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

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Tea Tree and Orange Soap acne and blemish recipe

Today I am sharing my Tea Tree and Orange blemish bar recipe that I created for my teens. It is a Hot Process homemade soap recipe that is made in a crock pot, cooked the old fashioned way.

100% natural soap that can be used on the face without fear of drying. There is a certain amount of toning, astringent here, but not the sort of drying out that actually causes the oil glands to produce more oil, hence the cycle of breakouts.  Filled with skin loving and nourishing as well as healing oils, butters and essential oils. All the natural glycerin is left in homemade soap, leaving in the natural moisturizing benefits. Commercial soaps remove this natural wonder, leaving you with a bar of detergent.  Now, I'll tell you why I made this formula....



First the recipe: 
7.8 oz  olive oil (best oil for your base in a soap recipe. Hardens bar. Mild, gentle cleanser.) (30.8%)
6.5 oz  lard  ( hardens the bar and is very moisturizing, does NOT clog pores ) (25.6%)
5 oz  coconut oil  ( hardens bar, boosts lather ) (19.7 %)
1.5 oz  avocado butter ( Top notch moisturizer. On a scale of 1-10, it is a 9 ) (5.9 %)
1.5 oz  castor oil ( fabulous skin conditioner, boosts bubbles ) (5.9 %)
1  oz beeswax  ( antioxidant, antibacterial, holds in moisture, protects and softens skin) (3.9 %)
1  oz grapeseed oil (nice conditioner, has the ability to absorb quickly pulling other oils under the skin)
1  oz canola oil (hardens the bar better than sunflower oil, does not clog pores, stretches your olive oil)

8.35 oz distilled water
3.35 oz lye  (superfatted at 6% using Brambleberry's lye calc)

NOTE: my olive oil was infused with fresh rosemary, here's how to do it, it's not hard.

2 tsp Bentonite clay     ( An effective healing clay, with a fine velveteen feel. Odorless.  Absorbs
      and removes toxins and impurities. )

1 oz    (or less .5 oz )   Tea Tree essential oil also known as melaleuka oil, a powerful antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal oil that has the awesome ability to kill the bacteria that cause acne development. You can actually dab Tea Tree directly on a blemish.

 .5 oz   Orange essential oil  is anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, helps promote healthy, smooth skin as
  well as helps with acne and dermatitis. Improves skin tone and texture. Vitamin C is great for your    skin. Refreshing, uplifting scent!

Total oil weight:  25.3 oz
Yields:  37 oz of soap

Ok, our heavy hitters here are our Avocado butter, beeswax, Tea Tree and Orange oils. Along with the rosemary infused olive oil. If you don't want to make the infused oil, you can use Rosemary essential oil, just switch out a little of the Tea Tree for it.  Keep the total essential oils around 1.5 oz.



I mixed the Bentonite clay in a little of the oil, using a small frothing wisk to get out all clumps, and added it back to the melted oils. I then Hot Processed as normal. I added my lovely essential oils after the cook. I hot processed this specifically so I could add my essential oils in after the cook, after the lye had been neutralized to ensure full benefits of the oils.  This is a very aromatic bar, quite strong. 


This quality of a specialty blemish bar in any store would be quite pricey.  If you make it yourself you save money, and get a superb quality of natural goodness for your skin. Unbeatable.  So, if you have not Hot Processed soap yet, and been thinking about it, give it a try!

Here is a link to a tutorial I made on making Hot Processed crock pot soap, using only 3 oils. It is a great, bubbly, moisturizing recipe that I think you will love! 

Note:  You should always run a  recipe through a lye calculator before making it, or if you change a recipe in any way, please run your new recipe through a lye calculator before proceeding.  I use Bramble Berry's lye calc.

This is my personal soap recipe I use for my family. Not meant to diagnose or treat any skin ailment, I am not FDA approved! ha!

Any questions ?  Just leave a comment.  Enjoy !  Let me know if you make this wholesome bar!

      Anna 

 This post shared with:
The Clever Chicks Blog Hop at the Chickenchick.com
Wise Woman Link Up at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Teach Me Tuesdays at the Growing Home blog
Frugally Sustainable at Frugal Days, Sustainable ways
Natural Living Link up at Jill's Home Remedies 



31 comments:

Jills Home Remedies said...

What a wonderful recipe! Thanks for sharing!

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Jill, you're welcome! Just found your blog and started following it.

http://jillshomeremedies.blogspot.com/2005/05/bath-body.html

Love it, lots of great natural recipes and info there!
thanks, Anna

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Thank you Doreen!
Greetings to your family as well, Anna

Unknown said...

hi, I love your recipes and Im gonna try this one out for sure! Could you tell me if something can be substituted for the avocado oil as its the only thing I cannot find locally.

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Wanda, hi and thanks for reading. I actually used avocado butter, not the oil for this recipe and I had to buy it on-line. I got mine from Bramble Berry, here's a link:

http://www.brambleberry.com/solid-Avocado-Butter-P3207.aspx

eBay sells it as well.

