🙂 Plus, palm oil comes from plants, so you know… save the plants… with lard (bacon fat, basically)!
quick question, do you know if it’s possible to do an in the pot swirl with this recipe, considering the clay thickening the mix/ accelerating the trace, i guess?
It definitely is! The clay doesn’t actually accelerate trace at all in my experience—what seems to do it is the shea butter. So, to give yourself extra time to work, let the lye water and melted oils come down to room temperature before combining. This will give you loads of time to work. For even more time, swap out the shea butter for avocado oil. I just did this today and it worked beautifully!
thank you so much, Marie, you have been so helpful. I had read on another thread that some clays can really thicken the batter, so I figured I would ask. Planning on using Bentonite Clay in my tweaked up version.
Huh… interesting. I’ve never read that or experienced it. I always add my clays after trace… perhaps that makes a difference? Bentonite sounds like it will make a fantastic soap! I’ve read great things about it for shaving soap in particular.
Do you use lye in this recipe or just Lard or tallow?
you can’t make soap without lye, unless you are doing melt and pour, and that is only because someone else did the lye step for you.
Very true, thanks for chiming in 🙂
You have to use lye or you’ll just end up with a bucket of fat 🙂 You can read more about why you have to use lye here. The reason I don’t give an amount of lye in the recipe is because I’m giving it in percents, and because I always want to encourage people to use a lye calculator to figure out their final amounts themselves 🙂
Hi Marie!
I absolutely love your site and have tried a few of your diy recipes with great success. Thank you!
I just made your all-in-one soap recipe a couple of days ago. I have never used that much shea butter in soap before, but I’ve come to trust your recipes and advice and if you liked it, I probably would, too.
I just have a question about the soap. I followed your recipe and did a 6% superfat. I just unmolded and cut today even though is was still a bit soft. I stuck it in the freezer for a bit before cutting. My question is, with that much shea, and it being a “soft” bar, do you find that your cure time is much longer than the usual 4-6 weeks? I did put in sodium lactate, btw.
Thank you for such a great resource for diy-ers!
Bridget
Hi Bridget! Thanks for reading & DIYing with me 🙂 Shea butter is actually a pretty hard fat (45 out of a desired range of 29–54)—generally not hard enough to be the only hardening fat without some serious aging time, but when paired with some tallow or lard, I find I have a pretty hard bar after three or four weeks (usually with a 5% SF). I do live somewhere quite dry, though, so I imagine my bars cure faster than somewhere with high humidity. Let me know how they turn out for you, how long you end up aging them, and what you think of the shea butter 🙂
I noticed that a lot of your soap recipes are by percentage.
What is the measurement for the whole soap when finished so it will be easier to know how much to put.
I mean 100% would be how many oz total? Or grams?
Thanks!
I’ve answered this question on my FAQ page 🙂
your recipe states that you use 5% lye.
I plan on using the lye crystals. do you know how much lye crystals I use and how much distilled water i use?
Hi Maria—The recipe does not state that I use 5% lye, it says a 5% lye discount (or superfat)! This is very important as these two things are completely opposite from one another. To calculate how much lye and water you will need, please use SoapCalc. Enter in the recipe, and the final amount of soap you want to make, and it will do the rest for you 🙂
i’m curious if you sell any of your soaps at all? and if so where?
Nope, sorry—I don’t sell anything!
Well, bummer. But that’s kinda what I expected to hear. 🙂 now that I’m again browsing your pages, I’m really thinking I may talk my mom into making our own soaps. You have such great tips and recipes. 😀 And I’m loving going simple with my cleaning regimen – my skin is so much happier without the extra chemicals from the manufactured soaps…
Do it! Make your own! You’ll love it 🙂 It’s such a fun hobby, and you’ll never need to grab a last minute bottle of wine for a hostess gift ever again. SCORE.
Have you tried clay face masks yet? I love them to bits 🙂
Maria, Your blog is a fun read, while being educational. I am looking forward to making this bar with my daughter as maybe a Father’s Day gift.
