Avocado soap is an absolute delight for your skin - super nourishing and gentle, and the lather is so rich and creamy you won't want to put this bar down!
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Note: Substitutions to soapmaking oils have been carefully selected and checked for safety. Don't make substitutions on your own without running the recipe through a lye calculator first.
- Avocado oil is a soft oil chosen for this recipe because of its conditioning properties due to high amounts of oleic linoleic fatty acids. You can substitute 1:1 without making further changes to the recipe with olive oil or olive oil pomace.
- Fresh Avocado contains skin-loving fatty acids; the extra sugar will boost the lather and make it extra creamy and bubbly.
- Shea Butter has long been known for its emollient powers to remedy and heal dry skin. It adds moisturizing properties and some hardness to a bar of soap.
How to Make Avocado Soap
To make soap from scratch, you'll need to handle lye. To avoid injuries to you and others, it's essential that you follow some simple precautions:
- Always wear gloves, goggles and long sleeves while making soap
- Avoid inhaling fumes coming from the lye solution
- Never ingest lye solution or get it on your skin, mouth, and eyes
- Keep children and pets away
If you've never made cold process soap before, you can read more about lye safety, my beginner's tutorial, and the equipment needed first.
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
- Goggles and gloves
- Crafter's Choice loaf mold or similar 42 oz silicone loaf mold
- 2 medium-sized containers (plastic, glass, or stainless steel)
- 2 plastic containers to mix the lye solution
- Plastic spoon
- Stick blender
- Accurate digital scale
- Spatula
- Fork
- Plastic knife (optional)
Recipe
This recipe makes ~ 42 oz or 7-8 regular-sized bars of soap, is superfatted at 5%, and uses a lye concentration of 45% to accommodate the added water from the avocado.
Lye solution:
- Distilled Water (filtered works, too): 5 oz (140 g)
- Lye (Sodium Hydroxide): 4.1 oz (118 g)
Hard Oils and Butters:
- Shea Butter: 9 oz (255 g)
- Coconut Oil: 9 oz (255 g)
Soft Oils:
- Avocado Oil: 10 oz (284g) Substitute: Olive Oil or Pomace
- Castor Oil: 2 oz (56 g)
Additives:
- Avocado Puree: 4.5 oz (130 g)
- Spearmint Essential Oil: 1 oz (30g)
- Kaolin Clay (optional): 2 Tbsp
- Nettle Leaf Powder (optional): 1 ½ teaspoon dispersed in 1 tablespoon of oil
Instructions
- Gear up for safety: gloves, goggles and long sleeves
- Measure lye into a small cup using a digital scale
- Measure out water
- Carefully pour lye into water while stirring and set aside to cool
- Melt shea butter and coconut oil, then add avocado and castor oil
- Scrape out a small avocado, weigh out 4.5 oz, and smash it up with a fork
- Add the smashed avocado to the warm oils and stick blend until all of the avocado is evenly blended in, no clumps.
- Add essential oils and kaolin clay to the oils and stick blend
- Carefully pour the lye solution into the oils and stick blend to medium trace (pudding consistency)
Optional layer design:
- Separate a ¼ (~11 0z / 300g) of the batter into a small container and add 1 ½ teaspoon of dispersed nettle leaf powder
- Use a whisk to thoroughly incorporate nettle leaf powder until you see no more clumps
- Take the uncolored batter and fill the mold half way
- Wait until that first layer is thick enough to support another layer
- Then gently pour the green batter over a spatula into the mold, so that it doesn't break too much into the first layer
Continue:
- Pour the uncolored batter into the mold
- Give the mold a good tap to release any air bubbles
- To texture the top, I used a small plastic knife to drag midway across (see image above)
- Put the soap in the freezer overnight
- Take it out and let it sit at room temperature for another 24 - 48 hours until the soap is hard enough to be released from the mold
- Pull on all sides of the mold first, then gently push from the bottom
- Cut into bars and cure for 8 weeks
- Enjoy!
Looking for more cold process soap recipes? Try:
Until next time. Happy Tinkering!
Fresh Avocado Soap Recipe
This avocado soap recipe includes fresh avocado, avocado oil and lots of pampering shea butter. It’s a real treat for your skin!
Ingredients
- Distilled Water filtered works, too: 5 oz (140 g)
- Lye Sodium Hydroxide: 4.1 oz (118 g)
- Shea Butter: 9 oz 255 g
- Coconut Oil: 9 oz 255 g
- Avocado Oil: 10 oz 284g Substitute: Olive Oil or Pomace
- Castor Oil: 2 oz 56 g
- Avocado Puree: 4.5 oz 130 g
- Spearmint Essential Oil: 18 g
- Patchouli Essential Oil: 12 g
- Kaolin Clay optional: 2 Tbsp
- Nettle Leaf Powder optional: 1 ½ teaspoon dispersed in 1 tablespoon of oil
Instructions
-
Gear up for safety: gloves, goggles and long sleeves
-
Measure lye into a small cup using a digital scale
-
Measure out water
-
Carefully pour lye into water while stirring and set aside to cool
-
Melt shea butter and coconut oil, then add avocado and castor oil
-
Scrape out a small avocado, weigh out 4.5 oz, and smash it up with a fork
-
Add the smashed avocado to the warm oils and stick blend until all of the avocado is evenly blended in, no clumps.
