Ivory’s Liquid Soap
2.5 oz NaOH
8 oz water
5 oz coconut oil
1 oz castor oil
11 oz vegetable shortening
1. Warm your oils until liquefied and sprinkle the lye into your water.
2. When they’re cool enough to touch, slowly pour lye water into fats.
3. Blend.
4. Stop when you a drip stays visible on the surface for a few seconds.
5. Pour into a jar or other non-reactive container.
6. Insulate and allow to rest for 24 hours.
7. Find a BIG bowl. Dilute soap with water, slowly stirring to get the consistency you want. I add a few cups at a time and then let it rest. It thickens. Near the end (around 64 ounces of added water) I hit it with the stick blender to break up any chunks.
9. Funnel into your containers.
I got nearly a gallon of soap out of this recipe. WOW! VERY economical. The most bang for your buck I’ve seen.
We use it for everything, but coconut oil is notoriously drying so be careful with your hair. I’ve been using it and it has a serious SQUEAK when rinsed. So, if you have hair that breaks easily, be careful. Also, this is a BUBBLY soap, so no dishwashers or washing machines unless you want a foam flood.
Ivory
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Where do you get KOH?
I order it on the net from a soap supply company.
so in this recipe you’re using potassium hydroxide, right?
Either one. NaOH makes a lot more, but wants to go jello on you as it ages. KOH takes several days of sitting around and being stirred back together to stop the separation and makes much less. Just depends on what you’re after, giant piles of something that will squeeze out of a shampoo bottle, or something that you can ‘gift’ in a pump and know that the recipient will never have to shake it.
so it’s all about aesthetics? that’s wonderful. so, if you use NaOH, how does it not turn into a mason jar shaped bar of soap?
You can find lye at most hardware stores, it’s typically used to open clogged drains, so you can usually find it with the drain openers/chemicals. Make sure that it only contains lye, there are some products that have some other additives like metal.
Hi guys!
My husband and I are all new to this, and I’m kind of confused on some of the terms ya’ll were using and was hoping you might possibly take some time to clear a few things up for me.
KOH?
NaOH?
Thank you for you time and help!
Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide. They’re the two kinds of lye used to make soap. Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) is used to make bar soap. Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) creates a soap that won’t solidify.
Could you substitute the coconut oil with a different type of oil? In case you have the breaky dry hair?
Is coconut oil drying? I have very dry skin and I use it daily on my face. I would like to know if that is a bad idea.
@lissie–do you use the oil itself, or a soap made from the oil?
@Jen–I’m sure you could, but it wouldn’t be as bubbly.
To make this or the bar soap recipe colorful would you add regular food coloring or would it have to be something special?
THX, Jackie
This is really useful thank you!
I have loved making fragrances ever since i was younger. I have looking at some of these amazing looking soaps that are now available and have been searching for ways of making them.
So again many thanks for the help!
This is great. Just wondering what the first ingredient is? NaOH? And where do I get it? Also the coconut oil – where can I get this inexpensively?
Coconut oil comes from Walmart and the lye can be ordered online…or if you can find it at Lowes or Depot….it’s Roebic crystal drain opener.
Hmmm…. I don’t know what went wrong. I let it rest but it hardened and I had to cut it in chunks to get it out of the jar. Then they were so hard I had to put a chunk in the Bullet with some water to blend it up. It was looking pretty good but now it looks like brown water and its not thick at all. I was wondering if my lye was the wrong kind but I am not sure, would it make a difference which one I used? I think I might try bar soap, I am not giving up.:)
You used NaOH? I use that all the time. Yes, it will harden a bit, but overnight it shouldn’t be THAT hard. But I don’t know what was brown. Did you put in any additives?
I am a newbie with soap making. I have had great success with cold processing except when it comes to coloring? Any suggestions….I’ve used the colorings for candles…my instructions also suggested crayons….spices works very well…but my colors are not coming out..please help
@BetsY–I don’t color, so I don’t really know. Have you checked Kathy Miller’s site? She knows everything about it.
what a great site!
@jaki–Thank you!
Glad I found your article on liquid soap. Have 50 lbs. of NaOH that I bought to make my homemade soap and now I have something else to use it on. Anyways, I made some liquid hand soap yesterday as per your article and it came out great
I’m using my current hand soap dispensers, those that you push down and squirts the soap onto your hand, and was wondering if you recommend those or are they going to plug up really quick? Is that what you use or what do you use? Thanks again.
@Alma I find that they work just fine. You might have to shake it, or add some more water from time to time, but I’ve never had it plug.
Hi Ivory,
Have you tried using this for hand washing dishes? I’m guessing so since you say you use it for everything, but thought I’d ask. I’ve been looking for a recipe for dishwashing soap for a while now.
Do you need to use a certain type of pan for the soap making and mixing of lye and water? I thought I’d heard about not using anodized pans…or something to the like.
What kind of pans to your recommend?
raeofsunshine–No aluminum, and if your lye/water container is plastic, make sure it is a thick plastic. Stainless steel pans are good. Enamelware tends to have nicks exposing the underlying corrosive metal, so be careful with those kinds of pans. Hope this helps!
sounds great, but is this soap ready to use??
I am new to soaping myself but have learned that vanilla additives will typically go brown. Did you use vanilla for fragrance, Lonna?
Another question, please: You say this makes good suds? Does it cut grease properly for dishes?