Bay rum is a popular fragrance for both commercial and homemade soap. While the spicy, citrus fragrance can be used by anyone, traditionally bay rum fragrance is used by men and in men's hygiene products. Bay rum soap can be purchased commercially and is widely available; however, you can make your own bay rum soap at home.

The ingredients for making bay rum soap vary depending on the recipe you use. There are a few ingredients that are almost always included in bay rum soap, however. Common ingredients which give the soap its signature scent are bay rum essential fragrance oil, or actual bay leaves and rum. Some bay rum soaps also include other scented ingredients such as cinnamon, allspice, and/or orange zest or orange oil. Some commonly used ingredients that give the soap its texture are oils such as olive, sesame and coconut; tallow (an ingredient made of animal fat); and lye. Almost every ingredient you need to make your soap can be purchased in a soap-making or candle-making supply store or online.

Bay rum bar soap is made using molds and a cold-process method. The mold can be a box built of wood , or you can save yourself the trouble and simply use a cardboard box with the flaps folded down or cut off. When you make cold-process bay rum soap, you “cook” the ingredients in a pot on the stove, then once they reach a specific temperature you pour the ingredients into a mold to harden. After the ingredients harden, you remove the soap from the mold, cut the soap into bars and allow it to cure (or age) before you wrap and store the soap. A basic cold process bay rum bar soap recipe could include 10 oz. beef tallow, 6 oz. each of sesame oil, coconut oil. olive oil and palm kernel flakes, 2 oz. castor oil, 1 oz. rice bran oil, 5 oz. lye, 14 oz. water and 1 oz bay rum essential oil.

Bay rum soap can also be made in liquid form which can be used as hand soap, body wash, even lathered up for shaving lather. This is an extremely simple process, as the soap base can be purchased or made from a bar of your homemade bay rum soap. Combine 1 cup unscented castile soap flakes (or grated homemade bay rum soap), 1 cup water, 2 tbsp. rum, 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick and 2 to 3 drops orange essential oil in a lidded container. Place the container in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks to allow the ingredients to combine. After the 2 weeks, remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, then use soap as desired.