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Exotic Natural Bacuri Butter & Murumuru Soap Recipe

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August 23, 2018 By Rebecca D. Dillon

This natural bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe is the perfect soapmaking project for exploring new ways to use exotic ingredients in natural skin care recipes. Left unscented to allow the warm, natural earthy scent of bacuri butter to shine through, this handmade soap recipe is another must for your recipe file!

My (Ever Growing) Soap Addiction

I am a soap addict. It’s true. Ever since I tried my first Zum soap bar back in college I’ve been hooked on handmade cold process soaps. In fact, that’s kind of the reason I started making my own. Later down the road, when Etsy first arrived as a marketplace for handmade and vintage items way back in 1995, it was like a whole new world had opened up to me. Not only was I able to purchase handmade soaps from emerging artisans, it also led to me to eventually sell my own handmade soaps.

I no longer sell any of the handmade soaps or skin care products I create. Mostly because I love crafting, formulating, writing, wizardry and magic SO much more than retail sales. That doesn’t stop me from making my own handmade soaps though. It’s just that these days I never have to make the same soap twice. And all of my soapmaking formulations are completely different from the one prior.

Of course, I still shop on Etsy to this day. (Wait? That’s how many years later?) And, as is the way of a self confessed soap addict’s life, I still buy other people’s handmade soap.

Luckily my soap addiction stops at the production, purchase and use of handmade soaps. I’ve read, that apparently, some people are actually addicted to eating soap. That is an entirely other bag of tricks that I (thankfully) know nothing about. (And ew. Gross.)

Anyhow, I’m pretty excited about sharing my latest handmade soap recipe with you. My handmade bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe is made using one of my newest favorite ingredients, bacuri butter. (As the name implies.) However, it also contains a new butter that I’ve recently started experimenting with called murumuru butter.

An Introduction to Murumuru Butter

Like bacuri butter, murumuru butter is a sustainable product from the Brazilian Amazon Forest. It is cold pressed from the reddish-orange fruits of the Astrocaryum murumuru tree, a tall palm tree native to Brazil.

Murumuru butter has a similar melting point when compared to cocoa butter. It melts at 91.4°F, while cocoa butter melts at a slightly higher temperature between 93°F and 101°F. So an easy way to start experimenting with this natural butter, would be by replacing it for the cocoa butter in your existing recipes. In addition, murumuru can also be used in the place of some of the cocoa butter in chocolate recipes to give it a firmer consistency.

Most similar in composition to coconut oil, murumuru butter contains the same amount of lauric acid. However, unlike coconut oil, murumuru butter won’t clog your pores. A highly nourishing emollient and moisturizer, murumuru butter is also rich in vitamins A and C as well as Omega 3 & 6. Additionally, it also contains high percentages of lauric, myristic and oleic acid. These physical properties make murumuru butter particularly suited for skin care recipes that promote skin health or are used to remedy dry skin.

Due to murumuru butter’s unique composition of essential fatty acids and Pro-Vitamin A, it makes a lovely natural option for your anti-aging skin care recipes and products. These components have been shown to help restore elasticity to damaged and aging skin as well as promote healing. As such, murumuru butter makes a wonderful addition to homemade moisturizers meant to soothe eczema, psoriasis or dry and cracked skin as well as anti-aging creams and butters.

Murumuru butter is an incredibly versatile ingredient. Therefore it’s no surprise that it’s found in such a wide range of skin care and beauty products. The most common applications for murumuru butter are as part of the formulations for lotions, soaps, hair conditioners, facial masks, shampoo, oils and emulsions, skin moisturizers, depilatory waxes, lipsticks and deodorants. Also, like bacuri butter, murumuru butter can be an effective remedy against acne due to its antiseptic, anti-allergenic, antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory skin care properties.

About My Bacuri Butter & Murumuru Soap Recipe

My bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe creates a hard, long lasting soap bar with a stable lather. It’s formulated to cleanse and balance skin without overdrying, as is the case with many commercial soaps, as well as lend some skin conditioning properties. Left unscented, this natural handmade soap recipe reflects the natural, warm and earthy fragrance of bacuri butter with a milder aroma.

Bacuri Butter & Murumuru Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

1.6 oz. bacuri butter (10%)
1.6 oz. murumuru butter (10%)
1.6 oz. avocado oil (10%)
1.6 oz. castor oil (10%)
2.4 oz. coconut oil (15%)
7.2 oz. pomace olive oil (45%)

4.8 fl. oz. distilled water (30.5% discount)
2.2 oz. lye/sodium hydroxide (6% superfat)

1 Tablespoon red Rhassoul clay
1 Tablespoon pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt)

Getting Started:

You will need a digital scale and a silicone soap mold for my bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe. As I make a lot of soap, I use this heavy duty Baker’s Math scale. I also used this rectangle silicone soap mold for this particular handmade soap recipe. In addition you’ll also need all other required supplies for making cold process soap from scratch. These materials include a digital thermometer and an immersion blender as well as aluminum free, heat safe containers and utensils.

If you have never made cold process soap before, you should read my cold process soapmaking tutorial before you begin. I also recommend starting with a simpler, beginner’s soap recipe with less expensive ingredients for your first try as soapmaking mistakes do happen.

