How to Make a Soap Bar at Home without Handling Lye

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Three homemade soap recipes that don't require lye

Co-authored by Kia Paylor and Ali Garbacz, B.A.

Last Updated: December 11, 2024 Fact Checked

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Melt-and-Pour Soap

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Baking Soda Soap

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Rebatched Soap

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Things You'll Need

If you’re worried about making soap because of having to deal with lye, don’t be! There are plenty of easy ways to make soap without handling lye. With melt-and-pour soaps and rebatched soaps, you’re working with a soap base that already has lye completely incorporated into it. You could also replace lye with baking soda to make your own soap. We’ll take you through these recipes step by step and give lots of tips about how to customize your soap. Pretty soon you’ll have high-quality soap bars without ever having to break out the safety gear to handle lye.

Things You Should Know

To make melt-and-pour soap, cut a soap base block into 1-inch (2.54 cm) cubes.
Melt the soap cubes in a double boiler and mix in essential oils for fragrance and/or liquid soap dye for color.
Pour the soap mixture into a mold and let it solidify in a cool, dry place for at least 6 hours before using your new DIY soap.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Melt-and-Pour Soap

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1
Choose your soap base . The beauty of these pre-made soap bases is that someone has already gone and done all the hard work involving lye and left you with a convenient pre-packaged base to modify to your liking. There are hundreds of different soap bases to choose from, each containing different ingredients. Some examples of soap bases include: ^{[1]
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- Honey soap base: Honey is great for helping your skin retain moisture.
- Goat milk soap base: Goat milk is a very gentle cleanser and acts as a natural exfoliant.
- Glycerin soap base: This base is clear and odorless, leaving you more room to experiment with adding your own fragrances and colors.
2
Find an essential oil with a scent you like. If you want your soap to have a nice fragrance so that you not only look clean but also smell clean after using it, consider buying some different essential oils. The oils you buy totally depend on your scent preferences. Blend multiple oils together to create a pleasant combination. Here are just a few examples: ^{[2]
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- Lavender: This floral scent has relaxing and calming properties and mixes well with litsea, cedarwood, and geranium.
- Patchouli: Patchouli has a very earthy and somewhat exotic fragrance. It’s good for reenergizing yourself and goes well with cedarwood, lavender, and orange.
- Geranium: This has a strong floral scent, and it helps in balancing skin. Pair this one with lavender, clary sage, or litsea.
- Don't use cinnamon, pine, lemon, orange, or bergamot essential oils in your soap as they can cause skin burns.
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3
Get either a liquid dye or pigment powder to color your soap . Make sure that the liquid soap dye you pick out is meant for soap specifically and not for something like fabric or candle dying. ^{[3]
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Research source} For pigment powder, use either mica powder or natural oxides, clays, or spices. Some natural ingredients to add color include: ^{[4]
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- Madder root, Moroccan red clay, sandalwood powder (red)
- Annatto, carrots, paprika (orange)
- Beet root powder, powdered calendula, chamomile (yellow)
- Alfalfa, powdered chlorophyll, green tea powder (green)
- Indigo powder, woad powder (blue)
- Alkanet root, blue cornmeal (purple/purple-blue)
4
Cut your soap base into 1-inch (2.54 cm) blocks. Most soap bases come in large blocks. Use a large knife to cut through the soap until you’re left with chunks that are about 1 inch (2.54 cm) in width and height. The amount of soap base you cut up will depend on how many bars of soap you want to make. As a reference, 1 lb (454 g) will make about 4 small bars of soap. ^{[5]
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- Be very careful when handling a knife or any other sharp tool for cutting your soap base. Make sure you’re doing the cutting on a flat, solid surface, and always cut away from your body.
- Don’t worry about the cubes being completely even since you’re going to be melting them down anyways.
- There are also pre-cut soap bases that will save you this step.
5
Melt the soap base down until it’s completely liquified. Many soap makers often use a double boiler to do this step. To make your own double boiler , boil a large pot of water on the stove, then place a heat-safe bowl on top so that the bottom just barely touches the water. Add your soap base to the bowl and stir it as it melts down. ^{[6]
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- If you don’t have the tools to make a double boiler, your microwave is another great option. Put the soap base into a heat-safe bowl and heat it up in the microwave in short bursts of about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Check the soap base between each heating session and stir it around with a spoon or other sturdy tool to help spread the heat. Repeat this until the soap is completely melted.
6
Weigh out your essential oils and add them to your soap base. As a general rule of thumb, the amount of essential oil you add is often 3% of the soap’s overall weight. So, for a batch that has 1 lb (454 g) of soap base, add about 4 tsp (approximately 13 g) of 1 essential oil. Reference this chart specifically to find out how much 1 tsp of a specific essential oil weighs in grams. The exact steps for calculating how much essential oil to add are: ^{[7]
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- Calculate the total weight of the soap base you’ve melted down in grams.
- Multiply the soap’s weight by 0.03 (3%) to find out how many grams of essential oil you’ll add.
- Reference the chart above to find out how many grams of your essential oil of choice equals 1 tsp.
- Divide the total grams of oil you need by the grams per tsp to see how many teaspoons you’ll need.
- If you’re using more than 1 essential oil, divide 3% by the number of oils you’re using, then use that percentage to find out how much of each oil you need.
  - For example, if you’re using 2 essential oils, divide 3% by 2 to get 1.5%. Then multiply the weight of your soap by 0.015 to find out how many total grams of 1 essential oil you’ll need.
If you’re using liquid dyes, add just a few drops at a time, then mix your soap base to blend in the color. If it’s still not as dark as you want it, add a few more drops and repeat. If you’re using powder, add in about ½ tbsp (about 0.96 g) at a time, mix, and check the color. ^{[8]
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8
Pour the soap mixture into the molds. There are lots of options for soap molds . Silicone molds will make popping your soap bars out later much easier and come in some pretty fun shapes. If you don’t have these types of molds, a loaf pan, a plastic cup, or even a milk carton cut in half are great alternatives. ^{[9]
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- Oftentimes, little air bubbles will form on the top of your soap. To get rid of these, fill a spray bottle with 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol and spritz it over the tops of the soap bars.
9
Leave the soap to completely cool before removing it from the mold. Leave your soap in a cool, dry place to solidify for about 6 hours. Be sure not to jostle it around so that your soap doesn’t get any wrinkles or uneven waves in it. If your soap is completely solidified but you still can’t get it out of the mold, pop it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. It should come out without a problem after that and is ready to use. ^{[10]
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- Most handmade soaps last for about 1 year. However, your soap’s shelf life may be shorter or longer depending on the ingredients you used.
- Soaps that have a lot of oils in them will usually expire faster than those that don’t.
- Store your soap in a cool, dry place to preserve it longer. Keep your soap on a soap tray to help preserve it even when it’s in a slightly more humid space.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Baking Soda Soap

