Wednesday, April 11, 2012

DIY Organic Lavender Soap

As promised, here is my how-to for very inexpensive homemade Organic soap. It's so easy you won't believe it.  Maybe someday I'll try to make soap from scratch, but for now I decided to try the melt and pour version.  First, I purchased 2 pounds of Organic Goat's milk Melt and Pour soap from this lovely little ebay store: Lora's Beauty Shop.
Then I followed the directions I found in this book: Essentially Soap: The Elegant Art of Handmade Soap Making...for melt and pour soap.
First, cut the 2 lb. block in 1 inch pieces, I did about a quarter of the block at a time.
Then place in a glass microwaveable bowl and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, until liquid. (My microwave melted it in 1 minute.)
Then I added 4-5 drops of Lavender essential oil and stirred. It depends on how fragrant you want your soap. I think I probably could've added a few more drops, but it was pleasantly light when completed. The soap begins to cool and harden quickly, so I advise having everything ready ahead of time.
Next, I added food coloring to get this lovely lilac color. For purple, add 2 drops of red and 1 drop of blue and stir until blended in.
This step is optional, but, I added some ground lavender for an herbal look.  Just make sure it's fine enough that it won't give anyone a sliver when they wash. Add as much as you want.
You can purchase nice looking soap molds from most craft sources, but I used this bean sprout container from the grocery store instead. I ended up pouring in about 7 ounces of the liquid soap. This creates one nice hunk of a bar, if you like that. After set, I decided to cut them in half for easy shower handling.
After only ONE HOUR, it becomes your very own handmade bar of organic lavender soap! It ended up costing me only about $1.25 for each bar! You'll know this is a steal if you've scoured the internet, like I have, for Organic soap!  I just love having my own customized, Purple Pinafore, healthy-for-me soap!
It lathers up very nicely and because of the goat's milk, it has a lovely silky feeling in the suds.  I love knowing that I'm doing good to my skin instead of infusing it with nasty chemicals and then stripping it of it's natural oils.
Pleae let me know if you have any questions! If you try it, let me know how it goes.
Enjoy!