Instructions:

Begin by preparing the lye solution for my natural bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe. To do this, measure out the distilled water into a heat safe container. In a separate container, weigh out the lye called for in the recipe. Now pour the lye into the water – I recommend a well ventilated area – and mix until the lye has completely dissolved. Set the lye-water solution aside in a safe location to cool.

While the lye solution cools, weigh out the carrier oils, bacuri and murumuru butters called for in my bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe. Combine your soapmaking fats in a stainless steel pot. Then gently heat the soapmaking oils on the stove over low heat just until the solids have melted.

Remove the soapmaking oils from heat and allow to cool.

Once the oils and the lye-water have reached 90°-95°F you are ready to make soap.

Check the temperature of both the soapmaking oils and the lye solution before you begin. Both of these ingredients should be within ten degrees of one another.

Using a measuring spoon, measure out one Tablespoon spoon each of both the Rhassoul clay and the salt. (You do NOT want to use Dead Sea salt.) Mix into the melted soapmaking oils and butters using an immersion blender. Once the clay and salt are fully incorporated throughout the soapmaking fats, you can add the lye-water.

Carefully pour the lye-water solution into the soapmaking oils and mix with the immersion blender until you reach trace. You’ll know you’ve reached trace when you drag the blender through the soap batter and it leaves a visible trail behind. It’s a little like pudding.

Now pour the soap evenly into the cavities of your silicone soap mold. Gently cover the soap with plastic wrap or parchment paper and set aside in a safe location where it won’t be disturbed.

You should be able to unmold your natural bacuri butter & murumuru soaps the next day. Simply turn them out of the mold cavities, then allow your soap to cure for four to six weeks in a cool, dry location. After that, your handmade soaps are ready to use.

If you like my natural bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe, then be sure to try my other bacuri butter skin care recipes. These recipes include my 3-ingredient bacuri butter body butter recipe and my anti-aging bacuri butter body balm recipe. Alternately, you can find a complete listing of all of my cold process soap recipes from over the years here.

For more great projects like my bacuri butter & murumuru soap recipe, be sure to follow Soap Deli News on Pinterest, G+, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Alternately, you can subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.

Filed Under: Soapmaking Tagged With: bacuri butter, cold process soap, cold process soap recipe, cold process soapmaking, crafts, diy, exotic, murumuru butter, natural skin care, sensitive skin, soap tutorial, soapmaking, unscented soap

Homemade Honeysuckle Soap Recipe for Savoring The Last of Summer

August 16, 2018 By Rebecca D. Dillon

This seasonally inspired homemade honeysuckle soap recipe is the perfect way to savor the scent of honeysuckle year round! Plus discover 34 more homemade melt and pour soap recipes that you DIY as your next weekend craft project!

Honeysuckle, A Childhood Favorite.

One of my favorite childhood memories is the smell – and taste! – of fresh honeysuckle. When I was growing up we had huge bushes of honeysuckle and boysenberries that grew alongside our property line. I would always pluck the flowers from those honeysuckle bushes when the blooms turned from white to yellow and suck out the nectar hidden inside. How wonderful it would be if we could simply bottle this amazing, sweet liquid to enjoy year round!

Here in Southwestern Virginia I’m accustomed to seeing Japanese honeysuckles throughout our region. It’s easy to find honeysuckle both in backyards as well as along the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround the valley I reside in. While honeysuckles aren’t currently blooming in my neck of the woods, most honeysuckles will bloom not only in the spring, but also continue to bloom through summer into early fall.

However, you don’t have to wait for spring to come back around to get a taste of honeysuckle as we slip into fall. You can enjoy the sweet scent of honeysuckle year round by making your own homemade honeysuckle soap! My homemade honeysuckle soap recipe is crafted using a detergent free baby buttermilk soap base. Not only is this base gentle on skin, it’s one of the few melt and pour soap bases that I actually like. (Cold process soap is still my all time fave!)

To make this soap a little more interesting than just melting a base then adding color and fragrance, I created scrubby exfoliating embeds to bring in the colors of the honeysuckle leaves and vines. So, this melt and pour soap tutorial takes a little bit longer to make. However, it’s the perfect weekend project to craft with the kids. It also makes a great back to school gift for your child’s teacher.

Homemade Honeysuckle Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

30 oz. detergent free baby buttermilk melt & pour soap base
.75 oz. wild honeysuckle fragrance oil
.2 oz. sea kelp powder (natural colorant)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (natural colorant)
1 teaspoon pumice powder
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon walnut shell powder
.1 oz. vitamin E oil, optional

Soap Notes:

I chose to create my homemade honeysuckle soap recipe using natural colorants. However, for brighter colors you can use liquid soap dye instead. Simply start with 1-2 drops of liquid colorant and mix, slowly adding more until you reach the desired color. (It is important to note that using too much of a soap colorant can stain your skin or tub.)

Alternately, you can also tint your honeysuckle soaps using cosmetic mica powders. Or try a combination of natural colorants with a pinch of similarly colored cosmetic micas to boost the natural color without going overboard.