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In this method, you’re replacing lye with baking soda, both of which are alkalies. However, lye is much stronger than baking soda. Heating up baking soda in the oven turns it from sodium bicarbonate into sodium carbonate, making it a slightly stronger alkali that’ll better replace the lye. ^{[11]
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Cut out a sheet of aluminum foil that’s big enough to hold the baking soda. Pour the baking soda onto the middle of the foil, then fold the aluminum foil so that it covers the baking soda completely and lies flat like an envelope. Press down on the edges firmly to crease it and make sure the baking soda won’t easily spill out. ^{[12]
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Place your aluminum foil-wrapped baking soda onto a baking tray and let it bake in the oven for about an hour. Make sure no baking soda spills out into the oven since this can cause some rather unpleasant smoke to arise. Set a timer and just chill while you wait for your baking soda to do its thing. ^{[13]
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Coconut oil is great for helping to moisturize your skin and creates a lot of that sudsy lather we love to see. This oil also will make the soap more firm, which is just what you’d want from a good bar of soap. ^{[14]
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Olive oil is very gentle on your skin and will give your bar of soap a creamy lather. This will also make the soap bar much smoother to the touch. ^{[15]
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6
Add in essential oils to give your soap a nice fragrance. There are many different varieties of essential oils to choose from depending on your scent preferences. Essential oils like lavender, patchouli, and tea tree are popular choices for soap and body washes.
- Don't use essential oils like cinnamon bark, oregano, lemongrass, and peppermint, as they can cause skin irritation and burns.
- Essential oils in soap account for 3% of the soap’s total weight.
- In this case, the total weight of the soap mixture (coconut oil and olive oil) is around 286 g. So add about 8.58 g of essential oils into the mixture (286 x 0.03)
- Reference this chart to see how much 1 tsp of essential oil weighs in grams. Then, divide 8.58 by the weight of your selected essential oil to find out how many teaspoons you will add.
7
Mix in liquid soap dye or pigment powders to color your soap . Add a few drops of liquid soap dye at a time, then mix the dye in to see how the color turns out. Keep adding more drops until you get the desired color. Another option is to add pigment powders such as mica powder or powders that come from natural ingredients. ^{[16]
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- Add in about ½ tbsp (about 0.96 g) of pigment powder at a time. Mix it in well and continue to add more powder until you get your desired color.
- Consider natural powders like indigo powder (blue), green tea powder (green), madder root (red), and chamomile (yellow).
Once you’ve added all of your desired ingredients, pour in the baking soda and give a thorough stir until everything is combined evenly. The baking soda likely won’t dissolve completely into the oil, so don’t worry if you still have some particles floating around after mixing everything together. ^{[17]
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This recipe only makes about 1 bar of soap, so there’s no need for a huge mold. Something like a plastic red solo cup will work just fine, or feel free to whip out any nice silicone molds you might have. ^{[18]
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10
Leave the soap in the fridge for about 12 hours to solidify before using. Of course, there’s nothing saying you can’t use your freshly-made soap in its liquid form, but that might just create a bit of a sticky mess. If you want a nice solid bar of soap, leave the mixture to harden in your fridge for about 12 hours. After you’ve popped your soap bar out of its mold, you’re free to start lathering up. ^{[19]
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- If you poured your soap into something like a plastic red solo cup and it’s not coming out after being refrigerated, use scissors to cut it out of the mold.
- Most homemade soaps last for up to 1 year. However, if you used a lot of essential oils, your soap won’t last as long.
- Store your soap in a cool, dry place when you’re not using it. If you’re going to leave your soap in a humid place, place it on a soap tray to help it stay a bit drier.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Rebatched Soap