I will have to research it and see what I would use to replace avocado butter, as it has such unique qualities, and get back with you.

thanks for the question! Anna


Unknown said...

I was also wondering what superfatting percentage you used so I can run this through the calculator. thanks again! I love you blog

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi again Wanda, I use a 6% superfat. I also found out that avocado oil has the same properties in soap as the avocado butter. Only a small amount is needed. For avocado oil you only need 5% or less in your total fats/oils. With avocado butter they recomment 3 - 5%.
Thanks for stopping by!
Anna

Unknown said...

Hi again anna, I wanted to let you know that I made this soap yesterday, I replaced the avacado with kokum butter. I also did a cold process soap with this recipe. I unmolded today, it was a little softer than my normal soaps but hopefully curing time will fix that. I absolutely LOVE the smell!! Thank you again for an awesome recipe. I hope that it will help with some of the facial problems my family and I have :)

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hey Wanda, wow, great idea to try Kokum butter in this recipe, love to hear how it works for you. I've never used it, but have been wanting to. It is supposed to be great for the skin, restorative, regenerating, etc. Thinking about trying it in a solid lotion bar. Does it have a scent?

I made this soap bar to help my families skin issues, and we've been pleased with it. It dried and was very hard, but I did it Hot Process because we needed it. Yours will probably harden up just fine. Love to hear how you like it when its cured!
Best, Anna

Unknown said...

Anna, the kokum butter has a light scent, I wouldnt say its a good scent but not bad either. The smell doesnt come through though when used in products. I even use it in some of my lip balms. It is super creamy feeling in the lip balms :) I chose it for this soap because it is supposedly good for the skin, it promotes skin elasticity, contains vitamin E, its Non-comedogenic and absorbs quickly into the skin. Since I am 34 and still fighting with acne but starting to get wrinkles I thought this to be exactly what I needed in a butter! You should try it sometime, you will love it, it is definately a staple for me in many of my products. I will let you know when my soap is ready, Im sure Im going to love it, the waiting is killing me haha!

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Wanda, I am totally going to try the Kokum butter. After you mentioned it I started researching it some, and it sounds great! Thanks for the tip.

If you'd like, send a picture of your soap and I'll put it on the blog, we love to see other soaper's creations!
send pic to: natureshomespa.gmail.com

I think you will like this soap recipe, my family has really noticed a change in their skin when they use this regularly.

Thanks Wanda, Anna

Unknown said...

Anna, I wanted to let you know that I just couldnt wait any longer and I finally tried this soap. I LOVE it! I love the smell, I love the creamy lather and I love how my face feels after using it! Thank you so much for a great recipe, i will continue to use this face soap, I even have my hubby using it

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Wanda, awesome! So glad it came out good for you and you like it. We love it in my house.

Send a picture to share if you want.

I am ordering Kokum butter, yay! Can't wait to try it.

Kirsten said...

What size crock pot did you use?

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Kirsten, come to think of it, I'm not sure the exact size, I bought it used at a thrift store, here is a link to a tutorial I did using the same crock pot, with a picture of it, so you can it and gage it for yourself. Hope this helps.

http://natureshomespa.blogspot.com/2012/12/coffee-and-cocoa-soap-easy-3-oil-recipe.html

Kimberly said...

Hello! I have a question. I don't usually use Lard in my soap recipes so can it be replaced with a comparable vegan alternative? Also, I have never made hot process soap before. I only know how to make cold process soap. Can I make this recipe using cold process? Also the little mold I have for making tiny batches for when somebody wants to just try a bar only holds about 23 to 24 ounces of total oil/water so it makes about 5 bars. I see that you supplied the percentages for the oils....that's good I can figure out how much oil to use, but, I am not sure how to decrease the amount of EO's and the beeswax. Can you help???? Thanks tons! Kim.

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Kim,... I use my EO's at 1 oz essential oils to 1 pound of oils before water.

With Tea Tree you can use less, and still have the benefits as it is strong. I combined the EO's in this recipe to total my desired amount. I used more orange oil than tea tree. Orange has to be put in when the soap has cooled a bit to keep it's benefits. That is why I do this recipe Hot Process, so I can add the EO's after the cook has cooled a bit.

Yes, you can replace lard with Crisco solid. Crisco, the name brand, is 75% soybean oil and 25% palm oil. If you plug your recipe into Bramble Berry's lye calculator you would add the Crisco under 'vegetable shortening'

If you need help with the lye calculator and your recipe please email me your exact recipe and I will help you with it. No problem.

natureshomespa@gmail.com

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Kim, I just realized I didn't answer all your questions, my apologies.

Yes, you can do this recipe with the Cold Process method, another reader did so and sent pictures for us to see:

http://natureshomespa.blogspot.com/2014/02/kokum-butter-uses-in-soap-and-skin-care.html

About the beeswax amount: I keep my beeswax amount under 5% in any of my recipes. So, anywhere from 3-5% would work great.

thanks, Anna

Unknown said...

