Last month I experimented with different ways to use bananas in soap. I wanted to find a visually pleasing outcome for today's banana soap recipe. The results ranged from light cream color with a little bit of specks to really brown with lots of specks. You can check out the full post here or see the the picture below for a quick side by side comparison.
For this banana soap recipe I decided to use a fairly ripe banana since I knew from my experiments that I would get this awesome speckled effect which would contrast well with the white piped top. After I was done making the soap I put it in the freezer since I absolutely wanted to avoid gelling.
Bananas (like most produce) add a wonderful creaminess and abundance to the soap lather because of their sugar content. I also hope that some of the minerals found in them somehow make it to the other side of saponification, but that might just be wishful thinking 😉
To add even more rich creaminess and moisturizing properties to the soap I added a good amount of heavy cream. What makes heavy cream in soap so skin loving is it's high fat content (a whopping 36%). To counter this you have to be careful not to go overboard with your superfat in the finished soap. Here's a great article that walks you through how to add heavy cream to your soap .
Let's get started making banana and cream soap, shall we?
If you've never made cold process soap before, make sure you check out my posts on lye safety, my beginner's tutorial and my list of equipment needed.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you will I earn a commission if you decide to click through and make a purchase.
Equipment needed for Banana Soap Recipe:
- Soaper's Choice Silicone Loaf Mold
- Stickblender
- Digital Scale
- 1 Medium Sized Container, and 2 Small Ones (one for oils, one for lye solution and one for the piping
- Spatula
- Disposable Piping Bag
- Piping Tip 2 D
- Fork
Reipe for 46 oz/ 1300 g of soap, makes 7-8 bars of Banana Soap:
This recipe uses a lye solution of 45% and a superfat of 3% to account for the extra water and fat that comes from the heavy cream and banana.
- Distilled Water: 5.95 oz / 169 g
- Lye: 4.9 oz / 138 g
- Coconut Oil (30%): 10.2 oz / 289 g
- Oilive Oil (32%): 10.9 oz / 308 g
- Shea Butter (25%): 8.5 oz / 241 g
- Rice Bran Oil (13%): 4.4 oz / 125 g
- Heavy Cream: 2 oz / 56 g
- Mashed Banana: 2 oz / 56 g
- May Chang (Litsea Cubeba) Essential Oil: 24 g
- Kaolin Clay : 1 Tbsp
Instructions:
1. Prepare lye solution and let cool to room temperature
2. Melt and mix coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil and rice bran oil and let cool to room temperature
3. In the meantime prepare banana by mashing it with a fork, disperse kaolin clay in 1 tablespoon of water and measure out essential oil
4. Add heavy cream to oils by using a stick blender and thoroughly mixing until evenly incorporated
5. Carefully pour lye solution into oils and blend until you reach emulsification (no more oil floating on top and the mix looks cloudy, milky)
6. Now separate about 12 oz of soap for the piping into a small container and set aside
7. Add mashed banana and essential oils to the now bigger portion of the soap and stick blend to medium trace
8. Pour soap into the mold
9. Put this soap aside in the fridge to keep cool and avoid gel
10. To the portion that you set aside add kaolin clay and stick blend until thick trace is achieved
11. Wait until the consistency of the soap is thick enough to pipe, the soap needs to be able to hold a stiff peak (this may take 10 - 20 min)
12. Prepare the piping bag by cutting off the tip and inserting the piping tip
13. Fill the bag with stiff soap batter and take the poured soap out of the fridge
14. Mark your soap mold where you plan to cut the bars
15. Pipe three dollops across the middle of each marked bar
16. Pipe two dollops to fill in the sides and one dollop on top in the middle
17. Put the finished soap in the freezer over night
18. Take the soap out of the freezer and let it rest at room temperature for another 24 hours
19. Release from the mold by gently pulling on all sides first and the applying steady pressure on the bottom
20. Cut into bars and cure for 4 weeks
Until next time. Happy Tinkering!
