Let's talk about the coconut oil for a minute. When I originally made this, I used just soap and water. Which was fine. We used the entire bottle of body wash without complains. But it did make me feel like I was washing with a thin, liquid soap, not a moisturizing body wash. So the next time I made it, I added coconut oil. And wouldn't you know, it made a world of difference. The body wash lathered up more, it was thicker, and my skin felt insanely soft after using it. So honestly, the coconut oil is optional. You can opt out of it and your homemade body wash would be just fine. But if you choose to use coconut oil, you'll probably swear by this Homemade Body Wash and never buy store-bought body wash again. The coconut oil really sold me on this at-home concoction.