Shea Butter and Tea Tree Oil Soap

Last updated: October 2026

How to make shea butter and tea tree oil soap

Lye solution, melted oils, trace, then a 4–6 week cure. Baraka's shea butter and tea tree oil soap is an everyday cold-process cleansing bar of shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil and castor oil, scented with tea tree essential oil, made with shea butter handmade by the women of the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana.

Wearing gloves and eye protection, add the lye to the distilled water (never the reverse), then melt the shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil and castor oil together. When both are around 100–120°F (38–49°C), pour the lye solution into the oils and blend to trace. Stir in the tea tree essential oil, pour into a mould, leave 24–48 hours before unmoulding, then cut into bars and cure them for 4–6 weeks before use.

The method follows the fundamentals set out in our guide to How to Make Shea Butter Soap, with tea tree essential oil added for a fresh, clarifying character. It sits within the wider family of projects in our Definitive Guide to DIY with Shea Butter. The batter comes together quickly; the real transformation happens during the weeks of cure that follow. This project suits anyone who has made cold-process soap at least once before.

In This Recipe:

• Shea butter and tea tree oil soap recipe
• What is shea butter and tea tree oil soap good for?
• Why Make This Yourself
• Why These Ingredients Work Together
• Ingredient by Ingredient
• Before You Begin: Soap-Making Safety
• Ingredients
• Directions
• Troubleshooting
• Storage and Shelf Life
• Scaling and Substitutions
• Customisation Ideas
• Essential Oils
• Application Tips
• What We Know and How We Know It
• FAQ
• Try These Next
• Disclaimer

Shea butter and tea tree oil soap recipe: amounts, lye and yield

Seven ingredients, one 3 lb (1,362 g) oil blend. Baraka's version of this recipe is built on its unrefined shea butter, made by hand at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana.

Use 1 lb (454 g) shea butter, 1 lb (454 g) coconut oil, 8 oz (227 g) olive oil, 8 oz (227 g) castor oil, 6.7 oz (191 g) sodium hydroxide (lye), 13.5 oz (382 g) distilled water and 1 tbsp (15 ml) tea tree essential oil. This makes about 4 lb (1,814 g) of soap, which cuts into 8–10 bars. The lye and water amounts only suit these exact oils and weights, so re-run them through a soap calculator if you change anything.

At a glance	Detail
Yield	About 4 lb (1,814 g) of cured soap, 8–10 bars
Bar size	About 6.4–8 oz (181–227 g) each, depending on how you cut
Prep and make time	About 45 minutes hands-on, plus 24–48 hours in the mould
Cure time	4–6 weeks before use
Superfat	5%
Skill level	Intermediate

The full ingredient list, the lye calculation and the step-by-step method are in Ingredients and Directions below.

What is shea butter and tea tree oil soap good for?

Everyday washing with a fresh, clean finish. Made with Baraka's unrefined shea butter, this bar is for everyday washing of hands and body.

It is an everyday cleansing bar with a rich, fresh-feeling lather, made for people who like a deeper, clarifying clean. It also suits anyone swapping synthetic detergent bars for a traditional hand-made one, or adding a crisp bar to a daily shower routine. Once fully cured, it makes a good hand-made gift.

What this recipe is for

• A daily body bar for a rich, fresh-feeling lather in the shower
• A hand soap by the kitchen or garden sink, where a clean-rinsing bar is welcome
• A post-gym or after-work wash for anyone who likes a herbal, clarifying scent
• Replacing synthetic detergent bars with a traditional, hand-made true soap
• A hand-made gift once the bars are fully cured and wrapped
• A first step up from basic shea butter soap into working with essential oils

It is a cleansing bar, not a treatment: the tea tree is there for scent and the clean-rinsing feel it gives the wash.

