Finished Honey Soap
Honey is a fantastic substance. It is great sweetener and a natural humectant. It is fabulous drizzled over baked goods or one’s morning oatmeal. It is also terrific in cosmetics and masks. So how do we incorporate a little more honey into our lives? How about in our soap? Curious?
Weighing Oils
So why add honey to soap? Honey is a natural humectant, meaning that is draws moisture out of the air and retains it. It is also said to add lather to the soap. Let’s go test this out!
| Ingredients Coconut Oil Hydrogenated Soybean Oil Olive Oil Water Lye Honey |
Equipment Scale Microwave Safe Container Spoons Pipettes |
Recipe:
| Recipe in Grams 170 grams Coconut Oil 170 grams Hydrogenated Soybean Oil 113 grams Olive Oil 177 mL Water 65 grams Lye 7 grams Honey |
Recipe in Ounces 6 oz Coconut Oil 6 oz Hydrogenated Soybean Oil 4 oz Olive Oil 6 fl oz Water 2.31 oz Lye 0.25 oz Honey |
Recipe in Percentages 37.5% Coconut Oil 37.5% Hydrogenated Soybean Oil 25% Olive Oil Q.S. Water Q.S. Lye Q.S. Honey |
Melted Oils and Lye Solution Ready to Go
Note: If you want to measure your honey using a volume measure, we will be using 1 tsp of honey for this recipe today.
Weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until they become liquid. While your oils are heat weigh out the sodium hydroxide. Add the lye to the 6 oz of water. Never add water to your lye container. It can cause a dangerous volcano. Your safety is of the utmost importance. When your oils and lye solution are at about 110º F, add the lye solution to the oil mixture. Mix until you reach a light trace.
Measuring Honey
At this point, you can add your honey. I like to have my honey sitting in a warm water bath so it is easier and faster to get it into my batch of soap. I also like to hand stir the honey into the soap. This prevents over mixing and pudding like consistencies. Pour the soap into a mold. Allow to sit for at least 12 hours. Cut and allow the soap to cure.
Ready to Mix Soap
If you are not sure if the soap is fully cured, check out this post. It helps makes sense of the mysterious cure time and dispels some popular and dangerous myths. If you need help keeping track of your curing soap, try our fabulous cure cards. We can even include them into qualifying orders for free! Enjoy your soap!
Mixing Soap
Notes: When I added the honey to my raw soap and stirred it in, there was a rather intense color change. The soap went from more of an soft yellow color to a burnt orange. It was a somewhat startling color change. The next day when I went to cut the soap, the soap was a beige color.
Adding Honey to Raw Soap
If you will be making your own honey soaps, please keep in mind that we recommend you do not exceed 1 tsp of honey per lb of fat. This is a luxury ingredient where a little goes a very long way. Happy soap making!
Mixing Honey into Soap What a color change!
Soap in the mold
I’ve been looking for a recipe with honey. And came across one of your recent posts. I was going to try with virgin coconut oil, calendula and avocado oil with the same amounts you have with your other oils. Using your calculator and using 6% excess fat , I get 76.5 gr of lye.
I’m new to the soap making and wondering why it changes so much?
Erin,
Different oils have different requirements. Think of oils as though they are people. Not all people are alike. For that, I am thankful! I have a hard enough time finding shoes in my size, if everyone were my size then I would never find shoes!
Tina
Thanks. I was just surprised that it was so different! I’m excited to try a batch with honey as I put honey in my lotions and lip balm and is so nice.