These cold process soaps are scented with menthol crystals. They’re a natural product that can be used in a variety of projects including soap, scrubs, balms, and more. You only need a few crystals to add a minty scent and a cooling sensation on the skin.
Bramble Berry menthol crystals are created with a cold extraction method. Essentially, oil is extracted from mint leaves and then frozen. The resulting crystals can be melted with oil or alcohol and added to recipes at 0.5-2%.
This recipe uses 1% menthol crystals. It’s enough to give the bars a very light scent and a cooling sensation on sensitive areas of skin. You can increase or decrease the amount depending on your personal preference.
We left these bars uncolored and added poppy seeds for exfoliation. The 10% water discount helps the soap release from the mold faster. A discount does cause acceleration, but that works well for this simple design.
What You Need: Click below to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!Menthol Crystal Cold Process Soap
6 Cavity Silicone Circle Mold
16 oz. Lots of Lather Quick Mix
0.2 oz. Menthol Crystals
2.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
4.8 oz. Distilled Water (10% water discount)
1 tsp. Poppy Seeds
Find the supplies you need for this project below
If you’ve never made cold process soap before, stop here. We highly recommend checking out our FREE four part SoapQueen.tv series on cold process soapmaking, especially the episode on lye safety. And if you’d rather do some reading, Bramble Berry carries a wide range of books on the topic, including Pure Soapmaking.
SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices. That means goggles, gloves, and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, other distractions, and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.
ONE: Slowly and carefully add 2.3 ounces of lye to 4.8 ounces of distilled water. Gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved. Set it aside to cool. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add 1 teaspoon sodium lactate.
TWO: Fully melt the entire bag of Lots of Lather until it’s completely clear. Shake the bag to mix all the oils. Measure 16 ounces of the Quick Mix into a heat-safe bowl. Add 0.2 ounces of menthol crystals. Stir the oils to help the menthol crystals melt – this may take a few minutes. Continue stirring until you no longer see any crystals.
NOTE: If the crystals aren’t dissolving, the oil may not be hot enough. They melt around 120° F and hotter. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat using 20 second bursts and continue to stir.
THREE: Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130° F or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend the mixture to a thin to medium trace.
FOUR: Add 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds and use a whisk or spatula to fully mix them in.
FIVE: Place the mold on a cutting board for easy pickup. Pour the soap into each cavity. If the soap starts to get thick, use a whisk to stir and loosen up the batter. Tap the mold on the counter to get rid of bubbles. If you’d like, use a large spoon to smooth the top.
SIX: Allow the soap to harden in the mold for 1-3 days (depending on if you used sodium lactate or not). Unmold each soap and allow the soaps to cure for 4-6 weeks before use. Enjoy.
- 6 Cavity Silicone Circle Mold
- 16 oz. Lots of Lather Quick Mix
- 0.2 oz. Menthol Crystals
- 2.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
- 4.8 oz. Distilled Water (10% water discount)
- 1 tsp. Poppy Seeds
- Slowly and carefully add 2.3 ounces of lye to 4.8 ounces of distilled water. Gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved. Set it aside to cool. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add 1 teaspoon sodium lactate.
- Fully melt the entire bag of Lots of Lather until it’s completely clear. Shake the bag to mix all the oils. Measure 16 ounces of the Quick Mix into a heat-safe bowl. Add 0.2 ounces of menthol crystals. Stir the oils to help the menthol crystals melt – this may take a few minutes. Continue stirring until you no longer see any crystals. NOTE: If the crystals aren’t dissolving, the oil may not be hot enough. They melt around 120° F and hotter. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat using 20 second bursts and continue to stir.
- Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130° F or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend the mixture to a thin to medium trace.
- Add 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds and use a whisk or spatula to fully mix them in.
- Place the mold on a cutting board for easy pickup. Pour the soap into each cavity. If the soap starts to get thick, use a whisk to stir and loosen up the batter. Tap the mold on the counter to get rid of bubbles. If you’d like, use a large spoon to smooth the top.
- Allow the soap to harden in the mold for 1-3 days (depending on if you used sodium lactate or not). Unmold each soap and allow the soaps to cure for 4-6 weeks before use. Enjoy.
