Who said Lard soap has to be boring?! Here Iโm sharing three great lard soap recipes. Learning how to make soap with lard is a great technique because itโs a super cheap ingredient to work with.
Itโs a good idea for beginners to work with lard first before moving on to more expensive oils and cosmetic butter. Itโs much less disappointing when a lard soap goes wrong, as opposed to a soap recipe with many different expensive ingredients.
Introduction
Just because the ingredients for lard soap are cheap, that does not mean lard soap isnโt any good. On the contrary! Lard makes a lovely pure white soap that produces large soapy bubbles. And if you learn how to make your lard soaps interesting, they can actually look and feel much more luxurious than you might think.
This first DIY lard soap we are making is a simple lard soap that has excellent cleansing benefits and is great for anyone with sensitive skin. Then Iโll show you my rose petal lard soap with pink clay, and my funky bubble gum lard soap thatโs perfect for the bath.
Easy, Cheap, and Surprisingly Versatile
So, in sum, lard is very economical and creates hard, long-lasting bars. Itโs a great ingredient to experiment with different soap making techniques without breaking the bank!
Iโm starting with a simple no thrills soap recipe then Iโm going to show you how to spruce it up and give it a completely different look and feel. Iโll show you that soap making can be very diverse without needing to use lots of expensive ingredients.
Choosing The Right Mold
In the past, Iโve used plastic Tupperware, wood, and glass molds with great success, but they do need to be lined with waxed baking paper or the soap is nearly impossible to remove.
The easiest mold to use is a flexible silicon mold as itโs so easy to remove the soap from once itโs hardened.
On the downside, they do need to be supported. Silicon molds are very flexible and โfloppyโ for lack of a better word. So unless you are using a purpose-built soap mold, It will need to be stood on something solid like a book or cutting board.
My No Thrills Lard Soap
This first lard soap is a simple lard soap that has excellent cleansing benefits and is great for anyone with sensitive skin.
Quick Tips
- If Lard soap is left unperfumed, it can have a bit of a fatty smell, so I always add a little essential oil to this soap.
- Sweet orange is a good choice for a morning wake-up call and de-stressor. However, If you do have sensitive skin, stick to one of the more gentle essential oils like Lavender.
- Lard is quick to trace so make sure you have your mold and fragrance ready to grab when you need it. This goes for all 3 recipes in this blog post.
Watch How To Make Basic Cold Process Soap
Before you make this soap, take a few minutes to watch the video below for the basic method. For more detailed information see how to make cold process soap at home.
Basic Lard Soap Recipe That Looks Great
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Equipment
- Spoon or Spatula
Ingredients
- 1000 grams Lard
- 133 grams Soapmaking Lye
- 266 grams Distilled Water
- 30 grams Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil (your choice)
Instructions
- If youโve not made soap before, take a look at myย full cold process tutorial here.Make sure you are making the soap in a well-ventilated area. Put on your gloves and eye protection, your mask, apron, and long rubber gloves. I always find it best to then prepare and weigh all of the ingredients before starting.
- Weigh the water into a glass jug. In a separate container, weigh your sodium hydroxide/lye crystals. When youโre ready, slowly combine these by pouring your lye crystals into the water (not water into lye) and stirring. This will result in a chemical reaction, and the lye water will begin to increase in temperature and release noxious fumes. Turn your head and lean away while stirring, so as not to breathe any of the fumes in. now place it to one side, somewhere well ventilated, and allow to cool as we get on with our other steps.266 grams Distilled Water, 133 grams Soapmaking Lye
- Weigh and melt the lard. You can do this in a saucepan over a gentle heat, or in a large glass jug and use a series of 30-second bursts in the microwave. If you are using a saucepan, it is so important not to allow the lard to burn. Very gentle heat is all that is necessary.1000 grams Lard
- Whilst your oils and lye are cooling weigh out your essential /fragrance oil and prepare your mold if needed. As mentioned earlier, lard soap batter reaches trace quickly so it's good to be prepared.
- When the lye and oils have cooled to around 120ยฐ F (54C) to 90f (32c), pour the lye/water mixture into the oils in a thin stream.
- Use an electric stick blender to blend your mixture in bursts of a few seconds.
- Continue blending until the batter is thick enough to leave a trace line on the surface of the mixture when you trickle some of the soap off the blender or a spoon. (commonly referred to as the โtrace stageโ)
- Add any optional coloring and essential/fragrance oils and stir well. In this soap, I am not using any soap pigment as I want to keep things simple, but you can add a variety of soap safe pigments to create whatever color your heart desires.30 grams Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil
- Pour your soap into the mold. Cover the top with a lid or card, then wrap it in a towel and allow it to set for 24 hours in a nice warm area.
- After 24 hours the soap should be hard enough to remove it from the mold. The soap should still be soft enough to cut into bars with a dedicated kitchen knife or soap cutter.