In addition to the soapmaking ingredients called for in my homemade honeysuckle soap recipe, you’ll also need a rectangular silicone soap mold and a digital scale to weigh out the soap base, fragrance and sea kelp powder. You’ll also need heat safe containers for melting and mixing your soap base, along with utensils for stirring. Further, a cutting board to transport your soap is recommended but not required.

If you are a self confessed soapmaking addict, it’s possible you already have many of the materials required for my homemade honeysuckle soap recipe on hand. However, if you haven’t caught the soapmaking bug quite yet, you can easily make substitutions for this project to save money on supplies.

While I love my baker’s math scale for cold process soapmaking and beauty DIY’s, you can simply use a less expensive digital kitchen scale to save money. You can also substitute out the exfoliants in this recipe – the pumice, poppy seeds and walnut shell powder – for scrubby ingredients you already have on hand. Alternately, you can choose just one exfoliating option and triple the quantity called for.

Soapmaking Instructions:

You’ll begin by making what will be the soap embeds for my homemade honeysuckle soap recipe. To do this, start by weighing out 12 oz. of the baby buttermilk melt and pour soap base. Cut the soap base into chunks, then place in a heat safe container. I recommend using a glass Pyrex measuring cup for this.

Heat the soap base in the microwave in 20-30 second increments until melted. You’ll want to stir your soap base between heatings.

Now weigh out the sea kelp powder and stir into the melted base. Mix well, until all of the powder is evenly distributed throughout the soap.

Now use a measuring spoon to measure out the pumice powder, poppy seeds and walnut shell powder. Stir these ingredients into the melted soap base. Follow with .05 oz. of vitamin E oil and .25 oz. of the wild honeysuckle fragrance oil.

Now allow the soap base to cool somewhat. As the melt and pour soap base used for this project isn’t a suspending soap base, your additives are going to want to sink to the bottom of the soap. Therefore, by cooling the soap until a thin film starts to form on top, then mixing again, you keep them better mixed throughout the soap. (Alternately, you can use a suspension soap base for this step.)

Place your soap mold onto a small cutting board. Once the soap has cooled down, but not solidified, remix then pour evenly into each of the six cavities of your silicone soap mold. Spritz the tops of the soap with rubbing alcohol, if desired, to remove any air bubbles.

Now, using the cutting board to transport your soap, place the mold in the refrigerator until the soap has fully solidified.

Once your soap has hardened, remove the soap from the mold. Then cut the soap into square chunks and set aside.

Now weigh out 18 oz. more of the baby buttermilk soap base. Cut into chunks then combine in a heat safe container. Heat in the microwave in 20-30 second increments until melted.

Weigh out .05 oz. of the vitamin E oil and .5 oz. of the wild honeysuckle fragrance oil. Stir into the melted soap.

Now, using a measuring spoon, measure out the turmeric powder. Mix into the melted soap base until it is thoroughly incorporated and their are no clumps. Set aside.

Add an even amount of the green, exfoliating soap embeds to each of the mold’s cavities. Then, pour the yellow turmeric tinted soap base evenly into each of the mold’s cavities, over the green soap embeds.

Spritz the top of the soap with rubbing alcohol, if needed, to remove any air bubbles. Then transfer your homemade honeysuckle soaps to the refrigerator to cool.

Once the soap has cooled completely and hardened, remove your soaps from the mold. Then wrap your soaps tightly in foodservice film. Your homemade honeysuckle soaps are now ready for personal use or gifting!

More Melt and Pour Soap Recipes

If you like my homemade honeysuckle soap recipe, then you may also want to try some of these other fun melt and pour recipes from Soap Deli News!

For more great projects like my homemade honeysuckle soap recipe, be sure to follow Soap Deli News on Pinterest, G+, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Alternately, you can subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.

Filed Under: Soapmaking Tagged With: crafts, diy, easy, gift idea, honeysuckle soap, kids project, melt and pour soap recipe, melt and pour soapmaking, soap recipe, soap tutorial, soapmaking, summer, summer honeysuckle

All Natural Pine Tar Soap Recipe for Not So Imaginary Creatures

June 18, 2018 By Rebecca D. Dillon

This all natural pine tar soap recipe tackles tough skin conditions caused by bacteria, fungus and yes – parasites! Keep reading to learn how to prevent bites from parasitic chiggers as well as how to craft your own all natural pine tar soap recipe with neem oil to soothe insect bites, calm itching and promote healing.

Imaginary creatures.

When I was eight I went on my very first (and only) snipe hunt with my Brownie troop. It was just one part of an adventure filled summer in which I also learned how shoot a bow and arrow. Our group leader had, of course, planned out the snipe hunting trip in advance.

Having grown up with family who went on yearly hunting trips for venison (in addition to the occasional squirrel or rabbit) a snipe hunt seemed like a completely plausible scenario to teach us a new life skill. As our snipe hunt took place prior to the existence of the internet, we had no way of knowing one way or the other what a snipe hunt was other than what we were told. Naturally everyone in my Brownie troop was excited about the idea of catching our very first rabbit-sized snipe.

The day of the snipe hunt we were given a rather vague description of what snipes looked like. One girl was given a large fishing net. Another Brownie was given a bag. The rest of us found sticks that we could use to scare a timid snipe out of the brush. So off we went, huddled in a group half skipping with excitement, down a forest trail with sticks in hand.