Looking for more awesome natural soap ideas? How about trying:
Cold Process Banana Soap
Materials
- Distilled Water: 5.95 oz / 169 g
- Lye: 4.9 oz / 138 g
- Coconut Oil (30%): 10.2 oz / 289 g
- Oilive Oil (32%): 10.9 oz / 308 g
- Shea Butter (25%): 8.5 oz / 241 g
- Rice Bran Oil (13%): 4.4 oz / 125 g
- Heavy Cream: 2 oz / 56 g
- Mashed Banana: 2 oz / 56 g
- May Chang (Litsea Cubeba) Essential Oil: 24 g
- Kaolin Clay : 1 Tbsp
Tools
- Soaper’s Choice Silicone Loaf Mold
- Stickblender
- Digital Scale
- 1 Medium Sized Container, and 2 Small Ones (one for oils, one for lye solution and one for the piping
- Spatula
- Disposable Piping Bag
- Piping Tip 2 D
- Fork
Instructions
- Prepare lye solution and let cool to room temperature
- . Melt and mix coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil and rice bran oil and let cool to room temperature
- In the meantime prepare banana by mashing it with a fork, disperse kaolin clay in 1 tablespoon of water and measure out essential oil
- Add heavy cream to oils by using a stick blender and thoroughly mixing until evenly incorporated
- Carefully pour lye solution into oils and blend until you reach emulsification (no more oil floating on top and the mix looks cloudy, milky)
- Now separate about 12 oz of soap for the piping into a small container and set aside
- Add mashed banana and essential oils to the now bigger portion of the soap and stick blend to medium trace
- Pour soap into the mold
- Put this soap aside in the fridge to keep cool and avoid gel
- To the portion that you set aside add kaolin clay and stick blend until thick trace is achieved
- Wait until the consistency of the soap is thick enough to pipe, the soap needs to be able to hold a stiff peak (this may take 10 - 20 min)
- Prepare the piping bag by cutting off the tip and inserting the piping tip
- Fill the bag with stiff soap batter and take the poured soap out of the fridge
- Mark your soap mold where you plan to cut the bars
- Pipe three dollops across the middle of each marked bar
- Pipe two dollops to fill in the sides and one dollop on top in the middle
- Put the finished soap in the freezer over night
- Take the soap out of the freezer and let it rest at room temperature for another 24 hours
- Release from the mold by gently pulling on all sides first and the applying steady pressure on the bottom
- Cut into bars and cure for 4 weeks
Caroline
I've just discovered your blog. I'm a fairly new soap maker but already find myself wanting to throw in lots of different ingredients, a bit like when I cook! Banana sounds like a great one to try and we always have some ripe ones around. My question is about replacing the heavy cream with something vegan, like coconut cream, perhaps. Any thoughts on quantities? Thanks for sharing your recipes!
Celine
Hi Caroline, I'm pretty sure you could replace the heavy cream with coconut milk using the same amount. I don't see why not. Maybe try a small test batch first. Happy Tinkering!
Caroline Bentley
Thanks Celine. I'll give it a try and let you know how I go! Always happy when tinkering...
Samantha
Hi could I make this using a melt and pour base? I'm not keen on making the soap base from scratch. Xx
Celine
Hi Samantha,
I wouldn't put fresh fruit in Melt and Pour Soap since there's a good chance that it will go moldy. Cold process is a different story since the saponification process alters the chemistry of the fruit and will then not allow for mold to grow. Happy Tinkering!
Tashawna
Hey love !
I’m currently trying the recipe and I’m having an issue with the Lue being a cloudy color and crystallizing on top , how do I fix this ?
Celine
That sometimes happens with the lye solution. I would strain out the crystals with a fine strainer before using it. As long as your lye isn’t past it’s use date you should be good to go.
Zuzana
Hi, I would like to try this soap but need to change the rice oil for sesame oil, which I have at home. I put the data in the soap calc, but the numbers are totally different from yours. So I am a bit confused now. I would follow your recipe, the only problem is the sesame oil. Hos should I calculate this? Thank you.
Celine
Hi Zuzana,
you can use sesame oil instead of rice bran oil. The amount of lye you will use for the soap will be different since every oil is made up of different fatty acids and needs different amounts of lye to turn it into soap. You have to run your new recipe through soapcalc.net and use whatever amount of lye it tells you to use. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Onika
Hi just checking, the heavy cream will be what u use to whip up to whipped cream?
Celine
Hi Onika, yes exactly, it's heavy whipping cream. Happy Tinkering!
Kirsty
Is it possible to make this without the clay?
Celine
yes, absolutely. just leave it out. Happy Tinkering 🙂
Valerie
Hello. Can this recipe be adapted to hot process?
Celine
Hi Valerie, I imagine you can. Unfortunately I’m not a hot process soaper, so I can’t give you any detailed instructions on it.
Irah
Hi, how many days or months its expiry?
Celine
At least 6 months.
Raimonda
Hey dear 🙂
Can I use simple double cream? Also I wanted to ask you, will be ok if I will not put soap in the fridge? Just leave it in the room? Thank you
Celine
Hi Raimonda, sure you can use double cream and put it outside the fridge. It might just get a little darker then, but that’s ok.
Kirsty
I made this, and it was a disaster! It got too hot once I added the banana and I could not rescue it. The joys of being a newbie I guess. Soap won't be wasted though, I'll just use it in the home rather than gifting it. Not defeated though and I will try banana cream again. Have just tried another recipe using fruit puree, and having learned from my first experience, I used bowls of ice water to hold my batter jug and managed way better control of my temperatures - kept it all below 40 degrees Celsius. Also set the mould on top of some ice sprinkled with salt before placing it in the freezer. I'll see if it worked in a couple of hours!
