How to Make Natural Soaps at Home

You can make your own all-natural soap at home using a glycerin soap base, or with lard and lye. Either one will make an excellent homemade soap. You should be aware that lye can be dangerous to work with and care should be taken when handling this product in an undiluted state.

Lard & Lye

1. Melt two-and-a-half pounds of lard in a large pot over a medium heat.


2. Put on safety goggles and rubber gloves, and then open a can of liquid lye.


3. Add six ounces of liquid lye into one gallon of cold water, and then stir the two together until the lye successfully heats up the cold water.


4. Add the water and lye mixture into the melted lard, and stir together until the ingredients are well blended.


5. Add a few drops of food coloring for color if you prefer your soap to be colored. Five to ten drops is usually sufficient.


6. Add between twenty and thirty drops of your choice of different essential oils to add fragrance to your soap.


7. Cook the mixture over a medium heat for approximately two hours.


8. Pour the liquid soap mixture into a greased 9 inch x 13 inch pan or two greased loaf pans, which ever you prefer.


9. Allow the soap to sit and harden overnight and then remove and cut into slices.

Glycerin Based Soap

1. Grease your soap molds that you are going to use with nonstick cooking spray.


2. Heat up some water in the bottom part of a double boiler pan.


3. Add three cubes of glycerin soap base for each bar of soap that you plan to make.


4. Heat the glycerin soap base in the top part of your double boiler until it is melted.


5. Add two drops of food coloring for each bar of soap that you are making. This is optional; add food coloring only if you prefer your soap to be colored.


6. Add five to ten drops of essential oils for every bar of soap that you are making if you prefer your soap to have a fragrance. You can eliminate this step if you do not want fragrant soap.


7. Remove the pan from the heat source and allow it to cool for about fifteen minutes.


8. Pour the glycerin-based soap into your soap molds and allow the molds to sit overnight before removing your bars of soap from the molds.