This recipe may not be all that romantic, but I can promise it’s wonderfully practical. It yields hard white bars that are inexpensive to make and nicely bubbly. The bars shred down beautifully into soapy flakes and bits that make great laundry powder and cleaning concoctions. I like to ensure I always have a few bar aging in my basement. It’s not sexy, but it’s practical.
I’ve included stearic acid as a bit of an experiment. I bought it for liquid soap making, and now that I have so much of it I thought I’d see what else it’s good for. The internet told me it’s good for hardening up soaps in relatively small concentrations, and I thought these bars would be a good place to test that hypothesis. If you don’t have any on hand, just replace it with more lard or beef tallow.
If you like to make your own laundry detergent, or you need to attack a stubborn stain, these bars are just the thing. I’ll also have a few recipes for cleaning products using these bars coming out in the future.
Simple Cleaning Soap
49% lard or beef tallow
50% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada)
1% stearic acid (or just round the lard up to 50%)
5% superfat (unless you’re using this for laundry soap, in which case 0% is best)Calculate your recipe using SoapCalc to get your final, finite amounts of the fats, lye, and water.
Follow standard soap making procedure.
Let saponify for 24 hours before un-moulding and slicing. Let cure for a minimum of three weeks before using. Enjoy!
I just made laundry soap too few weeks ago! I use only coconut oil and 1-2 % superfat. Did you notice that stearic acid would make a difference in soap?
What a coincidence 🙂 The jury is still out on the stearic acid… I’ll have to do some more experiments and see.
I’ve primarily made this type of soap, for all uses, and I’m not sure I would want it harder, especially if I intended to grate it.
This bar is definitely very hard—I grade it using my food processor as I imagine doing it by hand would be hard, tedious work.
This soap broke my food processor! It’s that hard.
I make it all the time for laundry soap, at 1% superfat.
I love this soap.
Oh yikes! Those are some hard bars! I’m glad you love it, it would seem your food processor does not 😛
Hey there! I notice that almost all of your bar soap recipes include the use of lard/tallow. I am a college student, with basically no way of getting my hands on those. All I have are extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil and shea butter.
Question 1: what can/should I use to substitute for your lard/tallow in soap recipes?
Question 2: what oil should I purchase next, with my main goal of making all-in-one soaps?
Hi Ashley! You can almost always buy lard at your local grocery store—that’s where I get mine, and I’ve been able to find it all over the world 🙂 Have you ever checked the baking aisle, or over with the butter? It’s usually in with the Crisco/shortening (though in Australia it was chilled with the butter), unless you live in a country that doesn’t support the consumption of pig products. Otherwise, you can read up on why I use lard (and the subs) here.
As for getting into soap making, I would recommend acquiring less expensive versions of olive oil and coconut oil—there’s no need to spend the money on the extra virgin/virgin versions of either for making soap (and especially not the food grade versions!). Save those (and your money) for other things. I buy big jugs or cans of inexpensive olive oil at the grocery store, and order cheap refined coconut oil online that’s about 1/4 the price of the organic virgin stuff I eat. After that, I’d get some tallow or lard (tallow from the butcher, to render yourself, or lard ready-to-use from the grocery store). Shea butter is one of my favourite things ever in soap, so with all that you will be set! The only other things I’d add would be a basic clay (French green or kaolin would be my first choices) and some essential oils (the citrus ones are cheap & lovely).
Thanks for reading & have fun with your soaping adventures!
I’ve been planning on making my own soap for my homemade laundry detergent (which uses grated fels naptha or zoot) but I figured that since I’ve been making soap for almost a year now, I’d make my own for my next bath. But everything I’ve read from other soapmakers says that when making soap for their laundry soap, they do NOT superfat at all, as this leads to buildup and “dingey” laundry… Wonering if you’ve noticed this (or have you used this in laundry soap yet?) I’m not sure why you would want any superfat in laundry soap… is there some reason for that? Thank you!
That is interesting. I wonder if the superfatting is what causes my laundry to have this weird streaks that only goes away when I steam clean them. Very noticeable in dark clothes… I’ll try it without superfatting next time.
I like to add lemon EO or orange EO. I heard it helps with getting stains out.
