When you think of an unscented soap, do you think of blah or boring? It doesn't have to be. An unscented bar can be just as pretty and luxurious as a scented bar. Today I am sharing how to make a Turmeric & Honey cold process soap. This is by far my most popular unscented soap that I make. Not only is it made with some luxurious skin loving ingredients but it has a rich warm orange color with accents of white and gold so it looks like an artisan soap too.
Also don't be fooled by this being unscented to think it won't have a smell to it. You still get the warm slightly nutty aroma from the various oils and butters that the soap is made with, we just aren't adding any additional scents.
If you have never worked with honey in a cold process soap there are a few points to keep in mind before you get started. Because of it's sugar content honey can heat up your soap batter so you will want to keep an eye on your soap once it's in the mold to make sure it does not overheat. If you notice any cracking or if it feels overly warm then make sure to pop the mold in the refrigerator to cool it off. In general it is best to keep the amount of honey used to 1 tsp per pound of soap to avoid any sort of overheating or accelerated trace. I like to add a little bit of water to the honey and heat it up slightly before pouring it into my soap batter to make it easier to incorporate into the other oils and butters. What's the benefit of adding in the honey? Besides having some amazing skin benefits, honey also will increase the lather of your soap and we all know that the lather is where it's at:)
I also chose to use turmeric and coconut milk in this soap for not only their skin benefits but as natural colorant options. The only non natural colorant used in this soap is a little shimmering gold mica as an accent color. If you wanted to stay 100% natural you could leave the mica out but it makes the top of the soap bar in my opinion.
If you are new to soap making, please be sure you have done your research on how to formulate a cold process soap recipe as well as how to work with lye before trying your hand at this soap. If you check out Brambleberry or Royalty Soaps on YouTube, they both have excellent videos on the fundamentals you will need to know before making your first batch of soap.
The soap batter recipe I used for this soap is listed below. Just plug these numbers into any of the online soap calculators(no need to put the additives in) along with your mold size and it will give you the proper amount of each oil and the amount of water and lye to use.
Sweet Almond Oil 5%
Castor Oil 5%
Sunflower Oil 5%
Cocoa Butter 15%
Coconut Oil 30%
Olive Oil 40%
Superfat 5%
Water as % of oils 35%
1 Tablespoon Honey
1-2 Tablespoons Turmeric Powder
1 Tablespoon Coconut Milk Powder
1 Tablespoon Sodium Lactate in the Lye Water(optional)
To Make:
Once I had my oils and lye water ready, I added my lye water to my oils and blended to a light trace. From here I sectioned off a small amount to use for my white portion of the soap.
To my main batter I added the honey along with my Turmeric powder and to my other container I added in my coconut milk powder. I also had a small container of my batch oils blended with some Shimmering Gold Mica in a third container.
Now it's time to blend in your colorants. I blended the coconut milk powder container first and then the turmeric. For this soap I did an in the pot swirl and a mica drop which means, I poured the container with the coconut milk into the container with the turmeric powder in it at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. I then did the same thing with the oil with the shimmering gold mica in it, saving a little back for the top of the soap. I then ran my spatula through the batter to make sure it was swirled.
Next I poured the batter into the mold and then tapped down firmly to remove any air bubbles.
Once I scrapped out my coconut milk and turmeric containers completely into the mold, I ran a chopstick through the batter in a large circle motion starting from the short end of the soap to make sure there was swirls throughout the loaf.
Next comes my favorite part of the soap which is swirling the top. I drizzled the remaining mica and oil on the top then used the end of a bamboo skewer to swirl and voila that is all there is to making this amazing soap.
This soap typically sets up and is ready to cut within 18-24 hours and I let it cure 4 weeks before selling or using.
If you are interested in any of the products I used in this soap, check out the links 👇 below:
*Product Links*
Essential Oils & Additives:
Colorants:
Molds & Other Soap Equipment:
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