Honey and Beeswax Soap 2

Finished Honey and Beeswax Soap

I had a lot of fun experimenting with honey and beeswax in soap. But what about putting them together? What kinds of risks and challenges might one face? What will the finished soap be like? Today, I wanted to make a soap containing both honey and beeswax so that we can answer these questions. Join me in the blog kitchen for some sweet fun!

I am really curious about combining both honey and beeswax in soap. In the soaping world, we generally recognize sugars as heat sensitive ingredients. Honey is no different. So how do we make soap using one ingredient that requires high heat for mixing but another requires low heat? Are you ready to find out?

Recipe:

Weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until they become liquid. While your oils are heating, 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 are at about 160º F and lye solution are at about 110º F, add the lye solution to the oil mixture. Mix until you reach a light trace.

The reason why there is such a large temperature difference between the two mixtures is because we do not want to beeswax to solidify nor do we want the soap to overheat. The difference in temperatures allows for the soap to be mixed without volcanoing out of the mold. Once light trace has been achieved, add the honey.

I like to have had 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.

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!

Notes: When I added the honey to my raw soap and stirred it in, there was a color change but it didn’t seem as drastic as my plain honey soap. I can’t figure out why. What did seem fairly drastic was when my soap started to gel. It became a very dark brown, almost black in appearance. I was afraid it would get so hot that the soap would crack but it did not.

When I cut the soap 12 hours later, the soap was a deep tan color. It also smelled like burnt sugar, somewhat like a dark caramel. I was really surprised by the odor because my other soaps had such minimal odor, it wasn’t very noticeable.

I tested the soap at the sink and was pleasantly surprised by the rich, frothy lather that was produced. Wow! Talk about incredible. I even used this bar on my face and am pleased by the results. It is not drying but does not feel heavy either. After patting my face dry, my skin felt like I had put on a very small amount of light moisturizer on it. I think this bar has a permanent place in my bathroom.

If you will be adding honey and beeswax to your soap, please keep the following in mind: we recommend you do not exceed 1 tsp of honey per pound of fat. We also recommend that you do not exceed 0.5 oz of beeswax per pound of fat. These are luxury ingredients where a little goes a very long way.  It is also recommending when using temperature sensitive ingredients that you use mold where you do not pour more than 2 inches deep. Happy soapmaking!

Remember, I will be sending samples of these soaps to the shipping department. If you want to try one, let us know through the comment field of your next order.

Adding Lye Solution to Oils

Mixing Soap

Adding Honey

Mixing Honey into Soap

Soap in the mold

Soap going through gel phase

Finished soap