Slowly and carefully add 5 ounces of lye to 10.4 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 2 teaspoons sodium lactate.

Melt and combine 9.5 ounces of coconut oil, 2.5 ounces of squalane oil, 2.5 ounces of mango butter, 11.2 ounces of olive oil, and 9.5 ounces of palm oil into a large container (remember to fully melt then mix your entire container of palm oil before portioning). 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 very thin trace.

Split the soap into four containers and add the following amounts of dispersed colorants. Use a whisk to fully mix them in.

• Container A (300 mL): Uncolored
• Container B (300 mL): 2 tsp. dispersed jagua blue extract
• Container C (400 mL): 2 tsp. dispersed Caribbean Blue Mica
• Container D (400 mL): 2 tsp. dispersed Hydrated Chrome Green Pigment

NOTE: You’ll notice in the final bars, the jagua blue extract became a much lighter color. Interestingly, this only happened on the top of the bars – the jagua blue shade on the inside of the soap stayed a deep blue. Natural colors can do interesting things. We think the light gray is still pretty, but if you like contrast you can add more jagua blue extract or add a touch of dispersed black oxide pigment or activated charcoal to ensure the color stays dark. 

Pour the 2.2 ounces of Sea Salt Fragrance Oil equally into all the containers (it’s okay to eyeball it). Use a whisk to fully mix in the fragrance oil.

Pour some of the first color (it doesn’t matter which) into the mold in long S-curves lengthwise. Pour some of a different color in the mold, still going lengthwise. Continue pouring alternate colors lengthwise into the mold. If the soap starts to thicken, mix with a whisk to loosen it up.

For the first few passes of color, the order doesn’t really matter. Once the mold is about half full, take more care to differentiate the colors to make a more distinct pattern when you swirl them. Once you get to the top of the soap, pour so that each color is showing.

Once all the soap is in the mold, tap it firmly on the counter to get rid of bubbles. Insert a chopstick or dowel into the very top of the soap and drag the tool so that it crosses the lines created by the soap. Continue this S-curve down the entire length of the mold.

Insert the chopstick again, and move it up and down the mold in small wavy lines.

Insert the dividers into the soap. This drags the design down the sides of the bars. If you prefer to cut your bars, you can skip this step.

Insert a dry silk sea sponge into each bar. We placed most of them toward one side of the bar to allow the swirl to be seen.

Spritz the top of the soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol to prevent soda ash. Cover the mold to insulate and promote gel phase. Gel phase helps the colors pop and it helps the bars release from the dividers faster and more easily. If you live in a very cold climate, place the mold on a heating pad set to medium for about 30-60 minutes to help raise the temperature.

Allow the soap to stay in the mold for 2-3 days. To remove, take out the silicone liner and pull on the sides to break the airlock. Push the soap up from the bottom to release. If the bottom of the soap is still soft, let it harden in the dividers for a few more days.

Once firm enough to handle, gently remove the soap from the dividers. To prevent tearing, do not pull the dividers. Instead, push the soap down or slide the dividers up or down to remove the soap without tearing.  Allow the soap to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy