Easy, Beginner DIY Liquid Castile Soap Recipe
Made with only olive oil, this pure liquid Castile soap is easy to make and mild. It’s perfect for face and body, and for cleaning around the house.
A couple of years ago, I showed you how easy it was to make a basic beginner soap, even if you’ve never done it before.
Making solid soaps can be a lot of fun, but not everybody likes using bar soap. Many people prefer using something in a dispenser like a shower gel or a liquid soap.
I made many different types of bar soaps before attempting to make a true liquid soap. There aren’t as many resources about making liquid soaps, so I had to do a lot of trial and error before posting this first liquid Castile soap recipe.
Once you find a good recipe, it’s pretty simple to make. While it does take a little more time and effort than whipping up some bars of cold process soap, I think you’ll find that it’s well worth it, especially when you take a look at the price of a store-bought liquid castile soap.
How does liquid soap differ from bar soap?
The main difference between bar soaps and liquid soaps is the type of lye used to make them. Liquid soaps are made with KOH, or potassium hydroxide, rather than NaOH, or sodium hydroxide.
You can read more about the different types of lye in my post about lye and why it is needed in soap.
While some people like to make a “liquid soap” of sorts by diluting bar soaps in water, you can’t really get a true, transparent liquid soap that way. Some people are happy with the result, but every time I’ve tried it, I’ve ended up with a gloopy mess. It doesn’t have the same cleaning power as either a bar soap or a true liquid soap, and the texture and appearance aren’t the same either.
What is pure Castile soap?
Technically, by definition, Castile soap is a type of soap made with only olive oil. The name “Castile” soap originates here in Spain. (You can read more about the origin of Castile soap and other soaps in my post with a recipe for pure Castile bar soap.)
Over the years, the definition of Castile soap has broadened to include other types of vegetable oils such as coconut oil. Dr. Bronner’s liquid Soap, which may be the most famous commercial liquid Castile soap, actually has a greater percentage of coconut oil than olive oil. (I made a Dr. Bronners liquid Castile soap copycat recipe for those who are interested!)
When it came to making a homemade liquid Castile soap, though, I was a bit of a purist and made the real deal: a soap made with only olive oil.
Olive oil in soap
Soaps made with different oils have different properties.
Soaps made with olive oil are more conditioning for your skin than soaps made with coconut oil. On the other hand, they don’t lather up as much as a coconut oil soap, nor do they leave you feeling squeaky clean in the same way (partly because they are more conditioning).
Some people find pure Castile bar soap to be “slimy” and not cleansing enough. On the other hand, pure coconut oil bar soap can be drying.
- Pure coconut oil soaps are great for general cleaning and for laundry. That’s why I made my homemade laundry soap only with coconut oil.
- Pure olive oil soaps tend to be gentle on the skin and great for gentle body cleansing.
Read my post about the properties of different oils in soaps.
Ideally, you’d combine different oils to get the qualities you want for your soap. That’s exactly what they did when they formulated Dr. Bronner’s soap, and what I did when I showed you how to make a basic beginner soap which uses a combination of olive oil and coconut oil.
Combining liquid soaps
When you make a bar of soap, you have to decide what combination of oils you want to use from the very beginning and your entire batch will have that very same combination.
With liquid soaps, though, you have the advantage of being able to combine your various soaps after the fact, making it easier to experiment with smaller combinations until you find the perfect soap for your need.
That’s why I made a pure liquid castile soap, using only olive oil, and then later made a pure liquid coconut oil soap. Once you’ve made both of them, you can combine them, as needed to get the type of soap you want.
Coconut oil liquid soap vs. liquid Castile soap
When I first started making liquid soap, I assumed that liquid soaps would be just like bar soaps. The difference between a pure Castile bar soap and a coconut oil-based bar soap is HUGE!
I was very surprised to find, though, that liquid soap made with coconut oil was actually quite similar to that made with olive oil. Sure, the olive oil-based liquid soap was darker in color than the coconut oil-based liquid soap. For me, that was probably the most notable difference.
Yes, the coconut oil soap does make a bubblier lather than this one and may be slightly more drying. It does give more of a “squeaky clean” feeling.
In the end, though, the difference isn’t as pronounced as I expected. In fact, I normally just make the coconut oil liquid soap recipe these days. I can buy refined coconut oil cheaper than olive oil, but also love the look of a lighter-colored soap. I also love the fresh, subtle scent of the coconut oil soap when left unscented.
Both soaps give a decent lather. They are also both relatively mild for skin. If you have sensitive skin, though, this soap is probably the better choice.