Our group leader would occasionally travel ahead only to rush back claiming from time to time that she’d just seen a snipe – what was a wonderful yet entirely imaginary creature. This fueled our excitement and kept us going despite never actually seeing said snipe for ourselves.

I don’t really recall how long we spent hunting this poor (completely fabricated) creature through the woods. However, I do remember the disappointment in learning that we’d been duped.

A tradition that dates as far back as the 1840’s in America, snipe hunting is a practical joke in which an unsuspecting newbie is duped into trying to catch a non-existent animal called a snipe. Many of us who grew up prior to social media (Hello all you lovely baby boomers and Gen-exers!) have at one time been a victim of this prank. So it was no wonder that when my Northern bred boss first moved to Virginia, he thought he was also a victim in a somewhat similar scenario.

Not so imaginary creatures.

Before I dove into self-employment full time I worked for a small family owned business. The owner and his family were originally from New Jersey. As new transplants to Southwestern Virginia, there are quite a few “cultural” differences between the North and South. My boss at the time, Bill, quickly discovered many of these differences through working with clients. However, one instance in particular was somewhat similar to my own snipe hunting excursion many years back. But this time, in reverse.

While out scouting a potential job site, Bill found himself knee high in a field of tall grasses and wildflowers. Bill’s client immediately warned him of the possibility of chiggers in the weeds. Assuming that chiggers were an imaginary creature – something like that long ago snipe we’d both been tricked into hunting – Bill dismissed the warning. He was absolutely convinced that his client, who was born and raised in the South, was pulling his leg. Unfortunately, he was not.

What are chiggers?

Chiggers are quite real. It’s also quite possible that they are spawned from Satan. Not visible to the naked eye, these tiny white mites are parasites in their larval stage and live on or UNDER the skin of warm blooded animals. Commonly found in forests and grasslands, chiggers, or trombiculidae mites as they are referred to by scientists, are a relative of ticks.

In addition to red, pimple like bumps and hives chiggers leave behind, they also cause the most horrendous itching EVER. It is not a pleasant experience. So in fact, in Bill’s case, a Northerner had not been duped by a Southerner. Rather Bill’s client had given him fair warning and Bill paid the price for his disbelief.

Chigger bites are most common in late spring, summer and early fall when the temperatures are between 77°F and 86°F. As the parasitic larvae don’t fly, they tend to stick together in large clumps on low lying grass and leaves. As a person or animal walks by, chiggers then attach themselves to their next warm blooded meal. Chiggers then use their claws to make tiny holes in skin. Then they inject their saliva into the hole they create in order to liquify and feed off of skin cells.

The resulting itching and dermatitis from chiggers lasts for several days. And it’s extreme enough that it can keep you from sleeping. Healing then occurs within one to two weeks.

How to prevent chiggers.

There has been some success in repelling chiggers using essential oils. Just as citronella repels mosquitoes and lemon eucalyptus essential oil repels deer ticks, studies suggest essential oils can also be used to repel chiggers.

The top essential oils for a chigger repellent spray include citronella, tea tree, geranium and lemongrass essential oils blended in jojoba oil. I recommend using three drops of each of these essentials oils per ounce of jojoba oil if you’d like to craft your own chigger repellent. Simply combine each of these ingredients together combined in a large roller ball bottle. Alternately, you may also want to try to my natural insect repellent body butter recipe which also contains anti-parasitic neem oil.

All natural pine tar soap for chigger “bites.”

Should you one day, like Bill, find yourself knee deep in not so imaginary creatures there is a simple and natural solution. My favorite natural remedy for chiggers is pine tar soap with neem oil.

If you own horses you’re likely already familiar with pine tar. A natural, antiseptic germicidal product for horse hooves, pine tar is an effective treatment for quarter cracks, split hooves, corns and hard frogs. It’s also used on animals to treat scrapes, burns, abrasions, sores, cuts and thrush.

When used in soapmaking, pine tar works to treat a variety of problematic skin conditions. Pine tar soap is shown to be effective at fighting psoriasis, eczema and dandruff as well as skin inflammation. Additionally, all natural pine tar soap can also be used to soothe and treat the symptoms of poison ivy, oak, and sumac. It also relieves the itching caused by bug bites – and chiggers.

Discover more natural neem oil skin care recipes here.

As I wanted to formulate an all natural pine tar soap specifically for skin issues that dealt with parasites, I also used neem oil in my recipe. Neem oil, which research shows has natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain killing) properties, has also been used as an anti-parasitic treatment for thousands of years in India. As a natural skin care remedy, it is used topically to reduce the symptoms of common skin conditions such as eczema, ringworm, athlete’s foot, cold sores, psoriasis, warts, scabies, candida, infected burn wounds, slow-healing skin ulcers and even acne.

Combined, pine tar and neem oil create a powerful natural remedy that’s a must for any home apothecary. Not only does my all natural pine tar soap recipe soothe itching and promote healing caused by general skin care concerns, it’s also effective at fighting those not so imaginary creatures that we can’t see, but still exist.

