Ginger Mint Soap Recipe for Nourishing Dry Skin

This homemade ginger mint soap recipe is a wonderful skin care option to care for, nourish and hydrate dry skin! Made with gentle ingredients that include cocoa butter, olive oil and black cumin seed oil, this ginger mint soap is a year round delight for anyone in need of a gentle cleanser to soothe irritated or dry skin.

Winter is most definitely here. With the recent arctic outbreak, dangerously cold temperatures and even winter storms in some areas, my skin is not my best asset right now. It’s dry and ashy and itchy and my hands, well, they straight up give my age away. So, in an effort to stem my skin’s downward spiral into mimicking the desert, I developed a new homemade soap recipe to nurture my skin and minimize the effects of those harsh winter elements.

Care for Dry Skin with this Ginger Mint Soap Recipe!

My ginger mint soap recipe is formulated to produce a low cleansing, high conditioning soap. What that means is that it won’t strip your skin of beneficial oils or make it drier. Rather this homemade soap gently cleanses skin while nourishing it in the process.

I used soapmaking oils known for their skin conditioning properties once saponified during the soapmaking process. These oils include olive oil along with sweet almond oil and cocoa butter. I also used a newer carrier oil I’ve recently started working with – black cumin seed oil.

(I recently shared a soothing rosacea cream recipe with black cumin seed oil in a guest post at The Nourished Life blog if you’re looking for more recipe ideas for this oil. You can find it here.)

Black cumin seed oil is a highly moisturizing carrier oil, rich in vitamins, minerals, Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids and amino acids. It’s often use in skin care applications to promote skin regeneration as well as reduce swelling and skin irritation. So whether you’re also struggling with dry skin or even eczema, black cumin seed oil is a wonderful product to add to your DIY skin care arsenal to promote skin health.

In addition, as with my homemade lavender bergamot deodorant, I included French green clay in my ginger mint soap recipe. French green clay not only gives this soap its beautiful color, but it is also valued for its rich mineral content and its toning and acne fighting skin care properties.

Finally I scented my ginger mint soap recipe with a ginger mint frost fragrance oil. If you’re looking for a soap fragrance that’s not strictly a seasonal scent, then you’ll want to give the ginger mint frost fragrance oil from Symphony Scents a try. This fragrance oil is a blend of sweet and spicy ginger tangled with cool mint and behaves beautifully in cold process soap. Whether it’s mid-winter or even summer, this fragrance is perfect for everyday use any time of the year.

If you’ve never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend that you check out my soapmaking tutorial prior to getting started. Additionally, you may also want to start with my beginner cold process soap recipe.

Ginger Mint Soap Recipe

© Rebecca D. Dillon

Ingredients:

.8 oz. black cumin seed oil (5%)
.8 oz. castor oil (5%)
1.6 oz. cocoa butter (10%)
3.2 oz. refined coconut oil (20%)
3.2 oz. sweet almond oil (20%)
6.4 oz. pomace olive oil (40%)

5.25 fl. oz. distilled water
2.2 oz. lye/sodium hydroxide

.5 oz. Ginger Mint Frost fragrance oil
.45 oz. (1 Tablespoon) French green clay

Instructions:

Before you begin, you’ll need to make sure you take all necessary safety precautions when working with lye. This includes wearing eye protection and gloves as well as ensuring none of your containers or utensils are made from aluminum.

My ginger mint soap recipe has water discount at 33% of the oil weight and 5% superfat. It will yield six homemade soap bars when using this rectangle silicone mold.

Begin my measuring out the distilled water in fluid ounces in a heat safe container. Then using a digital scale (I recommend this Bakers Math Scale) weigh out the lye. Slowly pour the lye into the water and stir until it has completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Next, weigh out the soapmaking oils and combine in a stainless steel pot or heat safe container. Heat on the stove top or at reduced power in a microwave or crock pot until melted. Remove from heat, then set aside to cool.

Once the lye-water and soapmaking oils reach about 90°-95°F, you’re ready to make soap!

Weigh out the French green clay and mix into the soapmaking oils using an immersion or stick blender.

Then slowly pour the lye-water into the soapmaking oils and mix with your stick blender until you reach a light trace.

Weigh out the fragrance oil and add to the soap batter. Then continue mixing to fully incorporate the scent. Once you reach a medium to heavy trace, pour the soap batter into your soap mold.

Cover the mold with plastic cling wrap if desired, then set aside in a safe location where it won’t be disturbed.

Your ginger mint soaps should be ready to unmold 24-48 hours later.

Once you’ve unmolded your homemade soaps, set them aside in a cool location for a minimum of four weeks to cure. Then wrap and label as desired for personal use or gifting.

If you’re planning to sell your ginger mint soaps, you’ll need to label them according to FDA guidelines. If you’re not sure how to label your homemade soaps, I highly recommend the book, Soap and Cosmetic Labeling: How to Follow the Rules and Regs Explained in Plain English, by Marie Gale.

If you enjoyed my ginger mint soap recipe, then you may also want to check out my latest guest posts on The Nourished Life. There you’ll find natural skin care recipes for making a winter worthy calendula face scrub as well as my lavender bergamot salt bar soap. You can also find my new basic Bastille soap recipe with essential oils via my guest post at Everything Pretty. Or, you may also like my naturally tinted lip balm recipe for dry or chapped lips.

For more of my homemade soap recipes and tutorials, be sure to follow my Simply Soapmaking Pinterest board along with my DIY Bath and Body Pinterest board. You can also find and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Blog Lovin’, and Instagram. Or subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.

If you make homemade soaps or bath & body products I’d love to see them! Simply add the hashtag #soapdelishowoff to your instagram and twitter posts!