Those who have very sensitive skin may find that they have issues with the higher pH of any soap. In those cases, it may be best to use something like my DIY Baby Wash and Shampoo. (I made it pH balanced for a baby’s delicate skin.)
Ingredients
This soap uses 4 main ingredients: olive oil, potassium hydroxide, water, and glycerin.
You can use extra virgin olive oil or a lighter olive oil. What is important, though, is that you are using pure olive oil. (If it’s not pure olive oil, it may need a different amount of lye.)
For the water, it’s best to use distilled water. Tap water has minerals and may have other impurities that can affect the clarity of your soap.
Why use glycerin when making liquid soap?
One of the methods of making liquid soaps is called the glycerin method. It replaces part of the water with glycerin.
Adding glycerin moves the soap-making process along more quickly. Because I wanted to share a beginner liquid soap recipe, I chose the glycerin method to have this soap be as quick and fool-proof as possible.
Using glycerin may have some other benefits:
- The resulting soap paste dissolves very easily in water. I don’t need to heat the water nor do I need to leave it for days at a time. I can cover my soap paste with distilled water and usually, in a couple of hours, I have a beautiful, clear liquid soap effortlessly.
- Glycerin is a humectant, meaning it draws moisture into the skin. I find that even my liquid coconut oil soap doesn’t feel drying, despite the fact that it hasn’t been superfatted at all. I think the extra glycerin helps to make a really great, hydrating soap that is clear and doesn’t need extra oils. (I think my homemade glycerin bar soap has the same benefits.)
Materials
To make liquid Castile soap, you only need a few basic tools. An immersion blender helps mix the oils and lye solution quickly so the soap reaches trace faster. A slow cooker works beautifully for keeping the soap at a steady, gentle heat while it cooks. A kitchen scale is also important here, since soap making relies on accuracy. Measuring by weight instead of volume helps ensure that your recipe turns out perfectly every time.
Procedure
Making a liquid Castile soap isn’t difficult and it can save you a lot of money.
To get the clearest soap we can, we’ll use a hot-process method. That means that we will be cooking the soap. During the cooking process, the saponification process will complete and our soap will be ready to use immediately afterwards. (Liquid soap doesn’t need a curing time in the same way as bar soap does.)
The easiest way to make this and have it come out perfectly is to use a slow cooker. If you don’t have access to a slow cooker, though, you can also try baking it in the oven. (I showed how I used this method in the post and video for the coconut oil liquid soap.)
Making the lye solution
Weigh out the glycerine, water, and potassium hydroxide (KOH).
Add the glycerin to the water and then carefully add the KOH to the water and glycerin mixture. (Not the other way around!) Make the lye solution in a well-ventilated area.
Stir the KOH into the water until it dissolves. It will be cloudy at first, but then it will clear up.
Making the soap paste
Measure out the olive oil and heat it over low heat directly in the slow cooker.
Slowly add in the the KOH mixture to the warm olive oil, and gently stir them together over low heat.
Once combined, use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients together in the slow cooker. In a few minutes the mixture will begin to thicken and look like mayonnaise. Soon after, it will look like a creamy pudding. (If you aren’t doing this over heat, it will take a bit longer.)
A few minutes later, the mixture will begin to look grainy and look like mashed potatoes or applesauce. Continue to blend.
If, at any point, the mixture becomes too thick to blend with the immersion blender, switch to mixing with a spatula or wooden spoon. It’s also a good idea to take breaks during the blending process so as not to burn out the blender.
As you continue to blend, it will start to get creamy again. It is now time to cover it and cook it for a while.
Cooking the soap paste
Cooking the soap paste will allow the soap to finish the saponification process and will also help achieve a perfectly clear liquid soap immediately. The process will take 3-4 hours, and you will want to check on it and stir it up every half an hour or so.
As you cook the mixture, it will begin to thicken up and become more translucent.
To check for “doneness,” we will look to see if our paste is dissolving into a completely clear liquid soap. To do this, take a small amount of the soap paste and dissolve it in water, and look to see if the water is clear once the soap paste is dissolved.
If the liquid is cloudy, you should continue to cook the soap in the slow cooker. Let it cook another half an hour before checking on it again. If it dissolves clear like the soap in my picture, you are finished making the soap paste.
Note: If you aren’t using distilled water, the soap paste may stay cloudy no matter how long you cook it! (For more reasons your soap paste may be cloudy, read my post about troubleshooting liquid soap problems.
How to dilute the soap paste
Once you have made your soap paste, you’ll need to dilute it to obtain a liquid Castile soap.
To dilute a soap paste you can:
- Let it dissolve by itself into water over the course of several hours (or overnight).