This handmade artisan soap is a must for anyone who enjoys spending time outdoors in the summer!

All Natural Pine Tar Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

1.6 oz. sweet almond oil (10%)
.8 oz. castor oil (5%)
4.8 oz. refined coconut oil (30%)
1.6 oz. mango butter (10%)
2.4 oz. 100% neem oil (15%)
3.2 oz. pomace olive oil (20%)
1.6 oz. sal butter (10%)

2.25 oz. lye/sodium hydroxide (6% superfat)
4 fl. oz. distilled (or filtered) water

1.6 oz. (creosote free) pine tar (10%)
.15 oz. lemon eucalyptus (or tea tree) essential oil
.25 oz. peppermint essential oil
.1 oz. lemongrass essential oil

Soap Notes:

The water percentage for my all natural pine tar soap recipe was calculated at 35% of the oil weight for 5.6 oz. I then reduced that amount by the amount of pine tar called for in my all natural pine tar soap recipe. For a harder bar of soap, you can add one Tablespoon of (60% solution) sodium lactate to your lye/water once it has cooled.

Instructions:

My all natural pine tar soap recipe is a cold process soap recipe – meaning it is made from scratch using lye. To duplicate my pine tar soap, you’ll need to follow my basic cold process soapmaking instructions. You should also take proper safety precautions when working with lye. Gloves and eye protection are recommended.

You will start by mixing the lye/water. To do this, measure out the distilled water called for in the recipe into a non-aluminum, heat proof container.

Then, using a digital scale, weigh out the lye. Slowly pour the lye into the water in a well ventilated area. Now stir the lye and water together until the lye dissolves completely.

Once the lye has dissolved, set the lye/water mixture aside to cool.

Next, weigh out the sweet almond, castor, coconut, olive and neem oils. Combine in a non-aluminum pot. Follow with the mango butter, sal butter and pine tar, first weighing out each ingredient, then combining in the pot with the liquid carrier oils.

Heat the soapmaking fats (your carrier oils, butters and pine tar) over low to medium-low heat on the stove until all of the ingredients have completely melted. Then set aside to cool.

While the lye/water and soapmaking oils cool, weigh out the essential oils into a separate glass container.

To avoid having your all natural pine tar soap seize from the additional heat generated during the saponification process from the pine tar, allow both the lye/water and the soapmaking oils to cool to around 80°F.

Once the temperatures of the lye/water and soapmaking oils have come down and are within 10°F of one another, you are ready to make my all natural pine tar soap.

Add the essentials oils to the pot of soapmaking oils. Then mix with a stick blender to combine.

Now pour the lye/water into the soapmaking oils. Mix either on low with a stick blender or by hand (recommended) as the soap will quickly reach trace. (If your soap seizes, don’t worry. Mix it by hand until the soap gels, then mix again and spoon into your mold.)

Once the all natural pine tar soap traces, pour the pine tar soap batter into your mold. (I used this round silicone mold and was able to make six bars.)

Set the soap aside. After 24-48 hours, unmold your all natural pine tar soap. Then allow your soap bars to cure in a cool, dry location for four to six weeks.

More natural remedies.

If you aren’t read to make my all natural pine tar soap recipe, you can buy handmade artisan pine tar soap online. I’m partial to this pine tar cleansing bar soap from AJ’s Elixirs.

Alternately, you may also like this natural bug repellent spray from Arrow Essentials. Crafted using a combination of lemongrass, French lavender, peppermint & eucalyptus essential oils, this all-natural bug repellent repels ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, lice, beetles, flies, chiggers, ants and spiders. Completely chemical and DEET free, this product has a crisp, refreshing aroma that you won’t mind putting on!

Or to soothe and calm itching from insect bites you already have, try this natural anti-itch ointment from Tunetti Natural Soap. Formulated with bentonite clay, baking soda, non-nano zinc oxide and Dead sea salt, this effectively stops itching caused by chigger and mosquito bites as well as poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac. Simply mix the dry ingredients with water or witch hazel for a simple, natural home remedy.

For more natural home remedies that you can buy, check out my collection of natural home remedies on Etsy. You can also discover more natural home remedies that you can make yourself via my Natural Home Remedies & Herbal Health Care Pinterest board.

Be sure to follow Soap Deli News blog to discover more natural beauty and skin care recipes. You can find me on G+, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Blog Lovin’, and Instagram. Or simply subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.

Filed Under: Health & Wellness, Lifestyle, Soapmaking Tagged With: cold process soap recipe, cold process soapmaking, health and wellness, home remedies, home remedy, natural remedy, neem oil, pine tar soap, soap tutorial, soapmaking

Natural Gardeners Soap Recipe That’s Not Just for Gardeners

May 22, 2018 By Rebecca D. Dillon

It doesn’t have to be gardening season for you to enjoy this natural gardeners soap recipe. In fact, you don’t need to be a gardener at all! Formulated to quickly and easily wash away tough dirt and grime, you’ll find that this natural gardeners soap is also a great option for mechanics, artists and kindergarten teachers. So if you know how to get good and dirty, then this soap is for you.

