A Simple Beginner Soap Recipe

If you're new, start with a balanced three-oil recipe (by weight): 40% olive oil, 30% coconut oil, 30% palm oil (or lard/tallow as a palm-free swap).

Why these oils

Olive gives a mild, conditioning bar; coconut adds hardness and big lather; palm/lard adds hardness and a stable, creamy lather. Together they land every soap quality in its recommended range.

Settings

Use 5% superfat and 38% water as % of oils. Run it through the calculator with your batch size to get your exact lye and water, then add fragrance at 3–4%.

Safety first

Always add lye to water (never water to lye), wear gloves and goggles, and work in a ventilated space.