Making soaps and lotions

Someone posted a "homemade laundry detergent" thread a while back and that got my interest.

From making laundry detergent, I jumped to soap making. Well, making soap is fun but each batch makes like 7 pounds of soap. So I have a ton of soap in just a few batches.

From there, I shaved a few bars of soap for homemade shampoo.

Since I have so much "stuff", like jojoba oil and shea butter for the soaps (just for special soaps, everyday soaps are simpler), I decided to make lotions.

From there, I started making "body butters" and creams and even "bath fizzies".

I found a great lip balm "recipe" and it's wonderful.

I'm really intrigued by this because I"m using all-natural ingredients to make stuff that comes cheap in the store but I can't even pronounce the stuff that's in it.

I started now thinking about dishwasher soap. You can't have foam, since it'll suds up and make a mess in the dishwasher. But what about a low sudsing dish detergent? Hmmmmmm.

I'm finding that each hobby runs into another hobby.

my daughter has been doing these for a couple years
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Lip-Balm-Kit/productinfo/382/

I STILL have not made any soap! My wife is mildly addicted to chapstick, so I'd be curious to see what goes into a homemade product. I'm assuming some beeswax? Glycerin?

Homercidal said:

I STILL have not made any soap! My wife is mildly addicted to chapstick, so I'd be curious to see what goes into a homemade product. I'm assuming some beeswax? Glycerin?

Click to expand...

Yes, beeswax. No to glyercin!

Here's my recipe:

.25 ounce beeswax
.33 ounce shea butter
.33 ounce cocca butter
.40 ounce sweet almond oil
2 vitamin E capsules (poked with a pin and squeeze)
10 drops peppermint essential oil.

Weigh ingredients, and melt the butters and oils with the beeswax in the microwave. Add the essential oil and pour into small (carmex) jars or tubes. This will harden when it cools.

Because of the coccoa butter, added with the peppermint, it has a chocolate/mint aroma. Bob even likes this!

That is totally doable. Now I just have to remember to start collecting the stuff.

So Yoop, have you made any hop scented soap/shampoo yet? Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

So Yoop, have you made any hop scented soap/shampoo yet? Regards, GF.

Click to expand...

That's next! Some of the literature I've read talks about browning of vegetative material, so I've been hesitant to do it in a big batch. But I'm planning on doing small batches soon, with hops. I have some hops extract, but it has alcohol in it and that can't go into the soap. I may be able to grate the soap for shampoo, and add that hops extract but to be honest the extract doesn't smell very good!

I've seen brown & mottled colors in soaps; I've even seen black soap that had white suds. Soap with chunks of crushed juniper berries, oatmeal, all sorts of thing in it. Soap doesn't have to be pretty to work. Regards, GF.

EDIT: Just had an idea, how about a clear glycerine soap with a whole hop in the middle of the bar? Not really "hop soap" per se, but it might be an interesting novelty soap. Just a thought. Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

I've seen brown & mottled colors in soaps; I've even seen black soap that had white suds. Soap with chunks of crushed juniper berries, oatmeal, all sorts of thing in it. Soap doesn't have to be pretty to work. Regards, GF.

EDIT: Just had an idea, how about a clear glycerine soap with a whole hop in the middle of the bar? Not really "hop soap" per se, but it might be an interesting novelty soap. Just a thought. Regards, GF.

Click to expand...

That's a great idea! I won't be making another batch of soap until late March, but I'll think about the clear glycerine soap.

What I made yesterday was called "lotion bars". They look like bars of soap, but they are actually solid lotion bars. The first time, it came out way too hard. The second time, it was way too soft. The third time, it was just right! I used an old deodorant container for one "bar" so you can just push more up when it gets low. It works great! I also used various other containers, and once is just a round bar.

I love the idea of a lotion bar- it's like a "roll on" for your skin so it's not goopy like putting on lotion.

I'm using 100% natural ingredients- shea butter, coccoa butter, jojoba oil, almond oil, beeswax, etc. Some of the soaps I've made have been castile soaps (olive oil based). I love the idea of being able to pronounce all of the ingredients, and having something better quality than Bath & Body Works' stuff.

Almost everything is better quality than B&B. My wife loves that stuff, but to me it feels like detergent and it dries my skin.

Too many projects! I want to make soap and stuff and I think the hops soap is a great idea. I just got too much to do!

Homercidal said:

Almost everything is better quality than B&B. My wife loves that stuff, but to me it feels like detergent and it dries my skin.

Too many projects! I want to make soap and stuff and I think the hops soap is a great idea. I just got too much to do!

Click to expand...

You have to retire. That's the key to having this many hobbies!

Just got into double Edge Safety razor shaving with a brush and soap. I hear it's coming back too. Might want to look into making some shave soap too!

CoalCracker said:

Just got into double Edge Safety razor shaving with a brush and soap. I hear it's coming back too. Might want to look into making some shave soap too!

Click to expand...

Oh, yes- I've seen some great shaving soaps. I don't shave my face, though, so it would be "lost" on me. I wonder if making a great shaving soap for women would be something I want to do. Hmmmmm.

Bob uses a cheap electric, about once a week. He's always got a 5 day growth going on. He shaves for "special events" only. I have no idea what his criteria for a "special event" is, though.