Getting Started
New to SoapSapo? Start here. This guide walks you through creating your very first recipe from scratch.
Cold process soapmaking requires precise lye calculations — too much or too little and the batch fails. SoapSapo handles all the math automatically. Here's how to make your first recipe in about two minutes.
A good beginner batch is 32–48 oz of oils. This makes roughly 6–10 bars.
Not sure? Start with Coconut Oil (30%) + Olive Oil (70%). It's a classic beginner recipe.
If you have a mold, use the Batch Size Calculator to get the exact oil weight. Otherwise, 32 oz is safe for most loaf molds.
NaOH (sodium hydroxide) makes hard bars. KOH (potassium hydroxide) makes liquid or soft soap. Start with NaOH.
Click New Recipe in the top navigation bar. This opens the lye calculator with a blank recipe.
At the top of the calculator, give your recipe a name — something like "My First Soap" works fine. You can rename it any time.
Set your Total Oils (oz) — the combined weight of all base oils in your batch. Start with 32 oz if you're unsure.
Find an oil in the left panel and click it to add it to your recipe. Use the search box or filter by Liquid / Solid / Animal. Try adding Coconut Oil first.
Add more oils the same way. Each oil shows a percentage — adjust these until they add up to 100%. Use the Distribute Evenly button to split oils equally, then fine-tune.
Watch the right panel update in real time. You'll see your NaOH amount, water amount, and total batter weight recalculate instantly.
Click the Quality tab to see your seven quality scores. Adjust oil percentages to move scores into the ideal ranges shown in brackets.
When you're happy with the recipe, click Save Recipe. It will appear on your Dashboard where you can edit, clone, or delete it any time.
Not sure if your recipe is good? Aim for: Hardness 29–54, Cleansing 12–22, Conditioning 44–69, INS 136–165. A simple Coconut (30%) + Olive (70%) blend hits all four naturally.
Lye (NaOH) is caustic and can cause serious burns. Always add lye TO water — never water to lye. Wear goggles, chemical-resistant gloves, and long sleeves every time you handle lye solution. Work in a ventilated area.
Use the Batch Size Calculator to get the exact oil weight for a perfect fill — no guessing.
The Quality Scores guide explains what each score means and which oils move which number.
Log your batch in the Cure Calendar after you pour so you know exactly when the bars are ready.
Browse the Community Library for recipes shared by other makers. Clone any recipe to your account with one click.
Beginner Mode
A gentler experience for new makers — starter recipes, simplified interface, and guided suggestions.
When you first sign up, SoapSapo asks if you're new to soap making. Your answer turns Beginner Mode on or off. You can change this any time in your account settings.
With Beginner Mode on, the calculator shows a Starter Recipes panel — a set of pre-built, beginner-tested formulas you can load with one click and customize from there.
The interface hides some advanced tools (like the Recipe Optimizer) to reduce overwhelm. Everything is still accessible — just out of the way until you're ready.
In the Additives section, a Beginner Friendly filter shows only the safest, simplest additives to start with.
To toggle Beginner Mode at any time: go to Account Settings → scroll to Beginner Mode → flip the toggle.
Starter recipes are real, tested formulas — not oversimplified demos. Load one, look at the quality scores, and start adjusting oil percentages to understand how each oil affects the result.
Lye Calculator
The core of SoapSapo. Build any cold process recipe with accurate NaOH, KOH, or dual-lye calculations.
Go to New Recipe in the nav, or click any existing recipe's Edit button on the Dashboard.
Set your Total Oils (oz) — the total weight of all base oils combined. A good beginner batch is 32–60 oz.
Click any oil in the left panel to add it to your recipe. Adjust percentages until they total 100%.
Use Distribute Evenly to split all oils equally in one click, then tweak from there.
Watch the right panel update in real time: lye amount, water amount, and total batter weight recalculate instantly.
Name your recipe at the top, then click Save Recipe.
The Superfat %, Lye Conc %, and Lye Type labels at the top of the calculator are tappable — they have a dotted underline. Tap any of them to expand an explanation of what that setting does and why it matters.
SoapSapo supports three lye modes. Switch using the selector at the top of the calculator:
Sodium hydroxide. Makes hard bar soap. The default for cold process.
Potassium hydroxide. Makes liquid or soft soap. Set your KOH purity % in Account Settings → Calculator Defaults (default 90%).
A blend of NaOH and KOH in one batch. Useful for semi-soft bars. Set the NaOH % and SoapSapo calculates the rest as KOH automatically.
The oil database contains 57 oils with accurate SAP values. Use the search box or filter by Liquid / Solid / Animal to find what you need quickly.
Always add lye TO water — never water to lye. Wear goggles, gloves, and an apron. Cool your lye solution and oils to 90–110°F before combining.
Additives
Add botanicals, clays, exfoliants, and skin-benefiting ingredients directly to your recipe.
