Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 1 hr
Yields: 1200 g soap or 10 bars
Snow is a pure white soap with a special blend of pine, litsea cubeba and spearmint essential oils, which captures the fresh, crisp fragrance of a snow blanketed pine forest. The recipe uses only natural ingredients, is palm-free and vegan. The perfect soap gift for the environmentally and health conscious friend!
The mold I used for this tutorial is the silicon loaf mold with the wooden support box. The essential oils and other soap ingredients are all available from Pure Nature.
If you have never made cold-process soap before, I strongly suggest you check out the basic cold process soap tutorial first.
Before starting, please read the safety and precautions post, especially since this tutorial requires the handling of caustic soda!
ONE: To prepare the lye, first measure out the water in a heat proof Pyrex jug. Next, in a separate container (I use a little plastic cup for this), weigh out the caustic soda. Make sure you are wearing protective goggles and gloves. Carefully, add the caustic soda to the water (NEVER THE OTHER WAY ROUND!), and avoiding any splashes, stir until the lye water is clear. Add two teaspoons of sodium lactate, which will help harden the soap and set aside to cool.
TWO: In a separate large Pyrex jug, weigh out the coconut oil. Heat in the microwave on high for 1 minute, and then stir until the coconut oil has completely melted.
THREE: Weigh out the olive oil and castor oil to the now-liquid coconut oil, and give the oils another quick stir.
FOUR: Make sure you are still wearing your goggles and gloves. Once the lye has cooled down to room temperature, carefully add it to the oils and then using a stick blender, pulse and stir until the oil/lye mixture has emulsified (does not separate).
FIVE: Mix 2 teaspoons of titanium dioxide with the same amount of water, and add it to the soap. Stir it in well.
SIX: Add the essential oils and keep stick blending the soap mixture until it has thickened to a medium trace.
SEVEN: Using a star shaped cookie cutter, imprint star shapes onto the surface of the soap. Just push it in lightly and lift it out again. Because of the medium consistency, the imprint will leave slight star shaped ridges in the soap.
EIGHT: Give the surface of the soap a spray with 99% isopropyl alcohol, this will avoid soap ash from forming on the surface. Leave the soap to harden in the mold for a couple of days.
NINE: After 2 or 3 days, check if the soap has hardened and isn’t sticky and soft anymore. Carefully unmold, and leave to dry out for another couple of days before cutting it into bars. The bars of soap will need a further 8 weeks to cure before they are ready for use.
Snow soap
Ingredients
- 650g olive oil
- 300g coconut oil
- 50g castor oil
- 141g caustic soda
- 2 teaspoons sodium lactate
- 2 teaspoons titanium dioxide
- 20 ml pine essential oil
- 15 ml litsea cubeba essential oil
- 5 ml spearmint essential oil
Directions
- Measure out 280 ml of water into a heat proof Pyrex jug. Weigh out 141 g of caustic soda and carefully add it to the water, avoiding any splashes. Gently stir until all the caustic soda has dissolved and the lye water is clear.
- Add 2 teaspoon of sodium lactate to the lye water. Set the lye aside to cool down.
- In a large heat proof Pyrex jug, weigh out the coconut oil. Heat in microwave for 1 minute on high, and then stir until the coconut oil has fully melted.
- Add the olive oil and castor oil to the now-liquid coconut oil and give it another quick stir.
- Once the lye has cooled down to room temperature, and making sure you are still wearing protective goggles and gloves, carefully add the lye to the oils.
- Using a stick blender, pulse and stir until the oil/lye mixture has emulsified.
- Mix 2 teaspoons of titanium dioxide with 2 teaspoons of water, and stir it into the emulsion.
- Add the essential oils and keep stick blending until the soap mixture has thickened to a medium trace.
- Pour the soap into the mold and with a star shaped cookie cutter, imprint stars onto the surface of the soap. Give the surface a quick spray with isopropyl alcohol.
- Leave to harden in the mold for a couple of days.
- After 2-3 days, check if the soap is firm enough to unmold. Remove from mold and leave to dry for another couple of days, before cutting into bars. The bars will need further curing for about 8 weeks until ready for use.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I want to use other essential oils other than what you have mentioned . How much do I add?
Hi Anu! As a general guideline I use about 3% in my soap recipes. However, keep in mind that some essential oils have a lower recommended usage rate due to skin sensitivity and irritants. Essential oils like cinnamon come to mind.
Hello Jackie, I would like to try this recipe. What is the superfat % you are using in this recipe? Thanks in advance.
I usually use a 5% superfat in my recipes
Thank you for sharing that detail. It was fascinating and insightful. Continue to share useful resources over these blogs…
Thank you! <3