Celine
Oh no! Glad you found a solution that worked for you. Happy Tinkering:)
Laurie Gydesen
Hello-i cant wait to try this soap recipe Can I substitute Sweet Almond oil for the Rice bran oil?
Thx
Celine
Yes you can. Happy Tinkering 🙂
Sam
Would all the other values stay the same? Like the same amount just swap the oil?
Celine
HI Sam, in this case yes the amounts would be the same. BUT for any other changes the amount of lye used will likely change. It works here since rice bran oil and sweet almond oil are very similar oils.
Carlie
What is the reasoning behind putting it in the freezer? Is that with all purees?
Celine
Hi Carlie, for this soap I had two reasons to prevent gel by putting it in the freezer: 1) purées tend to have quite a bit of sugar which can cause the soap to overheat and crack
2) I’ve experimented with banana purée gelled and not gelled- I liked the non gelled version better (more specks, less brown)
These are both rather cosmetic reasons, you could gel your soap simply be aware it might look different than mine.
aditya
what is the shell life of mashed banana soap?
Celine
Hi Aditya, at least 6 months. If it starts to show orange spots and has a bad odor it has gone bad.
Karolyn L Verde
Celine, I made your banana and cream soap this weekend with less than stellar results. I mixed the
lye and water 3x b'c the lye would not dissolve completely and made a filmy residue on the mixing bowl.
I have only had this lye for a month and used it several times to successfully make other CP soap. I thought maybe the
distilled water was contaminated and opened a new jug, still got the same result. In the end I ran the lye mixture through a mesh screen to remove the little bits. I un-molded the soap today and it has the consistency of thick play doh,
which didn't surprise me given the issues with the lye, but I can't figure out why this didn't work. I did use 85 degrees
as room temp, since we had our A/C on 70 but I still don't think that was the problem.
The soap looks beautiful, but if it doesn't harden I will have to throw it away.
Can you please give me any advice as to what I did wrong?
Celine
Hi Karolyn, it’s tough to pin point what (if anything went wrong). It could be that the soap simply needs more time to harden. I’ve had lye with filmy or flaky residue and it also worked fine. It could also be that you measured an ingredient wrong. I would let it sit for a while and see.
Karolyn L Verde
Thank you Celine. I am hoping to make it again, the smell is intoxicating and look of the soap
of the soap is gorgeous.
Thanks for sharing your awesome recipe.
Karolyn Verde
carmon anderson
Hi Celine. I am really wanting to make this soap. It looks so pretty! My question is, is there another substitute for the essential oil you used in this recipe? I am fairly new to soap making and I have never heard of this one. Wondering if I can substitute it for something I already have?
Thanks!
Celine
Hi Carmon, you can use any essential oil you like. With most common essential oils the amount will be the same. Happy Soaping!
Barbara
I tried this snd the TD made the 12oz batch as hard as cold butter even when it was still hot, I had to scoop it out of my piping bag with a spoon and spread it into the loaf mold, How can I keep that loose enough to pipe?
Celine
Hi Barbara, in this recipe I use Kaolin Clay for a more natural looking shade of white. If you wish to use Titianium Dioxide I would suggest mixing it with 2 Tbsp of water before adding it to the oils. This will help to keep the batter more fluid.
Maureen
Hello 🙂 You have such a nice blog. Thanks for sharing. I have been making soap for almost a year now and recently trying to learn how to incorporate fresh fruits to my soaps. I have tried mango and banana using your recipe with some replacements. Shea into cocoa butter, and add cocoa powder for half of the batch. I put the soap directly to freezer for at least 5hrs, but when I cut it still have partial gelled in the middle? And there are a fine thin line on the outside part of the soap that is slightly lighter in color. Do you know what had happened? Very fine neat line.
PS: my mango soap also partial gelled after a day in the refrigerator🤔. Will it disappear after curing time? Tia.
Celine
Hi Maureen, some molds especially wooden molds or insulate soap so well that gel can still happen. It won’t completely disappear with curing but will get lighter. As for the fine line, I m not sure either... i don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. Happy soaping!
Zakiah Maghraby
Hi Celine. What a nice recipe. I’m from Indonesia, and I’m wonder how long this cute banana soap will last? Since the hot temperature here.
Many thanks.
Celine
about 6 months at least. Wrap it or store it in an airtight container to keep the humidity away as much as possible. good luck 🙂
Marvella r
tkank you for your amazing reciepes
chris
Hi, I read your recipe and would love to try it. Can I use goat milk in place of the water and heavy cream?would I use the same amount of liquid if so?
Thanks Chris
Celine
Yes same amount of liquid, but the goat milk needs to be frozen. Check out my goat milk soap recipe for detailed instructions
Daisy
Will super ripe bananas work? Daishy
Celine
yes, it works, but your soap will turn a lot darker.
Bea
Is there a way to use whole milk instead of heavy cream? I don’t have on hand heavy cream but I have everything else! Just wanting a substitute
Celine
Yes you can. Happy Soaping!