From your first batch to beautifully finished handmade soap

Created by Medna Soap, the maker behind the Medna Hygiene brand, this self-paced online course teaches you the foundations of traditional cold-process soap making, from understanding how soap is made and choosing your ingredients to formulating, making, finishing and packaging your own handmade soap.

You’ll learn how to work safely with sodium hydroxide, understand the process of saponification, choose oils and butters, work with a lye calculator, formulate practical recipes and customise your soap with natural colours, botanicals, clays, essential oils and other carefully selected ingredients.

From your first recipe through to making, unmoulding, shaping, curing, testing and packaging, you’ll learn the process step by step.

No previous soap-making experience is required.

What’s Included

• Complete self-paced online course

• Downloadable course workbook

• Practical soap-making recipes

• Recipe formulation and lye calculator guidance

• Cost & profit calculator

• 3 months of Soap Making Club membership

• A new soap recipe every month

• A sample soap bar from the monthly recipe

• Live online soap-making sessions

• Ingredient of the Month selections

What You’ll Learn

Module 01. Soap Making: History, Chemistry & Types

Discover where soap making began and understand the simple science behind this traditional craft.

You’ll learn:

• A brief history of soap making

• What soap is

• The basic chemistry behind soap making

• How saponification transforms oils and fats into soap

• The different types of soap

• An introduction to cold-process soap and how it differs from other methods

The goal: To understand what soap is, how it is made and why cold-process soap is the focus of this course.

Module 02. Safety, Ingredients & Equipment

Learn how to prepare your workspace and work safely and confidently before making your first batch.

You’ll learn:

• The essential ingredients, materials and equipment

• How to safely handle sodium hydroxide

• How to prepare your workspace

• How to measure and organise your ingredients

• How to prepare your mould

• Different mould and lining options

• How to make thoughtful and practical choices when setting up your soap-making workspace

The goal: To create a safe, organised and well-prepared environment for making soap with confidence.

Module 03. Oils, Butters & Superfatting

Learn how to select oils and butters based on the qualities you want in your finished soap.

You’ll discover:

• The key oils and butters used in natural soap making

• How different fats influence hardness, lather, cleansing and conditioning

• How to combine oils and butters to create a well-balanced soap

• What superfatting means and how it affects the finished bar

• How to make considered ingredient choices for clean-label formulations

The goal: To understand how your choice of oils, butters and superfatting shapes the qualities of your finished soap.

Module 04. Practical Soap Recipe Formulation

Take the mystery out of soap recipes and learn to work confidently with a lye calculator.

You’ll learn:

• How to use a lye calculator in a simple, practical way

• The role of water, salt and sugar in soap recipes

• How to check and adapt a recipe before making it

• How to adjust your recipe for different ingredients and desired results

• How to move from following recipes towards creating your own

The goal: To give you the practical skills to confidently calculate, adjust and personalise your own soap recipes without unnecessary complexity.

Module 05. Natural Ingredients, Colour & Fragrance

Discover how carefully selected ingredients can transform a simple bar of soap, adding colour, texture, character and natural fragrance.

You’ll explore working with:

• Botanicals, herbs and spices

• Fine powders and kaolin clays

• Natural colourants and plant-based pigments

• Gentle exfoliants and textural ingredients

• Honey and milk

• Fruits and vegetables

• Pure essential oils and natural fragrance blends

The goal: To learn how to select and incorporate these ingredients thoughtfully to create distinctive, beautiful and naturally inspired soaps while keeping your formulations simple and purposeful.

Module 06. Making & Shaping Your Soap

Put your knowledge into practice and learn how to make and shape your own soap.

You’ll learn:

• Preparing your oils and lye solution

• Bringing your ingredients together

• Understanding the different stages of trace

• Using the heat transfer method

• Adding colour, botanicals, clays and fragrance

• Filling and working with your mould

• Understanding insulation and the gel stage

• Knowing when your soap is ready to unmould

• Unmoulding your soap

• Cutting your bars

• Stamping and shaping handmade soap

The goal: To confidently take your soap from a prepared recipe through the making process to a beautifully shaped handmade bar.

Module 07. Curing, Testing & Storing

Learn how to properly finish your soap and ensure it is ready to use.

You’ll learn:

• How to cure your soap correctly

• How to recognise when your soap is ready

• Basic pH testing of finished soap

• How to store cured soap for optimal quality and longevity

The goal: To understand how to properly finish, assess and care for your handmade soap.

Module 08. Labelling & Packaging

Learn how to give your handmade soap a beautiful and professional final presentation while keeping your packaging considered and purposeful.

You’ll learn:

• What essential information to include on a soap label

• How to create clear and attractive product labels

• Different packaging styles and materials

• How to choose packaging that complements your soap

• Simple techniques for creating a cohesive, polished presentation

• Considerations for reducing unnecessary packaging and making more sustainable choices

The goal: To present your handmade soap beautifully while making thoughtful choices about labelling and packaging.

From Recipe Follower to Soap Maker

You won’t simply learn how to follow a recipe.

You’ll learn how to choose ingredients, formulate a recipe, make and customise your soap, and confidently take it through to a finished bar.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Safely prepare and make cold-process soap

• Select oils and butters for different soap qualities

• Use a lye calculator to formulate and adjust recipes

• Work with natural colours, botanicals, clays and other additives

• Use essential oils to create naturally scented blends

• Understand trace and the heat transfer method

• Unmould, cut, stamp and shape your soap

• Cure, test and store your finished bars

• Make thoughtful decisions about labelling and packaging

• Begin developing your own soap recipes

The aim is to give you the knowledge and confidence to create soap that is uniquely yours.

Who Is This Course For?

Complete Beginners

You’ve never made soap before and want to learn the craft properly from the beginning.

Conscious Makers

You care about what goes into the products you use and want to learn how to create soaps using carefully selected, naturally inspired ingredients.

Creative Makers

You enjoy working with natural ingredients and want to create beautiful, individual soap bars.

Aspiring Soap Makers

You want to understand formulation and develop the skills to create your own recipes rather than simply following someone else’s.

Curious Soap Lovers

You want to understand what goes into a beautifully made bar of soap and discover a more thoughtful approach to natural soap making.

No previous soap-making experience is required.

Learn at Your Own Pace

Work through the course at your own pace, download the course materials and return to them whenever you need a refresher.

Learn how to make simple, purposeful formulations using ingredients you can understand, choose and work with confidently.

Learn, Make & Keep Creating

Once your purchase is complete, you’ll receive a download link to your complete course materials and workbook, so you can start learning at your own pace.

Your purchase also includes 3 months of Soap Making Club membership, where you’ll continue learning and making alongside us.

Each month, you’ll receive:

1. A new soap recipe to explore and make.

2. A sample soap bar made from that month’s recipe, so you can experience the finished soap before making it yourself.

3. An invitation to our live online soap-making session, where we make together and you can ask questions along the way.

4. An Ingredient of the Month selection, featuring favourite essential oils, clays, botanicals and other carefully selected ingredients.

Discover the recipe. Experience the soap. Make it yourself.