Soap

It’s Christmas in July! I meant to get this out around Christmas last year, but 6 months late isn’t too bad??

I’ve recently started making soap. It’s fun, not that hard, and going to be all my Christmas presents this year.

I’m planning currently on making an assorted chocolates type gift. This will make it easy to say what each item is, and a fun and cute way to display them. My current issue is finding a box and paper cups for display, but I’m sure I’ll find something when I go out looking.

That didn’t work, it turns out finding the perfect box is a lot harder than you’d think. I don’t know how many places I looked, but no-one had what I wanted in a reasonable amount, for a reasonable price. So I decided to use a cellophane bag instead. It wasn’t my first choice, but it worked just fine, and still looks nice.

<>Important Disclaimer: Lye is caustic, and you should always run a soap recipe through a soap calculator before beginning to make sure it’s right<>

I’m giving up to 9 different items. (very exciting, I know)

A hair soap with about 15% superfat and just three oils (shea, coconut, and olive oil in equal parts)

You use it by lathering it in your hands, massaging your hair, and rinsing it out. You follow up with a vinegar rinse (about 2 tablespoons per 12 oz of water, it doesn’t need to be precise) to return your hair to a healthy pH.

A body soap with 15 % superfat (probably, I forgot to write down what I did, and I don’t remember!)

This is your standard soap but a little more moisturising, making it nicer to use on your body.

A regular bar soap with about 5% superfat and 25% coconut oil and 75% olive oil

Just your standard regular old bar soap.

Laundry Soap with 0% superfat (although I think it ended up being ~1%) and 30% palm oil (although it may have been 25% (accounting for the higher superfat)) and 70% coconut oil

Use this like fels naptha for stains on clothing. Get the bar wet, rub it on the stain, and wash your clothes as normal.

Lotion bar with equal parts coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax.

This bar has just enough beeswax it won’t melt in your purse, but will in your hand. The beeswax doesn’t absorb into the skin as readily as the coconut oil, and shea butter, but still feels nice.

Chapstick, the formulation is very similar to the lotion bar.

I made two flavors, lemon, and cinnamon peppermint. They turned out great, and I’m very pleased with them.

Liquid Soap (think Dr. Bronners Castile Soap)

This soap uses KOH rather than NaOH, the potassium (K) makes the final soap softer, and allows it to disolve in water more easily, making it perfect for liquid soaps. The blend I made was about 30% coconut oil, and 70% olive oil, making it lather nicely, while still having a good moistureizing properties.

Shaving soap for my uncle who uses it

This soap has the most ingredients and is carefully formulated for the best blend of lather, hydration, and slip (allowing the blade to go over your skin). It was perhaps the most challenging soap I made, but also the most fun.

And a decorative soap (mostly for color)

I made this soap with tumeric, matcha, and bentonite clay, then swirled the batter to make pretty designs. The soap was only at light trace making it harder to swirl, and the matcha made a much darker color than I was wanting, but the final soap still looks nice, and works just fine as a soap.

Making soaps is very fun, just challenging enough to be engaing, and most of all, leaves me with a useful end product. Something I really enjoy. Hopefully my family with enjoy this labor of love.