Can you use a mix of oils instead of the lots of lather mix? If so which and what measurements. 32oz worth?
You can your own mix of oils. Find out more about choosing your oils in our Formulating Cold Process Soap Recipes:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/formulating-cold-process-recipes/
You can find the percentages for the Lots of Lather Quick Mix on its product page under Guide.
https://www.brambleberry.com/Lots-of-Lather-Quick-Mix-P5524.aspx
What are the health or beauty benefits of the menthol? For instance, would this soap be good to use when a person has a cold because it helps to unblock sinuses? What are the benefits for skin?
The Menthol Crystals will give the soap a very light scent and a cooling sensation on sensitive areas of skin. We are not able to make health claims like that.
Can you use these in hot process soaps? If so what’s your recommendation on usage?
The usage rate with Menthol Crystals for Hot or Cold process soaps is 0.5-2%.
Can you add a scent to this recipe?
It didn’t need it. What a great scent the crystals gave! Can’t wait till they are ready to use!
The menthol crystals already provide a pretty strong mint smell. If you are wanting to scent the soap I would recommend something that pairs well with that and a small test batch to make sure you like the results.
Menthol seems like such a great idea for soap, I’m surprised I don’t see it in more recipes. I just made a batch of this, and I added some tea tree EO to give it a scent boost. I’m excited to see how these turn out! Thanks for the great tutorial.
Can you use menthol crystals in hot process soap? If so, what’s the recommended usage rate?
The usage rate for the Menthol Crystals is 0.5-2% of the total weight of your recipe.
Does the Crystals have the same cooling sensation as Peppermint EO? I’m looking for just a little cooling sensation not like Peppermint EO which burns somewhat and makes me feel super cold.. Even in a hot bath! Just want just a little hint of it without what Peppermint EO does. Thank you!
The Menthol Crystals have a similar cooling sensation as the Peppermint EO so if you are sensitive to that you may want to leave them out or start with a smaller amount.
Does the scent fade, like Peppermint EO? Or have you found that it holds longer? Thank you!
Hi Lynn, the menthol crystals don’t have a lot of scent to them so I wouldn’t recommend using them purely just for scent. The cooling stays around for a long time though!
Is there a possible way to do this with melt and pour?
Not this exact recipe since melt and pour cannot accept a lot of additional oils. You would melt the Menthol Crystals the same way by adding it into oil, then you would add the oil mixture to melt and pour at 1 teaspoon per pound for SFIC or 0.5% for Stephenson.
I will have to try these, this is exactly how I do my peppermint rosemary soap, just natural white color and poppyseeds. I love using peppermint soap but sure, you need to keep the amount in check. I’m curious about finding a scale that will measure in increments of .1, any recommendations? The one I have only measures in increments of .5 and in looking around, I can’t really tell from the descriptions of the measuring increments.
Our 13# Digital Scale is a great choice for measurements that small: https://www.brambleberry.com/13-Digital-Scale-AMW-P3685.aspx
Can this be done in a loaf mold?
Yes, you can definitely make this recipe in a loaf mold if you’d like. This recipe only makes about 1.5lbs of soap though, so you may need to adjust the size if you want it to fill your mold completely.
Can you use a mix of oils instead of the lots of lather mix? If so which and what measurements. 16oz worth?
You can use a different mix of oils if you’d like – you can use our lye calculator to figure out how much lye and water your blend will need to make soap: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
You can’t add these to the top because they have to be dissolved before use, right?
Yes you would want to dissolve the crystals before using them in soap so they would not work well as a decoration on top.
Menthol Crystals: https://www.brambleberry.com/Menthol-Crystals-P6955.aspx
I’ve been patiently waiting to see how you used this product and as usual, you did not disappoint! I’m wondering about using them now because the soap won’t be ready until mid November and I live in West Virginia. Do you know how well they store? Should I be patient and wait until Spring? I don’t want a cooling soap in the middle of a WV winter. Thanks for everything!
I think a minty cooling soap sounds nice even in the winter if you don’t want to wait! Though the Menthol Crystals should definitely last until the spring. They can melt with the addition of heat so just try to keep them in a cool, dry place that is out of direct sunlight.