If you’re looking for easy melt and pour soap recipes for beginners, look no further. This guide is the perfect starting point for learning how to make melt and pour recipes for soap making.
If you’re not a beginner, you’ll love these recipes too. I especially recommend you keep scrolling down to the apple and cinnamon oatmeal melt and pour soap recipe. Quite simple, but so luscious. You’ll love it 🙂
After my daughter and I started getting obsessed with making our own beauty products, it was only a matter of time until we started to look into how to make our own homemade soap.
Initially, I was alarmed. I read how to make soap with lye, the dangers involved and just how long it took. It did not seem worthwhile.
PinThankfully, I then stumbled upon homemade melt and pour soap recipes. These were so easy, we really had no excuse not to start making our own natural melt and pour soap recipes. More importantly, it seemed fun and we soon had a long list of different types of soap we want to make.
We’ve now made quite a few different of the best melt and pour soap recipes, and I can’t wait to share with you both our absolute favourite ones (see apple and cinnamon oatmeal soap recipe melt and pour and our melt and pour lavender soap recipe below!), as well as the base recipe we use to make any type of soap we like.
You can then use this base as a starting point for whatever soap ideas for melt and pour you can come up with. We also give you some starting points below. But first, why even make simple melt and pour soap recipes in the first place?
Have any questions? Make sure you ask in the comments below!
Table of Contents
Why Make DIY Melt And Pour Soap Recipes?
There are many reasons that I love making my own melt and pour recipes and projects… And why you might too!
PinIt’s Quick And Easy
The first time you read basic melt and pour soap recipes, you may wonder if it’s really as easy as it sounds to make your own soap.
It is! You only need a couple of ingredients to make something you’ll love. And while you won’t be able to pick these up at the local Kmart, they are easy to order through eBay or Amazon and you can get started quickly.
The process for making your soap can be minutes depending on how simple you keep the recipe and the soap itself will be ready to use later that day.
Compared to making it from scratch using lye, this is far easier (and less likely you’ll make a bad mistake).
You Can Avoid Nasty Chemicals
Making your own soap means you have more control over what goes into it. While you still need to buy the melt and pour soap base (on eBay), you can make sure this is something that only contains ingredients you are happy with and obviously you can control what you add to it.
You Can Make It Completely Suit Your Preferences
I love that I can easily customise the recipe for melt and pour soap to make it exactly how I like it. For example, I absolutely LOVE the apple and cinnamon oatmeal melt and pour soap recipes below. It’s not something I can find in the local shops so this means that I can have it whenever I want.
Or if I love the softness in goats’ milk melt and pour soap recipes, again I can easily make this.
Or if I want to make some melt and pour soap recipes for men, I can add oils and colours to my base recipe to make it more attractive to men. Same if I want a melt and pour soap recipe for acne, melt and pour soap recipes for eczema or anything else.
I love all the options!
It’s A Great DIY Project For Kids
This is a great first DIY beauty product project for kids because it is quick and easy. There will be some handling of hot ingredients but with some parental supervision, there’s no reason this can’t be a safe and fun activity for families.
My daughter especially loves making melt and pour soap making recipes because of the next point…
They Make Great Gifts
Soap making recipes melt and pour aren’t just quick and easy but you come out with a great, thoughtful gift. We love giving away the soap we make (plus it’s an excuse to make more!).
The recipes here are more adult friendly, but you can also make them more fun for kid gifts as well by adding bright colours and using fun moulds. The melt and pour base recipe is still the same though.
PinIngredients For Melt And Pour Recipes For Soap Making
Technically, you can make DIY soap melt and pour with one just one ingredient – the soap base. However, this is pretty boring and I recommend you add at least an essential oil or fragrance 🙂
When it comes to buying ingredients for soap in Australia, I recommend shopping online. eBay and Amazon have everything you need. I have linked to whichever has the best options for the particular ingredient in this article to help you get what you need.
I also recommend online shopping if you are in the US. It is very easy to buy all ingredients on Amazon here.
Below, I walk you through each of the ingredients and what to look for or consider when buying them.