Thanks so much Nicole! Be sure to check out my list of Father’s Day gift ideas as well 🙂
Marie,
Oh. My. Lord. Your recipe is just amazing. I made it hot process today (because I’m an impatient sort of girl) and did the 10% castor version. So bubbly and lathery! So very skin softening! My experience so far with HP is that the soaps suddenly change about the 3rd-5th day after making. Before they may have been a little less bubbly than I’d anticipated and then suddenly lots of bubbles, that sort of thing. So if this soap gets any better in the next week… wowzers!
Thank you so much for spending the time to work out this recipe and thank you even more for sharing it.
Jen
Hi Jen! I’m so thrilled to hear you’re loving my soap recipe 🙂 I look forward to hearing how it is for you after it’s aged!
Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me 🙂
Hello Marie,
I love, love, love, your site! thank you for sharing your ideas and recipes. I have a request for a shampoo that is comparable to “WEN” or its knockoff “Hair one” its a conditioner type shampoo, not a bar. I have another question for you. How do you have the time to do everything you do? My goodness you are one busy lady!
Have a blessed day! 🙂
Hi Gayle! I’ve had WEN on my radar/list for a while 🙂 I recently got to try some at Sephora (just as lotion, though—wasn’t going to shampoo up in Times Square!). I’m still working on sourcing some of the ingredients they use.
When it comes to time, I have to make it rather than find it 🙂 Starting this blog was a big part of keeping myself doing the things I love, and being accountable to people like you sure helps keep me in the kitchen, dreaming up new concoctions! I definitely have to plan ahead, schedule, and work hard, though 🙂
Hi Marie!
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times and it is wonderful! Thank you!
About the castor oil and shea butter…Can I leave them out or substitute with other oils? I can easily get all the ingredients at my local store but I have to travel to another town to get the shea butter and castor oil, where they’re quite expensive, and I don’t want to order from online. Any suggestions? I’m ok with my soap not being very lathery, if that’s the castor oil’s purpose in the recipe.
Hi Emma! You can replace the shea butter with more olive oil, though that will result in a softer bar. Castor oil, however, is not easily replaceable. It is truly unique in soap, providing both amazing lather and wonderful moisturizing properties. Why not order it online (or both, for that matter)? Shea butter is about $14/lb and castor oil is just $7 for 16oz from https://www.mountainroseherbs.com.
All that said, you can make a bar of soap using nothing but lard if you like, it’ll still be soap—it’s just about how nice you want the soap to be.
I just made this for the first time this week! It seems to have become soap, so I’ll know in three weeks if I’ve royally screwed it up. Anyway I found a fat called coffee butter at bramblebery and I really want to make it in a bar with cocoa butter and olive oil (maybe coconut too) and coffee grounds at the end. BUT I can’t find coffee butter in any of the soap calculators, how do you go about figuring that out?
Hi Heather! I looked up the coffee butter at Brambleberry and I’m afraid you aren’t going to be able to soap with it without some additional information. It’s only listed as “Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil”, and without knowing which vegetable (or what blend, and in what ratios), you won’t be able to get a SAP value for it.
On the plus side, there are loads of other ways to get coffee into your soap 🙂 I’d recommend coffee essential oil—Saffire Blue sells it, and it smells divine!
And be sure to go easy on the coffee grounds—a little go a looong way in the scrubbing department 😉
She could use the Brambleberry lye calculator to get the lye amount for the recipe. It does have the Coffee Butter on there. Also, they don’t provide the MSDS sheet right on the product page but once you purchase from BB you have a tab on your account page for digital goods and the MSDS sheet is usually in there which should have the SAP value on it. If they don’t, you can always send a request for the value or any other information you need.
They may not be the fastest shippers but their customer service is spot on.
