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Handmade Lavender Soap Recipe

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Looking for a simple handmade lavender soap recipe to get your started on your soap making journey? You’re in the right place!

Looking for a simple handmade lavender soap recipe to get your started on your soap making journey? You’re in the right place!

A friend and I were talking about a bar of homemade soap a few days ago. “This is the kind of stuff people wish they could make, but they go buy it at the farmer’s market instead”. 

“Why?” I asked. “Why don’t they just make their own if they wish they could?”

But I know why. 

I know because I was that person. 

I’ve gone through the evolution of thinking that most homemade soap is heavy and greasy, so making good homemade soap must be hard – even a simple lavender soap recipe. 

homemade lavender soap recipe

Then, I learned that good homemade soap was easy to make, but still, I wouldn’t make it because I was afraid of lye. 

You see, when I was younger – I don’t remember how old exactly, but probably in my early teens – a pre-schooler from our church nearly died when she found a budget – yes a bucket – of lye in her mother’s pantry, and, thinking it was sugar, attempted to eat some. 

That poor child spent a long time in the hospital not being sure if she’d ever be able to swallow real food again. 

And while, Little House On The Prairie obsessed child that I was, I had always wanted to make my own soap, from that time, I was also terrified to use actual lye, because if I couldn’t even keep my keepsake doll from being torn up by my six younger siblings, how could I find a safe enough place to hide lye; my lavender bar soap recipe would have to wait.

So yes. I totally understand why a person buys homemade soap, rather than making it themselves 100%. 

The rub is that once you’ve tried homemade soap, you never want to go back to buying commercial soap. 

Soap that’s had every nourishing quality removed from it, leaving you only with a bar of hard, skin-drying detergent. Effective at killing germs and removing dirt? Yes. But at making your skin feel good? Not so much. 

But what’s a gal to do when she doesn’t want inferior soap, but also doesn’t want to pay farmer’s market prices? 

Look, I’ll be the first to tell you some things are worth the money, but with soap? Well, it really is easy to make. Especially with a handmade lavender soap recipe.

I finally got over my fear of lye when I Gabe and I got married. For the first time in my life, there were no little people around to worry about, so I bit the bullet, ordered lye, and tried my hand at soap making. I suppose that now that I do have kids, I’ve become desensitized to the risk – since I’ve had lye longer than I’ve had them. 

But I also keep my lye locked up, and to their shock, don’t allow them to help make soap. 

Yes folks, soap making has become one of mommy’s solitary hobbies – and if you have kids, you know both how hard it is to find time for solo hobbies, and how it fills your soul when you do. 

The nice thing about soap is that it’s not just something you do for fun – it’s also productive – which means that asking your husband to keep the kids for half an hour is not just justified, it feels a lot less selfish. 

It’s necessary!

homemade lavender soap recipe

I love homemade soap so much – I love playing with different oil combinations, and essential oil combinations to get the most luxurious lather to go with the best smell – that it’s a no-brainer for me. 

This simple lavender soap recipe is one of my favorites. And granted, I feel that way about most of my soap recipes – rosemary-mint goat milk soap, oatmeal lavender goat milk soap, coffee scrub soap -they’re my babies. But you can’t go wrong with the soft floral scent of lavender. It’s really perfect for a relaxing shower at the end of the day, and a great way to support your skin against acne, wrinkles, psoriasis, and other inflammatory conditions. 

Simple Lavender Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  1. Measure out your ingredients carefully. I highly recommend not opening your lye until you’re ready to measure, and immediately mix it in with your water or milk – especially if you live in a humid area where your lye will absorb moisture and stick to, or lump up in your measuring device.
  2. In a well-ventilated place – preferably outside, pour water or goat milk into a large, non-reactive bowl – either glass or high-quality stainless steel.
  3. sprinkle lye granules on top of milk, and stir with a non-reactive spoon or spatula until lye is dissolved.
  4. Let mixture sit and cool until it reaches about 100 degrees.
  5. In the meantime, melt the oil, and cool to 100 degrees. I like to use an instant infrared thermometer, but a candy thermometer will work as well.
  6. When the temperatures match, gently pour the oil into the milk/lye mixture.
  7. Mix with an immersion blender for 5-15 minutes until your soap mixture reaches a trace. If you’re not sure what a trace is, read this article with descriptive pictures.
  8. Stir in essential oil and mix well.
  9. Pour soap mixture into a prepared mold. I got this loaf mold from amazon and double this recipe to fill it.
  10. Carefully move your full mold to a place where it can sit undisturbed for at least 24 hours.
  11. Cover with a cardboard or plastic box, and then with a towel or blanket to insulate.
  12. After 24-48 hours, you can remove your soap from the molds
  13. Place soap back in a place where it won’t be disturbed, and let cure for at least three weeks before using to complete the saponification process, sweat, and become harder.

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7 Comments

  1. Hi Elise, I really enjoy your post! I have been wanting to make goatmilk soap for a long time and I think I finally have everything I need! (including my own dairy goat! =) ) I was wondering if Palm oil can be used instead of the Veg. or Canola oil in your recipes? also how do you heat the oil to melt? (on stove, microwave, etc.) I look forward to trying out your soap recipes! Thanks! ~ Sarah

    1. Hi Sarah! Congratulations on your goat! 🙂 You may want to run your formula through a lye calculator when you change the oil types to make sure you get the ratio right.

      I usually melt my oils over the stove, but you can also use the microwave – it doesn’t really matter.

  2. The brilliant recipe! I love lavender essential oil much. Actually, I think that essential oils are universal products which can be used for many purposes. As a mother, I use only eco-friendly cleaning products to protect my family from harmful chemicals. It is really important, therefore I do soaps, product for cleaning and air freshener by myself.
    All you need are baking soda or vinegar, essential oils, and water 🙂 The best recipe for cleaning I have ever used is the cleanser for everything. You need 1/2 c white vinegar, 2 Tbsp baking soda, 10 drops tea tree, lavender, or lemon essential oil. And I swear you will clean with this mix everything! You can find a lot of recipes on the internet 🙂

  3. Should you pour the oil into the lye solution, or pour the lye solution into the oil? From what I’ve read, pouring the oil into the lye solution is a huge problem…or am I remembering wrong?

  4. I just tried the above recipe for the lavender soap; I changed the calculations to grams to be more readable on my digital scale. It never did reach trace, so I finally just poured it into my molds. Could you tell me the possible reason it didn’t set up?

    1. Mine never reached trace either!!! Overheated my brand new immersion blender trying ans I have made 20+ batches of soap before – terrible

  5. I really like your recipe because the instructions are easy to understand and follow. May i just ask if we can just leave out the vegetable or canola oil? I dont have it on hand.
    Your quick response will be much appreciated.
    Thank you very much.

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