Learn to make beautiful bath and body products from scratch. Here you find free tutorials for making cold process soaps, bath bombs, body butters, face masks, serums and a lot more.
You might’ve noticed by now that when it comes to soap I like to experiment with new and different types of ingredients. As it happened this time I had this little bottle with pristine white sand that I brought home from Florida sitting on the shelf taunting me to do something with it. Well, into the soap it went.
This avocado soap recipe includes fresh avocado, avocado oil and lots of pampering shea butter. It’s a real treat for your skin!
I love avocados! As food they’re delicious, satisfying and super healthy, and they’re also great to use in cold process soap giving it a decadent rich creamy lather that is delightful.
Avocado oil, shea butter and fresh avocado are the key players for this soap. Fresh avocado fruit as well as avocado oil contains vitamins A, D and E and nourishing omega 3 fatty acids. Both contribute amazing conditioning properties and creamy luxurious lather to the finished soap.
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I’ve had this idea for a banana soap in my head for quite some time. Something like a banana cream pie soap maybe. But what would the end result look like and would I be happy with it? I started to do some research and saw a variety of banana soaps that ranged from very brown to very speckled to creamy yellow with few specks. Some soap makers reported the specks would disappear after a while. Well, I decided it was time to do my own little research project on using bananas in soap.
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I live in the Garden State. Yes that’s right, New Jersey. The state known for it’s closeness to NYC, it’s stinky highways, industrial areas, and also it’s beaches. What most people don’t know is that we do have plenty of greenery here, as the name suggests. Folks really love to grow their veggies in our neck of the woods and when summer rolls around, we have cucumbers for dayyys.
…This Lemongrass Calendula Soap Recipe was originally published on May 8th, 2018 and updated on January 23rd, 2019. I’ve added an update an how the colors and scent have fared over time. So, scroll down to the bottom to see what this soap looks like after 9 months.
I love to add fresh ingredients to my soaps. It’s a fun way to try something new on a whim since most fruits and veggies are easy enough to come by. I also find that they can bring interest and label appeal to your soaps. In this recipe I’m trying something a little more exotic: papaya paired with turmeric. The result is a wonderfully creamy and nourishing turmeric papaya soap.
…This soap recipe involves the use of lye, if you’re looking for a beginner’s soap making tutorial without lye I recommend checking out my Gentle Goat Milk Soap. There you will find step by step instructions to making your own nourishing handmade goat milk – a fun and easy DIY project.
Now back to this activated charcoal soap recipe (one of my faves!)…
I had this little bottle of precious Vetiver essential oil sitting on my desk for a very long time. My plan was to use it for an activated charcoal soap recipe. Every now and then I would open it and take a sniff. I was intrigued by the thick, viscous amber colored fluid. The smell was like no essential oil I had tried up to that point: woody, earthy with a hint of smokiness.
But I didn’t know what to do with it. I had read up on different ways to blend it with other essential oils, and everyone seemed to say that it was good for anchoring scents, but too much would overpower the blend. What I wanted was to figure out a way to have the Vetiver front and center with supporting notes that would enhance it’s deep masculine earthiness.
…This was only the second time I had the chance to participate in the Soap Challenge Club. The first time was when we did the rimmed round soaps and, boy, that was some challenge. I can still vividly remember me and Mr. Tinker trying to cut thin layers out of a thick block of semi-hardened soap . Me holding the block, him pulling the wire through – ahhh, fun times 🙂
my entry for the rimmed soap challenge in May 2016
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This summer it seems like everyone and their neighbor’s uncle is making some sort of watermelon themed soap (you know, soap that looks like the real thing). But instead of making a soap that only looked or smelled like a watermelon. I wondered if it would work to put actual watermelon juice in there.
It did, and combined with a juicy blend of lime essential oil it makes for the perfect summer soap.
Now, why does it not always work out to put fruit juice in your cold process soap?…
If someone gives you a bundle of locally grown, organic lavender and you’re a soap nut like myself, what do you do?
Well, duh, turn it into soap, of course.
In order to get the most skin loving properties out of said bundle I infused the lavender buds in olive oil and used a lavender tea for my lye solution….