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This beeswax soap recipe uses a fun, easy cold process soap-making method with natural ingredients. Wonderfully moisturizing and good for your skin.
You’re sure to love it!
Beeswax is one of those otherworldly ingredients that has so many uses. It’s wonderful to hold, touch, smell, and melt.
It’s great to make a hydrating soap bar, a nourishing lip balm, or even a facial moisturizer.
My personal favorite use for beeswax is to make beeswax soap. It makes an incredibly hard, long-lasting bar of soap. I even use it in my lavender soap recipe!
Beeswax soap can be used on the body in the shower or bath or as a hand soap at the kitchen sink.
It’s versatile and great to pack in your suitcase for a weekend away.
In this post, you’ll find my beeswax soap recipe so you can try making it yourself.
You’ll need to prepare well beforehand as making soap in this method is somewhat technical, but I supply all the necessary information.
Be sure to follow the exact quantities as they are written and to comply with safety advice, most importantly.
Cold-process soap bar alternatives
If you’re looking for an alternative to cold-process soap-making, hot-process or melt-and-pour soap bars are great options.
Both processes are fairly simple, allowing you to make your own customized and unique soaps with no need for expensive equipment.
With melt and pour, the soap base that you use will already be prepared and just needs melting before being poured into molds.
For a hot process method, the soap is heated during the saponification process, making it easier to handle and ready for use more quickly than with a cold process version.
beeswax soap benefits
One of the important benefits of making soap with beeswax is that it’s an entirely natural ingredient.
Natural, non-toxic ingredients tend to be kinder to the skin than synthetic products – it’s just how it goes.
Beeswax is a natural by-product of bees that gets created when they make their homes out of honeycomb.
The bees use beeswax, too, to cushion the nest and make it warm for their babies. In the same way, we can use beeswax as a protective emollient on our skin.
It’s not unkind for humans to use beeswax in this way if you buy sustainable beeswax.
So too, is beeswax a renewable source for skin care and biodegradable, too, meaning it’s not harmful to the environment.
Beeswax is highly moisturizing and great for sensitive skin types. In addition, it’s got mild anti-inflammatory properties, helping reduce redness and dry spots on the skin.
Another key benefit is that it protects the skin, forming a barrier when it’s applied.
For this reason, I much prefer using beeswax skin care products in the colder months, so I can go out and not worry that my skin will return red raw from the cold, icy conditions.
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Why you will love this recipe
There are not many soaps out there that you can be guaranteed are 100% natural – but this beeswax soap recipe is!
This is why I love making my own DIY skincare products. I know exactly what’s going into them ingredients-wise, which gives me great comfort.
I also hope you’ll find the recipe easy to follow. I’ve explained as simply as possible and with as much detail so you can make this soap safely at home.
Supplies you will need
It’s extremely important when making soap to use the right equipment. For you first-timers, the initial outlay to buy the supplies can be pricey, so shop around.
Here’s a list of the equipment you’ll need to make beeswax soap:
- Soap mold
- Immersion Blender
- Digital scale
- Saucepan
- Heat-resistant container (safe to use with rapid temperature increase)
- Safety goggles
- Rubber gloves
- Apron
- Hair tie (if hair is long!)
Beeswax soap recipe
Follow this recipe precisely to ensure the soap is safe to use and safe to make.
Never deviate from the weight and amount of ingredients listed; you’ll need to recalculate this with a soap calculator if you do!
Ingredients:
Oils & Fats
Liquids
- Lye 3.43 oz
- Water 7.68 oz
Instructions:
Use the digital scale to measure the water. Then, add it to the heat-resistant container.
Carefully measure the lye (use the safety goggles/apron/gloves) and slowly add to the water. Stir until dissolved. Be aware – the water will fizz and heat up quickly due to the lye chemical reaction.
Note: Only add lye to water, NEVER water to lye.
Set the mixture aside to cool.
Measure out the palm oil, avocado oil, cocoa butter, sunflower oil, and beeswax, then add to a small saucepan.
Melt these ingredients together over low heat.
Once melted fully, remove from the heat and allow time to cool. An ideal temperature to cool to is around 120°-130°.
Once cooled, transfer melted fats and oils to a metal mixing bowl.
Add the lye/water mixture in small amounts.
Mix with an immersion blender, adding the lye water slowly as you go.
Check the ‘trace’ by holding the immersion blender over the bowl; if you see drips coming from the soap that pools on top of the mixture, it’s the right trace, and you can stop mixing.
Pour the soap into silicone molds. Or, if you’re using any other mold, make sure you line it with parchment paper.