- Speed up the process by warming the water and soap paste over the stove or other heat source (like the slow cooker).
For clear soap, use distilled water. That will also help ensure the water is free of contaminants and the soap will keep as long as possible. By choosing distilled water, not only are you keeping the possibility of microbial contamination to a minimum, but you are also ensuring that minerals and other substances in your tap water won’t cloud your soap.
If you are making small batches that are going to be used relatively quickly (and aren’t concerned about clearness), you can probably get away with tap water without any issues. I still recommend using distilled water when possible.
Read more about how to dilute a soap paste here.
Customizing your liquid soap
How else can you personalize your soap?
Adding fragrances
Unlike with bar soap, you can add in additives like essential oils after the fact. So, you don’t have to divide your batch at trace and work quickly to make soaps with a variety of fragrances. Instead, you can make a large batch of concentrated liquid soap paste base. The soap paste can be stored away and keeps well for a very long time. (I’ve successfully stored soap pastes for several years without issues.)
You can then add in the essential oils or fragrance oils as you dilute the soap paste. This gives you the freedom, even months after making the soap, to play with fun combinations.
At the time of dilution, I mix the soap paste with distilled water and then I add essential oils to give my soap a personalized fragrance.
Does it need a preservative?
Whether or not liquid soap needs a preservative is a controversial subject. Personally, I don’t use one as the pH of soap is high enough that it’s not a favorable environment for the growth of most of the microbes that we’re trying to avoid.
If I were going to sell a liquid soap, though, I’d do proper microbial testing of the liquid soap to see if a preservative was needed or not. Most natural preservatives on the market aren’t effective at the high pH of soap anyway. (Euxyl® K 900 is an exception and would be a great preservative to consider for using in soap.)
For more liquid soap FAQ’s, read my post How to Make a Liquid Soap: Start Here.
Video
Easy liquid castile soap (made from scratch with olive oil)
Materials
Instructions
- Measure out the olive oil and add it to the slow cooker on low heat.
Make the lye solution
- Weigh out the glycerine, water, and potassium hydroxide (KOH).
- Mix the water and glycerin.
- Carefully add the KOH to the water and glycerin mixture. (Not the other way around!) Do this step in a well ventilated area.
- Stir the KOH into the water until it dissolves. It will be cloudy at first, but then it will clear up.
Make the soap paste
- Slowly add in the the KOH mixture to the warm olive oil, and gently stir them together in the slow cooker.
- Once they are mixed together well, use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients together. In a few minutes the mixture will begin to thicken and look like mayonnaise. It will later look like a creamy pudding.
- The mixture will go through stages, from creamy to grainy and back to smooth.
- As you continue to blend, it will start to get creamy again. Once you reach this point, you can stop blending with the hand held blender and can leave the soap paste cooking covered in the slow cooker.
Cook the soap paste
- As you cook the soap, it will continue to thicken and will become more translucent. To achieve a clear liquid soap we'll need to cook the soap paste for 3-4 hours. During that time, check on it and stir it up every half an hour or so.
Check for doneness
- To check for "doneness," we will look to see if the soap paste dissolves clear. To do this, take a small amount of the soap paste and dissolve it in distilled water. If the resulting soap is clear, the soap is finished cooking. If it's cloudy, continue to cook the soap paste for another half an hour before checking on it again.
Dilute the soap
- To make a liquid Castile soap, dissolve some of the paste in distilled water. I ususally use a ratio of one part soap paste to 2-3 parts distilled water. Let it sit until dissolved, or gently heat to speed it up.
Notes
- A slow cooker is perfect for this because it gently heats without burning and keeps everything at a steady temperature. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can bake the paste in the oven or cook it in a double boiler.
- Take breaks while blending so you don’t burn out the motor of your immersion blender. If your blender gets too hot, you can pause and let it cook before continuing.
- If the mixture becomes too thick to blend at any point, switch to mixing with a wooden spoon.
- If you’ve cooked it for more than 3–4 hours and it still isn’t clear, there may be other issues. Tap water can cause cloudiness. For other possibilities, see my post on troubleshooting liquid soaps.
- This recipe makes about 4.5–5 pounds of soap paste, which can be diluted to 10–20 pounds of liquid soap or more, depending on how concentrated you want it. That’s roughly 1–2 gallons or more.
- Keep in mind that liquid soap is not as thick as commercial gels or surfactants. It has a thinner consistency and doesn’t need to be thick to be concentrated and work well.
- Undiluted soap paste can be stored in glass or plastic containers in a cool, dry place for more than a year. I’ve had some last for several years without any problems. It may eventually develop a slightly rancid smell, but can still be used for general cleaning.
