People who suffer from skin conditions like eczema need cleansers that are mild and not over-drying. This sensitive soap recipe is not only easy to make but will replenish the skin with every wash. Though it’s a soap recipe, it uses a natural pre-made soap base so handling lye isn’t required.
This simple soap recipe uses healing calendula oil, rich shea butter, and German chamomile essential oil. The essential oil gives the bars a lovely natural fragrance but it’s also been shown to be effective in the treatment of eczema. It’ smells beautiful and it’s generally non-irritating to sensitive skin, as long as you don’t have an allergy to plants in the ragwort family.
No-Lye Sensitive Soap Recipe
Makes approximately four bars of soap boosted with calendula oil and skin-soothing chamomile essential oil. Takes about 30 minutes to make
This recipe calls for calendula-infused oil and the instructions for making it are below. Please note that you could use any light oil to make it including sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, cold-pressed sunflower oil, or olive oil. The important thing is that you infuse it with high-quality calendula petals. You can grow the flowers yourself or purchase them from a reputable herb seller.
Calendula is a sensitive but powerful skin herb that soothes inflammation and speeds up the healing of minor wounds, burns, and dermatitis-related skin issues. You can also find calendula used in Lovely Greens recipes for rich body cream and thiscalendula cold-process soap recipe. I advocate calendula so much that I’ve even written an ebook that shows you how to grow, harvest, and use calendula in skincare.
More Soap & Skincare Recipes
Rose Facial Soap Recipe (melt-and-pour)
Butterfly Pea Flower Soap Recipe (melt-and-pour)
Neem Oil Soap Recipe (for eczema)
Step 1: Make Calendula-infused oil
You can purchase pre-made calendula oil but it’s actually very easy to make yourself. Fill a clean and dry jam jar with dried calendula flower petals. Pour your choice of liquid oil over the top, filling almost to the brim, and then screw the lid back on. Place the jar inside a brown paper bag and then set it in a warm window sill for 2-3 weeks, shaking the jar every few days.
After two to three weeks have passed, strain the oil from the flowers and into another clean and dry jar. Discard the flower petals. Your calendula oil is complete and has a shelf-life of a year or the expiration date of the oil you used. Whichever is closest.
Step 2: Melt the soap base
Cut the melt-and-pour soap into cubes and melt it with the shea butter using a microwave or the double boiler technique. If using a microwave, heat for 30 seconds at a time and then stir. Repeat until fully melted.
For the stove-top method: Place the soap and shea butter in a pan that’s nested inside a second pan filled with simmering water. The indirect heat will melt the soap in a consistent way without the fear of scorching it. A lid over the pan will help melt the soap quicker and stop evaporation of water from the soap base. Stir occasionally while the soap is melting. When the soap and shea butter are completely melted, take it off of the heat and stir it together with the calendula oil and essential oil.
Step 3: Molding the soap
Working quickly, pour about ¼” of the soap base into silicone soap molds. Sprinkle dried calendula flowers on top and then fill the rest of the mold with the melted calendula soap. If there are bubbles on the surface, lightly mist with rubbing alcohol. This is optional but makes the bars look more professional.
Leave the soap to cool to room temperature before popping the bars out of the mold. This will take at least a few hours but I recommend leaving the soap to cool and harden for six hours or more. Once popped out of the mold, the soap is ready to use and has a shelf life of up to a year.
Melt and pour soap is made without ever touching lye yourself. Purchase the premade soap base, cut it into chunks, and melt it down on the stove top until it becomes liquid. Then, stir in whatever your little soaping heart desires. The melted base is poured into a soap mold, and left to cool and harden back up.
In this method, you're replacing lye with baking soda, both of which are alkalies. However, lye is much stronger than baking soda. Heating up baking soda in the oven turns it from sodium bicarbonate into sodium carbonate, making it a slightly stronger alkali that'll better replace the lye.
Soft, squishy soap can be caused by several factors. One reason may be that not enough lye was used in the recipe. If the soap does not contain enough lye, the oils will not saponify. Another reason for soft soap is there was not enough hard oils or butters (such as coconut oil, palm oil or cocoa butter).
But, no lye = no soap, unless one uses some plant matter, usually dried or fresh. Once the plant matter is saponified with water, it will usually go bad, within a few days. If the soap is made right, there is no lye left.
Castile soap is a true soap that's known to be great on sensitive skin and those prone to allergies. This is due to the hydrating nature of the saponified oils it contains, making it a great natural moisturizer, especially when combined with sugar, as in our Organic Sugar Soaps.
Technically speaking, you cannot make soap without lye. Even most store-bought soaps have lye, albeit it is under clever names you might not recognize under the ingredient list. Lye itself doesn't have to be listed, but you'll notice things like sodium cocoate (coconut oil already reacted with lye).
Is there lye in Dawn dish soap? Yes - it's listed on the packaging as 'Sodium Hydroxide' - otherwise known as lye. However, it isn't used for saponification. It is used as a pH adjuster.
Can soap be made without lye? It's a common myth that glycerin soap is made without lye. While there is no lye introduced into the melt and pour / glycerin base, it does contain soap (or detergent) that WAS made with lye. This makes them safer to use for a weekend crafting project.
Staff Answer We do not recommend adding fixed oils or butters to the soap base, oils like, olive oil or avocado oil. Fragrance oils are just fine to add.
Using lye avoids the use of unnecessary synthetic chemicals larger companies may use that can cause skin irritation or allergies. Because lye creates soap with powerful natural cleansing properties, it makes for an amazing bar of handmade soap!
Chances are you miscalculated or mismeasured and included too much lye or too little oil. Just the opposite of lye-heavy is soft soap. Characteristics to watch out for include spongy, gelatinous, and malleable to the touch. If this occurs, double check your calculations.
The secret to making soap without lye is called melt-and-pour soapmaking. With this technique, the lye work is already done and all that's left is the fun part–crafting your own unique varieties of soap!
The short answer is no – all true soap begins as fats and lye. If you want to make soap from scratch, then you need to saponify fats and lye to create it.
Yes, Dove is made with lye! These alternative words are not always used to deceive consumers! Many handmade soap makers or companies leave out the words "sodium hydroxide" (lye) from their ingredient lists because of misinformation and fear among consumers. They often choose to use the words "saponified oils" instead.
It is true that the words "lye" or "sodium hydroxide" do not appear on the Dove ingredient label. But, the first ingredients listed were sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate, and sodium palm kernelate. So you can guess what I told her! Yes, Dove is made with lye!
Lye is a caustic substance that can certainly damage your skin if you're exposed to it. It can cause a number of problems, such as burns, blindness, and even death when consumed. But, and this is a big but, soap that is created with lye (which is all real soap) will do absolutely no harm to your skin.
Introduction: My name is Errol Quitzon, I am a fair, cute, fancy, clean, attractive, sparkling, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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