One of my favorite things about spring is that sense of revival, hope and growth. I love strolling through our local farmer’s market and choosing plants for my garden or new flowers for my yard. This year however I won’t have the opportunity to grow a garden.

While I’m sure my roommate wouldn’t object to me putting a garden her yard, it’s simply not practical. Her home’s backyard is wooded and incredibly shady. The front yard on the other hand, while it does get full sun most of the day, is literally only about the size of small garden.

So this year I think I’ll create a container garden for growing herbs instead. With limited real estate, it makes more sense. And as we are always cooking with fresh herbs, it also has a positive impact on our grocery budget.

One of our favorite herbs is cilantro. Not only is it easy to grow, but it’s one of my favorite toppings for tacos. Luckily for me, I am not part of that percentage of the population that thinks cilantro tastes like soap. We’re also huge fans of fresh sage, basil, mint and thyme.

As such, I’ve found that this Indoor/Outdoor Herb Garden Kit is perfect for starting an herb container garden. It’s small size makes it perfect for apartment dwellers as well as anyone else, who like me, just doesn’t have the right conditions for a traditional outdoor garden.

Alternately, if you have woodworking tools, give this DIY indoor herb garden a try!

Check out these spring gardening tips & tricks!

Whether you’re planning to grow a garden this year or not, my natural gardeners soap recipe is a must for your next weekend project. It’s made using a combination of naturally exfoliating ingredients like flax seed powder, shredded loofah, calendula flower powder, poppy seeds and fine ground pumice.

However, you don’t have to use the same exfoliants as I did for scrubbing power. If you’re on a budget, I recommend the Exfoliant Sampler from Bramble Berry. It contains 1 oz. each of eight different natural exfoliants for just $15.

Or simply sift through your own cache of soapmaking supplies to see what other ingredients you can use. (You can even make an inventory list while you’re at it so you know just what you have on hand and accidentally order supplies you already have.)

In addition to the exfoliants used to remove tough caked on dirt, paint or motor oil – dealer’s choice! – this homemade soap is highly cleansing to help rinse away stuck on grease, grime and sweat.

To balance out those cleansing suds, I did give my natural gardeners soap recipe a higher super fat. It also ranks pretty high as a conditioning soap as well due to the addition of baobab oil, mango butter and fractionated shea oil.

Finally, I rounded off my natural gardeners soap recipe with an earthy essential oil blend of ylang ylang, patchouli and blood orange. But feel free to swap out my essential oil blend recipe with your own favorite essential oil blend.

Get started with essential oils with classic essential oil kit!

Or try a garden themed fragrance oil for a more budget friendly scented option. I like this garden dirt fragrance oil. While garden mint is also another one of my favorite scents.

Natural Gardeners Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

.8 oz. baobab oil (5%)
.8 oz. castor oil (5%)
4.8 oz. refined coconut oil (30%)
1.6 oz. mango butter (10%)
3.2 oz. pomace olive oil (20%)
1.6 oz. safflower oil
3.2 oz. fractionated shea oil

4 fl. oz. distilled or filtered water
2.15 oz. sodium hydroxide/lye

1/2 teaspoon fine ground pumice
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon flax seed powder
1/2 teaspoon calendula flower powder
1/2 teaspoon shredded loofah
.35 oz. ylang ylang essential oil
.25 oz. patchouli essential oil
.15 oz. blood orange essential oil
.025 oz. bergamot essential oil
.025 oz. petitgrain essential oil
soap colorant, as desired

Soap Notes:

As my natural gardeners soap recipe yields a somewhat softer soap bars, I used a steep water discount. The water weight for this recipe is 25% of the oil weight. Additionally the super fat is 8%.

You can use this information, if desired, to resize my natural gardeners soap recipe using a lye calculator. It’s also useful if you’re wanting to make changes to the super fat or water percentage.

Learn more about using a lye calculator to adjust a homemade soap recipe or to craft your own custom cold process soap recipes with the information found in this tutorial.

For an extra, extra super scrubby soap, you can double the amount of exfoliants called for in the recipe to 1 teaspoon each.

My natural gardeners soap recipe yields six bars of handmade artisan soap when using this round silicone mold.

Getting Started:

Begin by gathering the materials you’ll need for this soapmaking project. You will need a digital scale, a digital thermometer, an immersion blender and a 6-cavity round silicone soap mold. (I used this mold for my natural gardeners soap recipe.) Additionally, you’ll also need aluminum free, heat safe containers and utensils for mixing your soap.

You should also take all necessary safety precautions when working with lye. If you are unfamiliar with making cold process soap from scratch, I recommend this soapmaking tutorial to get you started. I also offer several beginner soap recipes to try before attempting this soap including this beginner soap recipe and my palm free olive & babassu soap recipe.

Instructions:

Begin by preparing the lye solution for my natural gardeners soap recipe. To do this, measure out the distilled water into a heat safe container. In a separate container, weigh out the lye called for in the recipe. Then pour the lye into the water – I recommend a well ventilated area – and mix until the lye has completely dissolved. Now set the lye-water solution aside in a safe location to cool.

While the lye solution cools, weigh out the carrier oils and butters called for in the recipe. Combine in a stainless steel pot. Then gently heat the soapmaking oils on the stove over low heat just until the solids have melted.

