Beginner Trinity Bar (Olive, Coconut & Palm)
By The Soap Brain Team — Cold-process soap makers & formulators
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About this recipe
The "trinity" of olive, coconut and palm is the recipe most soap makers cut their teeth on, because each oil covers a weakness of the others. Olive brings mildness and a conditioning feel, coconut gives hardness and big bubbles, and palm adds a stable, long-lasting bar with a creamy lather. A small dose of castor oil rounds out the lather and helps it last.
At 40% olive, 30% coconut, 25% palm and 5% castor with a 5% superfat, this lands squarely in every recommended range for hardness, cleansing and conditioning — which is exactly why it is such a reliable first blend. Load it into the calculator below to see the precise lye weight, water and predicted quality numbers for your batch, then scale it to your mould. If you would rather avoid palm, see the palm-free shea bar instead.
The oils
Percentages for a 1,000 g batch of oils. Change the batch size in the calculator and every weight — and the lye — recomputes.
| Oil | Percentage | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 40% | 400 g |
| Coconut oil, 76°F | 30% | 300 g |
| Palm oil | 25% | 250 g |
| Castor oil | 5% | 50 g |
| Total oils | 100% | 1,000 g |
Method
- Put on PPE (goggles, gloves, sleeves) and set up in a ventilated space. Weigh everything by mass.
- Weigh the coconut and palm into the pot and melt gently, then add the olive and castor.
- Warm the oil blend to about 40°C.
- Weigh the water, then weigh the lye from the calculator figure below.
- Add lye to water, stir until dissolved, and cool to about 40°C.
- Combine oils and lye solution and blend to a medium trace.
- Pour, insulate, unmould after 24–48 hours, cut, and cure 4–6 weeks.
Calculate the lye for this recipe
The calculator below is pre-loaded with this recipe. Resize it to your batch or mould and it works out the exact NaOH (lye) weight, water and quality numbers. Always weigh lye, oils and water — never measure by volume, wear gloves and eye protection, and add lye to water (never the reverse).
Loading the calculator…
Where these numbers come from
The lye weight and quality numbers here come from the same cited oil values you'll find on every oil page. Here's the sourcing for each oil in this recipe:
SAP data last updated · 51 oils covered.
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- SoapCalc oil list — SAP, iodine
- From Nature With Love — Saponification Chart — SAP range
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- Codex Alimentarius CXS 210-1999 — Named Vegetable Oils (Tables 1–2) — SAP 248–265 mg KOH/g; Table 1 C8:0 4.6–10.0 and C10:0 5.0–8.0 — the ~12% our eight acids cannot carry
- SoapCalc oil list — SAP, iodine
- From Nature With Love — Saponification Chart — SAP range
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- Codex Alimentarius CXS 210-1999 — Named Vegetable Oils (Tables 1–2) — SAP 190–209 mg KOH/g
- SoapCalc oil list — SAP, iodine
- From Nature With Love — Saponification Chart — SAP range
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- FAO/WHO JECFA — Castor oil monograph (INS 1503) — SAP 176–185 mg KOH/g, iodine 83–88
- SoapCalc oil list — SAP, iodine
- Wikipedia — Ricinoleic acid — fatty-acid profile
Recipe FAQ
- Do I have to use the exact weights shown for Beginner Trinity Bar (Olive, Coconut & Palm)?
- No. This recipe is defined by percentages, so you can scale it to any batch size. Enter your total oil weight (or size it to your mould) in the calculator and it recomputes the exact lye, water and quality numbers for you.
- What superfat and water amount does this recipe use?
- It uses a 5% superfat with a 33% lye concentration. You can change either in the calculator below and watch the lye weight update instantly.
- Can I swap an oil or leave one out?
- You can, but every oil has its own saponification (SAP) value, so the lye weight changes with it. Never reuse this recipe's lye figure with a different oil blend — edit the oils in the calculator and let it recalculate the lye from scratch.