Soap Making Instructions
Tea Tree Oil Soap Recipe

Today I am going to be providing you with detailed step by step soap making instructions for a premium tea tree oil soap recipe. The final product is a great skin care soap with lots of lather and conditioning properties. The inclusion of Soap Making Resource's therapeutic grade tea tree essential oil definitely makes this a winner with friends, family and customers!

In this bar, I also add oatmeal which offers a natural scrub feel that is perfect for exfoliating dead skin cells. I hope you enjoy this tutorial for one of my favorite soap recipes! Please let me know if you have any questions about these soap making instructions by contacting me using this form. I'm more then happy to help!

Soap Making Supplies needed...

For this tea tree oil soap recipe, you will need:

• Olive oil (29.15 ounces)
• Palm Kernel oil (9.5 ounces)
• Coconut oil (6.3 ounces)
• Castor oil (3.7 ounces)
• Shea butter (4.3 ounces)
• Almond milk (8.5 ounces)
• Oatmeal (4 tablespoons)
• Silk
• Eucalyptus Globulus Essential Oil (25 grams)
• Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil (25 grams)
• Tea tree Essential Oil (12.5 grams)
• Anise, Star Essential Oil (12.5 grams)
• Lye (210 grams)
• Distilled Water (13.5 ounces)

*Remember that all ounces mentioned in my recipes are weight ounces, not liquid ounces.

Ingredients are available right here at soap-making-resource.com... So, be sure to check out the selection!

Directly below, you will find the video version of this tea tree oil soap recipe. Further down the page, I have the soap making instructions written out in detailed form with pictures for each step. You may want to go over both versions of soap making instructions before you make this tea tree oil soap recipe for yourself.

The Recipe Step by Step...

Without further ado, here's the step by step soap making instructions for creating this wonderful tea tree oil soap recipe. Enjoy!

Step 1: weigh out 210 grams of dry lye in a separate container. Make sure that your container can withstand the caustic properties of sodium hydroxide. It's best to use a digital scale to make your measurement. Make sure you have the setting to grams here, not ounces!

Why are we using grams? Well, it is imperative that you measure the amount of lye in your recipe accurately. Measuring in grams is a lot more precise then measuring in ounces because it is a smaller unit of measurement. You'll notice throughout the various soap making instructions published on my website that I always will use grams for measuring out lye. I recommend you do the same.

Step 2: Next, measure out 13.5 ounces of distilled water. Let me note that this is a little less water then I would normally use to dilute 210 grams of dry lye. Typically, I would use 20 ounces of distilled water here, not 13.5 ounces. The reason I am using less water then usual is because I will be incorporating 8.5 ounces of almond milk into this tea tree oil soap recipe, which is also a liquid, at an early stage in the process. If I include all 20 ounces of water in the lye solution and then add another 8.5 ounces of liquid, my soap would probably be softer then I would like. So, if you are planning to omit the almond milk from this tea tree oil soap recipe, then you should use 20 ounces of water in your lye solution instead of the 13.5 ounces. Make sense?

When I refer to ounces within these soap making instructions, even for your water measurement, I am talking about weight ounces. I recommend that you always measure in weight, not volume. Again, it is more accurate!

Step 3: Now, we are going to add our first natural additive in this tea tree oil soap recipe, which is silk. Place about 1/2 a cotton ball worth of silk in your measured out water and wait a few minutes for it to soak. You may want to stir it around a little bit. I personally find that the silk dissolves better when you break it down into very small pieces instead of adding an entire chunk to the water.

Keep in mind that you really shouldn't use just any silk here. It should be natural silk with no processing or additives. I use cruelty free tussah noil silk fibers in my soap. The silk used as clothing material, in my experience, has a difficult time dissolving compared to tussah noil silk fiber. Silk will add, for lack of a better word, silkiness to your soap's texture when you lather up! It's very nice indeed.

Step 4: Now that you have your lye and water measured out, we are going to combine the two components. Slowly and steadily pour the measured out lye into the water. For safety reasons, it is very important here that you pour the lye into the water and not the water into the lye. This is one of the most important soap making instructions for creating your batch safely. Stir until all the lye chunks are completely dissolved. The silk that you had placed within your water will dissolve within a few minutes once in contact with the lye. Also, do your best to avoid breathing in those initial fumes! Step 5: Place a thermometer into this solution and set it safely off to the side for future use. We are going to wait until the temperature of our lye solution reduces to approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit before using it in our tea tree oil soap recipe.
Step 6: Next, we are going to measure out our oils... the "acid" in the saponification reaction. For this recipe, we will need 29.15 ounces of olive oil, 9.50 ounces of palm kernel oil, 6.3 ounces of coconut oil, 3.7 ounces of castor oil and 4.3 ounces of shea butter. So go ahead and measure those out in your large stainless steel soap pot. This combination of oils produces a wonderful bar with great lather, nice conditioning properties and adequate hardness. Of course, each of these oils are available to purchase right here at soap-making-resource.com! Step 7: Now that all your oils for the tea tree oil soap recipe are measured out we are going to melt them all to a liquid form. Place your stainless steel soap pot on a cooktop burner and set at a low heat. Keep the heat as low as possible so you don't scorch the oils.
Step 8: While the oils are melting, we are going to prepare our essential oil blend in a separate container. We'll do this ahead of time so it's ready to be added to the batch when that step in the soap making instructions is reached. For this tea tree oil soap recipe, we will be making an essential oil blend with 25 grams eucalyptus globulus, 25 grams lavender 40/42, 12.5 grams tea tree and 12.5 grams anise essential oils. That's 75 grams total. This will make a very strong smelling soap... but not too strong. You don't want your soap to be nauseatingly strong. 75 grams for this size batch is a usage rate of about .8 ounces per pound of oils. I simply like to measure out my essential oils in grams because this smaller unit of measurement is more accurate. Step 9: Next, we are going to prepare our oatmeal. In a separate container, measure out 4 tablespoons of oatmeal. You definitely want to use old fashioned rolled oats here... not quick oats or instant oatmeal. If you use quick oats or instant oatmeal, it will become goopy in your soap. Yuck!