Remove the soapmaking oils from heat and allow to cool.

In the meantime, if you’d like to color your natural gardener soaps, measure out the colorant. (The usage rate for micas is typically 1 teaspoon per pound.) Then weigh out the essential oils and combine in a small glass beaker.

Once the oils have reached 90°-95°F you are ready to make soap.

Check the temperature of both the soapmaking oils and the lye solution before you begin. Both of these ingredients should be within ten degrees of one another.

Discover more natural essential oil skin care recipes here.

Now add your choice of colorant, if using, to the soapmaking oils. Mix briefly with an immersion blender to incorporate the colorant throughout the oils.

Next, pour the lye solution into the soapmaking oils and mix with the immersion blender until you reach a light trace. You’ll know you’ve reached trace when you drag the blender through the soap batter and it leaves a visible trail behind. It’s a little like pudding.

Add the essential oils to the soap batter, then continue mixing until thoroughly combined.

Once you bring the soap to a medium trace, pour the soap evenly into six of the cavities of your round silicone mold. Then gently cover the soap with plastic wrap or parchment paper.

Set the soap aside for 24-48 hours. After this time you can unmold your natural gardeners soap bars.

Allow your soap to cure for four to six weeks in a cool, dry location. After that, your homemade soaps are ready to use.

More Natural Soap Recipes with Essential Oils

If you love my natural gardeners soap recipe, then you may want to also try these other natural soap recipes scented with natural essential oils.

Or find more homemade soap recipes by way of my DIY Bath & Body Pinterest board and my Simply Soapmaking Pinterest board. Alternately, you can explore all my cold process soap recipes here. Or, if you prefer melt and pour soapmaking, you can find my melt and pour soap recipes here.

Discover my favorite handmade artisan soaps on Etsy here.

Get more from Soap Deli New blog!

For even more homemade soap recipes, natural skin care recipes, bath and beauty DIY’s, you can follow Soap Deli News across all of your favorite social media platforms. I’m on G+, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Blog Lovin’, and Instagram. Or you can simply subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.

Filed Under: Gardening, Lifestyle, Soapmaking Tagged With: baobab oil, blood orange, cold process soap recipe, cold process soapmaking, essential oil recipes, gardener's soap, mango butter, natural soap, patchouli essential oil, soap recipe, soap tutorial, soapmaking, spring, summer, ylang ylang

Summer Citrus Soap Recipe with a Natural Essential Oil Blend

May 10, 2018 By Rebecca D. Dillon

This homemade summer citrus soap recipe contains a citrus inspired natural essential oil blend of peppermint, orange and lemongrass. Formulated to be both cleansing and conditioning, this natural soap works great at tackling sweat and grime without over drying skin.

Because I have hard water and dry skin throughout the winter months, I’ve been formulating a lot of high conditioning/low cleansing soap recipes. However with the arrival of spring and the heat of summer on the way, I thought I’d create a new soap recipe with extra cleansing power. After all, real women sweat – even if we don’t like people to know about it.

Recently I’ve been dating a guy originally from the deep South. His name is Greg. He found his way to Roanoke by way of Florida on to Georgia then South Carolina. Now he’s here. He’s a carpenter now by trade. So he tends to get dirty. As such, he was super psyched about me making a homemade soap that tackles tough grit, grime and sweat. Me? well I’m psyched he actually uses homemade soap and not some surfactant infused body wash. (If you’re a soapmaker then you understand my dilemma entirely.)

Greg calls this homemade soap recipe the Florida Gators soap. To be quite frank, I don’t follow sports. And I have absolutely no idea what sport the Gators play. What I do know is that orange is their color. And seeing as how Florida is the sunshine state, Greg thought it fitting to scent this homemade soap with a blend of orange and citrus.

Where my sports education is lacking however, I was properly schooled on Jacksonville, where Greg attended college. The culture of which was all readily explained via a Katt Williams comedy show at the Florida Theater.

Shop for Handmade Artisan Soaps on Etsy.

But I digress. I made a sweet summer citrus soap recipe with natural essential oils – which is the point of this entire post. Greg helped me make it and rather enjoyed the process. (Hooray! It’s always nice to have a new partner in crime, isn’t it? Also my dog loves Greg and to me, that kind of says everything.)

So, as they like to say, without further ado, here is my summer citrus soap recipe for your soapmaking pleasure. I hope you enjoy it!

Summer Citrus Soap Recipe with Natural Essential Oils

Ingredients:

.8 oz. castor oil (5%)
4.8 oz. refined coconut oil (30%)
2.4 oz. jojoba oil (15%)
2.4 oz. mango butter (15%)
5.6 oz. pomace olive oil (35%)

4 fl. oz. distilled (or filtered) water
2 oz. lye/sodium hydroxide

1/8 teaspoon red iron oxide powder
1/8 teaspoon yellow oxide powder
.15 oz. peppermint essential oil
.15 oz. 5-fold orange essential oil
.25 oz. blood orange essential oil
.35 oz. lemongrass essential oil
Dash of petitgrain essential oil

Soap Notes:

As my summer citrus soap recipe doesn’t yield a particularly hard bar, I used a steep water discount. The water weight for this recipe is 25% of the oil weight. Additionally the super fat is 6%. While the essential oil weight is 5% of the oil weight in this recipe (based on recommended usage for these essential oils in cold process soap.)

