Cedarwood and lavender bar
A hard, creamy lard bar scented with lavender and Atlas cedarwood, poured in two layers: a cream base and a soft lavender-violet top, divided by a fine charcoal line. Neither oil has an IFRA limit in soap, so the scent is easy to adjust.
- Skill
- Intermediate
- Method
- Cold process
- Batch
- 1000 g of oils about 1455 g of batter
- Hands-on
- 1 h 20 min
- Cure
- 6 weeks
- Gel phase
- Yes insulate the mould
What you need
For 1000 g of oils, which fills a 1.5 litre loaf mould. Weigh everything, liquids included.
| Lard · 30.0 % | 300 g | 10.58 oz |
| Olive Oil · 30.0 % | 300 g | 10.58 oz |
| Coconut Oil · 23.0 % | 230 g | 8.11 oz |
| Shea Butter · 10.0 % | 100 g | 3.53 oz |
| Castor Oil · 7.0 % | 70 g | 2.47 oz |
| Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) · the lye, 100 % pure | 139.6 g | 4.92 oz |
| Distilled water · for a 33 % lye solution | 283.4 g | 9.99 oz |
| Ultramarine violet · 0.5 tsp, stirred into 1½ teaspoons of the recipe's liquid oils; top layer only | 2.1 g | 0.07 oz |
| Activated charcoal · about ⅛ teaspoon, dusted between the layers | 0.3 g | 0.01 oz |
| Lavender essential oil · 2.0 % of the oils, at trace | 20 g | 0.71 oz |
| Atlas cedarwood essential oil · 1.0 % of the oils, at trace | 10 g | 0.35 oz |
- Superfat
- 5 %
- Temperatures
- Oils and lye solution each between 38 and 43 °C (100 and 110 °F)
Method
-
Get ready
Open a window or turn on the extractor fan, send children and pets out, and put on splash goggles, nitrile gloves and long sleeves. Set a 1.5 litre loaf mould on a level surface, and have a second jug, a spatula and a tea strainer ready. -
Weigh everything
Weigh 300 g lard, 230 g coconut oil and 100 g shea butter into the pot, and 300 g olive oil and 70 g castor oil into a jug. Weigh 283.4 g of distilled water into the lye jug, 20 g of lavender and 10 g of Atlas cedarwood essential oil into a small cup, and the 139.6 g of sodium hydroxide last, into a dry container. -
Make the lye solution
Where air moves, pour the sodium hydroxide slowly into the water, never the water onto the lye, and stir until it turns clear. Keep your face away from the vapour and leave it to cool, labelled and out of reach. -
Mix the violet
Spoon 1½ teaspoons of the liquid oils out of the jug into a small cup and stir in ½ teaspoon of ultramarine violet until it is smooth, with no specks. -
Melt the fats
Melt the lard, coconut oil and shea butter on the lowest heat until just clear, then pour in the rest of the liquid oils from the jug. -
Blend to light trace
When the oils and the lye solution are each between 38 and 43 °C (100 and 110 °F), pour the lye solution into the oils down the blender shaft and pulse and stir to light trace. Stir in the essential oils by hand. -
Colour the top layer
Pour about 650 g of the batter into the second jug and whisk in the violet until even. Leave the rest, about 800 g, plain in the pot. -
Pour the bottom layer
Pulse the plain batter to medium trace, like soft pudding, pour it into the mould and tap it level. Let it firm for a few minutes, until it holds a faint mark from the spatula. -
Dust the charcoal line
Put 0.3 g of charcoal, about ⅛ teaspoon, in the tea strainer and tap it along the mould a few centimetres above the batter, leaving an even veil you can still see the batter through. Blow gently across it to spread any drifts. -
Pour the top layer
Stir the violet batter and pulse it briefly if it has stayed thinner than light trace. Pour it slowly over the back of a spatula held just above the surface, starting at one end, then tap the mould gently and smooth the top. -
Insulate
Cover the mould with its lid or a board, wrap it in a towel and leave it for a day, so the whole loaf gels evenly and no ring shows across the layers. -
Unmould and cut
After 24 to 48 hours, when the loaf is firm, unmould it with gloves on and cut it straight down into bars about 2.5 cm (1 in) thick, so the line runs level across each one. -
Cure
Stand the bars on edge in a dry, airy place for six weeks, turning them every few days.
Tips
- A pencil line is a veil, not a crust. Too much charcoal keeps the two layers from bonding, and the bars split along the line.
- Pour the top layer within minutes of dusting the line, while the bottom layer is firm enough to hold it but soft enough to bond with it.
- Ultramarine violet is a mineral pigment and stays true in soap. A dye would bleed across the line.
- Lard is pork fat, so the bar is not vegan. Shea butter at the same weight makes a vegan version; run it through the calculator again, as the lye changes a little.
The oils
| Oil | Share |
|---|---|
| Lard (pure rendered pork fat) | 30.0 % |
| Olive Oil (virgin / refined / olive oil) | 30.0 % |
| Coconut Oil | 23.0 % |
| Shea Butter | 10.0 % |
| Castor Oil | 7.0 % |
How it is made
| Process | Cold process |
| Alkali | NaOH |
| Superfat | 5 % |
| Water | lye water at 33 % |
| Iodine value | 57 |
| INS | 150 |
Why make it
A hard, long-lasting everyday bar for the basin or the shower. Lard makes it firm with a creamy lather, coconut brings quick bubbles and shea butter a smooth feel, balanced at cleansing 16 and conditioning 55 on our scale. Lard has a long history in household soap: on its own it lathers weakly, which is why the coconut is there, but it makes a hard, mild bar with a creamy feel. Lavender and Atlas cedarwood are chosen for their smell, clean and floral over dry wood, a pairing many people enjoy at the end of the day; beyond that pleasure, neither does anything special in a bar that is rinsed off. The layers and the charcoal line are there for looks. The caveats: lard makes it unsuitable for vegans, and anyone who reacts to lavender should choose an unscented bar.
Sources
- The Natural Soap Book · Storey Publishing, 1995
What tradition, makers' experience and research say about soaps like this, each labelled for what it is. It is not medical advice, and no soap treats a skin condition: if you have one, ask a doctor or pharmacist.
What the numbers say
- Lauric acid 11.3 %
- Myristic acid 4.9 %
- Palmitic acid 14.1 %
- Stearic acid 10.4 %
- Ricinoleic acid 6.2 %
- Oleic acid 41.0 %
- Linoleic acid 7.4 %
- Other 6.1 %
Saturated : unsaturated 44 : 56
Computed from the fatty acids of the fats above. The bands are what the craft has settled on, not chemistry — a bar outside one is not wrong.
From the guides
All guides
Layers, mica lines and pencil lines
Layered cold-process soap: batter thickness, pouring over a spatula, working out each layer from the mould, and pencil lines that don't split the bar.
Scenting soap: essential oils and fragrance oils
How much essential or fragrance oil to use in soap, what ounces per pound mean in percent, the IFRA limits for common essential oils, and EU allergen labelling.
Lard and tallow: soaping with animal fats
Why lard and tallow make hard, mild, creamy soap, how to render and store them at home, how beef, mutton and pork fat differ, and classic recipes.
Where these proportions come from
Adapted from Kelly Cable's lard-based cedarwood soap at a 5 % superfat, with her jojoba left out and the castor cut from 12 to 7 %. The lavender and Atlas cedarwood blend, the violet top layer and the charcoal line are ours.
Formulation adapted from The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners by Kelly Cable (Althea Press, 2017). The method and notes are ours.