Your choice of soap plays a critical role in
the health of your home. You want a soap that gets your hands, face, and body
clean without excessive drying and chemicals. Sadly, this eliminates most of
the commercially available soaps at your local store. However, with minimal
tools, a little DIY knowledge and a few essential oils, you can easily made
your own handmade
soap that cleans, hydrates, and smells amazing.
A Quick Note About Making Handmade
Soap
Making your own soap seems hard, but it’s been
done for centuries in homes across the world. Every soap recipe requires lye, which can
be caustic so wear gloves when making soap to protect your hands. You’ll also
need glass and/or stainless steel mixing bowls, glass or metal jars, and an
instant read thermometer. When it comes to curing your soap, use silicone molds
or baking pans as they easily peel off your finished soap.
Basic Handmade Soap Recipe
Ingredients:
●
⅔ cup coconut oil
●
⅔ cup olive oil
●
⅔ cup or liquid oil (like almond
oil, grapeseed, sunflower or safflower oils)
●
¼ cup lye – (also called 100%
sodium hydroxide)
●
¾ cup cool, distilled or purified
water
Directions:
- Cover your
workspace with a protective layer or newspaper and put on your gloves and
protective wear.
- Measure your
water into a 1 quart glass jar, and using your metal spoon, slowly add
your lye into the water, stirring as you go. Stand back from the jar to
avoid the fumes. Stir until the water clears up and the lye dissolves.
- Using a
glass pint jar, mix your 3 oils together and heat in the microwave for one
minute until your oils are roughly 120°. Once your lye and your oils are
between 95° and 105° you can move on to the next step. Getting the temps
right is important, so don’t neglect this step.
- Once your
oils and lye have reached the correct temp, pour the oils into a glass or
stainless steel bowl before slowly stirring in your lye mixture. Once your
lye is completely incorporated, stir for a full 5 minutes. Continue to
stir until your mixture lightens and thickens, reaching roughly the
consistency of vanilla pudding. This is what is known as “trace.” (Use this video to see what
trace looks like.)
- Now add in
your essential oils (see recipe combinations below) and stir until well
combined.
- Pour your
soap into molds, covering them in plastic wrap before wrapping them in an
old towel.
- 24 hours
later, check your soap, if it’s hard and cool, you can turn it out to cure
or cut it down to size. If it’s still warm and soft, let it sit for
another 24-48 hours.
- Once turned
out, your soap needs an additional 4 weeks to fully cure. Be sure to turn
it every week to maximize air exposure.
3 Easy Fragrance Additions Using
Essential Oils
Essential oils are the best way to scent your
soap naturally, try these recipes!
Lavender-Mint
Soap
Mix in 15 drops of lavender oil (like this one from Plant Therapy) and 5 drops of peppermint essential oil to your
soap.
Citrus
Sage Soap
Add in 10 drops of orange oil and 10 drops of clary
sage oil for a bright and uplifting fragrance.
Lemon
Rosemary Soap
Add in 12 drops of rosemary oil (we love this one from Simplers Botanicals) and 8 drops of
lemon oil for a lovely, fresh scent
all day long.
Do you make your own soap? Tell us about it in
the comments section below!
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Photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash
