The inspiration for most of my soap recipes is from normal everyday food. And this recipe is no exception. In this blog post, I'm going to show you how to make banana & yoghurt soap.
I decided to make this recipe after my youngest daughter was born and I’ve been making this recipe ever since. As she was being weaned, she loved the bananas and sometimes she liked to have it with yoghurt, as a smoothie. And me being the soapmaker that I am, I immediately wanted to try out a soap with this combination & hence this recipe was born.
Now that you know the inspiration behind this soap, let’s get down to the making!
Banana & Yoghurt Soap Recipe
YIELD – 4 BARS OF SOAP
Oils (400g)
160g olive pomace oil (40%)120g coconut oil (30%)60g cocoa Butter (15%)40g shea butter (10%)20g castor oil (5%)
Lye + Liquids
56.4g distilled water56.4g sodium hydroxide (lye) 28g Banana Puree28g Yoghurt
Additives
10g Lavender Essential Oil10g Geranium Essential Oil INSTRUCTIONS
Weigh & measure all of the ingredients in the recipe.
Wearing protective gloves and eyewear, carefully stir the lye into the distilled water.
Set the lye solution aside in a safe place to cool for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the temperature drops to around 90 to 110˚F (32 to 43˚C).
Melt the hard oils - coconut oil, cocoa butter & shea butter. Once melted, add the other liquid oils to it.
Add the banana puree & yoghurt to the oils & blend well.
Make sure the temperature of the oil mixture is also between 90 to 110˚F (32 to 43˚C).
When the lye solution & oils are within the ideal temperature range, add the cooled lye solution into the oil mixture.
Using a combination of stirring with a spatula and short bursts of an immersion blender, stir the soap until it reaches a light trace (you will be able to see the soap tracing lines when you dribble soap on the surface of the soap)
Add the essential oil blend to the soap batter. Use a spatula or the whisk to incorporate well.
The soap will continue to thicken. Pour into a prepared mold at medium trace.
Cover & insulate the mold for 24-48 hours.
Depending on the mold you used, cut into bars or unmold individual bars.
Allow to cure on coated racks or sheets of wax paper for about 4-6 weeks before using.
Here’s a short video of the soap making process:
Notes
Feel free to use your favorite base recipe or substitute your favorite oils & butters. But make sure you run it through a lye calculator again.
This recipe tends to heat up quickly because of the sugar content of the banana puree. As a result, you do not need much insulation for this recipe. If there is too much inherent heat, chances of cracking will be high.
You can substitute the essential oil blend for one of your own.
If you want to make a bigger batch of this, resize the recipe through a soap calculator
Inspired to give this soap recipe a try??? Go ahead and let me know how it turns out for you!