Is It More Cost-Effective to Make or Buy Soap?

Making your own soap is more cost-effective than buying soap once you already have the necessary tools and base ingredients. However, the materials required to make your own soap can be pricey at first, so this venture is best for those who intend to make their own soaps long-term.

Is Soap Making Profitable?

Making soap can certainly be profitable. Homemade soaps (especially those made with natural ingredients) are very desirable to many buyers, so it's a great option for those interested in starting a small business.

Is There a Demand for Online Soap?

Many people purchase their soaps online. Soap makers who own small businesses can benefit from reaching more customers via the Internet, and it's an especially easy way to sell soaps from your own home or private store.

How Do I Become a Certified Soap Maker?

Some schools offer courses in soap-making with certifications available upon completion. Because it is such a hands-on process, learning to make soaps at in-person classes is best to earn your certification.

When Should You Take an Online Soap Making Class?

Online soap-making classes are ideal to take year-round, no matter the season. It also makes a great group activity to enjoy with your family and friends.

Best Online Soap Making Classes of 2023

Soap making ingredients — Spruce Crafts / Design by Amelia Manley

Whether you want to learn a new skill, create one-of-a-kind gifts for your family and friends, or are trying to make the goods in your household a bit more sustainable, creating your own soap from scratch is an exciting new project to add to your wheelhouse.

When it comes to soap, the sky’s the limit. You can make soap using a variety of methods (melt and pour, cold process, hot process, and rebatching), using natural ingredients and botanicals, or by taking an alternate approach and going for colorful, whimsical designs. We’ve compiled a list of the best online soap-making classes you can take in the comfort of your home.

Best Online Soap Making Classes of 2023

Best Overall: Skillshare
Best Melt-and-Pour Soap Making: Udemy
Best Whimsical Soaps: Royalty Soaps
Best Swirl Soap: Bramble Berry
Best Striped Soap: Soapish
Best Fragrance Testing: Soap Making From Zakia Ringgold
Best Natural Soap: Royalty Soaps

Fees: $14 to $32 (monthly membership)
Level: Beginner
Free Trial: Yes

If you’re just beginning your soap-making journey, this course on Skillshare is comprehensive and led by Beau Colin, a Dutch graphic designer and soap maker.

Pros

Easy for beginners to learn
Explains chemistry of making soap
No artificial scents or additives needed

Cons

Requires lye
Monthly membership necessary for access

Soap-making is part craft and part science, and Skillshare's "How to Make Your Own Handmade Soap" course perfectly explains how to make a basic cold-process soap recipe. Colin's first lesson discusses the equipment you’ll need and how to set up your soap-making station. After you gather ingredients, the foundation of soap-making starts with understanding the chemistry of it—as well as the nuances of using lye, a key ingredient.

Lye is a caustic chemical, so Colin advises on how to handle it properly, as well as the measurements of each ingredient to stay in control of the chemical reaction. Next, Colin gives pointers about ingredients to customize soap to your taste—including herbs, scents, and other additives, as well as packaging your soap bars.

This course features entirely natural materials without artificial scents or additives. The membership to Skillshare costs about $168 annually (roughly $14 per month) or $32 billed monthly. You'll also get a free trial to test the course when you join.

Fees: $84.99
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Free Trial: No

This course on Udemy teaches users how to make melt-and-pour soaps that do not require lye and are safe for the whole family to create together.

Pros

Does not require lye
Soaps are ready in just a few hours
Can use all-natural ingredients

Cons

Expensive

If you’re a beginner soap maker, melt-and-pour is an alternate method to making soap via cold process, and Udemy's "How to Make Melt & Pour Soap" is the best class in the game. This fun, easy course is designed for those new to soap-making or those with some experience.

The goals of the program are clear: You’ll walk away with a variety of melt-and-pour soaps that only take a few hours to complete, using pre-made soap bases, colors, and fragrances. You’ll learn various techniques to create visual effects in the soap, as well as how to use natural and cosmetic colors to customize the soap to your desired look (whether it’s vibrant or more of an organic vibe). The course also teaches users how to embed objects and soap shapes into soap bars or loaves.

You’ll learn everything you need to know about oils, butters, and fragrances and how to add moisturizing and exfoliating properties to them. This soap-making method doesn’t incorporate lye, so it’s a great activity to do with kids.