DIY liquid body soap recipe:
If you would like to combine this soap with a liquid coconut oil soap to obtain a bit more lather and a squeaky clean feeling, try using this ratio:
60-70% liquid Castile soap (made with only olive oil)
30-40% liquid coconut oil soap (for bubbly lather, link goes to the recipe post)
Essential oils of choice.
Mix all of the ingredients together, and keep a bottle in the shower to use instead of shower gel.
Add essential oils for fragrance. Lavender essential oil gives a lovely herbal scent. I also like citrus blends using lemon and bergamot.
What are your favorites?
This post was originally published on June 29, 2016. It was rewritten and republished in June of 2021, adding new information, more photos, and video.
Ive measured everything perfectly but it’s still pretty liquid-y after about 10 minutes on medium with my hand mixer. Any advice?!
Hi Carla,
I’m not really sure. I can’t remember right now exactly how long it took to thicken up. I do remember that when using only olive oil, the paste never got as thick for me as it did with the coconut oil liquid soap. I’ve received comments from people who have had the opposite problem, and their soap paste has gotten a lot stiffer, but this is the first time I’ve heard about the soap not thickening.
You posted this at midnight my time, but I had to get up with my son and noticed your comment and wanted to respond right away to see how it was going. A couple of hours have passed, so perhaps things have improved with heat and time?
The only other thing I can think of is- Are you sure you are using KOH potassium hydroxide? I received a couple of comments from people who used NaOH instead, the lye they were using for bar soap, and you can’t use it in the same way as you would KOH for liquid soap. That said, I suspect that if anything, you’d end up with a more solid mass rather than a liquid if that were the case. I hope things have thickened up since you wrote. If not, perhaps with a few more details, I can try to help you out in the morning.
Well- I ended up with a whipped version- I added a smidge more olive oil when that happened and it seems to be working better now, 6 hours in. I used KOH, yes. I think it might be too cold in my house for this? The slow cooker didn’t seem to heat it up enough so I have it on low on a gas range. I think it’s finally about done! How did you store the end result? I’m using it for home made cleaners and well, I have A LOT more than I needed.
Hmmm. Interesting.
With some of the other issues, I was going to suggest that the cold weather may be a factor, but then because it is in a slow cooker, I ruled that out. I hadn’t really considered the variance in slow cookers, though. Mine gets pretty hot, almost too much so for making bone broth for hours at a time. Even on the low setting, the broth is simmering the whole time. I remember reading a discussion once about how people were complaining that newer slow cookers don’t really have a low “low” setting, and that bone broth can taste burnt when making it in the slow cooker for as many hours as is normally suggested.
If you added more olive oil to your soap, your soap will probably end up being more cloudy and won’t get as clear in the warmer weather. If it hasn’t separated, which can happen if you add too much oil, then at least you should be able to use it fine as soap anyway. Soap making is normally a pretty precise science, where you have to be careful about getting the measurements exact, or you could end up with either unreacted lye (too little oil) that could burn your skin, or your soap could separate with too much oil. With bar soaps, with too much oil, you normally end up with a really soft bar of soap that takes months to hard, but also can go rancid more quickly. If you only added slightly more oil, and it didn’t separate, your soap should be more conditioning in the end, so it should be quite gentle for using instead of shower gel. It may not be as cleansing, and may have more of a slippery feel when using it. You can add some coconut oil soap to help balance that out if it bothers you.
For cleaning around the house, I personally prefer the coconut oil liquid soap. Pure castile soap made with only olive oil is conditioning, but not as cleansing. You can definitely add this one to your house cleaning mix, though, to use some of it up if you ended up with a lot.
Mine ended up getting pretty thick and solid, though not as much as the coconut oil soap paste. I have part of the pure paste in a jar in a cool, dark closet so that it will keep longer. I then have 2 really big jars of partly diluted soap paste on top of the cupboard in a bathroom we don’t use very often. One of the jars has coconut oil soap and one has olive oil soap. I combine those together depending on how I want to use the soap, and then finish diluting by adding more water to the mix. That’s also when I add in my essential oils. You’ll find that in the winter, the soaps won’t get clear anyway, unless your house is heated a lot more than mine. My house is pretty cold all winter, and my soap gets thick and a lot more gloopy, and then it thins out and gets clear when the weather warms up.
You can read a bit more about how I store and dilute the soap here. I hope that helps, and that the soap works out for you.
Theresa,
I did the same thing on the same day, only with the coconut oil soap (Tracy provided great feedback in the comments under the coconut oil soap recipe)! It was a mess. I trashed the batch and made a new one today with the correct ingredients, and it worked well.