Why Make This Yourself

Full control over every oil in the bar. Making it yourself means you choose every oil, its weight and the scent, and you know exactly what is in each bar. Watching a liquid oil-and-lye mixture turn into a firm, fresh bar over a few weeks is its own reward. The result is a true soap that keeps the glycerin that forms naturally as the oils turn into soap.

Skill level: intermediate. The process is forgiving about mould choice, but precision matters for the lye, the water and the essential oil. If you have made one batch of plain cold-process soap, you are ready for this one.

Yield: about 4 lb (1,814 g), cut into 8–10 bars. Time: about 45 minutes of work, 24–48 hours in the mould and 4–6 weeks of cure.

Compared with a shop-bought tea tree bar. Tea tree bars on the market range from true soaps to synthetic detergent (syndet) bars, and many are well made. The difference here is composition: this bar is a true soap made from four plant oils and butters, scented with tea tree essential oil alone. Choose the shop bar if you want convenience and a consistent result every time; choose this recipe if you want to set the oils and the scent yourself.

Why These Ingredients Work Together

Conditioning oils balanced with cleansing ones. This bar balances conditioning oils with cleansing and lathering ones, finished with a fresh tea tree character. Shea butter contributes conditioning and a smooth, creamy bar texture, and coconut oil is the main cleansing and lathering oil, producing big, bubbly suds. Olive oil softens the bar's feel and supports mildness, castor oil boosts and stabilises the lather that coconut oil starts, and tea tree essential oil finishes the bar with a fresh, clarifying scent.

What changes if the ratio changes. Any change to any oil means a new lye calculation, so treat these as guidance for your own future formulas rather than tweaks to this batch.

• Coconut oil is a third of the oils here; above about 35% of the oils a bar starts to feel drying, so do not raise it.
• More shea butter gives a creamier, more conditioning bar with a lower, slower lather.
• More olive oil gives a milder but softer bar that needs a longer cure.
• Castor oil is already about a sixth of the oils; raising it further makes a softer, stickier bar.

Ingredient by Ingredient

Shea butter

The conditioning base. Shea butter is the backbone of this bar and helps keep it from feeling drying even with cleansing oils in the mix. This recipe is built on Baraka's Raw Shea Butter, unrefined and strained and filtered only, made by hand by women's producer groups at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Wa, in Ghana's Upper West Region. A soapmaker gets a creamy, conditioning base with a known source in one ingredient, in sizes from small DIY jars up to bulk, so one order can cover this 1 lb (454 g) batch with plenty left for balms and body butters.

Because it is unrefined, with no refining, bleaching or deodorising, its natural colour ranges from ivory through cream to pale yellow and varies between batches, and a mild nutty smell is normal. Neither changes how the soap is made.

Traditional coconut oil

Hardness and lather. Traditional Coconut Oil drives the rich, bubbly lather this soap is known for. Baraka's coconut oil is virgin, mechanically pressed from the fresh kernel with no solvent extraction, and in soapmaking it contributes hardness and abundant lather. It is solid below about 75°F (24°C) and clear above it, so melt it with the shea butter rather than measuring it by volume.

Olive oil and castor oil

Olive oil: mildness. A gentle, liquid oil that supports the bar's overall comfortable feel. It slows trace slightly, which gives you time to stir in the essential oil and pour.

Castor oil: lather that lasts. Castor oil stabilises and enhances lather, helping the bubbles last longer in use. It is thick and sticky on its own, which is why it stays a minor oil in any bar.

Lye and water

Sodium hydroxide and distilled water: the reaction. Lye turns the oils into soap and is used up in the process, so none remains in a properly made and cured bar. Distilled water dissolves the lye cleanly; tap water minerals can cause spotting or a dull surface.

Tea tree essential oil

The scent. Tea tree oil is steamed from the leaves of the Australian tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia. It gives this soap a fresh, clean-rinsing, herbal character, popular in traditional skincare routines. At 1 tbsp (15 ml) in this batch it is well inside safe limits for a rinse-off bar; the Essential Oils section has the figures.