PinMelt And Pour Soap Base
When I first started making my own soap, working out which base to buy took me more time than making it. There are so many options that I quickly got confused. Like do I want a melt and pour shea butter soap recipe, melt and pour goat’s milk soap recipes, glycerin melt and pour soap recipes or melt and pour hemp soap recipes?
And that’s just some of the options.
So let’s rewind for a minute and talk about what melt and pour soap base actually is.
The soap base is really just pre-made soap that you can melt, add any ingredients you chose to and then set again using your own mould. This removes the more labour intensive (and slightly scary when you haven’t done it before) method of making soap from scratch using chemicals like lye.
Because it’s already been through saponification (the soap making chemical reaction), it also means your soap will be ready pretty much immediately – it just has to set. Instead of taking 4-6 weeks when making your own cold process soaps.
The base will consist of a mixture of oils, glycerin, water and sodium hydroxide (lye). The oils are usually a combination of coconut, palm and safflower. Titanium dioxide is usually contained in bases that are white. Other ingredients may be added too.
Then other ingredients can be chosen based on your preference that make different bases. This is things like goats’ milk, shea butter, cocoa butter and more. This is where I got confused but really this is about personal preference and which one you chose won’t impact how to make your melt and pour soap.
Some popular choices you may want to consider are:
Glycerin Melt And Pour Soap (Clear)
Also called clear, using this base is a good choice in melt and pour glycerin soap recipes where you want a brighter colour or you want to have objects in your soap like herbs or flower petals and you want to see those.
Be aware that some of the clear bases can be a yellow shade which can impact colouring.
This type of soap can also be less moisturising than other types so it’s not as recommended for people with dry skin.
Buy Glycerin Soap Base in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now.
Shea Butter Melt And Pour Soap
Containing about 5% shea butter, this is a favourite soap base of mine. Using this base is a good choice in shea butter soap recipe melt and pour where you want a creamier lather, although it doesn’t lather as well as other bases. It is nice and soft though.
It’s an off white colour which is best for more natural, subtler colouring. It holds scents well.
Buy Shea Butter Soap Base in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now.
PinGoats Milk Melt And Pour Soap
Full confession: I try to go vegan when I can. So I haven’t personally made a goats’ milk soap recipe melt and pour. However, it is a popular choice (and for good reason) so you can use it for the recipes below if you wish.
Goats’ milk is packed with vitamins, minerals and proteins that help nourish and soften the skin as well as help overall skin health so it can be an excellent addition for your melt and pour goats’ milk soap recipe.
A quality melt and pour goat milk soap base recipe is likely to have up to 10% of real goats’ milk included. This makes it very easy to add these qualities to your soap.
It can be slightly trickier to colour thanks to usually being a slight yellowish white colour, so it’s hard to give it bright colours. It can be extra great if you want a natural looking, soft soap that is extra nourishing.
Buy Goats Milk Soap Base in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now.
Oatmeal Melt And Pour Soap
Adding oatmeal to melt and pour soap is something you can do yourself as described in the apple and cinnamon soap recipe below OR you can buy a soap base which already has oatmeal added.
Oatmeal is great for adding exfoliation to your soap. It also has a good moisturising lather.
I am a fan of adding it to my soap. However, if you buy the base this way, you need to be careful about how you melt the base to add oils or anything else.
It’s easy for the oatmeal to burn so heat very slowly in a double boiler or something where you won’t apply direct heat and add any ingredients when it’s not quite fully melted to prevent this.
Buy Oatmeal Soap Base in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now.
There are also other soap bases to choose from like cocoa butter, a white base (like the glycerin above but with titanium dioxide added to make it white), hemp and more.
With a cocoa butter base, be aware it adds a chocolate smell which can either be a pro or a con depending on the soap you are making.
Click here for a range of options on eBay.
There’s not really a wrong choice, so don’t spend ages deciding which one like I did 🙂 I recommend starting with using a shea butter melt and pour soap recipe or a clear base depending on how you want it to look at the end and moving on. You can try other bases next time.
Essential Oils/Fragrance
PinWhen it comes to essential oils and fragrances, I recommend you add something to your soap but which one is a personal choice.
