Soaping Variety

I recently purchased some fabric from a friend. This fabric is made from hemp fibers. I really wanted to try it out, see how it sews and things like that. Turns out, it sews up really well - I just didn't really know what to make. I could have made a nice beige tunic, perhaps to go with my gypsy head scarf... but I'll leave that for another day.

Instead, I made a couple of mini drawstring bags, perfect size to hold one of my soap bars. These are great to have around for when I choose to gift a bar of soap to someone.

Next I decided to make some shampoo. I researched a long time to get the right formula, as the pH of hair is a little different than the skin. I'm still not 100% sure on how to tell what pH my finished product will turn out as, so mostly I looked at many different recipes until I found several with similar ingredients. Therefore, my Rosemary shampoo was created.

This is the recipe... 2lb batch

35% lard
18% coconut oil
17% canola oil
16% olive oil
8% castor oil
4% mango seed butter
2% beeswax
water & lye

I added in some pink kaolin clay, ground oatmeal and rosemary pods. I added a few drops of rosemary EO. Everyone who tried this shampoo absolutely loves it. In fact, this is all my husband has used since I made it.

Rosemary is said to be beneficial in stimulating hair follicles and the kaolin clay is supposed to be helpful in drawing out oils and creating volume. Coconut oil is highly cleansing and the lard is highly conditioning. Sounds like a great combo. For myself, because I have the curls and need the conditioner for de-tangling, I followed with approx 70% water and 30% apple cider vinegar (mixed) rinse.

Next I went on to create a soap for my daughter to use for cleaning her paint brushes. It needed to be highly cleansing with a high percentage of exfoliants, but somewhat moisturizing to not dry out her brushes.

Presenting Linda B's Blue Brush Soap... 1 lb batch

coconut oil
lard
castor oil
cocoa butter
beeswax
water & lye
additives are poppy seeds, ground oats, kaolin clay, borax, fine pumice and a bit of blue colour.

Castile soap is commonly a white vegetable oil soap, often made using 100% olive oil. Bastille soap is similar, only commonly using slightly less olive oil and adding in the benefits of buttermilk. Typically more orange in colour, which is derived from pureed carrots.

Bastille soap is said to be gentle enough for babies, fantastic for sensitive skin and beneficial for more mature skin.

My recipe... 2 lb batch

60% olive oil
14% coconut oil
12% avocado oil
5% cocoa butter
5% aloe butter
4% castor oil
water/buttermilk

Additives included pureed carrots (counted as part of the water measure), ground oats, glycerin, aloe vera gel, vitamin E oil, kaolin clay, orange colour and sweet orange EO.

Coconut Soap - 2 lb batch

Coconut oil
Canola oil
Olive oil
Avocado oil
Castor oil
Coconut milk (in place of water) & Lye

Dandelion & Honey Soap - 3 lb batch

Lard
Coconut oil
Olive oil
Sunflower oil
Almond oil
Shea butter
Neem oil
Castor oil
Beeswax
Dandelion infused water % lye

Additives were dandelion petals, aloe vera gel, honey, yellow colour, lemon grass EO and grapefruit seed EO.

A few items of note, in case you have never used Neem oil - BEWARE - it stinks. Apparently its really good for problem skin such as eczema and psoriasis. But hold your nose! I tried to mask the smell in the finished product by adding the lemon grass EO.

French Green Clay Soap - 2 lb batch

30% olive oil
27% coconut oil
18% avocado oil
10% shortening
10% illipe butter
5% castor oil
chamomile tea/coconut milk & lye

Additives were french green clay and ground oats.

Coconut Milk & Rosemary Shampoo - 4 lb batch

shortening
coconut oil
olive oil
canola oil
castor oil
cocoa butter
beeswax
coconut milk & lye

Additives were pink kaolin clay, ground oats, peppermint EO, rosemary EO.

A friend of mine found out I was making soap and such, so she came over to try out some of my products. Turned out she loved the shampoo bar so much she asked me to make her an entire batch! I usually consider a batch to be 2 lbs, so this is 1/2 the recipe above.

Shea Butter Soap - 1 lb batch

25% coconut oil
22% olive oil
20% shea butter
20% shortening
5% cocoa butter
5% castor oil
2.75% steric acid
0.25% neem seed oil
water & lye

Additives were ground oats, fullers earth, black pepper, cocoa, carrot seed oil, vitamin E oil, sandalwood FO. My goal was to make a more neutral soap, not overly feminine.

Hemp Seed Oil Soap - 1.5 lb batch

30% coconut oil
30% olive oil
20% hemp oil
15% shea butter
3% steric acid
2% castor oil
water & lye

I ordered some hemp oil, so decided I needed to give it a try. This one turned out to be quite a soft soap. I had to wait a while before it was firm enough to un mold. However, it looks like a really good soap, certainly has a good lather.

Once in a while you need to take a soaping break, and make some toothpaste...

coconut oil
baking soda
bentonite clay
stevia
peppermint EO

Its no where near as yucky as I thought it might be. Quite pleasant actually. The only downside is the coconut oil tends to solidify the mixture as it sits. If I could figure out a way to keep it softer, more creamy then that would be perfect!

Laundry Stick

50% coconut oil
50% lard
water & lye
clean linen FO

I kept this one at about a 2% superfat. I wanted to make sure I would not get an "oily" laundry bar. Can't wait to try one in my next batch of laundry sauce.

I have certainly been on a soaping spree lately - 2 more batches of shampoo bars, and then I took a break for a bit. Soap making is kind of addicting, so now that I've had a couple weeks break, I'm itching to get back at it.

Coffee Shampoo 1.5 lb batch