Jen
Thanks Jen, this is great info! Since I can’t be bothered to fight with (or pay for) cross border shipping I’ve never shopped with them 🙂
Hi I fell in love this recipe and I am going to try to make tomorrow, I wanted today, but I have to ask first what thi ammount of water that you used, do you go with the general 38% of the the amount of oil that u use or with reduced water,so basically I want to make it from 300g of oils so with 38 % of water I supposed to use 114g, so do you go with this or reduced water such as between 33-36% ? Sorry I hope u could understand what I’d like to ask I am Hungarian and beginner at soapmaking.Thanks in advance
I make this recipe with 38% water as a percentage of oils 🙂
Thank you so much for your quick reply, have a lovely weekend
🙂
Hi Marie, sorry I have one more question, what kind of essential oil would you recommend to this soap, please? Thank you again
Lavender and the citrusses are always classic choices 🙂
Thanks million
🙂
Hi Marie, I made your recipe on Thursday I have used half kilo oils all together, I only could use green clay as I only had in hand that, I used camomille tea to disolve the lye, and used lavender essential oil, I wanted to use camomille essential oil but could not get in the town, the soap smell and looks nice, although it was a bit soft so I could unmould after 48 hours, and let it cure now, I am so excited cannot wait, I hope it will turn out good, I only made castille soap and laundry bars yet.Thanks for your help and quick replys, regards Edit.
How exciting! I can’t wait to hear how it turns out when you finally get to use it 🙂 Congratulations!
You have created a monster! (A homemade soap making monster that is). I was always intimidated but intrigued about making soap, thinking it sounded so complicated! After reading your blog and making almost everything else, I decided to give it a go and chose this all in one because I figured, if I don’t like making soap then at least I made the one bar that can multi-task! I absolutely love it and am hooked on making soap! I feel so proud of myself! I can’t wait to try some of your shampoo bars next! Thanks again for inspiring me to make all my own skincare and cosmetics. You’re awesome!
WOO! I’m so thrilled to hear it 🙂 You might as well start clearing out a spare room somewhere, you’ll need it 😉
Hi Marie,
I tried my soap first time yesterday, but first hairwash with soap bar as well, never did, although i was on no poo method since Sept,not happy with no poo I think i destroyed my highlighted hair with it, but you know yourself you wont beleive until you try yourself
Congratulations! It’s always so rewarding trying your homemade goodies for the first time 🙂
Hi Marie, not really related to this post directly, but some advice for people starting out, start with a smaller batch when experimenting, especially if using expensive oils. My experience, I tried adding in some bear tallow and some fragrance oil to a recipe for the first time. The FO was to help mask the horrible smell of the bear tallow, but the soap ended up smelling worse in the end. I’m getting ready to throw it all out now. : (
Hi Sonya! Absolutely—start small, and start with a tried-and-true recipe from a trusted source 🙂 That said, time can fix a lot in the soap world, especially if it’s the smell from animal fats. Don’t throw that soap out! Let it age, it may well improve a lot!
Thanks for the advice Marie. I’ll let it age and see what happens. : )
If nothing else you can scrub tubs with it 🙂
I made this soap for the first time the other day, I cut it today and so far it looks beautiful! Cannot wait for it cure so I can use it! Substituted shea butter for jojoba oil and lanolin though because I was out of shea.Thank you for the recipe!
Wonderful! I’m so thrilled everything worked out for you 🙂 I love this recipe as a starter recipe as well as my all-in-one/go-to. Happy soaping!
So I’ve ordered my lye, and I’m mentally prepping to make my first batch of soap some upcoming weekend now that it’s warmer and I can play with the caustic chemicals out of doors.
Knowing the benefits of using tallow, I’m wondering what the percentages of oils are you’d recommend if taking out the tallow?
I do plan to use tallow, but I’m interested in vegan “butter” bars too and don’t mind having to wait for them to really cure…
KM
Hi KM! Yay for diving into soap 🙂 What I’d recommend doing is fiddling around with SoapCalc and looking at the different numbers you get for things like hardness and conditioning with different amounts of different oils. It’s a good way to learn 🙂
Hello!
