How to Make a Rich, Moisturising Liquid African Black Soap

This is the important one for me.

African Black Soap cleans very well, sometimes a little too well, and shea butter helps give the finished wash a softer, richer after-feel.

I use unrefined shea butter because that is simply my preference. I like using ingredients as close to their natural state as possible, especially when they already bring something worthwhile to a formula.

At just 2%, you are not trying to turn this into a cream. You are adding enough to make a difference to how the wash feels on the skin.

Aloe vera is one of those ingredients I reach for when I want to make a cleansing formula feel a little kinder to the skin.

It is well known for its soothing and hydrating properties, and I find it especially useful here because African Black Soap can be quite strong on the skin. At 10%, it adds a fresh, light feel to the wash and helps support the overall goal of making the formula less drying without taking away from the cleansing character of the soap.

I also like that aloe fits naturally into a simple African Black Soap formula. It adds something useful without making the recipe unnecessarily complicated.

Glycerine is one of my favourite simple ingredients because it is inexpensive, easy to use, and genuinely useful. It is a humectant, which means it helps attract water and hold moisture in the skin. In a cleanser, that matters because we are trying to reduce that tight, stripped feeling you can sometimes get after washing.

And glycerine is actually one of the reasons I love traditional handmade soap so much. Glycerine is naturally created during the soapmaking process and remains part of a properly made cold-process bar, contributing to that softer, more comfortable skin feel.

Here, I add a little extra at 6% because African Black Soap can be such an effective cleanser. Together with the aloe, panthenol and unrefined shea butter, it helps make the finished liquid wash feel much less drying.

D-Panthenol, also known as Pro-Vitamin B5, is another ingredient I like using when I want a cleanser to feel a little more conditioning and less harsh on the skin.

It is well known for its moisturising and soothing properties, and it can help support the skin’s barrier and improve that dry, tight feeling you sometimes get after washing.

In this formula, I use it alongside glycerine, aloe and shea butter. Each ingredient does something slightly different, but together they help soften the very cleansing nature of African Black Soap.

I especially like panthenol in wash-off products because even at a fairly low level, it adds to the overall skin feel without making the formula heavy or greasy.

I know, I know — this name sounds scary and is quite a tongue twister. You’ll be excused for not knowing how to say it! To make life easier, just call it CAPB — from a mouthful to one syllable.

Anyway, it’s much gentler and milder than it sounds, and honestly, it’s a bit of a darling ingredient.

Without boring you with the technical information, CAPB in simple terms helps give us a gentler, milder lather. It’s one of those ingredients you’ll be glad to have in your cupboard if you make washes, shampoos and even scrubs.

In this formula, it helps soften the cleansing feel of the African Black Soap and makes the lather feel a little creamier and more pleasant on the skin.

And yes — stay tuned. We’ll definitely be using it again in more recipes.

African Black Soap is extremely water soluble. You really don’t need huge amounts of water to turn it into a liquid soap. In fact, I prefer making quite a concentrated dilution first and then using that as the base of the final formulation.

I use a 60:40 ratio — 60% African Black Soap to 40% water.

For this recipe, use:

• 3 x 100 g African Black Soap bars
• 200 g deionised or distilled water

This gives you approximately 500 g of diluted African Black Soap.

You’ll only need 375 g for the finished wash, so store the remaining dilution in a clean, sealed container for your next batch.

1. Break or crumble the African Black Soap into smaller pieces and place it into a clean container.
2. Add the warm water, cover, and leave it for a few hours or overnight.

That’s it.

You don’t need to boil it. African Black Soap softens very easily and will gradually dissolve into a thick liquid. Give it a good stir once everything has broken down.

You now have your African Black Soap dilution.

Pro tip: resist the temptation to add too much water at the beginning. African Black Soap liquefies very readily, and you don’t want to end up with a watery base. Start with less water and add a little more, in small amounts, only if you need it.

Method:

1. Combine the African Black Soap dilution, aloe, glycerine, D-panthenol and CAPB. Stir gently to avoid excess foam.
2. Warm a small portion of the soap dilution and melt the shea butter separately.
3. Mix the melted shea butter into the warm soap portion, then stir this back into the main batch.
4. Once cool, add your preservative and mix well.
5. Leave the wash to settle. If it's too thick you may add some deionised water, hydrosol or aloe gel until you reach the consistency you prefer. This should give you a luscious, honey-like texture,

1. D-Panthenol: You can leave this out completely and replace it with the same amount of deionised water. It adds a nice conditioning benefit, but the formula will still work without it.
2. Glycerine: I wouldn’t replace this. For me, it is an essential part of the formula because it helps counter the drying feel of African Black Soap and improves the overall skin feel.
3. Aloe Vera: This is more flexible. You can replace it with a hydrosol, such as rose or lavender hydrosol, or simply use deionised water instead. Aloe adds a nice soothing, hydrating element, but it isn’t essential to the structure of the formula.