Hi Anna, greetings from Malaysia. Itnis hard to find Crisco here(i plan to use all vegetable oils). Can i use soybean oil and palm oil individually to replace Crisco's percentage? That means 19.2% palm oil and 6.4% soybean oil of the total oil weight used? Thanks a lot

Unknown said...

Can I use avocado oil, in place of the avocado butter? I know I will run it through the lye calculator. Will it work okay with the oil instead of the butter?
I am going to make this for my grandson, Thank you so much for this recipe
Terrea Gonzalez

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Terrea, yes you can use avocado oil instead of the butter. I have and it works just fine.
Best,
Anna

Shari said...

I have a question. Why the beeswax in soap? I have never used it in any soap. Is it important to the recipe? I have had people ask me if there was beeswax in my soap and was happy when I said no. Just learning. I really want to try this but I wanted to know that first. May try my first hot process soap??? Thank you!

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Shari, sorry I am so late in responding, I don't know how your question got by me!

OK, about beeswax in soap...first of all it is a natural antioxidant, is antibacterial and helps to lock in moisture, as well as protects and softens skin. These are properties that compliment this particular recipe of soap.

Beeswax makes your soap harder, hence making it last longer. It is known to be very soothing to skin. So.... I don't know why people were happy it wasn't in your soap, perhaps they wanted a vegan soap? As a soap ingredient you can feel confident using it. Experienced soapers recommend it be used at 5% in a recipe or less. Cold Process soap makers say that it helps in keeping soap ash free as well.

Is it important in this particular recipe? I feel it is as it is wonderful for the troubled skin crowd and brings just the sort of properties to the table that I was looking for! If you substitute it for something else, please be sure and run the recipe through a lye calc!

Give beeswax a try and see what you think. Soaping is a lot of fun, there is SO much you can do with it! thanks for the great question, hope I was of some help!

Anna

Unknown said...

Hi Anna,
I don't have any bentonite clay at this time, but I do have sea clay. Since sea clay has oil absorbing qualities, do you think it would be ok to substitute that for the bentonite or should I just wait and order the bentonite clay? Thank you!
Wanda

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi Wanda, sorry for the delayed response to your question!

Yes, substitute the bentonite clay with the sea clay if that is what you have on hand.
The color of your soap will be a little darker.

From all I've read about sea clay it would be great in an acne or facial bar such as this.

You can hydrate the clay in water and add it at trace, OR you can mix it in with the
oils, being sure to get out all clumps, as I describe in the post.
Best of luck!
Anna


Unknown said...

Not a problem with the delay at all. I decided to go ahead and order the bentonite clay, I'm awaiting it's arrival to make the soap. Think I'll still make some with the sea clay as well. Thanks so much for sharing and responding! Love your blog.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna,
Loved this soap recipe and I am going to try it out for my teenage kids. I am a vegetarian and am planning to substitute cocoa butter for lard. What is the ratio i should be using? and can this recipe be made using the CP way? Thanks for your time.

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

Hi MK,
Yes you can substitute the lard in this recipe for some cocoa butter. I say "some cocoa butter" because ideally you only want to use 5-15% cocoa butter in a recipe. In my opinion. Too much cocoa butter will make your bars brittle. So, maybe swap out the lard with cocoa and palm oil. I get my palm oil in solid form from a restaurant supply store.

Here is an updated recipe for you to try, you will need to add a bit more essential oils
than the above recipe as this one has more oil volume.

10 oz Olive oil
10 oz Coconut oil
10 oz Palm oil
2 oz Avocado oil
2 oz Castor oil
2 oz Beeswax
2 oz Grapeseed oil
2 oz Cocoa Butter

15.2 oz Water
5.45 oz Lye

This is superfatted to 6%, with a 38% water to lye ratio that i like to use for Hot Process

Yes, you can do this same recipe as cold process.
Hope this helps!
Anna

Anna from Natures Home Spa said...

MK,
Here is a link to a great Oil Chart for Soapmaking.
It has all the oils, their properties that they bring to the bar
and the best percentages to use.

Anna

http://www.lovinsoap.com/oils-chart/

Mahalaxmi Kumar said...

Hi Anna, so sweet of you to post the modified recipe and the link. Thank you so much. I will definitely try this one out.

Unknown said...

Hello, I am on my 8th batch of hot process soap and loving it. I am trying to find a basic oil recipe and add Essential oils clays etc from that base recipe. Is that a good idea from your experience? I have tried a 16/16oz each Avocado oil and coconut oil bar and so far my favorite. Why is this not a good idea? Also recently tried 11/11/11oz each Olive coconut and Avocado and added about .30oz of rising sun tea tree Essential oil at the end to make an acne bar for my son.I am sensitive to tea tree in the past so only used it on my oily chin nose area and it seems harsh and a bit drying. It smells awesome. I used less because I know it is strong. Have you noticed different brands are more potent than others or do you think I am just sensitive. I am a bit worried to have him try it :( I have not used the highest quality items yet because I am still learning. Thanks for all the great information.

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