Before You Begin: Soap-Making Safety

Gloves, goggles and an adults-only workspace. Lye is caustic until it has turned the oils into soap, so treat every step before unmoulding as hazardous.

• Wear protective gloves and eye protection whenever you handle lye.
• Work in a well-ventilated area — open a window or work near an extractor fan.
• Always add lye to water, never water to lye.
• Keep lye, raw soap batter, and curing soap well out of reach of children and pets.
• This is an adults-only project from start to finish.
• Tea tree essential oil is potent — never exceed the amount specified below, as excess amounts can irritate skin.
• Use stainless steel, heat-proof plastic or glass for lye; never aluminium.

Ingredients

Everything weighed, nothing measured in cups. Weigh every oil, the lye and the water on a digital scale.

• Shea butter — 1 lb (454 g)
• Traditional Coconut Oil — 1 lb (454 g)
• Olive oil — 8 oz (227 g)
• Castor oil — 8 oz (227 g)
• Sodium hydroxide (lye) — 6.7 oz (191 g)
• Distilled water — 13.5 oz (382 g)
• Tea tree essential oil — 1 tbsp (15 ml), about 0.46 oz (13 g)

How the lye is worked out

191 g of lye at 5% superfat. Each oil's weight is multiplied by its saponification value (grams of sodium hydroxide per gram of oil), the results are added, and 5% is taken off so a little oil stays unsaponified in the bar. The water is twice the lye. See our saponification value chart and soap-making guide for the values behind this.

Oil	Weight	Saponification value	Lye needed
Shea butter	1 lb (454 g)	0.128	2.05 oz (58.1 g)
Coconut oil	1 lb (454 g)	0.183	2.93 oz (83.1 g)
Olive oil	8 oz (227 g)	0.135	1.08 oz (30.6 g)
Castor oil	8 oz (227 g)	0.128	1.02 oz (29.1 g)
Total before superfat	3 lb (1,362 g)		7.09 oz (200.9 g)
Less 5% superfat			6.7 oz (191 g) lye
Water at twice the lye			13.5 oz (382 g)

These lye and water amounts are calculated for this exact oil combination and weights. Before you make the batch, check the figures in a lye calculator such as SoapCalc, and re-run them whenever you change any oil or its amount.

Directions

About 45 minutes of work, then patience. Read every step before you start and have the mould lined and ready.

1. Put on gloves and eye protection before handling lye.
2. Weigh the distilled water into a heat-resistant container, then slowly add the sodium hydroxide to the water (never the reverse), stirring until fully dissolved.
3. Set the lye solution aside in a ventilated area to cool; it heats up sharply as the lye dissolves.
4. Weigh the shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil and castor oil into a stainless steel pot.
5. Melt the oils gently over low heat until fully liquid, then take the pot off the heat.
6. Check both temperatures and wait until the lye solution and the oils are both around 100–120°F (38–49°C).
7. Slowly pour the lye solution into the oils, stirring continuously.
8. Use a stick blender in short bursts, alternating with hand stirring, until the mixture reaches trace — it will thicken and leave a visible trail when you drizzle it across the surface.
9. Add the tea tree essential oil and stir by hand until evenly combined.
10. Pour the mixture into a soap mould, tap gently to release air bubbles, and cover.
11. Let the soap set in the mould for 24–48 hours before unmoulding.
12. Cut into bars once firm enough to handle.
13. Set the bars on their sides in a well-ventilated space, with space between them, to cure for 4–6 weeks before use; do not use the soap before the cure is complete.