- Once youโve cut your bars, You will then need to leave your soap in a dry place to cure for around a month, turning once in a while before itโs ready for use.
Beautiful Rose Soap With Lard
The same ingredients as the simple lard soap above, but we are adding some wonderful Australian pink clay that is great for drawing out all those toxins that are blocking up our pores.
Rose petals give the soap a touch of luxury. If you donโt want to use petals or you canโt get hold of any, you can make this soap without them, and the finished soap will still look great.
Iโm using essential oils in this recipe as it keeps it natural. Rose essential oil is far too expensive to add to soap, so Iโve chosen rose geranium, teamed up with lavender and lemon which gives this soap a classic floral scent with great cleansing properties.
You can substitute the essential oils for a rose fragrance oil, or any other floral fragrance you choose, just make sure they are suitable for use with cold processed soap.
Ingredients
- 1000g Lard
- 133g Lye
- 266g Distilled water
- ยฝ teaspoon rose-pink clay
- 2 tablespoons of distilled water
- 15g geranium essential oil
- 11g lavender essential oil
- 7g lemon essential oil
- A handful of dried rose petals
- Rubbing Alcohol
Method
Step 1: In a separate container, mix the clay with a couple of teaspoons of distilled water and set it aside for later.
Step 2: Follow the steps above (for the no thrills lard soap) until you reach trace (step 7). Once you have reached trace, stir in the clay followed by the essential oil.
Step 3: Bring the soap up to a nice thick constancy; thick enough so that you could spoon it into the mold.
Once youโve poured or spooned the soap into the mold, give it a good couple of taps on the counter to make sure there are no trapped air bubbles.
Step 4: Using the back of a spoon, create a textured effect on the top of the soap.
Then, sprinkle the rose petalโs onto the soap, pressing them down enough so that they will stick. Be generous as some will inevitably fall off later.
Step 5: Spray the top of the soap with a little rubbing alcohol, this will stop any ash forming.
Wrap a towel around the soap mold to keep it warm. If you have chosen not to add the rose petals, thereโs no need to spray with the alcohol, just cover with a lid and wrap with a towel.
Step 6: Leave to set for 24 hours before removing the soap from the mold. Turn the soap on its side and cut it into bars. Cutting the soap sideways will help stop the petals from being dragged through the soap.
Step 7: Leave the soap to cure for 4 weeks, turning occasionally.
Funky Bubblegum Swirled Soap
This is a fun soap thatโs perfect for the bath. Lard soap is usually pure white, so when you add color, it really makes it pop.
Although this can be made in a loaf-shaped mold, I prefer the finished effect when Iโve used a shallow square-shaped mold.
Iโm using a powdered neon soap pigment that Iโm pre-mixing with a little oil and a fun bubble gum fragrance oil to fit my theme.
Notes On Pigments
Not all colorings are oil soluble so always check before using them. The other thing to check for is that they are suitable for cold process soap and that they donโt bleed.
Iโm recommending some pigments I purchased from PureNature, which can be found here.
You can also substitute them for mica on Amazon, but they wonโt be quite as bright.
Ingredients
- 1000g Lard
- 133g Lye
- 266g Distilled water
- 30g fragrance oil
- ยฝ to 1 tsp Neon pigment Pink and blue soap coloring
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
Method
Step 1: Letโs prepare the colors; Check whether your soap coloring is oil or water-soluble. Mine is oil soluble so Iโm going to mix each of my colors with 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
If you are using water-soluble colors mix them with 2 teaspoons of water. Make sure you fully dissolve them. I like to use a milk frother for this job as it speeds up the process. Then, set aside for later.
Step 2: Follow the same steps as you would if you were making the no thrills lard soap recipe up to step 7. You only want to bring this up to a very light trace.
Step 3: Divide the soap batter into three separate jugs. This doesnโt have to be completely accurate, just use your best judgement.
Step 4: Add the pink color to one and give it a blend or whisk to make sure it is well disbursed. Do the same with the blue coloring.
Then, divide the fragrance oil amongst the jugs, but donโt try to blend the soap batters from here on as the fragrance oil may cause the soap to become too thick to pour, so just use a hand whisk or spoon to gently disperse it.
Step 5: The key to getting a good marbling effect is pouring the soap from a height. Start pouring one of the colors into the corners of the mold, you will probably use around half of the jug.
Step 6: Next, choose another color and pour that into and through the color that you have just poured. Then do the same with the final one. Repeat this procedure until all the colors have been used.
Step 7: Place a piece of cardboard over the top of the mold and wrap it with a towel to keep it warm. Leave the soap to set for 24 hours before removing it from the mold.
Step 8: Cut the soap into chunky bars and leave to cure for 4 weeks, turning once in a while.