I love your blog! I just stumbled upon it last night. I have been looking for a good goat milk soap recipe. Have you ever experimented with goat’s milk?
Thanks, and keep this going. You’re amazing!
Hi Rachelle! I just made my first fresh goat’s milk soap a couple months ago, but I haven’t published anything on it yet 🙂 Stay tuned!
Oh my, and I thought I finally had my addiction under control… I used to make soap and DIY all kinds of lotions and potions, but kind of weaned myself off it after filling up all available spaces (and some that were not quite available, too) with raw materials, equipment and of course the finished products – my husband, our whole extended family and friends, and myself could have kept clean and moisturized well into the next millenium!
Threw out a lot of stuff after moving houses two times in two years, and haven’t really started again yet (still using up my soap stash), and then I stumbled upon your blog… Need to start making soap again!
I threw together the dry acidic rinse yesterday because I was sick of smelling like salad dressing after using apple cider vinegar rinses and because I need something that travels nicely, and your dry rinse seemed to be perfect.
Well, it is, I love it, and now I am really, really tempted to place a huge order for soap ingredients and cook up a batch or ten of your different variations of all-in-one soap…
Oops! I’d say I’m sorry for getting you going again… but I’m not 😉 He he he 😛
I used this bar for the first time this morning. It’s the first cold process soap I’ve ever made. It was so hard waiting for it to age long enough! It was thrilling using soap I had made! My skin is happy, and my hair looks great today. Thank you, Marie.
Yay! I remember the thrill of using my own soap for the first time and it is SUCH a great thrill 😀 Congratulations on your first batch, may many, many more follow it!
I already have 3 more batches of soap curing. It’s addictive!
Hahaha yes it is! I see you are well on your way to being totally hooked 😉 You’ll be dreaming soap soon!
Voyageur Soap and Candle sells sustainable palm oil – can I just replace the lard/tallow with the same % for this soap? I would really love to make this soap!
thanks, erin
I’ve never worked with palm oil, but that should probably work.
Marie,
Where do buy the burrito oil and does it change the recipe in terms of the lye ratio? How much do you use or is it dependent on the color you want to achieve?
Thank you
I got my buriti oil from New Directions, but the version they sell now has been bleached, so it’s not useful as a dye. Check out my gigantic list of places to shop that are linked to in the main navigation. It’s so potent that you won’t need much, so I don’t worry about it effecting the superfat very much; another teaspoon of oil in a 500g batch isn’t much of a concern. And yes, just add it until you like the colour.
Hi I am new to this and have a couple of questions. If I attempt to make your all in one soap. Can I leave out the clay and leave other percentages the same as this soap is for an 11 year old. And also is the olive oil just plain ol olive oil? TIA
You can leave out the clay; the percentages do not change as the percentages are only for the oils. There is zero reason to leave out the clay because the soap is for an 11-year-old, though! Do 11-year-olds not like rich, creamy lather? And yes, olive oil is just olive oil 🙂 I would get the cheap stuff, though 😉 No posh salad drizzling oils needed here!
Hi.
Is there a way of not using tallow at all. Im vegan Ind i want my product to be vegan too
Read this 🙂
why do you just list percentages versus grams ?
Here’s an FAQ on it 🙂
Do you weigh the tallow for this recipe (or any recipe) while it’s solid or after it’s been melted? I’m new to soaping and just called my local butcher for an order of beef fat. Very excited to try this recipe. I only have two recipes under my belt for now, but trying a new one a week while I wait for the others to cure. I am using someone else’s homemade soap for the time being, but not for long (I hope).
It really doesn’t matter, it weighs the same either way 🙂 Just do whatever is easiest for you. Happy soaping!
