Soap

Cold Process Dandelion Soap Recipe in 10 Steps

Posted on by Zuzana
How to make dandelion soap
09
May
This spring, I finally made the dandelion soap. Always wanted to make one and when I saw my backyard covered with yellow golden heads, I decided to give it a try. This bar of sunshine it’s loaded with dandelion tea (which is made out of fresh dandelion heads and leaves) and with olive oil, I have previously infused with dandelions. This recipe is palm free as we avoid the use of it due to its unsustainable and environmental concerns. You can easily get all the ingredients in your local health shop, supermarket or online and you ready to roll ???? Soap is full of natural goodies as it contains only high quality ingredients.

What You Need to Make a Dandelion Soap  How to make Dandelion soap

1. Dandelion infused olive oil (get the DIY here) 

INCI: Taraxacum Officinale (Dandelion) Flower Extract Dandelion infused olive oil is beneficial and useful for dry, chapped skin and for achy muscles and arthritic joints. Olive oil, which is high in oleic acid, is a natural source of the antioxidants, vitamins E and A. It draws moisture to the skin and helps to neutralise pollutants in our skin.

2. Coconut oil

INCI: Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, ads hardness to the soap, it’s cleansing and moisturising abilities are just amazing and I really like the big, copious bubbles it produces.

3. Shea butter

INCI: Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter The concentration of natural vitamins and fatty acids in shea butter makes it incredibly nourishing and moisturizing for the skin. Shea butter is a perfect natural moisturizer that will help keep your skin from becoming dry after a shower.

4. Cocoa butter

INCI: Theobroma cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter It makes an excellent skin moisturizer, plus it does more than just hydrate the skin — it is a reliable source of natural antioxidants. It produces a lovely hard bar with a stable lather.

5. Castor oil

INCI: Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil This oil is effective for adding an amazing lather and great moisturizing properties to the finished product. Castor oil, rich in fatty acids, acts as a humectant in soap as well.

6. Water

INCI: Aqua Water is used to dissolve the lye crystals. I recommend using distilled water. Or you can replace the amount of water with dandelion tea – (see instructions below about doing tea from the lovely yellows beauties)

7. Lye

INCI: Sodium Hydroxide Sodium hydroxide is an alkali (base) and the acids are the fatty acids present in oils and butters. Once we select the oils and mix them with sodium hydroxide and a liquid (lye), the molecules combine, a chemical reaction occurs, called saponification. Once the process of saponification is complete, the lye and oil molecules have combined and chemically changed into soap and glycerin.

8. Annatto seed powder

INCI: Bixa orellana (Annatto) Seed Powder It has been added to the soap just for colouring purposes. You can certainly leave that out if you wish. I scented our Dandelion sunshine soap with essential oils distilled from sweet orange, lemon and with a hint of may chang to give this bar a clean, refreshing aroma that brightens your day and brings a smile to your face.

9. Sweet orange essential oil

INCI: Citrus Sinensis (sweet orange) Peel Oil It’s a cheerful, soothing and refreshing oil that is beneficial for acne or blemish prone skin and irritated skin.

10. Lemon essential oil

INCI: Citrus Medica Limonum (lemon) Oil Lemon oil has the ability to lift the spirits and is recommended for stress-related fatigue, is also good for oily skin and acne.

11. May chang essential oil

INCI: Litsea Cubeba (may chang) Fruit Oil May Chang is recognized for its ability to promote physical relaxation and mental calm. It has strong antiseptic properties that are particularly useful for treating oily skin, blemishes and acne.

Dandelion Soap Recipe (5% superfat)

  • 227.50g (8oz) dandelion infused olive oil(35%)
  • 195g (6.88oz) coconut oil (30%)
  • 84.50g (3oz) shea butter (13%)
  • 78g (2.75oz) cocoa butter (12%)
  • 65g (2.30oz) castor oil (10%)
  • 247g (8.70oz) water (or you can replace the amount of water with dandelion tea)
  • 91.34g (3.22oz) lye 
  • 5g (0.17oz) annatto seed powder (optional for colouring)
  • 9.75g (0.34oz) orange sweet essential oil 
  • 5.85g (0.20oz) lemon essential oil
  • 3.9g (0.13oz) may chang essential oil

How to Make Dandelion Tea

Collect fresh dandelion heads and leaves, don’t forget to rinse them well and put them in a heatproof pint jar I fill the jar (453ml/16oz) half full of dandelions, then I pour steaming hot water all the way up and let it infuse at least an hour. Strain and use 247g or 8.70oz of cold dandelion tea for your recipe.

Summary of All Ingredients Used in my Dandelion Soap Recipe

In this batch, we are going to use 650g (22.93oz) of oils in total (olive oil, coconut oil, shea and cocoa butters, castor oil), so it’s a good size recipe to get started making soap with. Amount of distilled water needed for this recipe: 247g (8.71oz) Amount of lye used in this recipe: 91.34g (3.22oz) NOTE: you can find the lye under these following names: Caustic Soda or Sodium Hydroxide Essential oils used in the recipe altogether: 19.5g (0.68oz) Soap weight before using CP cure: around 1000g (35.57oz) Remember you can easily adjust amounts of ingredients using a lye calculator. 

How to Make Soap in 10 Steps  

I make Dandelion soap according to general cold process soap making directions. If you are not familiar with this process or you’re a beginner, I recommend that you do some research and study the cold process soap making method before going any further. Please, also ensure you are following all soap safety precautions.
  1. Prepare all your equipment and ingredients needed for this recipe plus premeasure your essential oils
  2. Mix your lye and water altogether and is left it somewhere safe to start cooling
  3. Measure and heat your solid oils until completely melted
  4. Measure and add the liquid oils to the melted solid oils
  5. When the lye and all oils are at about 37- 43°C /100-110°F pour the lye into the oils slowly, mix well with a spatula before using a stick blender
  6. Mix the soap until it reaches a light trace and add your essential oils and annatto seeds powder directly into the soap mixture
  7. Use a spatula to mix all essential oils and annatto seeds powder into the soap thoroughly
  8. Pour the soap mixture in the mold and leave it in there for around 24 hours
  9. If the soap is hard enough to be cut, remove it from the mold
  10. After de-molding cut the soap and leave to cure for four weeks before using
My partner was clever enough to make me a few molds. This soap will totally fit into my homemade wooden one with inner measurements as follows: 28.50cm x 9cm x 8.50cm (11.22” x 3.54” x 3.35”), lined with parchment paper. It provides around 9 – 10 bars. If you don’t have any at home yet, you can easily purchase one from here. It’s a perfect little slice of sunshine that you can give yourself whenever you’d like! Have you ever made Dandelion soap with dandelion infused olive oil? Will you try it this year? Be sure to pin this for later!
Zuzana

5 thoughts on “Cold Process Dandelion Soap Recipe in 10 Steps”

    • Zuzana says:

      Hi Tonya, I’m glad you like the recipe I think you’ll really like this seasonal soap. Hope you have a lovely day:)

  2. Wanda Kowalski says:

    I have just infused and decanted a goodly amount of olive oil infused dandelions and a eager to try it. Thanks so much for this recipe: one question, the instructions say superfat at 5% but not the % of lye solution. I would like to make a bigger batch. I’m new to soaping and I am trying to use different lye-water ratios and TRYING to understand the differences, etc.! Could you please provide the lye-water ratio?

    thanks a bunch and thanks for your wonderful site: for new soapers such as myself, they are gold!

    Wanda

  3. Naomi says:

    Hello Wanda I see there is a link to a lye calculator at the end of the section Summary of All Ingredients. You will be able to use that to work out what you need for a larger batch.

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