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Writer's pictureSurya

Cold Process Soap Recipes for Beginners

Updated: Aug 14, 2024




It can be overwhelming to formulate cold process soap recipes as a beginner. Fret not! Here are some easy recipes to help you get started!


Basic Cold Process Soap with Palm Oil

Olive Oil – 125gCoconut Oil – 125gPalm Oil – 125gCastor Oil – 25g

Sodium Hydroxide – 57gDistilled Water – 114g


Basic Cold Process Soap with Butters (Palm Free)

Olive Oil – 140gCoconut Oil – 120gCocoa Butter – 60gShea Butter – 60gCastor Oil – 20g

Sodium Hydroxide – 56gDistilled Water – 112g


Bastille Soap (Extremely Gentle Soap)

Olive Oil – 300gCoconut Oil – 80gCastor Oil – 20g Sodium Hydroxide – 54gDistilled Water – 81g

This recipe is very high in olive oil and hence, will need a longer cure time to make it hard enough to use comfortably. All the same, it is a great recipe for beginners to understand the behavior of olive oil in soap.


Shea Butter Soap (Palm Free)

Olive Oil – 140gCoconut Oil – 140gShea Butter – 100gCastor Oil – 20g

Sodium Hydroxide – 56gDistilled Water – 112g


Almond Oil Soap with Palm Oil (Luxury)

Olive Oil – 100gCoconut Oil – 100gPalm Oil – 100gSweet Amond Oil – 40gCocoa Butter – 40gCastor Oil – 20g

Sodium Hydroxide – 56gDistilled Water – 112g


Almond Oil Soap (Palm Free)

Olive Oil – 120gCoconut Oil – 120gSweet Almond Oil – 40gCocoa Butter – 40gMango Butter – 40gKokum Butter – 20gCastor Oil – 20g

Sodium Hydroxide – 56.3gDistilled Water – 112.6g


These are all 400g oil recipes with a built in superfat (5-7%) which yields approximately 4*125g bars. If you modify a recipe or switch out an oil, make sure to run it through a soap calculator such as SoapCalc.


These cold process soap recipes are designed with beginners in mind. They can help kickstart a soapmaking journey directly without having to figure out the nitty-gritty of formulating soap recipes right from the start!

Happy Soapmaking!


Let me know if you have any additional basic recipes to share in the comments below!

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