Tea Tree & Shea Healing Soap

October 20, 2021 Juliette van der Meer

Here is a divine little recipe for a soap bar that is great for problem skin - packed full of shea butter and tea tree oil to heal and moisturise. You can customise it with another oil of choice too if you like, to make it even more of a showstopper. We coloured our soap green and white to fit with the theme.

How Much Soap Will This Make?

This makes a decent amount of soap - I filled two of the 8 cavity oval molds plus had a little extra left over to make one extra soap (17 soaps in total). But the number of soaps made will depend on the size of your molds if using different ones.

Let's get soaping!

Ingredients:

380g water
145g lye
450g refined coconut oil
400g refined shea butter
150g other liquid oil of choice, or you can use more coconut oil - keep 50g of it aside to superfat the soap
Fragrance: tea tree essential oil

Equipment:

Thermometer
Soap mold of choice - I used the 8 cavity oval mold
Beakers
Bowls
Spatula
Goggles, gloves and apron to protect yourself
Soup blender
Optional colours: 5-10g of each colour. I used zinc oxide powder and apple green mica powder but you can use any colour combinations

Making Tea Tree & Shea Healing Soap

First of all, wear protective gloves, goggles and an apron so no soap batter can get on your clothes or skin. Work in a well ventilated area and we recommend doing the lye part outside entirely.

Weigh out all the ingredients and get out two bowls: one for the lye mixture and one for the oils.

Combine the lye and water in one of the bowls, stir to dissolve and set it outside to cool. It will have created quite a bit of heat as it is an exothermic reaction.

Add the oils and shea butter (keeping 50g oil aside for superfatting later) to another bowl and melt together.

While the oil mixture and the lye mixture are cooling down, prep your colours if you want your soaps to have colour. I used two colours, white and apple green. Divide the 50g of oil you set aside earlier into two beakers and mix a different colour powder into each. You will later divide your soap batter and make each a different colour.

Once the lye mixture and oil mixture have both cooled to around 50 degrees (you can soap at a higher or lower temperature, as long as both your phases are within 10 degrees of one another), combine them together and blend with a soup blender/immersion blender. Blend until everything is mixed but don’t let it come to trace just yet. Add enough tea tree oil so that the scent is strong enough for you, bearing in mind that it may fade a little with time, then divide the soap batter into two bowls and add the coloured superfatting oil to each. Blend with the soup blender until a light trace is reached.

Now you can start pouring your soaps! Work quickly here as the soap batter will start to set up quite fast. Pour one colour and then pour the second colour, working with a knife to make swirls.

Once your soaps are poured, set them aside for 24 hours to harden up before removing them from their molds. Cure your soaps in a dry, dust-free area for 6-8 weeks, turning them periodically so all sides get air.

This recipe makes a hard, cleansing bar of soap that bubbles well. If you would like to make it more creamy and conditioning you can add in 2 tablespoons of kaolin clay when close to trace, but I didn’t.

Enjoy your soaps!