Marie have you made liquid castle soap before? I’ve been making it but haven’t been able to get it nice and clear – not cloudy – just like the Dr. Bronners.
I’ve also never really had success making laundry soap. Mine always turns out globby and crystallized borax or washing soda always forms after a few days. Very frustrating.
I would say that is most likely what it is from. It is probably soap scum. If you have hard water like I do you’ll get it more too. I usually superfat my laundry bars from 0-1%
Thanks, Jen!
I’m loving this discussion 🙂 Yes, I have made liquid castile soap, but I’m not really fussed about getting it to be clear, and I suspect the ones I’ve made never will be since I’ve been including unrefined shea butter, which is pretty cloudy. From what I’ve read you need to leave it to sit so the sediment can settle out, but I’m sure there’s something else involving the ingredients and perhaps a filtering something or other… hmm. I shall be sure to post it if I ever get it sorted!
Thanks Marie! Do post it when you try making liquid castile soap 🙂
I do know that when I use coconut and lard / tallow, the result is always white – the liquid soap is yellowish after cook time and dilution but after a few days, it turns white then after a few weeks, some sort of separation happens and the bottom part of the liquid soap is whiter than the top part – about 3/4 from the bottom is pure white and the top 1/4 is cloudy (at least lighter in colour).
When I use olive oil as the base, it doesn’t turn white (still goes cloudy, but not as white).
It’s really no surprise that liquid soap turns a milky white (cloudy or otherwise) since it’s an emulsion. Hmmm. It’s sort of more of a surprise when it doesn’t turn white… I shall have to continue my experiments. Oh well, another excuse to play 😀
borax requires very hot water to be effective, and using washing soda AND borax isn’t necessary. Washing soda is the better choice. My guess is that when you say”globby’ you mean it isn’t smooth and has soft lumps, whcih is pretty typical for the type of soft soap it sounds like you are making (water-softened soap made from sodium hydroxide, instead of soft soap with potassium hydroxide)
re the streaks: I have found that soaking in a strong white vinegar solution gets rid of them, as they are from hard water, and soaps’ interaction with it. A little acid in the rinse, either vinegar or a tiny bit of citric acid might also work
Hi Dawn,
I should have stated that the laundry soap I’ve made which turned globby and had solidified ‘crystals’ was made using liquid castile soap (2 cups of liquid castile soap mixed into 4 gallons of warm water – 2 cups were boiled water and mixed with 1/2 cup each of borax and washing soda).
Maybe globby isn’t the correct word – really it’s more the crystallized solids that kinda bother me – so I made experimented and substituted borax with baking soda. Crystals still formed which leads me to believe it’s gotta be the washing soda.
I learned quite a bit from this post, if Marie is ok with me posting from another blog. http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2012/05/ten-things-laundry.html
Thanks, Dawn!
I love your acidic rinse tip—it’s like an ACV rinse for clothes 😛 And such a conveniently easy fix for hard water as well. Brilliant as usual, Dawn 😉
If you are planning to use your laundry soap in the washing machine, there shouldn’t be any extra fat, because that fat is going to stuck in to your machine- and clothes as well, I guess. I use that 1-2% superfatting, so soap is still safe to use in hand wash too. Few times I even washed my hair with it…I just ordered washing soda first time, until now I’ve been washing only with soap.
Thank you – that’s what I was thinking… I’ll use either 0 or .5% superfat (possibly the half-percent just to make sure it’s safe for handwashing as well)
Good idea! Thanks for participating in this discussion, it’s awesome 🙂
Thanks for this, Signe!
Thanks for this, Jill—I made this soap into laundry detergent, but then I got distracted and started using it for other things, and it’s never made its way into the washing machine 😛 From what everybody else is saying there is no reason to superfat laundry soap, so I’ve added a note in the recipe 🙂
Hi all.
I also make my own laundry soap for years and nobody I know as a soap maker never superfat at all the laundry soap, just the inverse, they “superlye” it (or qhat is considered as a negative superfat: an excess of lye).
What I normally do is to formulate the soap to have an excess lye of a 10% minimum (sometimes more), and I do not have any issues.
However, I’ve found that than I hand wash garments very frequently I found some kind of impermeability. This is caused by the unsaponifiables (as the name says…), that are within the soap and cover the tissue fibers.