Troubleshooting

Most problems come from temperature, timing or measuring. Here are the ones that actually happen with this bar, and what to do.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
White, powdery film on top of the bars (soda ash)	Unsaponified lye reacting with air on the surface while the soap was soft	It is cosmetic; plane or steam it off once cured. Next time cover the mould and spray the top with rubbing alcohol after pouring.
Soap still soft or sticky after 48 hours	Too much water, a cool room, or a weighing error	Leave it in the mould another 2–3 days in a warmer spot. If it stays greasy, recheck your weights against the lye table before the next batch.
Batter thickens too fast and becomes hard to pour	Temperatures above 120°F (49°C) or long blending bursts	Stir by hand, spoon into the mould and tap hard. Next time work closer to 100°F (38°C) and blend in shorter bursts.
Oil pooling on the surface or oily pockets	Not blended to a true trace, or the essential oil added too fast	Do not use the bars. Wear gloves and discard them, then blend to a firm trace next time and stir the essential oil in by hand.
Crack along the top of the loaf	Overheating during gel phase	The bars are usable. Next time soap at the lower end of the temperature range and do not insulate the mould.
Tea tree scent fainter after cure	Some essential oil fades during saponification and cure	This is normal. Keep to the 1 tbsp (15 ml) amount rather than adding more, and store bars wrapped once cured.

Storage and Shelf Life

Cure 4–6 weeks, then store cool and dry. Cure time is 4–6 weeks; do not use the soap before curing is complete, as it needs this time to fully harden and mellow while excess water evaporates. Store fully cured bars in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight — a drawer or shelf with airflow works well. Once cured, bars typically keep well for 12–18 months.

Between uses, keep the bar on a well-draining soap dish to extend its life. A bar left sitting in water softens and wears away quickly. Wrapping cured bars in paper helps hold the tea tree scent.

Store the ingredients well too. Baraka's shea butter keeps 2+ years when stored properly, away from heat and direct sun. Keep the tea tree essential oil tightly capped, cool and out of the light, and use it within its best-before date: tea tree oil oxidises when exposed to air, heat and light, and oxidised oil is more likely to cause a skin reaction.

Scaling and Substitutions

Halve or double the oils, then recalculate the lye. Every scaled batch below was calculated from the oil weights with the same values and 5% superfat. Check each one in a lye calculator before you make it.

Ingredient	Half batch	Base batch	Double batch
Shea butter	8 oz (227 g)	1 lb (454 g)	2 lb (907 g)
Coconut oil	8 oz (227 g)	1 lb (454 g)	2 lb (907 g)
Olive oil	4 oz (113 g)	8 oz (227 g)	1 lb (454 g)
Castor oil	4 oz (113 g)	8 oz (227 g)	1 lb (454 g)
Sodium hydroxide (lye)	3.4 oz (95 g)	6.7 oz (191 g)	13.5 oz (382 g)
Distilled water	6.7 oz (190 g)	13.5 oz (382 g)	27 oz (764 g)
Tea tree essential oil	1 1/2 tsp (7.5 ml)	1 tbsp (15 ml)	2 tbsp (30 ml)
Approximate cured yield	2 lb (907 g), 4–5 bars	4 lb (1,814 g), 8–10 bars	8 lb (3,629 g), 16–20 bars

Substitutions, with the lye recalculated. Changing any oil changes the lye, so each swap below gives the new figures for the base batch.

• Olive oil → shea oil: use 8 oz (227 g) shea oil; lye becomes 6.7 oz (189 g) and water 13.3 oz (378 g). Baraka's shea oil is the liquid fraction of shea, made by hand at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana, and it keeps the bar all-shea at its heart.
• Coconut oil → palm kernel oil: use 1 lb (454 g) palm kernel oil; lye becomes 6.3 oz (179 g) and water 12.6 oz (358 g). Palm kernel oil is pressed from the kernel inside the palm fruit's stone and is not red palm oil; it gives a hard bar with quick lather and carries no colour.
• No castor oil: replace it with more olive oil, recalculate the lye in a soap calculator, and expect a slightly thinner, shorter-lived lather.
• No tea tree oil: leave it out for an unscented bar, or use another essential oil from the Essential Oils section. Essential oil does not change the lye.