Allow the soap to cool completely for at least 24 hours (up to 3 days is fine).
Remove the soap from the molds and place them on their ends to allow space and time to cure (a 3-6 week process) before use.
If you use a long, rectangle mold like the one pictured above, you’ll need to remove them from the mold once hardened and cut them into your preferred-sized soap bars to cure.
Soap making precautions
As this is a cold process soap-making recipe, care is always required when working with lye.
Also, take extra care when pouring the lye into the water, as this causes a chemical reaction – and the reaction happens fast!
Lye is very aggressive if you catch some on your skin, so please take care and wear appropriate clothing.
Work in a well-ventilated area or even outdoors if possible. Check out my beginner’s soap recipe for more helpful tips and tricks.
How to use beeswax soap
You can use this beeswax soap as you do with other soaps. It’s excellent as a moisturizing body cleanser, for use in the shower or bath.
You can also have a bar at your sink and use it to wash your hands – I especially love using it after being outdoors all day in the winter and my hands are dried.
Environmental impact
It won’t go unnoticed that this beeswax soap contains palm oil.
Palm oil has received immeasurable negativity in the media because of its impact on the environment and the way it’s been used in the past.
This is why I only ever use sustainable palm oil, and I hope you will too.
Now that the reality of the palm oil industry has been exposed, producers are forced to grow sustainable palm oil – no longer taking it from habitats where species are directly impacted but intentionally growing it for commercial use away from those habitats.
Please, do consider this when buying palm oil and buy sustainable palm oil only.
I hope you enjoy making beeswax soap! If you like this recipe, be sure to check out these ones too.
- Coffee soap bars
- Charcoal soap bars
- Exfoliating loofah soap
- Simple lard soap recipe
- Olive oil swirl soap
- Skin-loving turmeric soap
Beeswax soap
Equipment
- Soap mold
- Safety goggles
- Gloves
Ingredients
Fats & Oils
- 10 oz Palm oil
- 6 oz Avocado oil
- 6 oz Cocoa butter
- 4 oz Sunflower oil
- 0.5 oz Yellow beeswax
Liquid & Lye
- 7.68 oz Water
- 3.43 oz Lye
Instructions
- Use the digital scale to measure the water. Then add it to the heat-resistant container.
- In a well-ventilated area, carefully measure out the lye (use the safety goggles/apron/gloves) and add it to the water slowly. Stir as its added until dissolved. Be aware the water will fizz and heat up quickly due to the lye chemical reaction.
- Set aside to cool.
- Measure out the palm oil, avocado oil, cocoa butter, sunflower oil and beeswax, then add to a small saucepan.
- Melt these ingredients together over a low heat.
- Once melted fully, remove from the heat and allow time to cool. An ideal temperature to cool to is around 120°-130°.
- Once cooled, transfer melted fats and oils to a metal mixing bowl.
- Add the lye/water mixture in small amounts.
- Mix with an immersion blender, adding the lye slowly as you go.
- Check the ‘trace’ by holding the immersion blender over the bowl; if you see drips coming from the soap that pools on top of the mixture, it’s the right trace, and you can stop mixing.
- Pour the soap into silicone molds. Or, if you’re using any other mold, make sure you line it with parchment paper.
- Allow the soap to cool completely for at least 24 hours (up to 3 days is fine).
- Remove the soap from the molds and place them on their ends to allow space and time to cure (a 3-6 week process) before use.
Does working with beeswax make cleanup more difficult? Or does mixing it all with the lye and oils/fats make it just like any other cleanup after making soap? Excited to try this. Thank you!
Thanks for asking! The beeswax can leave a bit of a residue on the saucepan, so wiping it out with a paper towel while it’s still warm is a great way to remove any leftover wax. Once the beeswax is incorporated into your soap mixture and the soap is cured, the rest of the equipment should wash up just fine with warm water and dish soap!
Would it be okay to add scents, oils or herbs?
Sorry to be jumping in on a post from April, but I am wondering why there is so little beeswax in this beeswax soap. Would it be extremely hard if more were added? I am not sure if half an oz of beeswax would really make a difference, however, I trust you : )
You only need very little beeswax to harden a soap bar. Typically 1-2% of the final weight.
Hello!!
I’d like to know if you have the percentage for the oils. I’d like to make a smaller batch. Also what is the superfat? And instead of cocoa butter, can mango butter be used? Thank you in advance.
The superfat is 5%.
You will need to recalculate ingredients with a soap calculator if you want to make any substitutions. I used brambleberrys calculator. The’ll also give percentages!