I mostly stick to making melt and pour soap recipes with essential oils as I know exactly what is in an essential oil whereas fragrances can be trickier.
However, I do make an exception for extra awesome recipes like my apple cinnamon one below since I can’t buy an apple essential oil and cinnamon essential oil is not recommend on skin.
The other plus is that essential oils also have other benefits beyond the smell – like lavender is good for relaxation, improving anxiety and softening skin.
You can also use essential oils to make soaps for different purposes, like if you have a cold, soap with eucalyptus and peppermint will help.
You also need to use some discretion with how much essential oils/fragrance you add. In my recipes below is a guideline to what I use. However, I can’t say exactly how much oils is safe for your family.
I love experimenting with different oils in soap to find the perfect combination for me.
Buy Essential Oils in the US on Amazon now | Buy them in Australia on eBay now.
Colouring
PinFirst of all, colouring is completely optional and it can make life easier if you don’t bother with it as working out how to add it can be annoying if you want to be completely natural.
The problem is that there are many options for colouring soap so it can make your head spin 🙂
Mica powder can be an easy choice. While it can be touted as natural, keep in mind it can also contain heavy metals from where it was mined and any colouring added could be artificial.
Buy Mica Powder in the US here. | Buy it in Australia here.
You can also buy soap dyes, but these also can have non-natural ingredients which could cause skin irritation.
PinThere’s also many natural ingredients you can add for colour, like herbs and clays. This is what I use and it is a little trickier. They don’t tend to create bright colours and it can also lead to not having a uniform colour, but I think this looks more natural anyway so I don’t mind.
Some options are:
- Alkanet root powder– this will usually add a purple colour to melt and pour soap.
Buy it in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now. - Brazilian clay – this comes in many different colours like yellow, purple, pink, green and red. I have used the purple variety successfully.
Buy it in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now. - French clay– this also comes in a range of colours but is most commonly found in green and pink. I have used the green colour successfully.
Buy it in the US on Amazon now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now.
Don’t use food colouring in your soap recipes.
If you are using powdered colouring, the general recommendation is to mix it with some isopropyl alcohol before adding it to the soap base at a rate of around 1 teaspoon of coloured powder to 1 tablespoon of isopropyl alcohol.
Buy Isopropyl Alcohol in the US now | Buy it in Australia on eBay now.
PinOther Ingredients
You may also want to add other ingredients to your soaps. Small amounts of other products can work.
A popular option is oatmeal. You can grind this up and add it to help with exfoliating as described above and below in the apple cinnamon recipe.
I also like to add actual dried lavender to my lavender soap recipe melt and pour. You can experiment with your own melt and pour soap design ideas.
Buy Dried Lavender in the US here. | Buy it in Australia on eBay here.
Soap Moulds
PinYou will want some type of mould to make your soap.
You can buy dedicated soap moulds which is what I recommend. These are inexpensive and then you can keep them aside for your soap making. You could also use silicone moulds or baking trays you already have although I wouldn’t use them for food again once you have done this.
I’ve also read about someone lining a cupboard box and using that! The soap is hot and liquid though when you pour it and personally I think it’s much easier to just buy a silicone mould.
Buy Soap Moulds in the US here. | Buy one in Australia here.
How To Make Soap Melt And Pour Recipes – The Basics
PinBelow, I’m going to share my melt and pour soap base recipes which you can then modify to make your own soaps exactly how you like them.
I also describe how to make this into a lavender recipe and an apple and cinnamon recipe.
I recommend if you are a beginner, you pick either the lavender or apple and cinnamon recipe and follow it completely.
If you have made soap before and have some melt and pour soap making ideas, you can use the base recipe and add the oils and anything else you want to make soap the way you want. It’s very flexible.
You can also easily make less soap at a time by dividing these ingredients. This recipe is made to make 5 x 100g soap bars. If you are trying something new, it can make sense to divide it by 5 and make one soap bar to try it out first.
I recommend you don’t make more than this at once and even consider making less. It starts setting very quickly so smaller portions are easier to handle quickly.