Normally I can solve this issue by soaking the zone (or the garment if it’s small) on a soda crystals solution.
Another solution could be to “wash” the soap in a saturated salt solution —> the sopa molecules are insolubles on salty water, so, the soap will begin to granulate, to precipitate and folat leaving all other substances on the water remaining. Then, it’s jsut a matter of filtering and rinsing the salty water, and after that melt and mould.
Thank you for this info, Maria! I haven’t tried using this soap in laundry detergent yet (I made the detergent and then started using it for other things, haha), and I hadn’t thought of this. Thanks for having my back 🙂
I’m a little bit confused by your comment, in some of the details. I have heard of washing soap with salt water, although I don’t see it being a process I am likely to try, so
I’m not too sure what you mean by “impermeability” when you hand wash. By unsaponifyables, I’m not sure if you mean the superfat, or the possible non-fat elements that don’t convert to soap. In that case, wouldn’t it be easier to use a purer source of fats? OR have I entirely missed your point?
I have never heard of intentionally aiming for a superlye, and all the sources and soapers I have used never suggest anything other than a 0% superfat. Could the “impermeability” you are talking about have anything to do with the high lye? In that case, and in any case, I am having a hard time understanding how using another basic solution will solve the problem, given the high pH of a superlye soap. Wouldn’t it make more sense to rinse with an acid to restore a neutral pH?
I’d also be curious what an extra-high pH might do to delicate clothes over time. Normal soap is generally 8–10 on the pH scale, and I’d be worried an extra high pH might damage more delicate items over time. Thoughts?
well…since it would be caustic, I’m guessing the chances of damage or increased wear would be high. There’s a reason “lye soap” gained its reputation for being harsh..it’s not that there was lye, it was that there was excess lye.
I’ve heard about advertising campaigns dating to around the First World War that were put out with the intention of scaring people off lye soap and getting them to start buying soap instead of making it—I’d be really interesting in seeing copies of those ads, I bet the copy was great.
I love simple bars. I think we get so caught up in colors, swirls and fragrances that a simple utilitarian bar becomes fresh.
Thanks, Taylor 🙂 There is definitely something really nice about a simple, white bar of soap—especially one that isn’t overly fragrant.
Hi Marie…..do you have a receipe for Castille Liquid Soap?
I do, but it’s not out yet 🙂 Stay tuned!
Hi Marie, I just think you’re cool!!! Thank you for sharing so much, I want to try all of your recipes now that I’ve found your site and you’ve inspired me no end, keep it up xx
Thanks so much, Pip 🙂 Have fun DIYing and be sure to get in touch if you have any questions!
hi there!
i just stumbled upon your blog and it is excellent (-: i am very keen on soap-making and would love to try one of your recipes out!
may i know if there is any substitute i could use for tallow or lard? it is not quite readily available from where i am! do you happen to know of any suppliers for soap-making ingredients in asia? i reside in singapore, and these are horribly impossible to find :<
cheers
Hi May! I’m glad you stumbled upon my blog 🙂 I wrote an article on why I use lard & tallow, and what the alternatives are, here—that should get you started 🙂
ah, thank you so much! (-: have a great weekend.
🙂
Hey Marie, I have a soap making question.
I’ve made a lot of batches of soap. But for some reason, the last 4 patches (patchouli, tea tree, orange clove & lemon tea tree) all were major fails, and it was because one thing. For some reason, they will not harden in the molds. They will harden on the very top, but even after weeks the bottom and middle are still mooshy/liquidy. Therefore when I take them out, they’re not pretty, rectangular bars of soap. And I make soap to sell…four batches of soap failed is costing me money.
Do you ever have this problem? And what kind of molds do you have? Your soaps always look marvelous.
Hi Kylee! Are you doing anything differently? A new recipe? A new brand of lye? A new technique? A new place to set the mould after pouring? I generally use a wooden mould, though I recently got some silicone moulds, but I’ve never had the problem you’re describing.
on the soap forum I frequent, the first question in response to some sort of batch fail is “post your recipe”
Have you used those scents before and were they fragrance oils or essential oils? Some scents can cause “false trace” and then the soap separates. Is the soap “zappy”, or sharply “electric” if you dab a soapy finger on your tongue? http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=12314
Yes, exactly—these are quintessential first questions when it comes to troubleshooting a recipe.
