The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners: Do-It-Yourself Soaps Using All-Natural Herbs, Spices, and Essential Oils

I’ve always been curious about natural soap making but was intimidated by the process. Kelly Cable’s The Natural Soapmaking Book for Beginners completely changed that. This isn’t just a recipe book—it’s a step-by-step guide that feels like having a patient teacher walking you through every stage. ✅ Clear Instructions: The book breaks down the science of soap making into easy, understandable language. I never felt overwhelmed, even when working with lye for the first time. ✅ Beautiful, Practical Recipes: From lavender and oatmeal to more creative swirls, the recipes are approachable but don’t feel “basic.” Each one encourages you to experiment with herbs, essential oils, and natural colorants. ✅ Safety First: I loved how the author stressed safe handling practices without making it scary. It gave me confidence to dive right in. ✅ Beyond the Basics: The troubleshooting tips and customization ideas make this a resource I’ll keep returning to as I grow more advanced. Within a week of owning this book, I made my first batch of lavender soap bars—and they turned out gorgeous (and smelled heavenly!). My family has already requested more, and I’m even considering making holiday gift sets. If you’ve ever thought about trying DIY soap, this book is the perfect starting point. It demystifies the process and makes it fun. Honestly, I didn’t expect to find a new hobby, but here I am, hooked. 🌿 Verdict: A must-have for beginners that will grow with you as your skills expand. Practical, inspiring, and beautifully put together.

I love this book. In depth info about oils, natural colors, how to add different things and explanation of them. Many recipes to make your own soap with a 5 ingredients to more. Cold and Hot Process Recipes. Easy to follow. I can finally have a book with soap for the whole family. Gift giving, acne, sensitive to facial and shampoo bar soaps. Great find and price. Beautiful book.

I love this book! I have a hard time with processes and I made my first successful batch of the Relaxing Lavender Soap and it looks and smells amazing! It’s still curing so it hasn’t turned purple yet. She really does a good job with explaining the details.

As someone who cares deeply about what goes on my skin (and my family's), I really appreciate how the author stays committed to natural ingredients throughout this book. She even calls out how easy it is for soapmakers to start with great intentions—then fall into using synthetic fragrance oils or pigments. I couldn't agree more: why go to all the trouble of using healthy natural ingredients only to add something toxic? The book is rich with helpful recipes, guidance on color layering, and practical tips for beginners. I’m excited to try many of the recipes, especially since she includes a lot of detail about natural pigments and essential oils—something I prioritize. Some of the ingredients might be a little tricky to source locally, but nothing unmanageable if you’re used to DIY projects. My only real wish? More pictures. I’m a visual learner, and while the illustrations are decent, I’d love to see more step-by-step or finished-product photos to inspire and guide my process. Still—this book feels grounded, intentional, and accessible, and I’d definitely recommend it to any beginner who wants to keep their soapmaking clean and natural.

The book is easy to understand and has recipes and step by step process for soap making!

If you are thinking about making some of your own soap, stop. Before you go one step further first buy this book. Seriously, trying to find information, fumble thru a lot of dead ends and wasted time can be avoided by reading this book. This book is amazing as to how much information and confidence you will gain on what you need to do to make great soap. The effort, knowledge, writing and effort put in by this author is very much appreciated by this reader. And at this price and what you receive it’s worth every penny and then some. The book is an amazing effort by the author to give you tons of her years of experience on this subject. It is a quality piece of work that will be appreciated by all who purchase it. I only wish I would have had this book when I started out making soap. And let me say this….. I am only interested in making some healthy and wonderful soap for myself and family. This author appeals to me and anyone looking to further their interests in soap making. I am certain you will appreciate how much effort and hard work it took to write this book. So if you are looking for a fun and healthy thing to do to improve your lifestyle buy this book. I guarantee that you will also want to write a glowing appreciation and admire all the hard work and knowledge given by the author who wrote this wonderful book.

I love this book. I've never done anything with soap making before and after reading through it I was very confident and made several batches that came out pretty nice. I used the tried and true recipe first and just changed the colors and sent. Once I was comfortable with that, I bought a few more ingredients and I'm looking forward to trying different types of soap! This is definitely one of the most simplistic step-by-step guides I've seen and I absolutely love that about it. Only recommendation that I would have would be for them to make it spiral bound so you can keep it open while working!

Fantastic book and essential knowledge for soap making. I am familiar with the color wheel as an artist, but I didn't realize there is a scent wheel. This is a must have resource for soap making. Thank you so very much Kelly for sharing your expertise and knowledge with us. This book is a no brainer for beginners or the professional soap maker. Also the price is budget friendly. I appreciate your time and hard work that went into this wonderful book. Buyers, do not hesitate to purchase this book. It is worth every penny. Golden and outstanding. Thank you again ❤

Really nice book. Easy to use and read. Every recipe is on double-page - really useful - unfortunately, no every soap making book has that. So then you do not have to browse...I really love the natural colourant list. Almost everything is in ounces. There is measurement conversions but not measurement as 8.3oz or 4.3oz etc. - another reason to buy new scale with g, oz etc. :)...anyway, proper scale is needed for exact measuments which is essential for soap making.

The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners. Do-It-Yourself Soaps using all-natural Herbs, spices and essential oils. Chapter one through chapter four is your soap making primer. Chapters five and six techniques and tutorials. Chapter seven through eleven recipes. This is a well written soap making book full of photos and recipes. Being a beginner soap maker I didn’t get lost at all with this book. There is also fragrance wheel chart included. You will find included in the book recipes for Beer Soap, acne soap, candy cane, pumpkin spice soap and even pet soap to name a few. With clear instructions included with each soap recipe. It was for me like baking a cake with all the directions. I chose the nut free soap recipe included in the book for my first soap. This recipe uses Babassu oil instead of coconut oil for those of us who are sensitive to coconut oil. I had no difficulties. And if I did have any there is a section in the back for trouble shooting with pictures. I’m glad I purchased this book and recommend it for you!

Super intressant,thanks

I like it the way it prepared us to gain clear information on preparations, but sadly the last few chapters do not have ample pictures of the end products after recipes given.

Well written, informative, useful and full of recipes. Pleasant design as well