How much does it cost to make your own liquid soap? Prepare to be astonished. It will only cost you $52.27 to make 42 bottles of soap. That’s 336 fluid ounces! Check out my math below and remember that you can save even more money if you buy in larger, bulk sizes.
My Castile and Castor Recipe
Pomace Olive Oil- 24 oz.
Castor Oil– 4 oz.
Potassium Hydroxide– 5.6 oz.
Distilled Water- 16.6 oz.
Fragrance Oil– 12.6 oz.
Yields: 45.8 oz of soap paste
Diluted Yields: 336 fluid ounces of liquid soap
(dilution rate of 6:1)
Click here to have everything you need for this recipe (except the distilled water) from Bramble Berry added to your shopping cart.
Price Break Down
Pomace Olive Oil- $1.45 per lb (gallon size)
Castor Oil- $0.21 per oz (1 lb size)
Potassium Hydroxide- $0.37 per oz (2 lb size)
Distilled Water- $0.93 per lb (gallon size)
Fragrance Oil- 1.57 per oz (1 lb size)
Eight Ounce Bottles with Pump- $0.63 per bottle (50 bottle price break)
Recipe Grand Total: $52.27 (that’s just $1.24 per bottle of soap).
The most expensive part of this recipe is the fragrance oil and the packaging. We purchased the distilled water from Cash and Carry, a local restaurant supply. I did not include the price of labels in this equation because they can vary so greatly depending on how you print them, where you get them printed and what size they are. Bramble Berry carries water resistant labels that would allow you to get at least 10 labels for our 8 oz. bottles from each sheet.
Ready to get started? Click here to have everything you need from Bramble Berry added to your shopping cart. I chose Apricot Freesia fragrance, but you can always delete that and choose a different scent.
I love your blogs!! I am newer to all this, but having a blast!! Just wondering what all you can do with the liquid soap?? Thanks!!
There are so many wonderful things you can do with liquid soap. You can make such wonderful recipes as the Coconut Lather Queen Soap, Castile Soap, Multi-Purpose Soap and more! We have two fantastic books on what you can do with liquid soap. The first is a wonderful e-book by Anne-Marie, and the other is a natural liquid soap book!
https://www.brambleberry.com/Liquid-Soapmaking-E-Book-P4712.aspx
https://www.brambleberry.com/Making-Natural-Liquid-Soap-Book-1-Book-P3729.aspx
Happy Soaping!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
That is a great point Janie! Straight olive oil through Pomace does sometimes trace faster for us, interestingly enough!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
If you use an olive oil other than Pomace, read the label carefully to make sure it is 100% olive oil. Very often, olive oils labeled virgin, extra virgin, etc. have another oil mixed in, and that can ruin the SAP value for you unless you know the exact % of the other oils. Pomace is so cheap in comparison and I think it makes better soap. I’ve made straight olive oil soap and it takes longer to cure dry and it has a slimey quality.
great wonderfui
It is found near the drinking water at the store. Not generally recommended for drinking. It is often used in steam irons or tabletop fountains.
Thanks for the recipe Anne-Marie. I’m very new to the world of soap making and I have a question. Distilled water, is that just standard bottled drinking water? I did an internet search and other than not having as many metals/minerals distilled water sounds just like bottled water. (I’m hoping so)
You can use Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Pomace is a more cheap grade of Olive Oil.
Hi Anne-Marie,
Can you use other olive oils besides pomace? I don’t like the idea of the chemical solvents or petroleum products that are used to make this oil?
Thanks,
Wendy
That’s is an awesome idea.Thank you so much for always ringing us fresh ideas,and helping us keep costs down!! 🙂
I have never tried to remove oil like the one from the spill with liquid soap and/or saline so I can’t be certain what it will do but, I do know that orange essential oil helps to break down oils so you might experiment with diluted orange EO followed by liquid soap followed by saline? In theory, liquid soap will break down oil (that’s what soap does – break down oils) but I can’t be certain what an all natural soap will do as I haven’t tried it myself. Best of luck and keep us posted!
Yes, you can scent your liquid soap batch with essential oils. Do a small test batch with each EO before making your big one.
It’s a double-jacketed soup warmer or soup tureen. It really makes liquid soap easier because it keeps the temperature steady and even.
Yay! If there’s something that is missing in the book or something you think can be improved on, let me know. I want it to be as easy, clear and readable as possible.
You can print the e-book on your own printer at home if you’d like to be able to read it on paper format. That should be easier on your eyes.
