This avocado soap recipe includes fresh avocado, avocado oil and lots of pampering shea butter. It's a real treat for your skin!
I love avocados! As food they're delicious, satisfying and super healthy, and they're also great to use in cold process soap giving it a decadent rich creamy lather that is delightful.
Avocado oil, shea butter and fresh avocado are the key players for this soap. Fresh avocado fruit as well as avocado oil contains vitamins A, D and E and nourishing omega 3 fatty acids. Both contribute amazing conditioning properties and creamy luxurious lather to the finished soap.
Shea butter has long been known for it's emollient powers to remedy and heal dry skin. It's a great moisturizer for whipped body butter and adds a certain amount of hardness to a bar of soap. But the secret weapon that shea butter and avocado oil add to soap are unsaponifiables.
What are Unsaponifiables?
Unsaponifiables are beneficial substances in oils and butters that aren't fatty acids and therefore stay intact throughout the saponification process - they "survive the lye monster" if you will. They're things like phenols, tocopherols, steroids, sterols and squalene to name a few.
Most oils and butters are fairly low in unsaponifiables, but there are a few that pack a pretty good punch. Exceptionally high in unsaponifiables are shea butter (up to 17%), avocado oil (up to 11%) and jojoba oil (more than 50%; that's because jojoba is technically a liquid wax and not an oil).
I find that using oils and butters that are high in unsaponifiables in cold process soap positively affects the feel of the lather, making it more gentle and nourishing.
Note: The lather in this soap is somewhat reminiscent of a bastille soap with small bubbles and almost lotion-like feel. If you're looking for bigger bubbles you might try a recipe with less avocado oil and more coconut oil.
Using Avocado Oil in a Soap Recipe
Avocado oil is a lovely oil to use for soap making similar to olive oil in it's fatty acid makeup. It produces a white-ish bar of soap and is rather slow to trace which makes it perfect for intricate soap designs.
A bar of soap made solely from avocado oil, however, produces a very slimy lather (if you can call it that). Soap Queen has a very interesting and impressive single oil lather test on her blog. Check it out to see the rather gross lather of the avocado oil soap. Yikes!
For that reason I wouldn't use more than 35% of avocado oil in a soap recipe. It's a really nice soap making oil in combination with other oils, but not as a single oil soap.
Ready to get Started with this Avocado Soap Recipe? Great! Let's go.
If you've never made cold process soap before I recommend you read about lye safety, my beginner's tutorial and 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:
- Crafter's Choice loaf mold
- One medium sized container and 2 small ones (not glass)
- Stick blender
- Accurate digital scale
- Spatula
- Fork
Recipe (makes 42 oz/ 1200g or 7-8 regular sized bars of soap):
This recipe is superfatted at 5% and uses a lye concentration of 45% to accommodate for the added water coming from the avocado.
- Distilled Water: 4.45 oz / 126 g
- Lye: 3.64 oz / 103 g
- Avocado Oil (33%): 9 oz / 254 g
- Shea Butter (30%): 8.15 oz / 231 g
- Coconut Oil (20%): 5.43 oz / 154 g
- Rice Bran Oil (12 %): 3.25 oz / 92 g
- Castor Oil (5%): 1.36 oz / 39 g
- Fresh Avocado Puree: 4.5 oz / 130 g
- Spearmint Essential Oil: 18 g
- Patchouli Essential Oil: 12 g
- Kaolin Clay (optional): 2 tablespoon
- Nettle Leaf Powder: 1 ½ teaspoon dispersed in 1 tablespoon of oil
Instructions:
- Gear up for safety: gloves, googles and long sleeves
- Carefully prepare your lye solution in a small container and set aside to cool
- Melt shea butter and coconut oil then add avocado, rice bran and castor oil
- Scrape out a small avocado weigh out 4.5 oz and smash it up with a small fork (see image above)
- Add the smashed avocado to the base oils and stick blend until all of the avocado is evenly blended in. You really want to avoid having any clumps in your mixture (see image above)
- Add essential oils and kaolin clay to the oils and stick blend
- Carefully pour the lye solution into the oils and stick blend to light trace
- Separate out 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
- Pour the remainder of the uncolored batter into the mold in the same way
- Give the mold a good tap to release any air bubbles
- 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 a room temperature for another 24 - 48 hours or until the soap is hard enough to be released from the mold
- Cut into bars and cure for 8 weeks (due to the higher percentage of soft oils this soap benefits from a longer cure)
- 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!
Materials
- Distilled Water: 4.45 oz / 126 g
- Lye: 3.64 oz / 103 g
- Avocado Oil (33%): 9 oz / 254 g
- Shea Butter (30%): 8.15 oz / 231 g
- Coconut Oil (20%): 5.43 oz / 154 g
- Rice Bran Oil (12 %): 3.26 oz / 92 g
- Castor Oil (5%): 1.36 oz / 39 g
- Fresh 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: 1 ½ teaspoon dispersed in 1 tablespoon of oil
Tools
- Crafter’s Choice loaf mold
- One medium sized container and 2 small ones (not glass)
- Stick blender
- Accurate digital scale
- Spatula
- Fork
Instructions
- Gear up for safety: gloves, googles and long sleeves
- Carefully prepare your lye solution in a small container and set aside to cool
- Melt shea butter and coconut oil then add avocado, rice bran and castor oil
- Scrape out a small avocado weigh out 1.5 oz and smash it up with a small fork (see image above)
- Add the smashed avocado to the base oils and stick blend until all of the avocado is evenly blended in. You really want to avoid having any clumps in your mixture (see image above)
- Add essential oils and kaolin clay to the oils and stick blend
- Carefully pour the lye solution into the oils and stick blend to light trace
- Separate out 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
- Pour the remainder of the uncolored batter into the mold in the same way
- Give the mold a good tap to release any air bubbles
- 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 a room temperature for another 24 – 48 hours or until the soap is hard enough to be released from the mold
- Cut into bars and cure for 8 weeks (due to the higher percentage of soft oils this soap benefits from a longer cure)
LUPITA
Hi, when you say in the freezer, what you mean is in the refrigerator? Or the ice making compartment?
Thanks
Celine
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
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
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
Thank you! Here is really hot! 30-32Celsius in the aftenoon
Celine
Hi Lupita, I would freeze the soap then.
Bev
Cant wait to try this tomorrow! Thank you!
Celine
You’re welcome Bev. Happy Tinkering:)
nathalie
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
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
Hi Lish, thank you for catching that error. It should be 4.5 oz! Happy Tinkering 🙂
Luisa
I have a question, can I replace the lye for other product?
Celine
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
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
Hi Cristel, yikes I will have to correct this. Thank you for telling me. Hope you enjoy your soap. 🙂
Angela Thomas
Can this be used as a face cleanser?
Celine
Yes you can use this on your face. It might be a little more drying though than a regular face cleanser.
Moksha Essentials
Oh, I love this, and need to read it again! you have the basics laid out so clearly! Great job,
Mark
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
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
Yikes l put 192gram of ricebran oils instead of 92, will it be okay? Was using grams??? Its in freezer now.
Celine
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
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
Hi Joni, thank your for pointing this out to me. I will correct it. I’m sorry about that!
Joni Stiles
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
In “18” Can I use this soap before 8 weeks?
Celine
Yes you can. It’ll be a bit soft.
Jana
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
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
Thanks! The color did clear up as the bars cured.