Nope! Just adding different essential oils, herbs, and sometimes I substitute oils for others but it still goes through the lye calc!
Have you ever heard of molds just being so cheap?
All those things equal doing things differently..different essential oils, different oil substitutions. My GUESS would be that the essential oils are causing a false trace, and then it is separating in the molds.
LOL. No, you aren’t doing anything differently… except occasionally changing all of your ingredients? Sorry, but that is the definition of doing something differently 😛 I would start by doing a batch of the last recipe you had success with, with no herbs & EOs and getting a good, thick trace before pouring. Then, I would ensure you achieve a full trace (go for a super thick one to be sure) before adding any essential oils with another batch.
I’m not really sure what you mean by “Have you ever heard of molds just being so cheap?”. My dad made my wooden one, which I imagine was relatively inexpensive in terms of materials, but similar moulds sell for about $30. My multi cavity soap moulds were $20–$30 as well, and that seems to be pretty standard. I’ve seen cheaper ones, but when you handle them they are obviously just cheap. Pieces of junk that’ll crack and break after a few batches, making them a total waste of money.
Hope that helps!
I like to use the cheap aluminum loaf pans from the grocery store. They do have a sort of bumpy pattern on the sides, but I my bars haven’t come out with weird bumps on the side or anything like that. They are also very cheap, about 2 or 3 dollars for a package of four or five. Hope this helps!
Anna, aluminum will react with lye, making it not that great a mold for cold process soap unless you line it very carefully
I learned my new “soaping” crock pot was aluminum, not stainless steel, the hard way. At least my drains are super clear now… DERP.
The last time I let lye and aluminum mix the aluminum started to dissolve and I got a foamy lye & metal volcano… this doesn’t happen to you?
Hey,
I had no patient and capacity to read all the comments, so i just ask even though someone already might have asked the same question.
How do you use the grated soap? Recipe, quantity etc.? Does it fade colors, because of its very powerful cleaning abilities?
Thank you,
PS: I love your blog. You’re great
I have a recipe for a cleaning powder coming out soonish that I really like, and you can try googling homemade laundry detergent for other recipes. Homemade soap is not going to be stronger than store bought detergents, so you should be ok when it comes to fading 🙂 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
I am highly allergic to coconut oil (yeah, sucks for me in so many ways), and wonder what a good substitute would be.
Thanks…long time lurker, first time poster. Love, love, your blog!
Coconut oil plays a role in soap that means you can’t really swap it out for anything and get the same end result 🙁 Coconut oil makes for a wonderfully lathery soap, but it is by no means necessary. I’d try babassu oil, though it is quite a bit more expensive. You can also try formulating a bar that uses neither, but has a good amount of tallow (maybe 40%) and 10–20% castor oil (which is awesome for creamy bubbles) to compensate for the loss of the coconut oil bubbles. You’ll need the extra tallow (which is hardening) because lots of castor oil makes for a soft bar.
All that said, you’ve inspired me to try & make a coconut oil free bar of soap 🙂
Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
Palm kernel oil, for those not opposed to it?
Great point! I totally forgot about the lathering properties of PKO since I don’t use it. Just be sure to get a sustainably sourced version & you’re good to go 🙂
I don’t either, but I know not every one has the same set of issues when choosing options, and it is quite close to coconut oil per soapcalc. It was interesting to see how few oils actually have ANY “cleansing” rating.
One of my projects for my free time (ha) is doing better research into the different types of fatty acids and how they effect a final bar of soap—I love running things through Soap Calc & noting patterns, but I definitely need to buckle down and do some more dedicated learning as well.
I made an adapted version of this yesterday and am just about to slice it!
I just wanted to say thank for posting – really pleased to find your blog. I have been getting to grips with soap making over the last year and couldn’t be happier to find you – I don’t want to use Palm Oil in my products and, like you, am a vegetarian who is happier to use lard in my recipes.
Thank you!
Maria
Thanks so much, Maria 🙂 Enjoy your new batch of cleaning soap, and thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me! If you want, you can share photos of your creations with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook (links at the top of the right column)—I’d love to see what you’re making 🙂
I use 100% coconut oil in my laundry soap. What is the advantage to adding lard? I know lard has a lower cleansing value… Does that make it more gentle on garments? Or does it just make the soap a little cheaper to make?
