Citrus Soap Making Recipe

This citrus soap making recipe will make a wonderful bar of soap to use. Here is a little back story on how I came up with a citrus soap recipe.   

I like to juice fresh fruits and vegetables every once in a while.  I have several recipes that are my "go to" recipes.  One recipe includes: 1 Grapefruit, 1 Orange, 1 Lemon, 1 Lime and a tablespoon of Honey with a one inch piece of Ginger root.

After peeling all these fruit rinds I thought, Why not add the citrus skins into a soap and call it a “Citrus Soap”?

Well, I began saving the citrus rinds. I would set them out to dry.  This would usually take about a week or so for the citrus rinds to be 100% dehydrated. You'll know when they are dehydrated because the rinds will be hard and brittle.

At this point I would grind the citrus rinds into a fine powder.  This fine citrus powder delivered a mild and pleasing aroma!  An aroma that I wanted to  include in the new citrus soap recipe.

An important note!  Mix the citrus powder with water (H2O) to create a fine mud slurry.  This will saturate the powder for better mixing at trace.  Avoid adding the citrus powder in dry form.     

Early trace is the best time to add the saturated citrus powder. This is when the soap substance is not too thick and you have time to mix and blend the citrus slurry uniformly into the mixture.  Add your tablespoon of Honey at this time.

The total oil amount numbers in ounces are variable from batch to batch so we have left those amounts as "X".

1. OILS for the Citrus Soap Recipe:                                                                                                          

a. Lard - - - - - - 60%...........XX oz.

b. Olive Oil - - - 20%...........XX oz.

c. Canola Oil - - 10%...........XX oz.

d. Coconut Oil -10%...........XX oz.

Total Oils - - - -100%   =   XX.X oz.

2. LYE Amount  = X.XX oz.  

3. H20 Amount = X.XX oz.

4. ADDITIVES:

a. Citrus powder.  Amount = X.X oz. - X.X oz.  (.02% - .05% of total oil amount.)  Add at trace.

b. Honey.  Amount = 1 tablespoon.  Add at trace.

Oil Qualities

For our citrus soap making recipe we used 4 oils, here are some of their qualities.

1. Lard is the majority Fat at 60%. It makes a harder soap bar with mild and cleansing properties but has little soap lather and bubbly. 

2. Olive Oil at 20% of the oils makes a firm high quality soap bar with smooth but not massive amounts of lather.

3. Canola Oil is used at 10%. It makes a soft bar with high conditioning qualities that are softening and soothing to the skin.

4. Coconut Oil is also used at 10%. Makes a great lather and bubbly qualities.

Soap Qualities by the Numbers

Compare your citrus soap making recipe numbers.

1 Hardness. Optimal range (29 – 54). The higher the number the harder the soap bar will be. We had ( 37 ) which is good and within range.

2. Cleansing. Optimal range (12 – 22). The lower the number the more mild the soap.  Our cleansing number is ( 7 ) and that’s good, it’s a very mild soap below the optimal range.

3. Conditioning. Optimal range (44 – 69). The higher the number the more soothing and softening to your skin.  We have a number of ( 58 ) which is in the center of the acceptable range. This is really good. Our soap will be soothing and soft to the skin. 

4. Bubbly. Optimal range (14 – 46). The higher numbers in this category equate to more bubbly lather.  Our Bubbly number is ( 7 ). This is below the optimal range numbers.  We’ll still have lather, just a minimal amount of lather.

5. Creamy.  Optimal range (16 – 48). The higher the number the more lather you will have.  Our Creamy number is ( 30 ). This is within range and will give us a good lather. 

6. Iodine. Optimal range (under 70). You want your Iodine number under 70 so that your soap will not go rancid!  Our number is ( 63 ). Our soap is well below the threshold, It will not go rancid.

7. INS.  Optimal range (136 – 165). The lower the number the more moisturizing the soap will be to your skin.  We have the number ( 136 ). This number is on the low side of the range and that is a good thing! Our citrus soap recipe will yield a moisturizing bar.