How to use fresh avocado in homemade soap free recipe

Fresh Avocado in Homemade Soap

using the hot process method with recipe

The avocado is high in mono-unsaturated fats (good fats), and is able to absorb deeper into the skin.

These healthy fats help you to maintain the moisture level in your skin. Fresh avocado in homemade soap softens, hydrates and nourishes skin.

In light of the number of unhealthy ingredients in skin care products, a natural avocado homemade soap is a great addition to your skin care regime. This soap feels absolutely great on the skin. I have found it to help folks with skin problems like psoriasis and eczema by keeping skin hydrated, not stripping natural oils. 

These are my observations, not a medical statement.

Note: this recipe intended for those with prior knowledge of soap making and understanding of safety issues of working with lye.

Lye is caustic and dangerous, strict safety rules must be used.

Recipe for Avocado soap, using 40 ounces of oil
This is superfatted to 6%, and will give 
you a hard, moisturizing bar.

12 oz   Olive oil

12 oz   Coconut oil

12 oz   Palm oil

  4 oz   Avocado oil

15.2 oz   Water

  5.6 oz   Lye

1.25 oz to 2 oz fragrance oil, strength depends on fragrance 

Start with a half of a ripe avocado.

LEFT: Put 1/2 avocado into blender with 1 cup of water.

RIGHT: Blend until smooth. 
No lumps at all. You cannot put chunks of avocado into your soap! It must be completely smooth.


 Freeze pureed avocado.

When you are ready to make soap, take out avocado cubes. 

Measure your water and avocado.  I use no more than 3 oz of avocado in this recipe.

Your avocado is part of your water amount. So in this recipe the water amount is 15.2 oz, 

that means your water with avocado cubes added is 15.2 oz total.

Note: Using too much avocado in recipe will soften your soap. Stick to 3 oz or less. 

Store your left over avocado cubes in freezer for future soap.

Pour your lye crystals right into your water/avocado and stir until lye is dissolved.

Your oils/butters should already be melted in your crock pot on low.

Strain lye water into your oils if you think you did not get all your avocado smooth, no chunks.

   Stick blend as normal. 

(optional) :  Add fragrance or essential oil and stir well. 

Put into mold and allow to sit overnight.

You will get the most amazing, moisturizing soap! Enjoy!

How to use rice in homemade soap. Natural beauty treatment with rice.

Rice has been known as a natural beauty treatment for centuries. Why not add it to your homemade soap? Incorporating rice into your soap is easy. There are several ways to do this. Here are two that I have incorporated into my soap recipes.

1) powdered, pencil line
    2) rice water as your liquid

Rice water is used as a gentle skin cleanser and toner as it contains vitamins and minerals that brighten, soften, tighten and shrink pores. Antioxidant rich to fight free radicals that damage skin and cause fine lines and wrinkles. Rich in vitamin E (think anti-aging).

How to make Rice Water: 

Briefly rinse your rice in warm water to remove debris.

Cover rice with cool water and allow to soak for 10-15 minutes. Vitamins and minerals from the rice will seep into the water turning it into a lovely, milky, natural skin treatment. Use this rice water for the liquid in your soap recipe. You can also use this as a gentle cleanser/toner directly on your skin. Simply splash it on several times, rinse and pat dry.

For another way to use your rice try my  DIY rice mask recipe.

How to do a pencil line with rice in your homemade soap:

Grind your rice into a fine powder, you can use a coffee bean grinder, food processor or magic bullet type appliance.  Pour part of your soap batter into mold, sprinkle powdered rice in a thin layer over soap then gently pour or spoon the rest of your soap mixture over rice. I emphasize thin layer of rice, if you use too much rice your top layer will not adhere.

The rice line will show up as a cream colored line. As you lather up, the rice properties disperse in your suds, making a lovely homemade soap into a natural beauty soap. 

Japanese Mochiko is a spa soap I created incorporating beautiful Jasmine rice flour.

Mochiko is Japanese for rice flower.

Enjoy ,  Anna  :)

New Soaper Shout-Out to Violet from Arizona: Oatmeal Milk and Honey soap

New soaper Violet D. from sunny Arizona is a natural. This gal tackled a milk, honey, beeswax, oatmeal,  pencil line soap recipe as the second soap she's ever made, and it turned out fabulous. Wow. 

 Quite an accomplishment!

Topped with organic calendula leaves, this bar is solid moisturizing goodness for your skin.

Her milk of choice was goats milk; rich in vitamins, particularly Vitamin A which is necessary to maintain healthy skin, along with minerals, and Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHA) that gently exfoliate and remove dead dry skin cells revealing healthy skin cells.

Oatmeal lends a gentle cleansing, soothing touch to the skin.

Honey being a natural humectant draws moisture to the skin, it is healing, and moisturizing.