My daughter was so excited, she asked to make the castille soap, so we did! Our hand mixer burned out before getting to the mashed potato stage, so I had to use my spare. It moved through the stages quickly, and after an hour of cooking, the paste is a bit solid. I had to chop it up with a stainless steel serving spoon.
But it’s Soap! Bubbly and slippery on our hands! I’m letting it sit in the warm crock pot to see if it loosens. Then I’ll dilute some and jar the rest.
Again, Tracy, thank you for generously sharing your expertise!
~Annmarie
I’m so sorry to hear about your hand blender, but I really appreciate the feedback because it helps me know how to edit posts to prevent people from having problems in the future. I use a really inexpensive hand blender that I bought at an ALDI-like store, and it has held up amazingly well through all of the hard work I put it through. So, I guess I just sort of assume that if my blender held up through it all, everybody else’s would too. 😛
There is a lot of variance in olive oil, so perhaps different types of olive oil will make more of a solid soap base than others. (Or maybe it’s more of a temperature issue? Who knows?) Since you have already tried the coconut oil soap, though, you’ve already worked with a more solid paste, so I’m glad it didn’t scare you off.
Just a heads up…my liquid soaps are pretty gloopy and even the slightly diluted ones have almost solidified by this time of year, so if yours aren’t super clean and clear looking, don’t worry about it. Wait to see what happens when it warms up in spring. In any case, as you said, “but it’s soap!” 🙂
Mine still works really well, even though it’s not as pretty as it is in warm weather. hahaha
Oh, and yes, the castile soap is a lot more “slippery” feeling. That’s kind of how the conditioning oils feel. That’s why I like adding in a bit of coconut oil soap to give more of a “squeaky clean” sort of feeling.
I’m really happy these are working well for you.
I’ve been playing with more solid soaps lately myself, and have decided that I actually like bar soap better for washing my dog! (Who’d have thought it!) I’ll try to share that post and recipe soon, but first I need to get the seasonal posts out. 🙂
DAG NAB IT!!!
I didn’t realize that I used sodium hydroxide instead of potassium hydroxide until the very end!
Now I have a crock pot full of pastey, crumbling muck (was wondering why it was not going back to a creamy state after it began the translucent streaks)!
Is there anything I can do to salvage this into something usable or is it best to dump the entire batch which would be such a shame & waste ?
Hi Theresa,
I’m so sorry that happened to you! I’m about to go to bed, but I saw your comment at the last minute, and I wanted to respond to you before I went. First, let me say that I’m going to update both liquid soap recipes tomorrow to make sure it doesn’t happen to more people.
Meanwhile, I’d like to say that while you won’t have ended up with a liquid soap, you’ve basically made bar soap that you can dissolve into a “liquid soap”. It won’t be the same as a “real liquid soap,” but will be useable. I’ll run it through a lye calculator tomorrow to see what sort of bar soap you’ve ended up with. Depending on if it ends up being lye heavy, superfatted, or whatever, you’ll be able to use it for different things. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Tracy
Thank you for taking the time to respond!
I’m hesitant to use my ‘soap’ (resembles dry, crumbly play doh) for anything since the lye content is so high. This is my first attempt at making liquid soap so needless to say I don’t know what I’m doing and will wait on your response once you’ve had a chance to run it through the lye calculator.
Thank you again Tracy, not only for the response but for the great recipes as well.
Annmarie – thank you for your comment! Heading over to the coconut oil recipe now to read all the comments/feedback. My hand blender got very hot during this process and to be honest, I haven’t attempted another soap recipe but I will definitely check to see if it still works before I do ?
Hi Theresa,
I’m sorry I forgot to write again with the calculations. I ended up doing the same for the coconut oil recipe, and I guess I got confused and thought it was the same one.
For this recipe, if you were making a solid bar of soap, with NaOH instead of KOH, you would want to use somewhere between 4-4.1 ounces of NaOH to get the soap into a good zone for using.
You used 6.52 ounces, if you followed the recipe above, meaning you used about 2.5 ounces too many for the amount of oil.
If you want to neutralize that lye, you’ll want to melt the soap with 20 more ounces of olive oil. you may need to add more water to get it workable, but should use as little as possible.
If you are willing to risk the ingredients, you should end up with a usable bar soap.
You can pour the soap into molds like silicone baking pans or something like that and allow it to harden. I’ve made rebatched soap before, and it isn’t as smooth and pretty as newly made cold process soap, but despite being a little more rustic looking, it still makes a nice soap.
When you add in the oils, you can add in any scents you like or exfoliants, colorings, etc.