You can use this information, if desired, to resize my summer citrus soap recipe using a lye calculator. Or to make changes to the super fat or water percentage. Learn more about using a lye calculator to adjust a homemade soap recipe or to craft your own custom homemade soap recipes with the information found in this tutorial.

Getting Started:

Begin by gathering the materials you’ll need for this soapmaking project. You will need a digital scale, a digital thermometer, an immersion blender and this 6-cavity silicone mold. Additionally, you’ll also need aluminum free, heat safe containers and utensils for mixing your soap.

You should also take necessary safety precautions when working with lye. If you are unfamiliar with making cold process soap, I recommend this soapmaking tutorial to get you started. I also offer several beginner soap recipes to try before attempting this soap including this beginner soap recipe and my palm free olive & babassu soap recipe.

Instructions:

Begin by preparing the lye solution for my summer citrus soap recipe. To do this, measure out the distilled water into a heat safe container. In a separate container, weigh out the lye called for in the recipe. Then pour the lye into the water – I recommend a well ventilated area – and mix until the lye has completely dissolved. Now set the lye-water solution aside in a safe location to cool.

While the lye solution cools, weigh out the soapmaking oils and the mango butter. Combine in a stainless steel pot. Then gently heat the oils and mango butter on the stove over low heat just until the mango butter has melted.

Remove the soapmaking oils from heat and allow to cool.

In the meantime, measure out the colorants for my summer citrus soap recipe. Then weigh out the essential oils and combine in a small glass beaker.

Once the oils have reached 90°-95°F you are ready to make soap.

Check the temperature of both the soapmaking oils and the lye solution before you begin. Both of these ingredients should be within ten degrees of one another.

Now add the red iron and yellow oxide colorants to the soapmaking oils. Mix briefly with an immersion blender to incorporate the colorant throughout the oils.

Add the essential oils to the soap batter, then continue mixing until thoroughly combined.

Once you bring the soap to a medium trace, pour the soap into each of the cavities of your mold. Then gently cover the soap with plastic wrap or parchment paper.

Set the soap aside for 24-48 hours. After this time you can unmold your summer citrus soap bars.

Allow your soap to cure for four to six weeks in a cool, dry location. After that, your homemade soaps are ready to use.

Get Creative with My Summer Citrus Soap Recipe

Once your cold process summer citrus soaps have cured, you can get creative! I was able to use one bar of my summer citrus soap to make three round orange slice soaps.

To create your own round soaps that resemble orange slices, cut one bar of the summer citrus soap in half lengthwise. Then cut each half into triangles. Set aside.

Now cut a block of clear melt and pour soap base into chunks. (The amount you use will depend on how many soaps you plan to make as well as the size of your mold’s cavities.) Combine in a Pyrex measuring cup or another heat safe container. Melt in the microwave in 20-30 second increments, stirring after each heating.

Once the clear soap base has completely melted, add a yellow liquid soap colorant to the base until you reach the desired color. (Or you could also use a liquid blue soap colorant. Go Gators!)

If desired, add a fragrance or essential oil of your choice. (I used blood orange essential oil for this step at 2% of the soap weight.) Then stir the soap to incorporate the fragrance evenly throughout the soap.

Now pour a small amount of the melt and pour soap into three cavities of a round silicone mold. Then spray the soap with isopropyl alcohol to remove any air bubbles.

Next, place the triangle soap embeds you made from the summer citrus soap into the soap you just poured. Arrange the embeds as desired.

Once the melt and pour soap base is firm – you don’t want your embeds to shift – spray the soap again with isopropyl alcohol. Then pour the remaining melt and pour soap base into the same three cavities of the mold. Fill the cavities to the top of the mold, then spray again with isopropyl alcohol to remove any air bubbles.

Once the soap has fully hardened, remove the soap slices from the mold. Then, if desired, you can bevel the edges of the soap using a potato peeler. Now simply wrap your soaps tightly in food service film to store until use.

More Homemade Soap Recipes

If you like my summer citrus soap recipe with natural essential oils, then you may also want to try my homemade blood orange soap recipe. Made using blood orange essential oil and orange powder, this summer inspired soap is painted with mica for a fun, fresh appearance.

Some of my other favorite homemade soap recipes include the following:

Or simply explore all my cold process soap recipes here. Alternately, you can find my melt and pour soap recipes here.

You can also find more homemade soap recipes by way of my DIY Bath & Body Pinterest board and my Simply Soapmaking Pinterest board. Or, if you’d rather purchase handmade soaps, you can discover a collection of my favorite handmade artisan soaps on Etsy here.

Don’t forget to stay in touch!

For more homemade bath, body, beauty and soap recipes, be sure to find and follow Soap Deli News across all of your favorite social media platforms including G+, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Blog Lovin’, and Instagram as well as subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.

Filed Under: Soapmaking Tagged With: blood orange, citrus, cold process recipe, cold process soapmaking, crafts, diy, gift idea, palm free soap, soap recipe, soapmaking, summer