Fees: Free
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Free Trial: N/A

This soap-centered YouTube channel has one of the largest libraries of whimsical soap-making classes online, with the wildest, most festive themes you can think of. And the tutorials are all free.

Pros

Free for all users
Most tutorials are under twenty minutes
Videos are fun and super easy to follow
Choose from numerous creative soap ideas

Cons

Must first know soap-making basics to begin

Katie Carson's Royalty Soap’s YouTube channel is the place to go for fun and ultra-creative soap designs. With Taco Bell-themed soaps, Disney character soaps, dessert soaps, and even soaps inspired by Taylor Swift’s song "Cardigan", there’s sure to be a soap for any occasion, be it for a family or friend, or even just an amusingly satisfying project. Where you start is up to you.

Take, for example, Carson's monthly series of birthstone soaps, such as opal (for October), sapphire (for September), emerald (for May), and more. For opal, she uses lemon sugar and lavender lemon essential oils, and teal, purple, and pink coloring layered with white and treated with a hanger swirl to mimic the iridescent effect of the stone, before topping it with "soap frosting" and a pastel drizzle.

You can also find soaps inspired by objects as diverse as California poppies, watermelon candy, succulents, carnival treats, s'mores, and more.

Fees: Free
Level: Advanced
Free Trial: N/A

Bramble Berry's swirl soap tutorial is an excellent option for soap makers to make beautiful designs using the cold process method. It is only recommended for those with experience, however.

Pros

Free for all users
Natural soap scented with essential oils
Additional classes available

Cons

Not ideal for beginners
Requires lye

Once you're familiar with the cold process method, you’re free to move into experimenting with designs. Bramble Berry, a self-described company "built by makers, for makers," offers a variety of free crafting tutorials on its YouTube channel for creating handmade soap, bath bombs, lotions, lip balms, and more. Their "Classic Cold Process Swirl Soap" class is excellent for learning how to create designs on soap.

This "in-the-mold" swirl soap technique is best for those at an advanced level in cold process soap-making. After suiting up in goggles and gloves, the instructors get started with the ingredients: the oils (olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, castor oil), water, and lye, as well as lavender and lemon essential oils with three different types of colorants for the swirl design.

They mix the powdered colorants ahead of time—combining each of the pigments in olive oil with a frother (typically used for frothing milk for coffee) to create the ultimate smooth mixture. Next, they teach users to pour in the mold and begin swirling. The instructors demonstrate the optimal ways to swirl, from pouring levels, sequencing colors, and more.

Fees: Free
Level: Intermediate
Free Trial: N/A

This free, user-friendly course from Soapish is focused on making striped soaps using cold process soap, walking viewers through each step of the process to create their own striped soaps with any variety of scents and colors at home.

Pros

Easy for users who already know how to make simple soaps
Offers multiple techniques
Users can choose their own colors

Cons

Not ideal for beginners

Add a new design to your repertoire with this free striped soap video from Soapish. Tania Vivian, the creator of the video, is the person behind the Soapish bath and body boutique located in Newhall, California. The brand also offers moisturizers, oils, and product collections for your face, hair, and home.

Here, Vivian demonstrates two cold process soap techniques to achieve even, straight, and uniform stripes. First, she starts with a black-and-white striped soap with four evenly measured layers. After adding fragrance oil to the base, she weighs the oils, splits them exactly in half, colors them, and preps four separate batches of lye water.

Half of the black oil is added to one of the lye-water batches and layered into the mold. After the layer is set, she repeats the process for the remainder of her stripes, so everything remains perfectly measured and even. In her next batch, she demonstrates a six-layer soap featuring black, white, and variations of pink stripes.

Fees: Free
Level: Intermediate
Free Trial: N/A

This tutorial is a crash course of instructor Zakia Ringgold's method to test fragrance oils in cold-process soap, helping users learn how to try their own scents at home.

Pros

Free for all users
Uses handmade soap and only requires small batches
Additional classes available

Cons

Users must find and purchase their own fragrances

Incorporating fragrance is a skill to master when making soaps from scratch. Zakia Ringgold’s "How to Test Fragrance Oils in Soap Making" helps soap makers learn to try new scents using cold-process soap.

According to Ringgold, "I have had my fair share of handmade soap batches that seize, freeze, rice, and accelerate." Her approach here is to test new scents in a small-batch recipe before executing them in a full batch of soap. Ringgold's method tests with sample vials of fragrance oils rather than committing to a large amount of fragrance at first.