You’ll probably end up with a lot, so you may as well have fun with it and experiment. 😉
I hope that helps, and I’d love to hear how it goes.
Oh- if you want to add more cleaning power and lather to your finished soap, instead of adding 20 ounces of olive oil, you could add 14.5 ounces of coconut oil instead!
Just as thought- as with a bar soap you won’t be able to combine them after the fact.
Thank you Tracy!
You are without a doubt one of the best! And I mean it sincerely! I’m definitely a newbie in this arena and spend most of my time reading and doing reasearch!
The time you must spend gathering your ideas, notes and taking pictures all before you even begin to write your tutorials are so evident in your work…and so greatly appreciated!!
As far as my fail pie crust, play doh, I mean soap; I am definitely only using this batch for household cleaning and will rebatch with the coconut oil for the added cleansing power!
Question- Once I rebatch and mold this soap, since I will only be using this for household cleaning, will I then have to melt/dissolve this down even further to use as a ‘liquid’ castile soap for cleaning purposes?
Essentially would I then be following those recipes out there that outline how to turn a bar of castile soap to liquid castile soap?
Not trying to cut corners, it just seems like a double step. Or is this step necessary to neutralize the lye first and then further dissolve as needed?
Thinking about using some of this in my homemade laundry detergent in addition to making solutions to use in spray bottles just to use it all up but don’t want to risk the skin contact if the lye content will just irritate our skin.
Thank you, Theresa!
You don’t know how much I really appreciate messages like this one!
Yes, I do try to take a lot of time to research as much as I can, and take the time to get things right before posting. Even then, I do miss things, but I try to fix everything as soon as I can and help people out as much as I can.
I get really frustrated with blogs that post recipes that just don’t work as if they did, and have heard of cases where they haven’t even tried the recipes themselves! That really bothers me. (I’m struggling with that right now as I’m about to post my recipe for Spanish turrón- after years of trying to get a good recipe, because none of the online ones worked for me- and by the comments on the posts, I wasn’t the only one with issues.)
If you are planning on dissolving it for use like the recipes online that make a liquid soap out of bar soap, then you don’t have to worry about getting it into molds. I’m not sure if it would be better for you to let it dry out slightly before trying to do that or not. You may be able to go ahead and dissolve it right away. Because you are going to be heating the soap anyway, you’re basically doing a warm process soap procedure, so, depending on how long you are cooking the new soap, you may end up using up all of the lye without having to wait at all.
If it were me, and I wanted a liquid soap, I probably would still mold up some of it to keep it as bar soap that I could later grate and dissolve into liquid soap. It just keeps better without all of the water. Plus it takes up a lot less space! 😉
I’d probably dissolve part of it right away and see what happens with it.
For cleaning, it should be fine. You could get away with a tad less oil if you are only planning on using it for cleaning. I told you to use 14.5 oz. of coconut oil to put you in a safe zone for using on skin, but if you only want it for laundry, I’d probably only add 14 ounces of coconut oil then. In that zone, you won’t have as many leftover oils, so it won’t be conditioning to the skin, but it will probably have more cleansing power. In the 14.5 ounce range, though, your soap will be more versatile. Up to you! 🙂
Good luck- can’t wait to hear how it goes.
Hi Tracey,
any chance I can replace the potassium hydroxide with sodium hydroxide? I can only get KOH in bulk lots where I’m from but can get sodium hydroxide in smaller quantities. Sodium hydroxide is also known as lye and caustic soda. I cant find any recipe’s for olive oil liquid soap, only coconut based ones. I’m sooooo keen to try this but keep getting brick walls
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
Well, yes and no…
Sodium hydroxide is what is used to make bar soap. Potassium hydroxide is used to make liquid soap.
So, you will end up with soap, but it won’t be a liquid soap.
I had to buy the KOH online because while I can readily find sodium hydroxide in just about any store, KOH isn’t something that is readily available.
I think I tried once to make liquid soap at the beginning using a mixture of the two, or sodium hydroxide only maybe. I can’t remember what I did or what happened with that batch, but I remember having to start over because I wasn’t happy with it. I sort of learned my lesson about KOH/NaOH the hard way.
I think there are ways to at least make a creamy sort of soap with NaOH, but it really doesn’t turn out the same. I guess it’s more like grating down a solid soap and making it into a liquid soap of sorts. A lot of people do that and are happy with it, but I’ve tried several times and hate the outcome personally.
Thank you, its so awesome to ask a question and be answered honestly and with correct info. I’ve done a bit of research and I can only get 25kg of KOH locally. Looks like I will have to purchase on eBay, most online suppliers wont even freight it here for some reason. I don’t know why but old fashioned Castile soap is so appealing to me lol
Thanks, Lauren!
