How to make soap at home, 2 lovely soap combinations and why making soaps at home makes a lot of sense. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the discussion in here today and I feel sooooo good to be back in this space. Seriously, the entire week last week I suffered from a really bad muscle pull – the pain of which started from my shoulder blades and moved on to my little assets and I, being the typical hypochondriac that I am, checked so hard for a lump that I ended up damaging a tissue or two me thinks. Called my friend and gyno and told her I am dying. I have breast cancer.
By now, she knows to never quite take me seriously. Looks like a pain killer and vitamin E was what I needed. Fuck you man google. And then ofcourse, the joy of recovering was so much, so huge to contain in this little heart that I made a batch of 20 soaps. Because you see, I, like my cats, get zoomies too. Too happy too much energy happens to me and I have to channel it out. Like the sober person’s ecstasy minus the downer, and you get to have soaps which is good for your skin, good for the world and good for your pockets too.
And I am not just saying that. I tallied
Every soap you buy, comes with a plastic case. You use one soap for about a month. That’s 12 plastic wrappers in a year which is very difficult to put use to. In most cases it goes to waste. If you make them yourself, you get about 18- 2″ thick bars, one long cardboard box in which the castille soap comes in and a plastic wrapper. Both of which can be used for storage.
In short: 18 plastic wraps as opposed to 1 wrap.
Let’s come to the price next
A standard good soap costs about 245 bucks. I am talking bodyshop and above because Lux can’t be compared to this. Lux is poop. So 12 months of soaps cost you 2940/-
A 1kg bar of castille soap costs 399. Essential oil 160. Lavender- 300 bucks for 30 gram and you’d need about 5 grams/batch. So the total cost for 18 soaps is 859. Add labour of say 500 bucks/batch. So 1359 for 18 soaps and rupees 906/- roughly for 12 soaps.
And the ingredients are of course a major differentiating factor
If you find the words foaming agents, artificial fragrances and chemical hardeners- toss it away. And seriously, it took me a hand allergy to figure that the store bought soaps may not be as good as it used to be. I used bodyshop for ages for my skin and I never had problems though. So I won’t be able to comment on that but any other soap except for Dreamy White Lifestyle’s Goat’s milk and lavender soaps would dry my skin off. Those soaps are one of the best in the world.
The handmade soaps that I made are so gentle on skin that after repeated washing too, the hands don’t feel dry. And remember, I had a skin condition!
Convinced? Let’s see how to make soap at home and the two variants that have my heart
The method that I am using is a pour over method. The time to manufacturing is drastically reduced as opposed to starting with lye (NaOh) but if you want, that’s a great route too. I also have cats so I wasn’t very confident with working with lye unless I have some open space. So the por over method seemed most convenient given the saponification process is already taken care of you.
This is where a good soap base comes in
I chose a castile soap base which is vegetarian, SLS free and Preservative free. I wanted goats milk base but next time. Castile is olive oil based and is very mild on your skin. This was the base for my
Oats & Honey Soap with Frangipani Essential Oil
Lavender Summer Soap with Lavender buds and Essential Oil
The common melting process
Cut up the soap bar in small cubes- like ice cube and in a microwave safe bowl melt the soap for 3 minutes. This is what my soap packaging had instructed. Check the instructions before use.
And now…
How to make soap at home: The two flavours and recipes
Lavender Summer Soap: Add 7 ml of pure Lavender essential oil in a heat safe bowl. Add the melted soap (I used 1 kg soap bar, divided in half and melted) and about 5 to 6 grams of lavender buds.
Add in silicone mold and rest for 5 minutes. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes
Frangipani, Oats & Honey soap: In a heat safe bowl, add 3 ml firangipani fragrance oil and add the soap. Add oats and 1 tbsp of honey. Pour to mold and add extra oats on top for exfoliation.
Note: Essential Oil and Fragrance oil are different and must be used in different volumes. Essential oils are less strong and don’t harm if an extra drop falls in by sheer carelessness but fragrance oils do. Fragrance oils are extremely concentrated oils which if added more can cause skin rashes.
If you are not sure, just stick to essential oils.
Unmold your soaps after 15 minutes and cut it in 2″ rectangles. I prefer a no frill soap so a bar works for me perfectly. You can go ahead and carve and shape- I have 0 appetite for that 🙂
Why these soaps make for the most thoughtful gift
To begin with, when dreamy white lifestyle sent in a few extra soaps with the order, I kept them in my bath. Every time I stepped in to take a shower, the bath would smell sooooo nice. It used to make me feel amazing. And a stack of soaps as a bath scent can be very nice! Very refreshing
Secondly, its useful. Unlike a show piece.
Thirdly, it is handmade and made with the right intention. That alone is enough gift!
Just wrap them in a nice little paper and give away. If the reciever is a very very close friend of yours, add a little note saying, “Thou shall now smell good”. Haha. But don’t do it unless you crack poop jokes inbetween the two of you. I hope I am clear with my instructions here about the level of comfort you two must share before that joke can even happen.
Which reminds me, Rohan got one and he said it’s splendid. He didn’t get the note, but he will.
To fortification of souls via saponification- congratulation you now know how to make soap at home!
Rukmini XO
Links:
Lavender essential oil from nykaa, soap base from amazon Lavender buds i already had but available in Amazon.
Frangipani fragrance oil from Moksha