Tea Tree & Charcoal Facial Soap for Sensitive Skin

Some days I love soaping… and some days I hate it 😭

There are days I don’t enjoy the whole soaping process at all.
I don’t want to measure oils. I don’t want to mix lye. And lining the mold? Please. That one annoys me the MOST.

But I still want soap. And this particular day,  I was exhausted… but my previous facial bar was almost finished and you know, cold process soap needs 4–6 weeks to cure. Meaning if I didn't make some on that particular day, I’ll be out here suffering. 😭 Funny thing is: the first time I made this soap, it went smoothly.

The second time? Disaster!  Tbvh, it just turned mushy and unmolding day was not fun. (Should I share the story or not? Reply yes in the comments to let me know)

This is how it looked going in. 

Which just proves that tiredness can turn you into a different soap maker entirely.

Anyway, this is one of my “once in a while” facial soaps for cheek breakouts. It’s gentle, soothing, and still does the job when your skin is acting like it wants to stress you.

Why Tea Tree and Charcoal?

So let me explain why I chose these two ingredients for a facial bar in the first place because it is not random. When your skin is breaking out, especially on the cheeks, you need something that cleans without going to war with your skin barrier. Aggressive cleansers that strip everything out of your face are not the answer. They make your skin produce even more oil to compensate and then you are right back where you started, just with drier skin on top of breakouts.

Tea tree essential oil is that friend who actually helps without being dramatic about it. It has natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties so it targets the bacteria that cause breakouts without irritating the surrounding skin. In soap you are using it at a low percentage around 2 to 3% of your total oils which keeps it gentle enough for facial use while still doing what it needs to do.

Activated charcoal is the other half of this equation. It pulls impurities and excess sebum out of your skin the way a magnet pulls iron filings. It draws stuff out. That is literally its job. So when your skin is feeling congested and clogged and just dirty, charcoal helps pull all of that out without you having to scrub your face raw. The result is skin that feels cleaner and lighter without that tight stripped feeling that comes from using something too harsh.

Together they make a good team. Tea tree handles the bacteria and inflammation. Charcoal handles the congestion and excess oil. And because I did not want either of them to irritate my skin while they were doing their thing, I built the rest of the recipe around calming, soothing oils and a herbal tea base to keep everything gentle.

The Herbal Tea Base: The "Calm Down Please" Combo

This is one of my favorite parts of this recipe. Instead of using plain distilled water as the liquid for my lye solution, I brewed a tea blend. Chamomile, calendula, green tea, and ginseng. I call it the "calm down please" combo because every single one of these herbs brings something soothing to the table.

Chamomile is anti-inflammatory. It calms irritated skin and has been used for centuries for exactly that reason. Calendula is gentle and healing it supports the skin without aggravating it. Green tea is packed with antioxidants so it is doing quiet protective work in the background. And ginseng adds a little extra boost to the overall formula.

Now I want to be clear here. Using herbal tea as your water phase does not turn your soap into some kind of magic potion. The benefits are subtle. But when you are already making a soap that is meant to be gentle on sensitive, breakout-prone skin, every little thing you add that supports calm and healing is a good thing. And honestly it feels intentional. Like you are putting thought into what goes into the bar rather than just throwing oils together and hoping for the best.

If you do not want to deal with brewing tea you can absolutely use plain distilled water instead. The soap will still work. The charcoal and tea tree will still do their jobs. The herbal tea is a nice extra but it is not the thing that makes or breaks this recipe.

The Oil Blend and Why It Works

Let me walk you through what each oil is doing in this recipe because it is not random either. Every oil has a reason for being in there.

Coconut oil at 20% is your lather maker. It produces that bubbly, foamy lather that makes soap feel like it is actually cleaning. But too much coconut oil can be drying, especially on facial skin, which is why I kept it at 20 and not higher.

Baobab oil at 25% is doing the heavy lifting for skin conditioning. Baobab is rich in fatty acids and vitamins and it keeps your skin soft without feeling heavy or greasy. It is a gorgeous oil for facial bars because it nourishes without clogging.

The chamomile and licorice root infused neem oil at another 25% this one I made myself by infusing neem oil with dried chamomile and licorice root. Neem on its own can smell a bit strong and earthy but the infusion mellows it out and adds extra anti-inflammatory and soothing properties. Neem is also naturally good for skin that is prone to breakouts so it fits perfectly in this recipe.

Shea butter at 20% adds creaminess and moisture. It makes the bar feel luxurious on your skin and helps condition without leaving a greasy residue. If you have used shea butter before you already know how it feels on skin. That soft buttery feeling. That is what it brings to the soap.

Palm oil at 7% is there for hardness. It helps the bar set properly and hold its shape. Some people avoid palm oil for environmental reasons and if that is you, you can substitute with other hardening oils like lard, tallow or palm kernel oil, but just know the bar properties will change slightly.

And castor oil at 3% is the secret weapon for lather. Castor oil boosts and thickens the bubbles that coconut oil creates. A little goes a long way with this one too much and your soap gets sticky and weird.

The Recipe

Oils (970 g total)

Oil	%	Grams
Coconut Oil	20%	194.0 g
Baobab Oil	25%	242.5 g
Chamomile & Licorice Root–Infused Neem Oil	25%	242.5 g
Shea Butter	20%	194.0 g
Palm Oil	7%	67.9 g
Castor Oil	3%	29.1 g
Total	100%	970 g

Do note that palm oil here refers to the refined version (frytol, the one with the green cover: this is for my Ghanaian folk) not the one meant for cooking, i.e. red palm oil

Additives

• Activated charcoal: ~2 tsp
• Tea tree essential oil: 20–25 g (2–3% of oils)

Lye + Liquid

• NaOH: ~132.4 g (5% superfat)
• Herbal tea infusion: ~100 g (calendula, green tea, ginseng, rosemary, grains of salem, star anise)
• Distilled water: ~220 g

Please run your exact amounts through a soap calculator before you start, especially if you change any oils or adjust the batch size. The numbers above are what I used but always double check with a calculator

The mold I use

I always use the same mold. Refer to this post for all the details.