I love to help out however I can! 🙂
I’ve done a lot of eBay-ing here over the years. I have found soap supply stores online, though, for KOH. Those sorts of stores always have lots of fun things to buy, and I always end up buying a few too many things, that turn into new posts on the blog. hahaha
I love castile soap… and really love the liquid soap with coconut oil that I just finally got up on the blog this week because it’s so great for adding later and for cleaning around the house.
Good luck with your soap adventures!
Hello, this is great. Would you be able to use this for diy shampoo?
Hi Connie,
I have to admit that I still haven’t tried using soap for my hair. I’ve been wanting to do more research and try to come up with a recipe that could be used for hair, or to give using this castile soap myself before making the suggestion for others.
What I have seen online is tips for people who do use castile soap for washing their hair.
First, you should dilute the soap a lot. Second, you should do an acidic rinse after cleaning your hair.
Maybe I should give it a try and write about it on the blog.
My husband and I use the bar soap I make on our hair. After washing my hair, I spray a mixture of ACV and distilled water on my hair and then rinse with cool water. I have long hair so this helps to soften and detangle.
Hi Dana,
That’s great!
I haven’t ever really had luck with either soap nor apple cider vinegar in my hair.
I have tried lots of different “no poo” protocols, the best of which is what I do lately- basically washing my hair with cleansing conditioners. I also wash with my homemade conditioner.
I’m working on making a gentle shampoo with more natural surfactants lately. I should be getting it up on the blog soon.
I always find it interesting how we all react differently to different products. That’s why I’m always looking for different alternatives for people to try. 🙂
Hello,
I love your blog. Just a quick question when using coconut oil. What kind of coconut oil do you suggest? Is it the virgin coconut oil? Refined, Bleached, Deodorized (Processed oil, odorless, colorless) or can a plain coconut oil (with nutty smell) would do?
Thanks!
Hi Chris,
Honestly, I don’t find that it makes that much of a difference in soap. I used to always use virgin coconut oil (which has a coconut smell/flavor) because that’s what I had at home for cooking and everything else. I would buy in bulk from Germany because I couldn’t find coconut oil here in Spain at all.
Now that the health food stores are finally starting to carry different types of coconut oil here, I have tried with several types. There was one that was expeller pressed (doesn’t have a coconut smell/taste) and I have used that in the last couple of batches. I’m not sure I notice a difference at all. I tend to use olive oil a lot with the coconut oil in soaps, so if anything leaves a scent, it’s usually the olive oil. That said, the essential oils tend to cover any scent of the oils.
What is important, though, is to use a coconut oil that solidifies around room temperature, or under 76ºF. There are coconut oils that have been treated so that they won’t solidify as easily, like fractionated coconut oil, that will change the recipe completely.
Going to make some this week. Coconut oil here is plenty (Philippines). Olive oils here are prized and really expensive. Lookin forward to your coconut recipe. Thanks!
Hi Chris,
Here in Spain I have the opposite… Lots of wild olive trees, and olive oil is cheap and plentiful.
Not that I’m complaining, because I love olives, but I’d love to be in an area where coconuts were plentiful. I’m in love with them.
I’m working on the coconut oil soap recipe as we speak. I’m hoping to get it out in the next day or two! 🙂
I think it’s really funny. lol
Hi Chris,
I just wanted to let you know that I finally got the recipe up for the liquid soap made with coconut oil! 🙂
id love the recipe for the liquid coconut soap? when are you going to share the love with that one?
looking forward to making my first batch of liquid castile soap next week with a friend
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for the reminder!
Every once in awhile I need a reminder and a friendly kick-in-the-butt to get a post out. I’m going to add it to the top of the priority list for this week and see if I can get the post out in the next few days. Sound good? 🙂
I hope it goes well for you!
Is it possible making liquid castile soup from solid one? If yes, how?
Hello Baruch,
It is possible to grate and dissolve bars of soap into water, but I’ve never been happy with the results. (You can either melt them into the water over the stove or just allow the soap to dissolve by itself overnight.) A lot of blogs will teach you this method, but I have tried with many types of bars of soap, both homemade and store bought, and don’t like the resulting “liquid soap.”
In my experience, it ends up either very liquid-y, even when you use a large concentration of bar soap to water, or it gets goopy and opaque. It doesn’t make a nice liquid soap like this one.
I personally think it is a waste of a nice bar of soap because you end up using a lot more soap than you normally would, but a lot of people are happy with that method.
Hello Tracy!
I am about to begin making my own soap using your recipe. I am so exited, been looking forward to start days ago!
