Have you ever thought that one day you’d be making your own soap bars? Making soap is just one of the ways to customize your skincare routine. Following this simple recipe using lard and olive oil, you can make a soap bar with a smooth lather for moisturizing and cleansing skin.
What is Lard Made of?
Lard is the animal fat from pork. It is rendered or melted from the fatty tissues by melting the fat over low heat for several hours until the “crackle” rises to the top, and the liquid fat on the bottom is clear.
For centuries, lard has been used primarily as a cooking fat but could also be found in medicinal poultices, salves, soaps, lotions, and other beauty products.
Why use lard for soap making? It makes a beautiful soap bar that is moisturizing for the skin, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A.
Lard for Soap Making
Lard can be found in most grocery stores, either in the cooking oil aisle or the meat section. The lard used for cooking or baking is no different than lard for making soap bars.
Now, if you’re feeling extra adventurous, try making lard! Use a dutch oven on the stovetop to render the pork fat. Strain the fat off the top, and you’ll be left with your very own lard to use for soap or cooking!
Does Lard Soap Smell?
If you have never worked with lard, you are probably wondering if it will make your soap bar smell bad. I mean, it does come from the fat of a pig, so I totally understand the concern!
If rendered properly, your lard should be pure white and practically odorless. Believe it or not, lard has a very mild scent that is considered quite pleasant.
When making soap with lard, you can add in essential oils to give it whatever scent you prefer, or you can leave it unscented. Either way, the lard soap bar will be perfect for cleaning and hydrating your skin.
Lard Soap Recipe
For this soap bar, I am keeping it very simple. As with all soap bars, if you decide to change any of the oils or fats in the recipe, you will need to use a soap calculator to adjust the measurements.
For this recipe, I am using lard and olive oil. Olive oil makes a beautiful soap bar by itself, and with the added lard, this is one of my favorite soap bars I have made to date.
To make any cold-process soap bar, you will also need Lye and water. When mixed with the fats, Lye causes a chemical reaction called saponification, which turns the fats and oils into soap.
Soap Making
Soap making isn’t as hard as you might think and you don’t need much to do it. In just a few hours, a lot of which is waiting for ingredients to melt and cool, you can whip up several luxurious soap bars.
All soap, (with the exception of hot process bars), have to fully dry, then cure for several weeks to several months, as is the case with some bars, so you won’t be able to enjoy your soap immediately, but it is well worth the wait!
What you Need
- Soap mold
- Immersion Blender
- Digital scale
- Saucepan
- Heat resistant container (capable of rapid temperature increase)
- Safety goggles
- Rubber gloves
Soap Supplies
- Lye
- Water
- Lard
- Olive oil
Lard Soap Recipe
- Water-6.08 oz
- Lye-2.11 oz
- Lard-10 oz
- Olive Oil-6 oz
- Essential oils, optional
How to Make Lard Soap
Do not deviate even the slightest from these measurements! If you do want to alter the measurements or substitute ingredients, you must use a soap calculator.
- Use a digital scale to measure out the water. Then, add it into the heat-resistant container.
- Measure out the Lye and add it to the water slowly. Stir the Lye into the water slowly until dissolved. Note, the chemical reaction will cause it to heat up quickly. Set aside to cool.
- Finally, measure out the lard and olive oil, then add to a small saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat
- Once the oils are melted, remove them from heat.
- Allow the oils to cool to about 100°F and the lye water to cool to about 120-130°, or at least close to those temperatures.
- When the ingredients have cooled to the desired temperatures, transfer the melted fat and oil to a metal mixing bowl. Add the lye water a little at a time. Mix with an immersion blender, add more and continue mixing between each round.
- This will take a couple of minutes till the soap comes to trace. To check the “trace,” hold the immersion blender over the bowl; if the soap that drips from the blender to the soap in the bowl pools up on top, it’s at the correct trace.
- At this point, add in essential oils and give a quick stir with the blender.
- Pour the soap directly into the silicone soap molds. I like to use silicone molds over any other molds since they do not require any prep work. If you do use a different type of mold, see instructions on prepping them. Most require parchment paper.
- Allow the soap to harden in the molds for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.
- Remove the soap from the molds and allow it to cure for 3-6 weeks before using.
How to Cure Homemade Soap Bars
Curing soap bars is the process of allowing them to dry and harden completely. Letting the soap cure for weeks will enable all the water to evaporate, allowing the soap bar to last a lot longer and not melt in the shower.
You can purchase fancy curing racks, but I have found a 9 by 13 pan to work just as well. Be sure to let the soap bars fully harden before removing them from the molds.
Simply line the bars, sitting on their sides, inside of the 9 by 13 pan. Make sure they are not touching each other. Place the pan in a dry, cool place until fully cured, about 3-6 weeks.
Lard Soap Benefits
Lard has been used to make soap for many centuries and can be found in many conventional beauty products at the store. So using animal fat soap is definitely not a new thing.
Lard has a number of wonderful benefits for your skin.
- Rich in vitamins A and E
- Loaded with fatty acids
- Helps with acne and skin imperfections
- May lighten the appearance of scars
- Helps with skin wounds and burns
- Moisturizes dry skin
- Hydrates damaged skin
- Cleanses and purifies
- Makes a very mild soap
- Conditions skin
- Promotes healthy skin
- Improves skin tone
Does Lard Soap Lather?