You can add these oats to your soap whole which will offer more of a scrub feel, or you can grind them up in a coffee grinder. I usually choose to grind them up because I personally like that feel better, but it's up to you!

Step 10: Now measure out your almond milk. It is highly recommended that you use an all natural and sugar free almond milk for soap making. Unknown additives can do funny things in the soap making process!

For this size batch, you will need a total of 8.5 ounces of almond milk. Remember in "step 2" of these soap making instructions how I didn't use as much water as I normally would use? I used about 13.5 ounces instead of the typical 20 ounces. Well, this is where we make up for that water discount. Within the total 8.5 ounces of almond milk that we will be incorporating, 6.5 of those ounces is making up for the lack of water and the remaining 2 ounces is extra which will add even more creaminess to the bar. I discounted the water in the beginning because you really don't want too much liquid in your soap. Too much liquid can create a very soft bar that takes a long time to cure.

Step 11: At this point, all your additives are measured out and prepared; ready to be added to your batch when the time comes. While you were preparing the additives, your oils should have completely melted and your lye solution should have cooled substantially. Before we make soap, we are going to try to get both solutions to be around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This is my preferred temperature for soaping.

If you are a beginner I recommend following these soap making instructions precisely. Stick with the 100 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. If, however, you have a few batches under your belt, you may have developed your own preferred temperature for making soap. If this is the case, feel free to make the change to your desired temperature.

To cool your oils mixture or lye solution, place the vessels in a sink filled with ice water. Make sure you have a thermometer in both solutions so that you know when the proper temperature is reached! If you need to heat up the oils, you can simply do this on your cooktop. If you need to heat up your lye solution, you can fill your sink with hot water. The temperatures don't need to be 100 degrees on the dot for this tea tree oil soap recipe to work. Just get it close.

Step 12: So you have prepared all of your additives, and your lye solution and oils mixture is right at around 100 degrees Fahrenheit... so you are now FINALLY ready to make soap! Slowly pour all of your lye solution into the oils stirring manually until you reach an even color.
Step 13: After this initial manual mixing, pour in your almond milk. Now take out your stick blender and begin blending.
Step 14: Once you feel that your soap is beginning to thicken up a bit, test your batch for trace. Dribble a little bit of soap from your stick blender onto the surface of the rest of your batch. If the dribbled soap stays on the surface before sinking back into the rest of the mixture, even if just for a brief second, you have reached trace. Don't let your soap get too thick before continuing on to step 14 of these soap making instructions! Step 15: Once you reach a light trace, we are going to include our additives. Pour in the previously measured out oatmeal.
Step 16: Next pour in your essential oils. Keep stirring until everything looks even. This will take just a few minutes with the stick blender.
Step 17: Does your soap look thick... kind of like a pudding? Do you have an even color and texture? If yes, your tea tree oil soap recipe is successfully completed and your product is ready to be poured into the mold.
Step 18: Once your soap is poured into the mold, you can optionally put a thin layer of whole oatmeal on top. This will allow one side of your bar to have an exfoliating scrub feel to it.
Step 19: Once all your soap is poured into the mold and the optional oatmeal is added evenly to the top, cover the mold with your lid.
Step 20: Finally, you are going to want to insulate your batch with towels. Be sure to use old towels (or blankets) that you don't mind ruining. Your soap should remain insulated for about 24 hours for the initial cure.

Step 21: After 24 hours your soap should have solidified. Carefully remove the log from the mold. With the Soap Making Resource wooden soap mold this is easily done as both ends of the mold are detachable. Click here to check out the original Soap Making Resource wooden soap mold now!

Step 22: Cut your soap log into standard bars. If you are using one of the Soap Making Resource molds, you can use the built in cutting slot to ensure that all bars are uniform and even. It really makes successfully cutting your bars much easier; doesn't it!

Step 23: The very last step in these soap making instructions is to place your cut bars on a rack to further cure. You should let them cure for about 4 - 6 weeks. This long cure time allows the excess water to evaporate from the bar making your product harder and longer lasting. The combination of oils in this tea tree oil soap recipe will produce a very hard bar. Your soap will also become milder over time.

Thank you very much for reading these step by step soap making instructions for my tea tree oil soap recipe. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact me via the contact form. I'm happy to help! Stay tuned for more soap making instructions to come very shortly.

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