Beeswax and honey make a sweet smelling soap

Beeswax and honey make a sweet smelling soap

Honey soap smells of caramelized honey and will usually turn a golden brown color. By adding a little beeswax into the mix you’re making a truly bee-autiful soap that is also hard and smooth. Be careful with how much beeswax you use in soap though, using more than 2% of your recipe can stop it from lathering up.

Honey, Oats and Beeswax Soap
700g batch – makes approx. 6-7 bars
5% superfat

98g (3.5oz) Sodium Hydroxide
200g (7oz) Water
210g (7.4oz) Refined Coconut oil
301g (10.6oz) Olive oil
105g (3.7oz) Castor oil
70g (2.5oz) Sustainable Palm oil
14g (0.5oz) Beeswax
1 tsp Honey
1 tsp Rolled Oats
9 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract

1. Make sure there are no kids running around and that all pets are locked out of your work area. Lye can be very dangerous if it’s spilled on the skin, splashed into the eyes or is accidentally ingested. Put on your safety goggles, apron and plastic gloves to continue.

2. Measure all your oils into a pan and your water into a heat resistant, tall container.

3. Begin heating up the oils on the hob until just melted. Put the hob on the lowest heat — the oils will take less time to melt than you think.

4. While the oils are heating up, measure the lye into the water in a well ventilated area, stir well and try not to breathe the fumes. The mixture will get very hot and may even begin boiling so keep your face well away and if you can. Add the honey if you want your soap to be a darker brown colour.

You can then place the container of lye in a tub of water to help it cool down a bit but keep an eye on its temperature to make sure it doesn’t get too cold. Cold lye water can cause your beeswax to harden on contact creating a false trace and ruining your soap.

5. When both the oil and lye water are around 120°F (and within 10 degrees of each other) you can mix them together.

Start by pouring in about two tablespoons of lye-water into the oil and stir well before pouring in the rest.