So, you want to make your own soap? Good call. There’s nothing quite like homemade soap to add a genuine touch of luxurious individuality to your bathroom. And the good news is that it’s easy to do.
The biggest challenge is deciding what kind of soap you’re going to make. The possibilities are quite staggering. From Cucumber and Shea, Ginger and White Tea, and Honey Almond Oatmeal, to Chia Latte, Lavender and Rosemary, and Ylang Ylang and Frankincense… when it comes to making this choice, you’re on your own.
But it might be worthwhile thinking about the colour you want. Choosing something that will work with your bathroom palette, or that will set off the colour of your cast iron bath is a good idea.
We are going to look at making Grapefruit and Lavender Soap. The smell is divine, and the grapefruit zest acts as a gentle exfoliant. What’s more, lavender is in season right now so there should be plenty of it around – get it from your florist or simply pick it yourself.
This recipe will produce around seven or eight bars of soap. Some of the ingredients may sound a little unusual if you’ve never done this before, but rest assured that you can find everything online easily enough.
So, you’ll need:
• four tablespoons of fresh lavender
• zest of two grapefruits
• 25 drops of lavender essential oil
• 1lb of shea butter
• soap moulds (you can buy these from good cook shops, or use any small heat resistant container. If buying them, opt for the silicon ones – not only are they really easy to peel away from the finished soap, they come in a variety of fantastic shapes)
• a small tray that will fit into your freezer
The first thing you need to do is make the soap base. Place a metal or glass bowl over a pan of boiling water (just as you would do to melt chocolate), and put the shea butter into it. Cover and stir occasionally until completely melted.
Once melted, let the butter sit for two minutes.
Meanwhile, place the moulds onto the tray.
Add grapefruit zest, lavender and essential oil to the bowl, stirring frequently so ingredients don’t settle.
Pour the mixture into the soap moulds.
Use a small spoon to make sure the ingredients are distributed within the moulds evenly.
When all the moulds are full, let them sit for one hour.
Put the tray of moulds into the freezer, and leave them there for one hour.
Remove the tray and the moulds from the freezer, pop out the soaps and marvel at you creations.
So, you want to make your own soap? Good call. There’s nothing quite like homemade soap to add a genuine touch of luxurious individuality to your bathroom. And the good news is that it’s easy to do.
The biggest challenge is deciding what kind of soap you’re going to make. The possibilities are quite staggering. From Cucumber and Shea, Ginger and White Tea, and Honey Almond Oatmeal, to Chia Latte, Lavender and Rosemary, and Ylang Ylang and Frankincense… when it comes to making this choice, you’re on your own.
But it might be worthwhile thinking about the colour you want. Choosing something that will work with your bathroom palette, or that will set off the colour of your cast iron bath is a good idea.
We are going to look at making Grapefruit and Lavender Soap. The smell is divine, and the grapefruit zest acts as a gentle exfoliant. What’s more, lavender is in season right now so there should be plenty of it around – get it from your florist or simply pick it yourself.
This recipe will produce around seven or eight bars of soap. Some of the ingredients may sound a little unusual if you’ve never done this before, but rest assured that you can find everything online easily enough.
So, you’ll need:
• four tablespoons of fresh lavender
• zest of two grapefruits
• 25 drops of lavender essential oil
• 1lb of shea butter
• soap moulds (you can buy these from good cook shops, or use any small heat resistant container. If buying them, opt for the silicon ones – not only are they really easy to peel away from the finished soap, they come in a variety of fantastic shapes)
• a small tray that will fit into your freezer
The first thing you need to do is make the soap base. Place a metal or glass bowl over a pan of boiling water (just as you would do to melt chocolate), and put the shea butter into it. Cover and stir occasionally until completely melted.