Once the curing process has passed, test with a PH strip to ensure your soap is safe to use on skin.
Final Thoughts
So thatโs it! Three ways to make lard soap. The first method I often recommend to beginners, because itโs such a cheap and easy ingredient to work with.
But sometimes itโs difficult to know when youโre ready to take the next step. This is why Iโve combined a few more advanced soap making techniques with my lard soap recipe. Itโs a great way to effectively, and inexpensively, practice new techniques.
So if you see someone doing something interesting on a soap making blog, such as swirling soap pigments or embedding things on top of soaps, itโs a great Idea to try these techniques on a lard soap first.
Thereโs nothing more devastating in soap making than when soap goes wrong and youโve wasted your lovely ingredients on a soupy soapy mess thatโs no good to anyone. So why put yourself through that?
I also use this method if thereโs a new ingredient Iโve never used before. A great example is fragrance oils. While a supplier might tell me a certain fragrance oil is great in cold process soap, I donโt always trust them. Iโve been burned by poor โmanufacturer guidelinesโ in the past.
Iโll usually always try out a new fragrance or essential oil in a lard soap first, just to be doubly sure before using it in more expensive formulations. Your bank account will certainly thank you in the long run!
If youโre looking for more interesting ways to make soap, take a look at how to make soap at home or my liquid soap recipe. Itโs a lot easier to make liquid soap than you may think!
Donโt forget to follow us on social media, as well as sign up for a newsletter for all the latest info on what Iโm getting up to.
How To Make Castile Soap At Home
Hereโs how to make Castile soap, itโs absolutely one of my favorites. Itโs simultaneously one of the most inexpensive soap recipes you can make (making it a great beginner soap), but also the most gentle of cleansers at the same time.
Soap Calculator & Formulation Guide
Select your chosen oils, along with the weight or percentage. The soap calculator will then show the total weight of lye and water required. The result can be instantly adjusted by changing your preferred superfatting level or water/lye ratio.
love it
If I want to do masterbatching with these recipes (I already have a lot of 50/50 lye/water made). Do I need to change the ratios of anything?
I can’t say enough good things about your basic lard recipe and the rose one.Unfortunately, I didn’t add enough essential oils, and I can still smell the fat in the soap.I made another batch with green kaolin clay and rosemary/mint/pine essential oils, and replaced the water with goat milk.Came out amazing, but some soda ash formed on the top and edges.I used the silicone mold which holds about 6 bars.I will have to spray it with isopropyl alcohol next time.
You’re doing all the right things Ann, thanks for letting me know how you’re getting on! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes! In reference to the lard soap, this is a common problem. Like you said you can up the essential oils, but lard soap does have a funny smell to it. Do keep me updated on all your soaping adventures. Thanks Ann <3
What kind of lard do you use for this basic recipe? I need something that won’t cause my son’s eczema to flare up. Also, what essential oils, other than lavendar, would you recommend for the fragrance, again, keeping in mind my son’s eczema. Thanks for your help!
Hi Shaw,
I’m very sorry about that. We dont have control over the content of our ads. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy your lard soap! It really does produce such a glorious soap.
Hi there! Thank you so much for the recipes. What size is your soap mold to accommodate the entire batch?
Hi Heather,
The batch size is roughly 1.429kg (1,429g), so you’re going to need a mold that can contain up to 1.5kg of soap batter.
As a homesteader, I got into soap to use up the lard and tallow from our local farms and the animals we raise here. Thrilled to find a no frills lard recipe as well as some fun variations.
Second recipe Iโve tried from your site- started with your honey/beeswax. Love the simplicity and expect this to come out amazing. Thanks for this site and the resources!
That wonderful to hear MamaCass, I’m so glad you’ve found a way of using up your ingredients. Let me know how you get on with our other recipes! ๐
Hello! I was just wondering where you get your lye and Lard for your soap? I really wanted to try it but donโt have the ingredients!
Merritt
Hi Merritt,
I get my lye online. I have a post that talks about where to find soap ingredients, check it out. As for lard, I actually get it from my local grocery store. You might find it called animal shortening or dipping. It’s usually kept with the home baking stuff if that aisle has a refrigerator, otherwise check the dairy section.
What scales do you reccomend for weighing out Lye and Lard?
Hi Leslie,
Any digital scale that will measure in grams should be totally fine. I find, with soapmaking, you kind of have to use grams. It’s much more accurate than our standard ounces. Take a look at what I’ve said here, it might help you make a choice.
Hi Shanaha,
The average quantity of essential oil you would use here would be about 2tsp. Although I would use something quite strong smelling.
Hope this helps!
can i use coconut oil instead of shortening or lard and tallow..?
Hi Lori,
Absolutely you can! To be on the safe side, I would run it through a soap calculator first to make sure everything works out okay.