I honestly just like lard/tallow in my soap, though it does also make for a slightly more gentle soap when you use it for things other than laundry, which I do.
This is just the homemade soap recipe I was looking for. I’m going to start making my own laundry soap, and I wanted to create a soap that would be similar to Zote. Do you have a laundry soap recipe yet?
Hi Heather! I don’t have a laundry soap recipe yet, sorry. Try searching Pinterest, though, there’s got to be 1000 up there 😉
HI Heather,
I would suggest you visit DIY Natural or One Good Thing By Jillee, they have several recipes for laundry soap! Happy soaping 🙂
Thanks, Kristen!
Mine is on cooking right now! I am terribly impatient, so I do hot-process soap. I hope it turns out as lovely as yours! I do plan to add some lemon and eucalyptus essential oil before molding for grease-cutting, and a little nice smell. Thank you so much for your recipes and inspiration!
Oooh, wonderful! How did it turn out? Thanks for DIYing with me!
Hi Marie,
I made this soap this weekend and I must say that after 24 hours, the soap was as hard as a rock and it did not need the usual 3 week cure time. Within 1 day after I sliced the soap, I used some clean my tub/sinks with and it cleaned beautifully. I think that b/c my recipe was just coconut oil & tallow is the reason hardened quickly.
The cleaning power of this soap is far superior to any store brought cleanser that I’ve ever used…
I have some questions:
Has anyone made this soap yet? If so, are you getting a variety of colors other than pure white? I noticed that mine is pinkish with white swirled throughout.
Also how long did the soap take to reach trace? I hand stirred my soap for 5 minutes before using the stick blender and once I did, trace occured within 2-3 minutes, I was amazed!
Awesome! I’m so thrilled this soap is kicking butt in your kitchen & bathroom 😀 I can’t comment on getting different colours, but mine definitely traced quickly. I find more tallow = faster trace, so at 50% tallow it’s not surprising this traces pretty darn fast 🙂
ok so wondering…..I have been making my own laundry detergent for some time, but I have been using napa soap.
I originally tried using coconut oil soap, but I felt like it didnt combat the stains or anything. I love what I make now, but would like to go back to coconut oil soap.
I know what you said about not using yet for laundry….but I was curious, I am not going to use lard in mine….but when I put in 99% coconut oil and 1% stearic acid, I will be using almost 500g of coconut oil which seems RIDICULOUS to me.
Should/Can I use something else in coconut oil soap? Or what do you suggest? I will be using at least 3 bars of soap when putting it into the laundry detergent….and I don’t want to be spending more money on coconut oil than anything…do you know what i mean??
Suggestions? Thoughts?
As always, thank you.
Well, my recommendation would be to add lard or tallow to your coconut soap, but it seems you don’t want to do that 😛 Are you using the cheap coconut oil, like the RBD stuff from NDA that’s about $25/5kg? That should help with the cost if you aren’t 🙂
Marie,
I just had my first ever soap volcano while trying to make this recipe. I made it with a 1% super fat.
As the soap started to bubble out of the mold I panicked and wasn’t sure what to do. Quickly I googled and saw that I should pull the soap out of the mold and back into a pot. It seemed that the soap went through a full gel phase in my pot. It was like a hot process soap. I am not sure what I did wrong but I did mix the soap and lie together at about 130°. I don’t usually mix them quite that high and I guess that’s what caused the problem.
I got the soap back into the mold and got it into the freezer. I think I salvaged everything and it’s not important that the soap looks pretty. I guess my beginners luck is over :-).
Yikes! I would say it’s likely to be the 130°F combination point—that’s much higher than I ever do, and it sounds like it is for you, too. Have you tried combining everything at room temperature? It’s wonderfully simple and requires no temperature juggling!
At least it sounds like you got some useable (if not slightly ugly 😉 ) bars in the end!
I have tried letting everything come to room temperature and it does work great. However, I don’t like having lye around the kitchen while I’m using the kitchen for cooking!
The soap did turn out just fine, and I’m planning to soap at colder temps from now on.
