Beeswax is nice addition to soap to enhance the skin protecting, soothing and hydrating qualities of the bar. Only a small amount is needed, otherwise the bar can crack while curing, or “drag” too much on the skin, not washing off well. Beeswax does decrease the sudsing capabilities of the bar some, which the castor oil in this recipe helps offset. You could increase the castor oil in the recipe to 15% instead of 10%, just make sure to use http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp to calculate the amount of lye needed for the change (it will be a little bit less). My page on basic soap recipe formulation gives further instructions on this https://truelovesoap.com/soap-recipe-formulation-basics/ .
Beeswax Body Bar (2lb/32oz batch):
Lye: 4.11oz
Water (distilled or purified is best): 9-11oz
Beeswax 0.8oz (2.5%)
Castor Oil: 3.2oz (10%)
Olive Oil: 28oz (87.5%)
For notes and instructions, see my Basic Supplies and Resources: https://truelovesoap.com/basic-supplies-and-resources/ and Basic Soap Making Instruction pages: https://truelovesoap.com/basic-soap-making-instructions
You will need to heat your oils quite a bit more in order to melt the beeswax, so allow for more cooling time for the oils.
A couple of variations to try
Honey & Beeswax Bar: 4-6 weeks in advance, infuse olive oil with either chamomile flowers or calendula flowers (or both). Follow general soap making instructions. Once soap has reached trace, hand stir in 1-2tbsp kaolin clay (you can also add this to your distilled water before adding the lye if you want.) and a blend of 1oz lemon essential oil and .5oz bergamot essential oil. Lastly, hand stir in 2tbsp of honey. Pour into mold(s). Note on using honey- make sure you are soap making at cooler temperatures- as in oils and lye are around 110 or less. The sugars in the honey will heat up in the soap batter, if soaping with hotter oil/lye temps, this can cause the soap batter to “volcano” out of the mold. It doesn’t literally explode out, but quite a bit will bubble up over the top and ruin your soap batch. Once my soap in in the mold, I like to drizzle a little extra honey over the top of the bars and gentle stir it into the top layer of the bars.
Sunset Bar: Follow general soap making instructions. When soap has reached a light trace (fully blended, but closer to liquid than pudding), hand stir in a blend of .5oz lemon essential oil, .5oz orange essential oil, and .5oz bergamot essential oil. Then separate out the soap batter into 3 containers- in first container, stir in 1tsp of Brazillian yellow clay, in the second container, stir in 1tsp of madder root powder, and in the third container, stir in 1tsp of alkanet root powder. The soap batter is likely getting thicker at this point- pour or scoop the first container into the mold, if it’s thick, go ahead and scoop the second container into the mold. If the bottom layer is still thin, wait a little bit for it to set some. If the second or third container is still thin, hold a spatula over your mold and pour the soap batter so it runs off the spatula into the mold- that way it won’t break through the first layer as much. Once your second container is poured and set a little, scoop or pour (using the spatula again) on top of your second layer. If your soap batter was thick enough to scoop, gently tap the mold a bit so all the soap settles into the mold without air pockets.
Or: Think of this base recipe as a blank canvas and create the bar combination that is perfect for you!
True Love Soap Company 