PinI also highly recommend you have everything out ready to go before you start so you can be really quick adding everything once the soap is melted and the mould is all set right there to pour into.
If it does start setting, you can melt it again quickly. Yield:5 Prep Time:5 minutes Cook Time:2 minutes Total Time:7 minutes This is my base melt and pour soap recipe which you can modify with your own scents and colours to make it perfect for you. If the soap hardens too quickly before you've poured it into the mould, you can reheat it in the microwave at 10 second intervals until it is melted again. Yield:5 Prep Time:5 minutes Cook Time:2 minutes Total Time:7 minutes This is an extension of the base recipe above using lavender and shea butter melt and pour soap recipes to make a luscious, natural lavender soap. If the soap hardens too quickly before you've poured it into the mould, you can reheat it in the microwave at 10 second intervals until it is melted again. You can switch the soap base to any you prefer or have available. You can chose to keep the soap a white colour and not add the Brazilian purple clay and isopropyl alcohol. It's also optional to add the dried lavender. You can also switch the colour, essential oil and dried lavender to anything you would like. For example, you could make a rosemary melt and pour soap recipe by switching the essential oil to rosemary essential oil, removing the colouring and using dried rosemary. Yield:5 Prep Time:10 minutes Cook Time:2 minutes Total Time:12 minutes Ok get ready! If you haven't noticed yet in this article, I have not been able to stop mentioning my absolute favourite homemade soap - this apple and cinnamon oatmeal recipe. It's slightly more effort than my soap recipes above but it's worth it. This makes a great gift - if you can bear to part with it! If the soap hardens too quickly before you've poured it into the mould, you can reheat it in the microwave at 10 second intervals until it is melted again. You can switch the soap base to any you prefer or have available. You can also use an oatmeal soap base. In this case, you don't need extra oatmeal and don't need to do the step of adding this in the recipe. Be careful about how you melt oatmeal soap base though. Ideally, use a double boiler and keep temperatures low. If you don't have a combined apple and cinnamon fragrance oil, you can use 15 drops of apple fragrance and 10 drops of cinnamon.
DIY Melt And Pour Soap Base Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Lavender Melt And Pour Soap Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Melt And Pour Oatmeal Soap Recipe - Luscious Apple And Cinnamon Soap
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
PinOther Melt And Pour Soap Ideas
There are so many ways you can alter the base melt and pour soap recipes using essential oils, fragrance oils and colouring to come up with some great homemade soaps. Experiment! It’s hard to go too wrong.
Below are some popular ideas, you may want to try.
Christmas Soap Recipes Melt And Pour
If you are looking for some festive Christmas soap recipes, think about what smells make you think CHRISTMAS and start from there.
I think the apple and cinnamon recipe above can be a great option.
Another suggestion is making gingerbread soap. You could do this using the base recipe above and adding ginger and clove essential oils (find them on eBay here). American buyers can find these essential oils here.
You can colour your soap with yellow French clay to complete the look.
Buy French Clay in the US here. | Buy it in Australia on eBay here.
Or how about a candy cane inspired soap? Using peppermint essential oil (on eBay) and a pink French clay (on eBay) to give it its colour.
Coffee Soap Recipe Melt And Pour
PinI’ve been surprised how many times I have been asked for a melt and pour coffee soap recipe. It’s not really something I have cared to branch into myself since I may be the only Melburnian who can’t stand coffee!
However, here’s how I would make a coffee melt and pour soap.
Use the base recipe above and use coffee fragrance oil for the smell. I’d also consider trying a tablespoon of ground coffee to add to the coffee theme and to give it some exfoliation (like using oats above).
Conclusion
PinI hope you have found this guide to making melt and pour soaps as useful as I would have before first making some. This really is an easy option to make some fabulous soaps and it’s lots of fun getting creative and coming up with your own melt and pour soap recipe ideas.
Learn how to make fun kids soaps here, some great foot balm here and sugar scrub bars here (which can be a great alternative to soap in the shower). For the bath, you won’t want to miss our bath bombs here. You can also find more awesome DIY recipes here.
Ask any questions below! I love to hear from other skincare makers.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
