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
- 30% olive oil
- 30% coconut oil
- 20% shortening
- 8% avocado oil
- 4% shea butter
- 4% castor oil
- 2% cocoa butter
- 1% beeswax
- 1% steric acid
- green macha tea powder added to coffee & lye
Additives were citric acid (to reduce pH), vitamin E oil, coffee grinds, rosemary EO, peppermint EO.
Hemp Seed Oil Shampoo 1.5 lb batch
- 30% coconut oil
- 25% hemp oil
- 15% shortening
- 15% olive oil
- 10% cocoa butter
- 3% beeswax
- 2% steric acid
Additives were aloe vera gel, ground oats, stevia, citric acid, ceaderwood EO, grapefruit EO, Eucalyptus mint EO and lavender EO.
I was kind of thinking I might use this one as a dog shampoo as well, and all the above EO's are good for repelling bugs...
Pictured above are the last four recipes. Clockwise from top left - laundry stick, hemp seed oil soap, hemp seed oil shampoo, coffee shampoo.
