True Natural Beauty comes from within...

True Natural Beauty comes from within...
Welcome, to my natural bath / beauty and clean eating blog, where nature is our pantry....take a few quiet moments to enjoy free recipes and tutorials using natural ingredients. Have questions about recipes or where to find these ingredients? Put your question in the comment box and I will be happy to answer .............Anna

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Homemade Soap with Tea, Honey and Lemon

Want my exact recipe proportions? Just leave your request under comments.
     I absolutely love homemade soap. The creamy texture, the awesome scents, the wholesome ingredients, just draw a body in!   My first attempt at soap making
actually turned out a winning recipe that is still an all time favorite.
     I made this soap with real brewed green tea, yummy real honey, and meyer lemon essential oil. It smells incredibly awesome.  It makes really nice bubbles and the scent as you shower is amazing.  I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this soap.  The fresh scent of the tea lingers on your skin, lovely.   I substituted the water in the soap recipe for brewed green tea. Worked like a charm.

This is a very natural bar of soap, no colorants, or chemicals, very yummy with the added bonus of real honey which is naturally antibacterial, a great cleanser, and a humectant, which means it draws moisture in and helps retain it.      More.......




     The recipe I designed has Olive oil which contains at least four different antioxidants, which can help "neutralize damaging free radicals that can lead to skin aging and skin cancer" according to Leslie Baumann, M.D., author of The Skin Type Solution. The most potent antioxidant being hydroxytyrosol, which is actually rare and is the one that prevents free radical damage. Olive oil is suitable for all skin type,is a great anti-inflammatory and skin moisturizer.

    I also used Cocoa butter which is another good moisturizer that keeps skin soft and supple and feeling really great. It is a very stable, concentrated natural fat that is easily absorbed into the skin. It actually creates a barrier between the skin and the environment and helps retain moisture. Women have used cocoa butter for centuries to help prevent and treat stretch marks.

     I used Grapeseed oil next, I love the lightness of this oil, its smoothness and its absorbability.

     Shea butter has to be one of my favorites, a very popular luxury butter used in soaps. Legendary beauty  Egyptian Queen Nefertiti is known to have used shea butter in her beauty routine. Only grown in Africa, it is taken from the nut of the  Shea tree (Butyrospermum parkii),  its properties renew, repair and protect the skin against aging and  climate effects.  Rich in vitamins A,D and E, it also helps in collogen production.


     Coconut oil I used for its great cleansing and super bubbles and antioxidant properties. 

     Bees Wax I used to help harden the bars, plus it smells SO good in soap.... with its antioxidant properties as well as being a humectant, its a real winner.
Adn




     
  

19 comments:

Meg McCarty said...

Wow! These soaps look absolutely amazing! I have tried the green tea with honey soap and the almond soap and they are stunning! They smell delicious and feel wonderful on your skin! They made my whole bathroom smell great:)

Zumbachick said...

would love your recipe! I am a newbie soaper! thank you!!

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Loyda, thanks for your interest in this recipe, it really has been a favorite in my house. I just started making soap 6 months ago, so I am a newbie too! This is my first recipe. I made it hot process, but you can make it cold process also. Here ya go:

12 oz fresh brewed strong green tea, chilled
12 oz olive oil
10 oz crisco(which is soybean/palm oil)great latherer and moisturizer
7 oz coconut oil
2 oz bees wax
1 oz cocoa butter
1 oz grapeseed oil
1 oz shea butter
1 Tablespoon honey added at trace
0.5 oz sweet meyer lemon essential oil(from Brambleberry)
4.54 oz lye NaOH which superfatted it to 6 %

I check every recipe with a lye calculator, I used Mountain Sage Lye Calc
If you don't have the oils I use in this recipe, simply substitute what you do have on hand and run your recipe thru a lye calculator to get the right lye amount.

You make tea soap like any other soap recipe, you just substitute the water with brewed tea.

Check out Soap Queen TV on YouTube, (by Brambleberry)for awesome tutorials
on how to safely use lye, how to make hot process/cold process soap, plus just about anything else you can think of about soap!

Any other questions, just ask! Let me know how it comes out!
Anna




Tina´s PicStory said...

i can smell it :)

Loyda Burk said...

THank you so much for the recipe! My daughter loves to drink green tea so i am looking forward to making this for her. Do you share most of your soap recipes? I made goats milk lotion tonight! Have a blessed Christmas!! Loyda

Shirley G said...

Thank you Anna for the recipe. I'm trying to be more "green" in my home and love to try new things towards that. Can't wait to try this.

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Shirley, your welcome! Thanks for the comment, I also am trying new and healthier things in my home! If you don't have all the same oils/butters as I used, you can substitute for what you do have, just be sure and run the recipe through a lye calculator like the one at Brambleberry.com or Mountain Sage Lye Calculator, or use your own favorite soap recipe using brewed tea as the liquid. Love to hear how it turns out!
Anna

Connie Nelson said...

I have always wanted to make my own soap. I only use handmade soap so of course I should try it. Have you tried making goatmilk soap? Thanks for your recipe here, I may be trying it soon. New follower :)

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Connie, Yes, I have tried making goats milk soap and I love it. My teens really like it as a facial soap. It is so creamy and luxurious. I just started making soap about 7 months ago and love it. Hope you get to give it a try. I, like you, only liked using homemade soap, I just loved the quality, but was intimidated to make it myself. Once I sat down with a "soaping" friend of mine and she walked me thru the process, I saw that it really is alot of fun and not so scarey after all! The recipes for natural soap goodness is limitless!
thanks for the comment! Anna

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Connie, thanks for following! I will be posting a 3-4 oil(s) soap recipe soon. A good, basic recipe with easy to get ingredients, and tutorial. Hope you find things of interest on this blog!
Anna

Unknown said...

Hi Anna,

I just found your blog. I would love your recipe for the Homemade soap with Tea, Honey and Lemon.
Thanks so Much
Paula Bechtel

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Paula, thanks for the interest in my tea soap recipe! Glad you found my blog too. The recipe is found in a comment above, just scroll up! I am working on a tutorial, and a great, easy 3 oil recipe for Mocha Soap made with real brewed coffee. I'll post it tomorrow so please check back, I think you like it.
Anna

Unknown said...

I know it smells wonderful! Its one of my all favorites too!

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Riens Handmade Soap, thanks for stopping by !

Unknown said...

Hey, I just found your awesome blog about the green tea soap and I would love to have the recipe. I am a soap newbie

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Maneisha, sure you can have the recipe for this soap... just scroll up in the comments and you will see where I wrote it out for another soaper!

I love to use tea and coffee and different milks as the liquid in soaps. Have fun soaping! Anna

Unknown said...

Just found your recipe and am very excited to give it a try. Thank you for sharing.

ILuvMyGem said...

I have everything except the Crisco. Is there something you would recommend as a substitute?

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi "ILuvMyyGem"
Well, I'll tell ya what ... send me a list of what oils/butters you have on hand and I will design a soap recipe for you with what you have on hand. I don't really have a substitution per se for the crisco, it would be better to just make a new recipe and get all the %'s correct. I don't mind in the least doing so for you.

Would you consider using lard, the kind you cook with, easy to find at the grocery store. It makes fabulous soap, super bubbly and moisturizing.
Let me know and I'll get a recipe up and going for you! :)

Anna

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...