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1
Gather up your soap scraps and break them into small pieces. This method is great if you have a lot of little extra pieces of soap lying around that you want to reuse. To help with the melting process, break your soap into tiny pieces. Either use something heavy like a rolling pin to smash them into tinier crumbs or use a knife to cut up the pieces into thin slices. If you have something like a cheese grater, that’ll work just as well. ^{[20]
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- Work on a flat and sturdy surface when cutting up your soap. Never cut towards yourself if you’re using a knife, and watch your fingers if you’re breaking up the soap with something heavy.
2
Melt your soap scraps in a double boiler or microwave. If you don’t have a double boiler, make one yourself by placing a heat-safe bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. Pour your soap into the bowl and allow it to melt. If you’re using the microwave, put your soap into a heat-safe bowl and microwave it on high for increments of about 30 to 60 seconds, stirring in between each warming. ^{[21]
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- Soap that’s completely melted is a thick and smooth liquid.
3
Stir in any fragrances or colors that you want to add. Use essential oils like patchouli, tea tree, geranium, and lavender to make your soap more fragrant. If the soap you’re melting already has a scent, pick out oils that will complement it. If you want to add color to your soap, add some liquid soap dye , mica powder , or naturally colored powders, such as annatto, alfalfa, or indigo powder, to the mixture.
- Essential oils like cinnamon, bergamot, and clove can irritate sensitive skin and even cause burns. Do not use these essential oils in your soap or for any sort of topical use.
- The amount of essential oils you add is 3% of the soap’s total weight. For example, if you have 1 lb (454 g) of melted soap, you would add 0.03 lb (13.6 g) of essential oil.
- Refer to this chart to see the weight of various essential oils in grams.
- Add a few drops of color dye at a time and stir between each addition until you reach the shade you want.
- Start with about ½ tbsp (0.96 g) or color powder, give it a good stir, then check the color to see if you need to add any more.
4
Pour the soap mixture into the molds and let them harden for 2 days. Use something like a silicone mold if you have one, or get creative and use items around your house to hold your soap, such as a plastic cup, a loaf pan, or a cardboard milk carton. Store the soap in a cool, dry place for at least 2 days and then pop them out when they’re completely solid. Your soap is ready to use once it’s solidified. ^{[22]
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- Compared to soap made using the melt-and-pour method, rebatched soap is going to be a bit thicker and more viscous. Therefore, the mixture may not pour so easily into molds with lots of fine details.
- When not using your soap, store it in a cool, dry place to make it last longer. Place it on a soap tray when it’s in a more humid room.
- Most soaps will last for up to 1 year, but their shelf life may be shorter if you added in a lot of essential oils.

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