I have a few questions:
-I have been looking for your pure liquid coconut oil soap but couldn’t find it. Perhaps you haven’t yet uploaded the recipe?
-Would you share with me your experience on how do you dilute the soap resulting from this recipe? And how do you use the dilutions?
I choose your recipe over many other on the net because I liked the way you explained how you use it. It seems very practical!
Looking forward to your reply 🙂
¡Hola Beatríz! 🙂
Yes, you are right. I still haven’t gotten around to posting the liquid coconut oil soap recipe. I had a busy summer in which I didn’t post as much as I wanted to, and right now I’m concentrating on getting my fall/Halloween posts out before it’s too late. It’s definitely on my “to-do” list for as soon as possible as I’ve been working on more fun soap recipes. If you are interested in making it soon, though, I’m happy to try to look for it and send it to you privately.
As for diluting the soap…
I really don’t measure anything out when it comes to the dilutions. Let’s see if I can give you an idea of my system, though.
Right now I have two small jars of the paste in a cupboard, one of the coconut oil and one of the olive oil soap. Then, I also have two large glass jars in one of my bathrooms in which I added some distilled water to some of the paste to get a thick liquid soap. I have that as sort of a middle point for mixing up the soaps I need because it’s easy to further dilute the thick liquid soap than the paste, so you can mix up batches to use immediately. (I hope that makes sense.)
I actually just made a new batch of soap for our shower just around 2 hours ago, so I’ll tell you what I did this time. 🙂
I took some distilled water and filled an empty plastic soap bottle to around halfway. I then took a big syringe to add some olive oil and coconut oil soap until the bottle was full. I added around 2/3 olive oil soap and 1/3 coconut oil soap, but I don’t measure it; I do it by eye. I think that’s a good combination for shower. We’ve been using that sort of combination for a few batches now and the whole family likes it. Today I added a few drops of lavender essential oil to give it a scent. Each time I’ve tried different essential oils.
I will admit that when I mix up the soaps together, they tend to get cloudy (I’m not exactly sure why) and don’t stay as clear as the individual soaps in the picture. I don’t have a problem with that, but some people really want a clear soap, so I think it’s worth mentioning.
I’m about to start experimenting with using the coconut oil soap, mainly, for washing clothes. I hadn’t gotten around to trying it yet because I was finishing up a batch of homemade detergent. My batch is almost used up, though, so I’ll be trying it out soon.
I also want to try it for my dishwasher, but I haven’t tried that yet either.
So far, we’ve just been using it mainly in the shower and as a hand soap. My hope is that by the time I get my coconut oil soap recipe up, I’ll have done more experimenting with more cleansing applications and I’ll be able to comment on those more.
If you do give it a try, I’d love to hear how it goes for you! I’m also happy to answer any questions as best I can along the way.
I checked out your website, and I like the idea. I like the idea of trying to make the world a better place little by little. Keep it up!
Tracy this is pure genius! Best tutorial for making the real deal liquid castile soap from scratch!
Thanks, Krystal! 🙂
Hello Tracy.
Thank you for the great post,it is so inspiring :).
I am making the soap today,but after cooking for 12 hours the clear test in still milky,the (KOH) was milky as well when I started,after 2-3 hours of dissolving. Is my KOH not good or it might be from the water? I used mineral water,not distilled 🙁
Thank you 🙂
Hello Latinka,
Well, it could be due to a number of factors.
If your water is hard, that can affect your outcome.
Also, my recipe was made pretty precisely so that beginners wouldn’t “need” to neutralize their soaps. Most liquid soap recipes use a “lye excess” meaning that not enough oils are used, and leftover lye will remain in the soap. This is done to help ensure a clear soap, but means you have the added step of needing to “neutralize” the soap. It’s possible that if there was an excess of oils in your soap, that the final soap may not turn out perfectly clear.
That doesn’t mean that your soap won’t work, though, and is purely cosmetic.
If it were me, I’d just save what you have and give it a try.
My guess is that you have made a perfectly useable liquid soap that may just be a little cloudy. With some luck, in the heat of the summer, your soap will turn transparent.
Mine is cloudy this time of year, but clears up as the weather gets warmer.
Thanks alot for this article it has been eye opening. So I was wondering if you can possibly send a formulation sheet to use so we know the percentage of each ingredient. This is so we know the quantity to use for smaller and larger batches.
I hope to get a reply soon.
Hi Susan,
I’m sorry I missed this before, but you may notice that I have changed my recipe card so that you can adjust the amounts up or down quite easily to adjust the size of your batch. (Just change the number in the “servings” box!)