A-M, Thank you for posting. I was recently on the Soap King blog and I aslo asked a question to your Teach Soap site. The topic was how to flush out EO from bottles. I’m looking at making basic liquid soap w/o EO so that a group of voluteers maybe able to clean/save wild life, think BP OIL SPILL. My question is would a saline solution work along with a liquid soap to remove oil? Any attempt is already a victory! Please respond & thank you for your help!
~go
can i use EO for scents ?
Hi, Anne-Marie,
I am just curious…what is that stainless steel container you are using to make the soap?
ooh I can’t wait to get started, and the colours are so pretty. I can’t wait to try out the recipes in the liquid soap e-book i just got. Thanks again Anne Marie!!
Selina
Yay! I’m glad you like that website upgrade. I’m hoping to use it more frequently to make project shopping easier for everyone. My husband loves having liquid soap by the sink. He has bar soap there but goes for the pump top every time. =)
I love using Blogger; it’s a great format and your blog is off to a lovely colorful start. =)
Thanks Anne Marie, I thought I was missing something and sure enough I was. Is the e book available in print for those with older eyes? Again thank you for your generosity.
Hi Melissa,
In my experiments it worked out that way. My favorite CP recipe includes Coconut, Palm and Olive Oil – but my favorite liquid soap recipe is just Olive Oil with a little Castor. But you have an interesting idea, especially from a marketing standpoint. Also the SAP values for KOH are very different so make sure you always run your recipe through a lye calculator.
That 32¢ price doesn’t include packaging or fragrancing – it’s just the cost of the liquid soap. Isn’t it amazing how all those little details add up?
Dh loves liquid soap, so I’m definitely going to make this for him. I’ve already got the e-book in my cart; thanks for the handy one-click link to put everything else in the cart! 🙂
Good reminder! Make that paste in bulk to really help out with labor costs per batch.
Thank you for investing so much time in my blog and reading all the way back to 2007. You definitely know me really well now! =)
YES! The Holland House was hilariously fun AND watching the long track speedskating and seeing your man win was absolutely thrilling. It was pure athleticism in action. I couldn’t believe we were there. It was just exciting and delightful.
Definitely – with those sorts of gross profit margins (of course, there is your labor to take into account too), it’s a great product to sell more of.
You can add it later – at any time after you’ve diluted and thickened. Just keep in mind that some of fragrances might thicken or thin the base a bit so do a little test before you scent the entire batch =)
Thank you! I totally love making liquid soap. We are doing a premium SoapQueen.TV video for release in a few months and we have the e-book out about it now if you’ve never made it before and need some easy instructions: https://www.brambleberry.com/Li… =)
May 10 2010 “. I’ve got a down loadable e-book complete with photos and a tried-and-true recipe HERE. It costs as little as $.32 per 16 ounces of liquid soap to make it from scratch AND it’s easy. Try it as your next soap foray”.
June 2010 $1.24, per 8 ounce bottle why the difference? Thank you.
Just wondering if I would be able to make liquid soap with my cold process recipe (of course subbing for the NaOH with KOH) and would I expect to have a liquid soap that has the same qualities as my CP soap? Thanks!
One additional note for newbies… material costs can be lower for liquid soap vs. bar soaps, but labor costs can be much higher. Don’t forget to put a price on your time.
Wow!!!! That is super convenient!! I will try your recipe for sure.
Also I want to share with you and your team that I ‘ve started to build my blogspot, here is the link if you would like to take a look!!! Still learning how to use it but it is so much fun!!!
mardjabones.blogspot.com
Mariana
from Mar D. Jabones
Hi Anne-Marie,
I spent the last few days reading ( mostly oohing and aahing) your entire blog from 2007 till now. What a great ideas. Can’t wait to start some of the projects. I just recently started with soapmaking and hope to start a small business with it in the Netherlands.
Thanks for the inspirational blog.
Greetings from Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Karin ( Soapmade)
ps: Did you like my fellow Dutchmen in the Holland Heineken House at the Olympics? We like Orange!!
Love this!
Thanks for the breakdown! I’ve got to promote LS more. 🙂
I have had the itch to try this for a while now. You are making this very tempting!
Another quick question, with the fragrances added. Is there a way for me to add the fragrance later or does it have to be added at the time its made? With as much as it makes at once it would be nice to split it up into several scents
What would you use this soap for? Is it a hand soap, a body wash?
I am so thrilled you shared this. I have been wanting to make liquid soap for a long time and you make it so simple. Thank you!
Labcolors – don’t you love how great they look? https://www.brambleberry.com/La… They are water soluble so super easy to use.
Thanks for sharing – it looks great! What did you use to color the four bottles in the photo?