Oatmeal body scrub soap and more (merged)

AussieLass

leonie wrote:

I'm a soapmaker, I make it from scratch. I do the old fashioned method of cold process (mixing oils with water and lye)

I dont very often make scrubby bars though as in my experience, people comment that scrubby bars are lovely once in a while, but they prefer smooth bars for everyday use.

My solution is to make mainly smooth bars but I also make a moisturising bar that they can take in the shower to exfoliate and then it leaves a film of shea and cocoa butter (think Lush's buffy the backside slayer)

At Christmas, I make up these sets for family and friends. A couple of bars of nice soap, a massage scrub bar and a few bath melts (and sometimes a dead sea salt scrub for special gifts) I have to add though that its not very old style as I use organic fair trade ingredients that cost more, but hey, everyones different.

Cold process soap is really lovely and not difficult to make, its just assembling recipes that will work to give you a nice fluffy cleansing lather that is gentle. Each oil used adds different things to the soap.

Your soaps sound so lovely. I've never made my own soaps but DD bought me a lovely bar of soap while on holiday. It was from a stall, at a market. She made all her own soaps etc. It was really nice & felt "different" then the bought ones. Made your skin feel fresh or something. By scrubby bars do you mean the ones with oatmeal or something similar in?

leonie_2

Sorry I wasnt clear at all. I make soap, but then I make a separate bar out of shea butter and cocoa butter, that I add ground aduki beans and ground almonds to. Its not for washing with but for exfoliating and moisturising. Basically, you rub it into the skin and then the water washes away the scrubby bits and leaves the butters on your skin so you dont need a body lotion. Have a look here (im not sure whether that link will take you directly,but if not, have a look under body butters and check out the buffy bars)

The women in the family love them as presents and I enjoy making them. I make expensive soap but I have friends who make it with just cheap oils from the supermarket and its still far superior to anything you can buy!

MrsB_2

Hi Leonie,

Would you mind posting some hints / recipes for making soaps and / or body bars please? If you're happy to I'd really appreciate it as sounds fab for Christmas presents.

Thanks

leonie_2

No problem. I have a load of books, which are useful for ideas, but to be honest I make my own recipes up now. There is a ton of info on the net on how to do it, but I would always recommend putting your recipe through a lye calculator such as this

Have a look at this site and read the soaping tips, they are important. I dont make my lye the day before though, I just make it first, and its cooling whilst im weighing and warming my oils.

Millers is a great site, but you will be lost on it for hours once you start lol!!

Its not really about being given a recipe and following it. As you are working with lye (caustic soda) you really need a few guidlines and I think its good to know what you are actually doing, ie coconut is a lovely oil, but soapers use it for its lathering and cleansing properties, if you were to make a coconut only soap, you would find it very harsh and not really nice to use, whereas a olive oil only soap is wonderful! Its getting a good balance of moisturising and cleansing oils, as well as making sure your bar is going to be a good hard bar.

And as i've mentioned before, although I only use expensive oils and butters such as shea and cocoa, its easy to make a really nice bar of soap using cheapest grade olive and sunflower oils.

I also enjoy using fruit and veg in my soap. I made a lovely one a couple of months ago out of the extra cucumbers i'd grown in my greenhouse. So now in the depths of winter, when I take out a bar, i'll be reminded of summertime when my greenhouse was full of cukes!

Have a look here for all your body butters and whips. Loads of info on how to do it. I usually whip up a bit of shea and cocoa butter, with a bit of homemade coconut oil and jojoba or avacado to make it less thick, pop this in my food mixer and add a little essential oil (whatever im fancying at the time) and make the most gorgeous body butter!

MrsB_2

Wow Thank you :T Now... where do I start LOL!!!

MrsB_2

One more question - well for now anyway! Where do you manage to find your ingredients? There are things on there I've never even heard of, let alone bought!!

Is the soap making as complicated / scientific as it sounds or is it a case of trying to take in too much info in one go?

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

leonie_2

Well I actually have a website that I sell shea and cocoa butter on. I buy them from a womens co-op where they are fairly traded and most of my stuff is organic too. But its not really money saving so its not appropriate for here. Its my passion and my hobby you see, I dont drink or smoke but I am very interested in high quality fair trade skin care. That said and im not advertising as im not giving out my details, I feel I had to post that so ppl didnt think I was here spamming :-)

Have a look on ebay for your bits and bobs if you want to make luxury soaps, otherwise most of the oils can be found in your local supermarket. I still get my olive oil etc from Tesco/Morrisons as its as cheap there as at the wholesalers!

Recently, Aldi was selling dead sea salt, 1.5kg for £1.99. I added half sweet almond oil (76pish) from tesco and half olive oil (£1.99 per litre) and a couple of drops of lavender essential oil to a pretty glass pot that I had saved. This looked lovely and is wonderful as a gift, and really inexpensive to make! You think how much Boots charge for something like this, bearing in mind most salt scrubs arent dead sea salt, just plain salt. Also remember its not loaded with chemicals and perfumes, just natural stuff, so its much better for your skin too!

MrsB_2

That sounds fantastic. I'm sure nobody would think you were spamming - just helping me out!!

I'll try and read through the info on the websites you listed properly over the next couple of weeks, and then will maybe embark on some of the simpler sounding things!!

I love the idea of giving my mum and dh's mum a little basket each of homemade beautification stuff for Christmas. Is that realistic in the time scale and for a complete and total novice?? Was thinking about something for the bath, a soap, a body butter and maybe a scrub of some sort.

Btw - is anybody else interested in this or am i better harrassing poor Leonie by PM??

elona

I am interested in it and am sure I am not the only one.

MrsB_2

That's good enough for me!! Just didnt want to get 'in to trouble' (she says tongue firmly in her cheek) for blathering on!!