Homemade Aloe Vera Soap Using the Hot Process Method

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This is a beautiful, simple, easy hot process soap recipe that’s perfect for beginners and lovers of aloe vera! I have so much aloe growing in my garden, seems a shame not to use it in more of my soap recipes.

This recipe can also be made without the aloe vera! A versatile, easy recipe for newcomers to hot process soap making.

If you haven’t already seen it, you might also enjoy my cold process aloe vera soap recipe.

If you are new to soap making, please ensure you visit this page and view my soap making safety essentials video for all the information you need to start making soap yourself at home.

I also highly recommend learning to calculate your own soap recipes (and check others’ recipes before you use them - read my disclaimer).

These videos/articles will get you started with the basics of soap recipe formulation and calculation:

• How to Calculate Your Own Soap Recipes

• Choosing Oils for Soap Making - Oil types and fatty acids, balancing recipes and Soapcalc explained 

• Calculating Water in Soap Recipes and Clarifying 'Lye Concentration'

• Superfat Explained - Understanding 'Superfat' and 'Lye Discounting' in Handmade Soap Making

• How to Use Citric Acid in Soap Making

Hot Process Aloe Vera Soap

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RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS

• This is the mould I used to make this soap batch. It holds approximately 1100g (1.1kg/2.4 pounds) of total soap batter.
  I calculate my soap recipe volumes to fit my chosen moulds using this method.

• I used 750g total soaping oils (not including essential oils) for this recipe

• 5% superfat

• 2:1 water to lye ratio (and with aloe added, that becomes 2.5:1)
  *See notes section at end of recipe for more info about water amounts

INGREDIENTS and METHOD

In the order used for the video demonstration

First, add to your crock pot or heavy based saucepan (please use an old/second hand one and use only for soap making):

• 75g cocoa butter

• 300g olive oil

• 225g rice bran oil (or you can sub with more olive oil)

• 150g coconut oil

Turn your crock pot on to HIGH for 5-10 minutes to get the cocoa butter melting, while you prepare your aloe vera and lye solution. If using a saucepan, only ever use VERY low heat and be prepared to turn your stove on and off through the process to avoid overheating the soap (80°C/180°F is the ideal maximum temp for hot process soap making).

Prepare fresh aloe vera gel as demonstrated in the video. Make sure it is completely blended so that no chunks or lumps remain! Did you know, this recipe can also be made without the aloe gel? You can simply leave it out for a simple hot process soap recipe.

• 50g aloe vera gel - weigh into a separate container and set aside

Next, prepare your lye solution as demonstrated in the video. Remember to always protect your eyes and skin with goggles and gloves throughout the soap making process (see safety video above) and set the lye solution somewhere safe until you are ready to make the soap.

• 200g filtered tap water (I used half ice to reduce fumes)
  See notes section below. If you want a harder, drier soap that can be used sooner, use 150g water instead of 200g.

• 100g sodium hydroxide/caustic soda

Prepare essential oils and colourants if using (these are always optional).

I used:

• 20g tea tree essential oil

• 10g eucalyptus essential oil (weighed together in a small jar)

• 3 tsp French green clay

When you are ready to make the soap, proceed as demonstrated in the video :)

Here are the basic steps:

1. Blend clay into melted oils

2. Add lye solution to oils and stick blend until the batter starts to emulsify

3. Add aloe vera gel and continue to blend, the mixture will start to get very thick!

4. Once too thick to blend, remove stick blender, scrape down sides of crock pot/saucepan and cover the pot with a lid.

5. Cook the soap on low-very low heat for 15-20 minutes, until the soap darkens in colour and appears to be going through a gel phase. If you are using a saucepan, you may need to turn the burner off completely - test for correct temperature, you are looking for 80°C/180°F maximum soap cook temp). A infra-red thermometer like this is very handy for soap making!

6. Once the soap is looking nice and vaseline-ey, you can test it with pH strips to see if it’s completed saponification, as I discuss/demonstrate here. Leave it to cook on very low/no heat for a bit longer if it’s not yet saponified.

7. When the soap is cooked and fully saponified, remove the pot from the heat source and cool for 5-10 minutes (no hotter than 80°C/180°F) and stir in essential oils.

8. Spoon the soap into the mould, banging down regularly to avoid air pockets.

9. Allow the soap to cool and harden in the mould for 1-3 days. Remove from mould and cut into bars with a knife or soap cutter.

10. Cure/dry for 4 weeks before using (yes, that’s right, even HP soap should be properly cured to ensure mildness and a nicely dried, hard bar of soap).

Notes:

• This recipe makes a fairly soft soap to begin with, due to the aloe vera content and high water amounts used, but it will cure to a lovely texture after one-two months drying.

• Hot process soap recipes can, generally speaking, be used sooner than cold process recipes, however it depends on the amount of liquid used in the recipe and the types of oils and fats used.

• I use a lot of water in my hot process soap recipes - because I prefer them to be smooth and even without any dry, chunky or flakey bits on top. You may prefer to make your HP soap recipes with less liquid but be prepared for a more ‘rustic’ texture (it is nice too, just a personal preference). For a more ‘rustic’ style HP soap that you can use within a couple of weeks, try using only 150g of water with 30-50g aloe vera gel in this recipe.

• You can also use this recipe without the aloe vera gel - a perfect basic recipe for beginners!

Thanks for your support 💚

Please leave any comments and questions in the section below.

Enjoy your soap making!
Elly 🌸

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