Hi Marie,
I’m experimenting with finding that perfect All in One Bar for everything, so was excited to find your All in One bar here. Which clay did you use in this recipie? I heard that clay can sometimes help with the tangle problem when washing with longer hair, bringing back the silky ‘conditioner’ felling, is this true? I have bentonite clay at home, and have read your experiment page. I understand it is a weird super absorbent clay with a ph of 9, and that I might have to use less of it than what was written in your recipie above (?) but this gelatinous behaviour could be what I’m looking for, maybe?
Some other suggestions to help with tangle problem that I have heard, are (considering I already make with the cold press method a fatty bar with a lot of butters) adding extra oils such as castor oil at trace, as well as adding BTMS50 at trace. Would you advise this?
I have read about also adding products with a high mucilage ability, such as flax seed or marsh mallow root powder. if adding flax seed, which would be the best way to add it to achieve this slip to help detangle, in an oil form or as raw whole or broken seeds? and before or after trace? With the marshmallow root powder, I imagine to add it at trace?
So many questions…but I’d really appreciate your advice.
I’ll typically use a light clay, like kaolin or one of the French clays—just not bentonite or rhassoul, basically! I haven’t found it makes the hair feel conditioned at all, though—the very nature of soap will tangle the hair because of its high pH, and clay does nothing to change the basic nature of soap. Adding extra oils at trace will also not alter the pH. BTMS 50 is cationic, but I’m not sure how it would stand up through saponification. I would recommend following up with a conditioner like this one. You MUST follow up with an acidic rinse of some variety after using soap in your hair, so you will already have to introduce a second step—might as well make it more exciting than just an ACV rinse 🙂 Your comment makes it sound like you’re trying to do the soap equivalent of making a salad that’s also a chocolate cake; you’re going to need two parts here because cleansing the hair with soap and correcting the pH are fundamentally opposing things.
Hello, I’ve been following your site for a while now and love it. I’ve used some of your recipes before, and altered some as well, they all came out great! Thank you for posting them! Quick question – your olive oil is at 40%. I’m wondering, for an all in one bar (good for shaving and perhaps shampooing), what would be another good oil (dropping the % of olive oil and adding in another) to add to the mix? Also, if I used bentonite clay, how much would you recommend per lb. Of oils? One last thing ;-), when using clay to add slip, do you go for your lots of clay (10 tsp./lb. Oil) or do you scale it down to 1-2 tb./lb. Of oils? Thanks for you help!!!
Good morning Shari!
Honestly, I would drop the olive oil and up the tallow! Personally, I find olive oil just to be a “filler” in soap. Tallow and lard is where it is at! If you are looking for another liquid oil specifically for soaping, I’d check out rice bran, sweet almond, or even wheat germ oil in your soap. Each one of them bring a nice hardness to the bar, but also provides some added oomph to the bar in different ways!
Now onto your question about clay??? I’m partial to clay heaven in my soap as then you get the most amazing lather and shaving experience! I up my clay amount to around the range of 100g of clay to 375g of oils. More clay in my world is better!
What would you think of:
35% tallow
15% olive oil
5% castor
15% sunflower (high oleic)
10% shea butter
15% hemp oil
Would this provide enough lather and creaminess?
I’m thinking about 2-3 TB of kaolin clay per pound of oils?
Also, would tussah silk add anything good for an all in one bar? Worth it?
Would I need to do a 5% superfat or should I go up to 8%?
Thanks for your help!!! I really appreciate it! Less clutter in my shower is definitely better!!
Best regards,
Shari
I say just do it and find out 🙂
I’ve tried your All-in-one recipe yesterday and It’s awesome! Although I replaced lard with cocoa butter. I guess I need it to be more superfatted next time for I seem to have really dry skin, but even now it feels great!
Good afternoon Yanina!
That’s a decent swap! All oils have different properties in the soap, cocoa butter will help with your hardness and add some moisturising properties too. Have you tried swapping lard/tallow for some rice bran+cocoa butter+sweat almond oil combination yet?
Thanks Barb, you were really helpful! Much appreciated!
Shari
I love this formulation, especially how quickly it comes to trace. I had a batch weighed up. blended, and in the mold in no time.