Lard will make a firm soap bar that is white in color with a very mild scent. Lard alone doesn’t make a soap bar that lathers super well, but adding in another oil will help with that.
Pairing lard with a little olive oil will make a perfectly firm soap bar that lathers well. If you want to make a bar of soap with just lard, you most certainly can; however, it may not lather like a traditional soap bar you are used to.
What is Lard used for?
Lard is most often used for cooking and baking, but it’s also not unheard of to find lard in soap bars and other beauty products.
Other ways to use lard: it can be used for frying, baking, grilling, or seasoning cast iron skillets. Bakers like to use lard in pie crusts, biscuits, and even fried chicken.
Lard Vs Tallow
Lard and tallow are both animal fats that are rendered from the meat of an animal. The most obvious difference is the animal from which the fat comes.
Lard is pork fat and tallow is beef fat. Both fats have similar benefits for the skin and can be used to make soap bars, lotions, or used for cooking.
I have used tallow to make shampoo bars and body butter in the past and similar to lard, tallow makes a very mild and moisturizing product.
I do hope you enjoyed this recipe! This one is easy to make, and the results are amazing!
Make sure to give it 5 stars if you love it, and when you’re done, check out our newest soap bar posts!
Cold-Process Lard Soap Bar
Making soap is just one of the ways to customize your skincare routine. Following this simple recipe using lard and olive oil, you can make a soap bar with a smooth lather for moisturizing and cleansing skin.
Materials
- Water 6.08 oz
- Lye 2.11 oz
- Lard 10 oz
- Olive Oil 6 oz
- 20 drops lavender essential oil
Tools
- Immersion Blender
- Digital scale
- Saucepan
- Heat-resistant container
- Soap mold
- Safety goggles
- Rubber gloves
Instructions
- Use a digital scale to measure out the water. Then, add it to the heat-resistant container.
- Slowly add the lye to the water. Stir the lye into the water until dissolved. Note, the chemical reaction will cause it to heat up quickly. Set aside to cool to about 120-130°F
- Melt the lard and olive oil in a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat.
- Once melted, set aside to cool.
- Add the melted fat and oil to a metal mixing bowl.
- Pour the lye in with the melted fat and oil a little at a time and mix with an immersion blender.
- Continue adding the lye and mixing between each round.
- Steps 6 and 7 will take a minute to get the soap to come to trace. To check the "trace," hold the immersion blender over the bowl; if the soap drips and pools up on the top, its come to the correct trace.
- Stir in lavender essential oil.
- Pour the soap into the silicone molds and let dry for 24 hours up to 3 days.
- Remove from molds and allow them to cure for 3-6 weeks before enjoying.
Naz says
Hello. Appreciate your soap recipes. You are very kind to do this. You may want to get the phone app Soap Genie. I plugged in this lard recipe, and it states it has little cleaning properties. I’ll look at some of my recipes and share.
mary katherine johnston says
I just ran to my soap calc and ran the same numbers. I would suggest, as always, to check that first before making any soap. I am however going to be making this recipe soon because I am curious to see how it will turn out. soap calculations are just numbers… never know till we actually make it.
Laura says
Yes, I always suggest using a soap calculator if you are changing anything in the recipe.
Naz says
I wrote earlier that this recipe has little cleaning properties. According to the Soap Genie app, this recipe is well balanced: 13.3 oz water, 4.9 oz NaOH, 17 oz lard, 8oz Coconut oil, 8 oz Olive oil, 2 oz Castor oil
If you make it, let me know how the final product compares to yours.
Linda MacCulloch says
Hi. How many bars does this recipe give you? Can we double the recipe?
Laura says
With the molds I used and linked, it made 6 bars. And yes, you can double the recipe.
Yolette says
Thank you for all that you wrote
Kate says
Hi Laura!
Thanks so much for the recipe.
I know it’s super crucial to keep the fats, lye and water amounts according to a soap calc, but I’m wondering if it matters how much extra ingredients are used. Ingredients like clay powders for color, essential oils, etc. TIA!
Laura says
That is more flexible.
Rosie says
Adding 20 drops scented essential oil and colors Rapidly thickens soap still inside the mixing bowl.
I blend it longer to reach trace; which keeps the ‘batter’ predictable and manageable to pour into molds.
Also I prefer the clean natural scent and color, without added colors & fragrance.
Jenna says
Hello! I’m new to soap making. Does this recipe make a “super fatted” soap? I need as much moisture as I can get! Thanks!
Laura says
You can adjust the superfatting using the brambleberry calculator.
Jennifer F says
I used this recipe as my first time making soap, I think I did something wrong. It came out really thick, but I think I know why. We’ll see if it turns out or not. How will I know if it is ok to use after it sits several weeks?
Laura says
You probably blended it too long. It will still be fine! When I say medium trace, that is still a little runny, and you probably went a little past that.
Phil jones says
Is there a lye calculator that includes lard and tallow with their ingredients?
Laura says
Hi, I have the soapee soap calculator linked above under the “how to make lard soap” section.