Let’s make this soap (even if you’re tired 😭)

Before you start, measure everything. Get all your oils, your lye, your liquid, your charcoal, your tea tree, your mold, and everything else ready and in front of you. Cold process soap moves fast once your lye solution hits your oils and that is not the time to be running around the kitchen looking for your scale or your spatula. Trust me on this one.

Safety first. Gloves. Goggles. Long sleeves. Lye is sodium hydroxide and it will burn you if it touches your skin. This is not optional and this is not something to be casual about. Also and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT use vinegar as a "neutralizer" if you spill lye on yourself. Rinse with lots and lots of water. Vinegar is not first aid for lye burns. Water is.

Make your lye solution. If you are using the herbal tea base, brew your tea first and let it cool completely before you do anything else. Measure your total liquid amount. Then slowly add your lye INTO the liquid. Never the other way around. Add lye to liquid always. Stir until it is clear and let it cool down. Lye solution gets very hot when it dissolves and you need to let it come down to room temperature before it touches your oils. The solution would be a light brown color because of the herbal tea infusion

Melt and mix your oils. Melt your hard oils: coconut, palm oil, and shea butter gently. (I live in Ghana so coconut oil and palm oil tend to remain liquid here, but if you live in a cooler climate you would need to melt it) You do not need high heat for this, I tend to use the double boiler method. Once they are melted add your liquid oils: baobab, the infused neem, and castor oil (Do remember to leave a bit of the oils to the side for the charcoal). Let everything come close in temperature about 5 degrees apart, thats why I normally just say room temperature. You want your lye solution and your oils to be roughly the same temperature before you combine them. If one is too hot or too cold the batter can behave unpredictably. 

Blend to light trace. Pour your cooled lye solution into your oils and use a stick blender to blend. Light trace means the batter looks like thin custard, when you lift the blender and drizzle a little on top it sits on the surface for a second before sinking in. That is your cue to add your charcoal and tea tree.

Add the charcoal and tea tree. Mix your activated charcoal with the small amount of oil you left so it does not clump. Make it into a paste, then stir it into your batter. Once that is in, add your tea tree essential oil. Now here is the important part, charcoal and tea tree together can make your batter thicken up fast and look like it has hit trace when it actually has not. Do not trust how it looks after you add these two. Keep blending and check your trace properly before you pour. If you do not you are going to have a bad unmoulding day 😭

Pour and tap. Pour your batter into your mold, smooth the top with a spatula, and tap the mold down on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles. If you have 70 percent isopropyl alcohol you can spritz the top lightly to prevent any air pockets from forming on the surface as it sets.

Cover and wait. Put a lid or a towel over your mold and let it sit for 24 to 48 hours. This is the saponification phase, the chemical reaction that turns your oils and lye into soap. Do not touch it. Do not poke it. Just let it do its thing.

Unmold, slice, and cure. Once the soap is firm enough to hold its shape, pop it out of the mold and slice it into bars. Then cure them. 4 to 6 weeks minimum in a cool dry place with good airflow. Curing is not optional. It is what makes the soap mild and gentle and safe for your skin. Using it too early means the pH is still too high and it will dry your skin out instead of cleaning it gently.

Why this bar works

This recipe is balanced specifically for skin that is sensitive but still wants results. The charcoal and tea tree do the clarifying work but the baobab oil, the infused neem, the shea butter, and the herbal tea base are all there to make sure your skin does not feel attacked in the process. 

The castor oil gives you a creamy lather that cleans without leaving your skin feeling tight and dry afterward. The end result is a facial bar that actually does the job and leaves your skin feeling calm instead of stripped

Shelf life + storage

Cold process soap is naturally self-preserving because of its high pH and low water content once it is fully cured. Stored in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight it can last. 

Between uses keep it on a draining soap dish. A soap bar sitting in a puddle of water is just going to get soggy and mushy and dissolve faster than it needs to. Your bar will last longer.

Final notes

Keep your tea tree essential oil at 2 to 3 percent of your total oils. That is 20 to 25 grams in this batch. Going higher than that on a facial bar can irritate your skin especially if it is already sensitive.

If your face is reactive, ease into using this bar. Start with every other day for the first week or two. Let your skin adjust before you commit to daily use.

And if you are adding charcoal and tea tree, watch your batter carefully after you add them. They accelerate things. Do not pour until you are sure you have actually hit trace. You have been warned 😂

If you make this soap tell me how yours turned out. The color, the texture, whether your charcoal behaved or not. I want to know 😭😂

FAQs

Is charcoal soap safe for sensitive skin? Yes, when used in small amounts. Activated charcoal helps draw out oil and buildup without the need for harsh scrubbing. Just do not overuse it, once a day or a few times a week is plenty for sensitive skin.

Can I use tea tree oil on my face every day? In soap at the percentage used here, it is generally fine for daily use. But if your skin is reactive or tends to get irritated easily, ease in. Start a few times a week and see how your skin responds before going daily.

How often should I use charcoal facial soap? For sensitive skin, once a day or even a few times a week is enough. Using it too often can strip moisture and leave your skin feeling dry. Listen to what your skin is telling you.

Can I replace the herbal tea with plain distilled water? Yes, absolutely. The herbal tea adds a gentle extra layer of soothing ingredients but plain distilled water works perfectly well. The charcoal and tea tree will still do their jobs either way.