One ounce per pound of oil is the typical ratio for fragrance. Ringgold makes 5.5 pounds of her signature soap oil recipe and divides it among 11 containers—10 for fragranced soaps, and one for the base recipe as a control. Ringgold also explains the best way to set up your fragrance experiment notes and labeling, so at the end of your test, you know exactly which fragrances you'd like to keep.

Fees: Free
Level: Intermediate
Free Trial: N/A

If you prefer your soaps free of synthetics of any kind, this video shows you how to add color and scent without the bad stuff.

Free for all users
Uses natural ingredients for color and scent
Easy to follow, simple to make

Must first know soap-making basics to begin

This free demonstration from Royalty Soaps uses all-natural ingredients, omitting anything like synthetic mica or fragrances and utilizing rose clay, kaolin clay, and sea salt, in addition to a gentle and calming essential oil blend.

While it is a simple preparation, it’s best to take this tutorial on once you’ve mastered handling lye and the basics of cold-process soap-making. Katie Carson, the instructor, starts by combining her lye-water solution into the oils. She then splits it into two equal portions to be colored with natural botanicals rather than mica, ultramarines, or oxides.

Rose clay adds a pink hue and silky finish. One tub gets the rose clay and the other the kaolin clay with a titanium dioxide mixture. Carson also gives tips and tricks, such as how it’s best to mix your clay with hot water to better incorporate it into the oils, and that clays tend to make your soap a bit thicker.

Skillshare's "How to Make Your Own Handmade Soap" is our best overall choice for online soap-making classes thanks to its beginner-friendly lessons and detailed instructions. This course explains the important safety measures for working with lye, how to gather ingredients, and how to start making your own soap.

For more advanced soap makers, courses like "Striped Soapmaking and Cutting" from Soapish or "Classic Cold Process Swirl Soap" from Bramble Berry can explain how to make complex patterns in soaps. If you're interested in making lye-free soap (which is also safe for children to make), options like Udemy's "How to Make Melt & Pour Soap" course can help you get started.

Company	Fees	Level	Free Trial
Skillshare Best Overall	$14 to $32 (monthly membership)	Beginner	Yes
Udemy Best Melt-and-Pour Soap Making	$84.99	Beginner to intermediate	No
Bramble Berry Best Swirl Soap	Free	Advanced	N/A
Royalty Soaps Best Whimsical Soaps	Free	Intermediate to advanced	N/A
Soap Making From Zakia Ringgold Best Fragrance Testing	Free	Intermediate	N/A
Soapish Best Striped Soaps	Free	Intermediate	N/A
Royalty Soaps Best Natural Soap	Free	Intermediate	N/A

FAQ

Is It More Cost-Effective to Make or Buy Soap?

Making your own soap is more cost-effective than buying soap once you already have the necessary tools and base ingredients. However, the materials required to make your own soap can be pricey at first, so this venture is best for those who intend to make their own soaps long-term.
Is Soap Making Profitable?

Making soap can certainly be profitable. Homemade soaps (especially those made with natural ingredients) are very desirable to many buyers, so it's a great option for those interested in starting a small business.
Is There a Demand for Online Soap?

Many people purchase their soaps online. Soap makers who own small businesses can benefit from reaching more customers via the Internet, and it's an especially easy way to sell soaps from your own home or private store.
How Do I Become a Certified Soap Maker?

Some schools offer courses in soap-making with certifications available upon completion. Because it is such a hands-on process, learning to make soaps at in-person classes is best to earn your certification.
When Should You Take an Online Soap Making Class?

Online soap-making classes are ideal to take year-round, no matter the season. It also makes a great group activity to enjoy with your family and friends.

Selecting the best online soap-making classes came with a variety of considerations. Soap making can be an exciting new project for beginners; however, there is a level of education and expertise that one must master at the beginning of developing the craft, purely for safety reasons, so we were sure to choose classes that would give a good foundation for beginner soap makers (and spoke to the details of lye safety) as well as cater to more advanced makers.

We looked at the kind of materials used and included natural soap tutorials for those who prefer them. Approachability was also key—all of the courses on this list were created by experienced soap-makers or crafters who can clearly communicate technique and style to those following along at home.