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Neem dog bar

Three pale olive-tan dog soap bars beside a small glass bottle of golden-brown neem oil and a wooden dog brush on a deep green backdrop

A mild, unscented bar for washing dogs: mostly olive oil, with palm oil for a firm bar, coconut oil for lather and a tenth neem oil, the traditional dog-soap oil. It carries no essential oils, because many are unsafe for dogs and more so for cats.

Skill
Beginner
Method
Cold process
Batch
1000 g of oils about 1418 g of batter
Hands-on
1 hour
Cure
6 weeks
Gel phase
Either way gel or not, both work
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What you need

For 1000 g of oils, which fills a 1.5 litre loaf mould. Weigh everything, liquids included.

Olive Oil · 45.0 % 450 g 15.87 oz
Coconut Oil · 20.0 % 200 g 7.05 oz
Palm Oil · 25.0 % 250 g 8.82 oz
Neem Oil · 10.0 % 100 g 3.53 oz
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) · the lye, 100 % pure 137.8 g 4.86 oz
Distilled water · for a 33 % lye solution 279.8 g 9.87 oz
Superfat
6 %
Temperatures
Oils and lye solution each at 38 to 43 °C (100 to 110 °F)

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Method

  1. Get ready

    Put on splash goggles, gloves and long sleeves, open a window and keep children and your dog out of the room. Line a 1.5 litre loaf mould.

  2. Warm the neem oil

    Neem oil thickens and turns cloudy in a cool room, so stand the bottle in a bowl of warm water until it is clear, then shake it well. Expect a strong, garlicky smell; it is normal for neem.

  3. Weigh the oils

    Stir the tub of palm oil right through, since its hard and soft parts separate, then weigh 250 g palm oil and 200 g coconut oil into the pot. Weigh 450 g olive oil and 100 g neem oil into a jug.

  4. Make the lye solution

    Weigh 279.8 g distilled water into a heatproof jug and 137.8 g sodium hydroxide into a dry container. At the open window, pour the lye slowly into the water, never the reverse, stir until clear and leave it to cool, labelled and out of reach.

  5. Melt the fats

    Melt the palm and coconut oils on a low heat until clear, then stir in the olive and neem oils. Let the oils and the lye solution each come to 38 to 43 °C (100 to 110 °F).

  6. Blend to light trace

    Pour the lye solution into the oils and stick blend in short bursts, stirring between them. With this much olive oil it traces slowly; keep going until a drizzle leaves a faint line on the surface.

  7. Pour and cover

    Pour into the mould, tap it on the worktop to release air, and cover it with a board and a folded towel. It may gel into a darker centre, which evens out as it cures.

  8. Unmould and cut

    After about 48 hours, when the loaf is firm, unmould it with gloves on and cut it into bars; give it another day if it still feels soft.

  9. Cure

    Stand the bars on a rack with air around them for at least six weeks, turning them now and then. The neem smell softens as they cure but never quite goes.

  10. Wet the coat

    Soak your dog's coat to the skin with lukewarm water, which takes longer than you might think with a thick coat.

  11. Lather

    Rub the bar along the coat or lather it in your hands and work it down to the skin, keeping it away from the eyes, ears and mouth.

  12. Rinse thoroughly

    Rinse until the coat no longer feels slippery and the water runs clear, since your dog will lick off whatever soap is left. Towel dry, and keep the bar out of reach afterwards.

Tips

  • Do not add a scent. Many essential oils are toxic to dogs, tea tree oil the most often reported, and cats are more sensitive still. A dog's nose is far keener than ours, and a clean coat needs no perfume.
  • Neem is here for its traditional place in dog soap, not as a treatment. No soap is an insecticide or a medicine: talk to your vet about fleas, ticks or any sore, red or broken skin before bathing.
  • It is for dogs. Cats groom off whatever stays on their coat, rarely need a bath and are far more sensitive to plant oils, so ask a vet before washing a cat with anything.
  • If the neem smell puts you off, our gentle unscented dog shampoo bar leaves it out, and the list under Try it differently swaps the palm oil for tallow, lard or a butter.

Why make it

A plain washing bar for dogs, mild by the numbers: cleansing 14 and conditioning 58 on our scale, mostly olive oil, with palm oil for hardness and a fifth coconut oil for lather. Neem oil is the traditional part. In India it has gone into soap for generations, and the National Research Council reported in 1992 that it had been a major soap ingredient there for at least 50 years; makers still add it to dog soaps for that reputation. There is no good evidence that a neem soap does anything for a dog's skin or coat, and no soap is an insecticide or a medicine. Neem smells strongly of garlic, and the bar carries no essential oils: many are toxic to dogs and more so to cats, which break some of their compounds down poorly and groom off whatever stays on the coat. Keep it for dogs.

Sources

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 9.9 %
  • Myristic acid 4.1 %
  • Palmitic acid 20.6 %
  • Stearic acid 4.5 %
  • Oleic acid 46.7 %
  • Linoleic acid 10.3 %
  • Other 4.4 %

Saturated : unsaturated 42 : 58

Hardness 39 29–54
Cleansing 14 12–22
Conditioning 58 44–69
Bubbly lather 14 14–46
Creamy lather 25 16–48

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.

Try it differently

13 variations

The same soap with one thing moved. Each opens in the calculator ready to change again.

From the guides

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Superfat and lye discount: why recipes leave some oil unsaponified

What superfat and lye discount mean, how the calculator applies them, where makers set them for each soap, and why oil added at trace isn't the oil left over.
Intermediate 25 min read

The soaping oils: what each one brings to a bar

Twenty-five soaping oils, butters and waxes: what each does in a bar and why, the share makers give it, and what to watch for, with figures from our records.
Beginner 14 min read

Your first cold process soap, step by step

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Where these proportions come from

Fragrance and essential oils on animals are a veterinary question, not a formulation one.

Our own construction: a mild, mostly olive bar with palm oil for hardness and a fifth coconut oil for lather, at a 6 % superfat, a point above everyday because neem oil's saponification value varies. Neem at 10 % is the traditional inclusion in dog soaps; no claim is made about what it does, and the bar is unscented because many essential oils are unsafe for dogs and more so for cats.

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