Customisation Ideas

Small changes, same base. None of these ideas changes an oil, so the lye stays the same; any idea that does change an oil's type or weight means recalculating the lye first.

• Adjust the scent with a little less tea tree essential oil, or blend in another essential oil within the limits in Essential Oils.
• Add texture with 1 tbsp ground oats at trace, alongside the tea tree oil, for gentle exfoliation.
• Add natural colour with a pinch of green clay for a fresh, herbal tone; stir it into a little of the oil first so it does not clump.
• Change the mould to individual bar moulds instead of a loaf mould for a different shape.
• Swirl the top with a spoon or skewer once the batter is in the mould for a hand-made look.
• Always recalculate lye and water amounts with a soap calculator before changing any oil or its weight.

Popular soap calculators (external links, always re-run before adjusting oils): SoapCalc.net, HSCG Lye Calculator, LyeCalc.com.

Essential Oils

1 tbsp (15 ml) of tea tree, and no more. Baraka's recommended limit for soap is no more than 1 tbsp of essential oil in total per 16 oz (454 g) of oils, so this 3 lb (1,362 g) batch could take up to 3 tbsp (45 ml) in total. Tea tree itself stays at 1 tbsp (15 ml), about 0.7% of the finished batter. That keeps it below the 1% level the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) set for tea tree oil in rinse-off body and face washes in its 2025 opinion.

Blending. If you want a softer scent, keep the tea tree at 1 tbsp (15 ml) and add up to 2 tbsp (30 ml) more of another essential oil, so the total stays at 3 tbsp (45 ml) or less. Lavender, peppermint, rosemary and eucalyptus all sit well with tea tree. The limit is for all essential oils together, and it is Baraka's recommended limit, not a guarantee of safety for every skin.

The bar also works unscented: leave the essential oil out and the method and lye stay exactly the same.

Application Tips

Lather, rinse well, keep it dry between uses. Use like any bar soap for hands, face, or body — lather with warm water and rinse well. Because this soap is rich in conditioning oils, a light lather goes a long way; no need to scrub aggressively. Keep it away from the eyes, and stop using it if your skin becomes red or itchy.

A soap dish with drainage will help the bar last longer between uses. Store the bar dry between uses for the longest life, and cut a bar in half if you want a smaller piece for the hand basin.

What We Know and How We Know It

The method, temperatures, cure time, superfat and saponification values come from established soap-making practice, and the lye figures were calculated from published saponification values, not copied from an older version of this recipe. That shea butter is traditionally used on dry skin, lips and hands comes from long traditional use in West Africa. What tea tree oil is, and its safety notes, come from published sources: the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and the Mayo Clinic both note that most people use topical tea tree products without problems but some develop an allergic rash or irritation, that it is toxic if swallowed, and that research on its effects on skin conditions is limited. The 1% rinse-off level and the oxidation advice come from the SCCS's 2025 opinion on tea tree oil (SCCS/1681/25), as reported by Personal Care Magazine and Personal Care Insights.

FAQ

Can I use tea tree essential oil in soap?

Yes, at a measured amount. Tea tree essential oil is commonly used in cold-process soap for its fresh, herbal scent, and it holds up reasonably well through saponification and the cure. In this recipe Baraka's shea butter and coconut oil carry 1 tbsp (15 ml) of tea tree per 3 lb (1,362 g) of oils, about 0.7% of the batter and below the 1% level the SCCS set for rinse-off washes. Most people use tea tree products without trouble, but some develop an allergic rash or irritation, so stop using the bar if that happens, and keep the bottle cool, dark and tightly capped, because oxidised tea tree oil is more likely to cause a reaction.

How long does homemade soap need to cure?

Four to six weeks. Cold-process soap like this typically needs 4–6 weeks to cure fully. Curing lets excess water evaporate and allows the bar to harden, so don't use it before this time is up, and expect the batch to go from about 4.3 lb (1,948 g) of batter to about 4 lb (1,814 g) of soap as water leaves. Stand the bars on their sides with air around them, turn them once a week and keep them out of direct sun; a longer cure, up to about 8 weeks, gives an even harder, longer-lasting bar.

