DIY 100% coconut oil face soap with oats and honey

I have to admit that although I have been making my own cosmetic products for a few years I am still relatively unexperienced in soap making (I have so far made only a few kinds of soap). As a result I usually aim for rather simple DIY soap projects. 

To explain a bit, its not that I find soap making especially challenging. Making a good face cream or lotion can be even more challenging at time. Its also not that I don't consider it fun or that I am afraid of working with lye (quite the opposite, I am a chemist after all...). It just so happens to be that the last few years I have been living in small apartments - first a studio and now a one bedroom apartment and lets be honest this is no ideal place for soap making. In my current apartment I have a big terrace, which makes it more convenient for such projects (its a good idea to work outdoors when dissolving lye), but still I don't have the space to make a big batch of soap and leave it to cure. 

This is why I lack the soap making skills that come with experience and when I was looking to choose a face soap recipe I decided to work with only one oil as I wanted to simplify the process of soap making as much as possible (although if you read my last blog post you already know I plan on making more soaps in 2016!).
I chose coconut oil as it is considered to make a hard soap, with great lather and I liked the idea of a nice, plain white soap. 

Eventually as with all of my DIY projects my idea evolved and was far from a plain white soap. Instead I obtained a rich looking creamy beige soap with honey and pieces of oatmeal in it! 

Although a few luxurious products are added to the soap at the end it is probably one of the easiest recipes you'll ever make. 

Before I share my new recipe with you I would like to comment on the choice of an one oil soap. If you have some knowledge/experience with soap making you already know that traditionally soaps are make from a blend of a few different oils or butters. Usually around 5-7 different oils/butters are mixed to obtain appropriate hardness, lather, and to avoid the soap from being too drying for skin. Therefore using one oil to make a soap seems like a rather odd idea, especially when coconut oil is chosen. Coconut oil soap is considered to be so efficient at breaking up oil and grease that it can be drying for skin. 

A 100% coconut oil soap is known to have great lather so the only problem is that it can be too drying for one's skin. How to avoid this? Well luckily there is something called "superfatting".  This means adding an extra amount of the oil, which causes the soap to be less drying and have moisturising properties. Perfect for sensitive body parts like the skin on your face!

In this recipe a 20% superfatting was chosen, but depending on personal preferences this can be modified of course. 

If you have never made soap before please first have a look at my previous blog post on Soap making basics:
http://plainandpure.blogspot.be/2015/12/soap-making-basics.html

Always remember to follow necessary safety precautions when working with lye!

Ingredients:

976 g coconut oil 
143 g lye (sodium hydroxide)
370 g water
1 Tbsp honey (I use a local Belgian honey)
1 Tbsp grounded oats

To make this soap suitable for face cleaning of even sensitive skin no fragrance/essential oils have been added. I have also chosen not to use any color additives and leave the soap to have its natural color originating from he honey and oats. You are of course free to add some fragrances and colorants if you'd like. 

Preparation:

To make this soap follow the typical procedure for making cold processed soap

- weight of the coconut oil on a digital scale and melt in a pan

- dissolve the lye in cold water and leave to cool down (remember to wear gloves, googles and long sleeves and to work in a well ventilated area!)

- wait till both the lye solution and the melted coconut oil reach more or less the same temperature, then slowly add the lye solution to the oil while mixing with a spoon

- mix with a spoon until the texture is smooth

- next carefully mix it with a blender stick until it reaches trace (a custard-like structure)

- add the oatmeal and honey and mix everything well by spoon (you will notice that the soap becomes orange-beige at this point, this is due to the oatmeal and honey) 

- pour the soap into prepared moulds (this amount fit in 6 large cupcake moulds) 

- leave the soap to stand in the moulds overnight (although they will harden already after a few hours)

- gently remove the soaps from their moulds and leave them to dry in a well ventilated area for several weeks (turn them over every few days so that they dry from all sides equally)

- use soap after 4-5 weeks or later

Important:

Something that I noticed while making this soap is that thick trace is reached very quickly.  
Or at least I though it was trace, but really it was false trace. 
When preparing soap in a cold process beware of false trace. This occurs when soap batter appears to have a thick custard like consistency, but the oils/butters have  not saponified (turned into soap). This often happens with solid oils and butters (such as coconut oil) when working at a too low temperature. The soap batter can then begin to thicken due to the oils and butters solidifying and not because the saponification process is taking place. To prevent this from happening make sure that you do not work at a too low temperature (keep in mind the temperature the used oils/butters will solidify at). 

The results:

After 5 weeks I have tested my 100% coconut oil face soap with oats and honey. What is the result? 
The soap has a beige color and it is hard. It lathers very well and does not feel too drying to my skin even when I wash my face with it. 
It also has a delicately exfoliating feel to it (due to the oatmeal). 

Although it might not be the most beautiful soap you will ever make it is all natural, easy to make, and friendly for your skin (even sensitive skin). You can obviously use some fancy moulds to give the soap a more interesting look.