I usually let my lye water come to room temperature overnight—problem solved 😉
Hi Marie, It’s been a few months I discovered your blog and I am in love with everything you do. You are amazing for making the time to test and share soooo much! I have made liquid soap a couple of with really good results but I just decided to give soap bars a try…so, I started with this recipe so if I mess up it wont be a big deal since I want it to make laundry powdered soap and because it felt simple enough (no essential oils or colourants) to mess up my first batch!
I tried to use the “self cleaning you” directions, but had a slight problem when blending the lye into the fats…the mix became really really foamy even though I was careful to avoid getting air in with the hand blender (I burped it) and made sure the blades were well covered with the mix. I mixed them both at about 43ºC (110ºF) might it be the higher temperature? And I used a superfat of 2% to avoid getting a too harsh on the skin bar. Any advise on what might have gone wrong? Thanks for helping us make our self-care products that are safe and natural!
Hi Eva! The only time I’ve had a batch of soap go really frothy/foamy on me is when I accidentally involved aluminum in the process. Is there any chance your pot or spoon or anything was aluminum? Otherwise, did you have enough soap batter to submerge the blades of your immersion blender? No amount of burping would counter a really shallow pot of batter.
Thanks so much for reading, supporting me, and DIYing with me! I really appreciate it 😀
Hi Marie, thanks for the reply! No aluminium that I know of as the pot was stainless steel, but it’s good to know! I thought it might be too high a temperature of both oils and lye dilution as they were about 44ºC but I have read other people even go up to 50ºC without problems. The mix covered the blade by at least 1 inch, but revisiting what I did, I think it might be that I began blending as I poured the lye water over the oils rather than pouring, mixing by lightly swirling and then blending! Might that introduce enough air for some froth to form?
I cut the soaps after 24 hrs and the rim was really hard (as it was lighter from the froth) and thus broke as I was cutting it, but the rest was nicely gelled and good consistency to cut! Byt since it’s for making laundry soap I am more than happy and looking forward to my next batch…hoping to have learned from this one! I am going for your all-in-one soap!:)
Thanks again!!
Hmm. That temperature doesn’t sound concerning at all, I’ve definitely soaped up there before with no foaming. The only thing you’ve done that I haven’t is the blend + pour, so my best guess is that’s it, though I can’t say for sure.
In the future, I can’t recommend soaping at room temperature enough! It is so delightfully easy and gives you more time to work with the batter as it slows down trace 🙂 Simply let your oils and water settle to room temperature over a few hours instead of trying to juggle them to meat somewhere around 40°C.
Thanks again Marie! Yep, I think it was the blend & pour! This week I hope to give it a go to my second batch of soap, so I will let you know for sure!
I read about your room temperature soaping, but I was afraid my tallow & coconut oil would set (it is around 21ºC room temperature right now :)) otherwise I would definately go for it! As you say it is a bit annoying juggling with the temperatures!
No, seriously, go for it! My house is lucky to be 21°C during the day and it works just fine for me 🙂 If you leave the oils to cool overnight you may need to pop them back on the stove top for a few brief moments to loosen things up, but you can do that without adding much additional heat and worrying about the lye water.
Really? Cool! Then I will definately try it! Thank you!! 🙂
😀
I so need new friends to bounce ideas off of and to discuss the finer points of DIYing with!
I’ve searched but with The Great Firewall of China I seem to be coming up pretty empty. All the soaping information I have learnt over the years tell me that laundry/cleaning soap should be superfatted at 0%. Makes sense as we want grease/oil fighting not leaving oils behind.
Now, I’d like to know what is better and why when it comes to making laundry soap: coconut oil vs lard/tallow. Or is the combination better?
PS- is it just me, or is the sign up to “post replies” box gone?
Hey! So, yes, laundry soap for sure you want a low superfat (I’ve never used this soap for laundry). I find the 5% superfat works great for the cleaning powder I turn this soap into. I could probably go lower, but I haven’t needed another batch so I haven’t had a chance to give it a try!
I chose this pairing of oils to create a hard bar of soap with reasonably good lather that’s also inexpensive to make. I’ve never made laundry soap and I have not tried 100% lard soap vs 100% coconut soap, so I’m afraid I have no observations there—sorry!
It’s not just you, it is gone. I could either keep it and continue sending everybody two emails every time I post something, or drop it :/ Alas.