-
Add essential oils and kaolin clay to the oils and stick blend
-
Carefully pour the lye solution into the oils and stick blend to medium trace (pudding consistency)
Optional layer design:
-
Separate a ¼ (~ 300g) of the batter into a small container and add 1 ½ teaspoon of dispersed nettle leaf powder
-
Use a whisk to thoroughly incorporate nettle leaf powder until you see no more clumps
-
Take the uncolored batter and fill the mold half way
-
Wait until that first layer is thick enough to support another layer
-
Then gently pour the green batter over a spatula into the mold, so that it doesn't break too much into the first layer
Continue:
-
Pour the uncolored batter into the mold
-
Give the mold a good tap to release any air bubbles
-
To texture the top, I used a small plastic knife to drag midway across (see image above)
-
Put the soap in the freezer overnight
-
Take it out and let it sit at room temperature for another 24 - 48 hours until the soap is hard enough to be released from the mold
-
Pull on all sides of the mold first, then gently push from the bottom
-
Cut into bars and cure for 4-6 weeks
-
Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
You can substitue avocado oil with olive oil. If you wish to make an unscented soap, leave essential oils out.
LUPITA says
Hi, when you say in the freezer, what you mean is in the refrigerator? Or the ice making compartment?
Thanks
Celine says
I actually freeze my soap, but you can try the refrigerator too. It just doesn’t always guarantee that the soap won’t gel/ heat up.
Dee says
Thanks for this! I'm curious though about why you wouldn't want your soap to gel? I usually want it to gel, especially if I'm trying to hang onto the beautiful green color of the botanicals! Thank you!
Celine says
Hi Dee, the avocado purée can cause your soap to heat up and the top to crack. If you keep a close eye on your soap while it gels you can certainly do so.
LUPITA says
Thank you! Here is really hot! 30-32Celsius in the aftenoon
Celine says
Hi Lupita, I would freeze the soap then.
Bev says
Cant wait to try this tomorrow! Thank you!
Celine says
You’re welcome Bev. Happy Tinkering:)
nathalie says
What can I replace the rice bran oil with? I will not be using this oil for other recipes so I don't want to buy a full bottle!
Lish says
The recipe says 4.5 oz of fresh avocado purée but the instructions say 1.5 oz. Do you add 4.5 or 1.5 oz of avocado? I want to try this today! 😊
Celine says
Hi Lish, thank you for catching that error. It should be 4.5 oz! Happy Tinkering 🙂
Luisa says
I have a question, can I replace the lye for other product?
Celine says
Hi Luisa, for cold process soap you will need lye there's no way around it. If you want to try something else you can use melt and pour soap base, but you won't be able to add avocado to it.
Cristel says
Made your soap today! Looks great and smells great too. It's in the freezer right now, and I'm excited to see the result.
Just an FYI that you may want to fix: a typo snuck into your Rice Bran Oil measurement: 3.26 oz is 92 grams, not 192 grams.
Happy soaping!
Celine says
Hi Cristel, yikes I will have to correct this. Thank you for telling me. Hope you enjoy your soap. 🙂
Angela Thomas says
Can this be used as a face cleanser?
Celine says
Yes you can use this on your face. It might be a little more drying though than a regular face cleanser.
Moksha Essentials says
Oh, I love this, and need to read it again! you have the basics laid out so clearly! Great job,
Mark says
Hello Celine,
Thank your for this informative article. I haven’t started making my soap, however I am into. Avocado oil extraction and looking to make great soap out of it.
Is it possible to leave out some of the oils in your receipe for instance rice and castor oils. I am also looking for a professional to help me come out with a commercial soap receipe based on a few ingredients.
Thank you
Celine says
Hi Mark, I don’t recommend leaving out or replacing any of the oils if you are new to the science of soap making. Every soap recipe has carefully balanced ingredients and very exact measurements. Changing it could lead to bad outcomes.
Paula says
Yikes l put 192gram of ricebran oils instead of 92, will it be okay? Was using grams??? Its in freezer now.
Celine says
You’ll have to see after you take it out of the freezer and let it come to room temperature. It could be soft or have extra oil sitting on top. It’s still safe to use though if you dab of the extra oil.
Joni says
I just posted a comment and see where the discrepancy is. 92g of rice bran oil instead of 192g. May want to correct that.
Celine says
Hi Joni, thank your for pointing this out to me. I will correct it. I’m sorry about that!
Joni Stiles says
I think it will still work out. Soap Queen informs that superfatting can be done from 1-20%. With the error in the recipe, it comes to about 15% superfat. Im letting the soap cure for a bit longer, but I have faith it will be fine!
Fah says
In “18” Can I use this soap before 8 weeks?
Celine says
Yes you can. It’ll be a bit soft.
Jana says
Hi there,
We tried out this recipe on Wednesday and loved how silky it turned out!
By the time we took it out of the freezer the bars had turned pink. I presume this is from oxidation in the avocado and am wondering if anyone else has had this experience. It’s our first attempt at using raw avocado in soap and would be open to any helpful tips.
Does the pink continue to fade over time?
Celine says
Hi Jana, I had the pink color happen to me with a different soap though and it faded as the soap saponified some more.
Jana says
Thanks! The color did clear up as the bars cured.