Tid Bit on Homemade Soap

Here is a tid bit of info about the oils and butters I use in my vegan/natural soaps (cold and hot process) and how they are good for your skin!

Soaps bought from the store contain so many harsh chemicals used to produce the lather, creaminess, and hardness of the bar, which in turn can strip your skin from the nutrients and moisture it needs. My soaps from scratch are rid of all of those things, leaving your skin with the correct nutrients, moisture, and conditioner it really needs!

Natural/vegan/soap from scratch is great for those with acne, eczema, dry, or sensitive skin (especially my soaps without fragrance or color, which will be up soon)!

Olive Oil: Rich in vitamins and minerals, this oil is nourishing and calming to the skin. This oil attracts external moisture to the skin, which helps keep the skin soft and supple. The properties of this oil gives the bar hardness, lather, moisture, and is very conditioning. Olive oil is usually the main oil in my soap bars, along with palm and coconut.

Canola Oil: This oil gives the bar lather, softness, and great conditioning properties!

Coconut oil: When used moderately and correctly, this oil is emollient, moisturizing, conditioning and protecting to the skin. It gives the bar hardness and a fluffy lather.

Palm Oil: This oil makes a hard, mild bar of soap that cleans very well. It's properties give the bar hardness, lather, conditioning, and a silky feel.

Castor Oil: This oil is an excellent humectant, attracting and holding moisture to the skin. Very rich in fatty acids adding conditioner, moisturizer, softness, a fluffy lather to the soap!

Shea Butter: Shea butter is said to be very beneficial for treating dry skin, blemishes, skin discoloration, scars, and wrinkles. It is very moisturizing, cleansing, nourishing, and silky.

I also use other ingredients such as ground oats, ground flaxseed, sugar, spices, seeds, and herbs to give soaps more healing, nutritional properties for your skin as well as amazing exfoliates.

Some herbs and spices can be used for natural colorants too along with their nutritional content.

Honey, goats milk, and coconut milk are also sometimes added for that extra boost of moisturizer and conditioner.

Heck, you can even make BEER SOAP! Beer is actually very good for your skin! "Hops, an ingredient found in beer, itself is known for its relaxing properties. Hops contains poly-phenols thought to account for its anti-bacterial and preservative effects (beers long life) and it also contains skin-softening amino acids." I will be making this soon for the guys out there (or for you beer lovin ladies as well!). It doesn't actually smell like beer, or have any alcohol left in the soap, however I do have a yummy Oatmeal Stout Fragrance I need to try out! :)

There are so many combos of ingredients you can use to make soap, all of which are so much better for your skin than store bought! Hope I've answered some questions!

How's THAT for an afternoon read? ;)

Soaping! Hot Process

The art of soap making has taken over my life! Every bit of time off I get, I've been putting towards soap making. It's so much fun!


Recently, I've starting making soap from scratch using the Hot Process method.  I got the inspiration (and tutorial) from Suzanne at her blog, Chickens in the Road. I like the idea of a less curing time that goes with this process compared to the 4-6 week wait for the cold process soap! I also love the "homemade" and "rustic" look that the hot process gives the soap. However, you can definitely do more with cold process soap when it comes to decorating and designing the soaps.


I make my hot process soap with a crock pot. You can also use a double boiler, or even the oven. I just boogied on down to our town's thrift store and bought a large, heavy duty crock pot for CHEAP!


For Hot Process soap instructions, check out this blog, Chickens in the Road!


To check out all of my soaps, go to Soapisticated.etsy.com.


Here are some photos of a couple types of my Hot Process Soap, along with their ingredients, and a bit about the ingredients in the soap and what it can do for your skin.  


Enjoy!

Sage and Lemongrass HP Soap