Handmade soap
Imagine your spa space decorated with beneficial herbal soaps in a variety of shapes, colors, and scents that you created yourself. They also make wonderful hostess gifts or additions to gift baskets.
Soap making goes back at least to 2800 BC, to ancient Babylon, where inscriptions were found on a soap container that advised boiling fats with ashes, similar to the methods used today. Wood ashes contain lye, a highly caustic substance that converts fats or oils into cleansing agents during a chemical reaction called saponification.
THE MELT-AND-MOLD METHOD
Although it is almost impossible to make soap from scratch without using lye, the recipes presented here use premade bar soaps that already contain lye, so you don’t have to measure it out or handle it at all. These recipes employ the melt-and-mold method, not the complex hot-process method. You will naturally want to add essential oils, but also consider including food coloring, and ground oatmeal or dried herbs and flowers for texture. You can order different styles of silicon soap molds online, or simply use a muffin tin or mini bundt pan.
Basic Recipe: Grate 8 ounces of glycerin, castile, goat’s milk, or any other natural soap and melt it in the top of a double boiler, stirring slowly. Add ingredients such as food coloring, herbs, flowers, or exfoliants such as oatmeal, ground walnuts, or almonds. You can also add an ounce or two of green tea, brewed coffee, coconut milk, or floral hydrosol. Take the mixture off the heat and add 5 to 10 drops of essential oils. When the mixture is blended, pour into soap molds or muffin tins. Wait 30 minutes for the surface to harden, then place containers in the freezer for 20 minutes, until soap is firm and cool. Unmold soaps onto a dish towel and allow them to dry an additional two days.
Handmade soap
To Add Herbs or Flowers: Boil 1/4 cup water, add 2 to 4 teaspoons of ground, dried botanicals, and let them steep for 15 minutes.
Holiday Bounty: This seasonally scented soap makes a great stocking stuffer. Arrange a mixture of dried hibiscus, juniper berries, lemon peel, rose petals, and eucalyptus in the molds. Then combine clear glycerin soap with essential oils such as eucalyptus, lemon, orange, and rosemary and pour into the molds. When dry, store soaps in airtight containers.
Healing Charcoal Soap: Activated charcoal is a detoxifying exfoliant, so this blend works well on acne-prone skin. Begin with 1/2 pound of cubed shea butter soap; once it has melted, take a small amount and stir in 5 capsules of activated charcoal or 1 teaspoon of powder before returning mixture to the pot. Remove from heat, add 10 or 15 drops of tea tree oil (peppermint works well, too), and stir.
Coffee-Cinnamon Scrub Soap: Coffee grounds provide the exfoliating factor here and cinnamon adds a spicy note. Use 1/2 pound of castile soap in your basic recipe and add 1 teaspoon of coffee grounds and 5 to 8 drops of cinnamon oil. You can even tint the soap with the addition of an ounce of brewed coffee.
Lavender & Honey Soap: Adorn this soap with a few sprigs of lavender tied on with a hemp cord and give as Easter or Mother’s Day gifts. Start by melting 2 pounds of goat’s milk soap (makes 6–8 bars), adding the zest of 1 lemon, 3 tablespoons of dried lavender buds, 15 drops lavender oil, 6 drops lemon oil, and 2 tablespoons honey.
Natural handmade soap