Scroll down to the Additives section in the calculator (below the oils panel).
Use the search box to find an additive by name, or browse the full list of 30 additives organized by category: Botanicals, Clays, Exfoliants, and Skin Benefactors.
In Beginner Mode, toggle Beginner Friendly to filter to the safest, simplest additives to start with.
Click + Add on any additive. Set the usage rate — SoapSapo shows the recommended range for each one.
Added additives appear in your recipe summary and are included in the INCI ingredient list when you print or export your recipe.
Start at the low end of the usage rate range. Most additives — especially botanicals — are easier to under-use than over-use. You can always increase in the next batch.
Some botanicals (turmeric, paprika, spirulina) morph or fade significantly during cure. Each additive card notes its color behavior so you know what to expect in the finished bar.
Quality Scores
Seven scores that predict how your finished bar will perform — before you pour a single drop.
Click the Quality tab in the calculator to see your scores. Each has an ideal range shown in brackets.
How firm the bar is. Higher = harder. Too high = brittle. Coconut and palm increase hardness.
Cleaning power. Higher = more stripping. Mainly driven by coconut oil. Keep under 22 for most skin types.
Moisture retention. Higher = more moisturizing. Driven by olive, avocado, and shea.
How much lather you get. Coconut and castor oil boost this score.
Rich, stable lather quality. Palm, lard, and tallow increase this.
Softness of the oils. High iodine = softer, slower-curing bar.
Overall balance score. Aim for this range for a well-rounded bar.
The Fatty Acids tab breaks down lauric, myristic, palmitic, oleic, and other acids — useful for understanding WHY each score is what it is.
Batch Size Calculator
Enter your mold dimensions and get the exact oil weight for a perfect fill.
Go to Batch Size Calc in the nav.
Choose a preset mold (W&W Paul, Wendy, Ariane, and more are pre-loaded) or enter custom dimensions.
SoapSapo calculates the exact total oil weight needed to fill your mold — accounting for water and lye volume.
Click Load into Calculator to pre-fill your batch size and jump straight into formulating.
The standard soap volume multiplier is 0.40. SoapSapo uses accurate mold-specific values for the W&W presets for the most precise fill.
Dashboard
Your recipe library — save, search, organize, back up, and manage everything from one place.
Go to Dashboard in the nav to see all your saved recipes.
Use the search bar to find a recipe by name. Switch between All Recipes and Favorites using the tabs at the top.
From any recipe card you can: Edit (opens the calculator), View (read-only detail), Clone (makes a copy), Share, or Delete.
To back up your recipes, click Export at the top of the Dashboard. Choose JSON (for re-importing into SoapSapo) or CSV (for Excel or Google Sheets).
To restore from a backup, click Import and select your JSON file. Existing recipes are not overwritten — imports add on top of what you have.
Export your recipes regularly as a backup habit — especially before experimenting with big formula changes. The JSON format re-imports exactly as-is.
Cure Calendar
See which batches are ready to sell — organized by market date.
Go to Cures in the nav. Cure batches you've logged appear here automatically.
Each batch shows a color-coded cure status: Green = Ready, Yellow = Almost ready, Gray = Still curing.
Add your upcoming market dates using the + Market button to see exactly which bars will be ready by then.
Standard cold process soap cures in 4–6 weeks. High-olive bars (Castile) take 6–12 months for the best lather. SoapSapo defaults to 6 weeks but you can adjust per batch.
Community Library
Browse, clone, and remix recipes shared by makers around the world.
Go to Community in the nav (no login required to browse).
Search by recipe name or maker. Sort by Most Liked, Most Cloned, or Newest.
Click Clone Recipe to copy it directly to your Dashboard — it becomes yours to edit.
Pro and Studio users can publish their own recipes to the community. Upgrade to share your formulas →
Marketplace
Browse vetted suppliers for oils, lye, packaging, fragrance, and more — all in one place.
Go to Marketplace in the nav. Available to all users — no subscription required.
Filter by category: Oils, Lye, Fragrance, Colorants, Packaging, and more.
Click any vendor card to visit their site. SoapSapo links directly to the supplier — orders are placed on their site, not here.
Marketplace links also appear inside the Colorant Studio and other tools — they pre-filter to the relevant category so you land exactly where you need.
Recipe Variants
Test formula changes against your original without losing your baseline recipe.
Open any saved recipe from your Dashboard and click New Variant.
The variant starts as a full copy of the parent recipe. Tweak oils, superfat, water %, additives, or anything else.
Click Compare to open a side-by-side view — quality scores, oil percentages, and notes visible at once across parent and variant.
Variants live under the parent recipe and don't clutter your main Dashboard listing — they're accessed from the parent recipe's detail page.
Keep your proven formula as the parent and experiment on variants. When a variant wins, clone it as a new standalone recipe to promote it to your main library.
Still have questions? We're here to help.
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