The Impact of Your Purchase

When you make skincare with Baraka ingredients, you are buying from women's cooperatives that earn fair wages and keep traditional processing methods alive. Baraka's 2025 Social and Environmental Impact Report records income opportunities for more than 3,000 women in northern Ghana, over $100,000 invested in women's enterprise infrastructure, and equipment and fuel recovery that have cut the carbon impact of shea processing by up to 90%. At the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region, Baraka's shea butter is made by hand, and the waste left over from making it is dried into fuel blocks that fire the next batch. Baraka also offsets 100% of the carbon cost of shipping to customers. You get full transparency about what touches your skin and your family's skin, and about where it came from.

Where the shea butter comes from. Baraka's shea butter is traditionally processed by hand at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre: the nuts are cracked, roasted, milled to a paste, kneaded with water and boiled so the fat separates, then cooled and filtered, with no solvent at any stage. Baraka's founder, Wayne Dunn, has worked directly with the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre for over 15 years. See each stage in How is Handcrafted Shea Butter Made?, and meet one of the women behind Baraka's shea butter in this short film: Shea Butter Producer: Zenabo Imoro.

Shop the Baraka Ingredients in This Recipe

Shea Butter — Shop Shea Butter — the unrefined, hand-made butter that gives this bar its conditioning, creamy base.

Traditional Coconut Oil — Shop Traditional Coconut Oil — the virgin coconut oil that gives this bar its hardness and big lather.

Browse more for your next batch: Butters and Oils.

Try These Next

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like:

• Shea Butter and Turmeric Soap — the same shea-based cold-process method with a warm golden colour in place of the tea tree freshness.
• Shea Butter and Goats Milk Soap — a simple, gentle recipe built on a creamy milk base.
• Honey and Shea Butter Soap — honey added to a shea bar for a richer, sweeter-smelling lather.
• Creamy Cow Milk and Shea Butter Soap — a milk soap for anyone who wants a creamier, unscented-style bar.
• Shea Butter and Aloe Vera Soap — another fresh, gentle variation for a different everyday bar.
• Shea Butter and Rose Geranium Soap — a floral, elegant alternative if tea tree's freshness isn't what you're after.
• Shea Butter and Citrus Soap — a bright, energising scent for a different everyday character.
• Shea Butter and Peppermint Oil Soap — a cooling, invigorating variation for a different clarifying character.

About These Ingredients

This recipe is expanded from our comprehensive Definitive Guide to DIY with Shea Butter, which explores additional formulations, ingredient options, and variations. Visit the full guide for more approaches to shea-based DIY skincare.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is for general education. It reflects traditional use, reported experience and, where noted, published research. It has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. Baraka products are cosmetics and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition. Always patch test a new ingredient, keep products away from the eyes and out of reach of children, and speak to a qualified healthcare provider about any skin or health condition. If you add essential oils, use no more than the amount given, and leave them out for young children, during pregnancy and on sensitive skin. Individual results vary.

A note on the traditions in this post: the practices described here come from conversations with, and time spent among, the community members and cooperative partners we work with in West Africa. We share them as anecdotal, first-hand impressions — not as verified fact or expert accounts. These traditions vary from family to family and region to region, so what follows is indicative rather than definitive. We offer it with respect and humility: to share a little of what we've encountered, not to speak for these communities or claim any authority over their traditions.

About the Author

Wayne Dunn is the founder of Baraka Impact and a former Professor of Practice in Sustainability at McGill University. He holds an M.Sc. in Management from Stanford and has spent over 15 years working directly with the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region to source traditionally made shea butter and natural oils. He shares DIY skincare recipes and ingredient guides designed to be made at home with real ingredients — and sourced with full transparency about where they come from.