 You do not need a lot of honey per soap loaf, I use 1-2 TBL per 3 LB loaf, warmed and added at trace.

Keep in mind that honey will darken your soap some. The bottom layer in Violet's soap is colored only by the honey and oils, no fragrance was added to this layer. The top layer had a lovely essential oil and fragrance oil blend that contained vanilla. Vanilla will always darken your soap.  

Nutrient rich beeswax is completely non toxic and non allergenic. Known for its healing properties and natural emolliency, (softens the skin), as it locks in moisture and protects skin from environmental factors. It is a great natural ingredient to add to your soaps. 

I recommend using beeswax at a 5% ratio or below in your homemade soaps.

Enriched with shea butter, which is a great luxury oil to use in soap as it has such a high skin moisturizing, conditioning level without clogging your pores. Shea butter is known to help even out skin tone, acts as a great healer and is safe for baby, elderly and sensitive skin.

I recommend using shea butter at a  5% ratio. Some soapers suggest between 2-5%.

In 40 oz total oil wt. recipe, that would mean 2 oz. of shea butter.

The pencil line is cinnamon.

The color, scent, ingredients and overall look of this bar is wonderful. It has a warm, all natural, rustic appeal that will leave your skin soft and moisturized, not stripped of its natural oils.

Good job Violet, thanks for sharing !

100% Olive Oil soap recipe, Castille Soap

Here is a simple, recipe for 100% Olive Oil soap, known as Castille soap, named for the region in Spain that made it famous. A traditional, ancient beauty soap known all over the world.

HYPOALLERGENIC  and  ANTI-AGING
Olive oil soap is a trademark in beauty bars. It is known to be hypoallergenic and an extremely gentle cleanser that is highly moisturizing and skin softening. Cleans without stripping your natural oils away. Rich in Vitamin E and beta carotene this natural oil is known to have anti aging properties as it stimulates cell growth, giving your skin a healthy, youthful glow, a smooth, soft feel and improving elasticity. Minimizes wrinkles.

ANTIOXIDANT RICH
Olive oil with its abundance of vitamins E and A, helps to fight free radical damage to our skin cells.
We come into contact to free radicals everyday through food, pollution, pesticides and the chemicals in our beauty products; using an all natural olive oil soap to cleanse your face and body is a great way to healthier happier skin.

DRY SKIN RELIEF
Known to relieve dry skin as it moisturizes and gently exfoliates dead and flaky skin cells. If you routinely itch after a shower using commercial soap, you will be astounded to feel the difference using a homemade olive oil soap. Low, creamy, almost lotion-like lather.

MAKE-UP REMOVER
Takes off make-up easily, even eye makeup. Keep out of eyes !

PSORIASIS, ECZEMA, ACNE, RASHES, SCARS, DARK SPOTS
People who use olive oil soap have consistently said that it has helped their skin problems. I am not making a diagnosis or treatment here, just stating common knowledge. Regular use of olive oil soap will improve your skin quality and appearance. Now you can make it yourself.......

RECIPE FOR A 3 POUND LOAF OF HOMEMADE UNSCENTED OLIVE OIL SOAP:

40 oz. of pure olive oil,  (you do not have to use virgin, or extra virgin olive oil)
13.2 oz  distilled water
5 oz   lye  (sodium hydroxide)

superfatted to 6%

Cut into approximately 4 oz bars, you will get about 11-12 bars from this recipe

Always check a soap recipe with a lye calculator, here's the one I use from Bramble Berry:

Simply packaged, this soap makes a fabulous gift.

How to use Clay in soap

Updated: 2/4/16
Clay in handcrafted soap is beneficial on several levels. Used in shaving soaps it gives the soap "slip", meaning it helps the razor to glide or slip over the skin smoothly.  Used in daily use soap, it makes a lovely complextion bar, and all over body soap. The various types of clay add different properties and natural color to your soap as well.

Bentonite clay is an affordable, easy to find clay, with many awesome uses.  A light greenish color, bordering on grey, clay. The largest deposits being mined in Wyoming and Montana, USA.  It's greatest property is it's ability to absorb toxins and impurities. Hence, it makes a lovely complexion bar that gently cleanses skin,  is highly absorbent and good for oily, or acne prone skin.  Adding Bentonite makes a silky, creamy feel to the soap.  Pictured below is a soap I made with Bentonite clay, oatmeal, tea tree and rosemary.

Left: Bentonite clay

Right:
Kaolin clay




Rhassoul clay is a highly prized spa favorite all over the world. Only found in the beautiful Atlas Mountains of eastern Morocco, this reddish brown clay, makes the soap a light brown with specks. History shows it has been used for over 1400 years as a soap and skin conditioner. It contains higher percentages of magnesium, potassium and calcium than other clays which make it desirable additive to any skin care line. Rhassoul has been known to reduce dry and flakiness in skin, improving the skins natural elasticity. clarity, and tone, as well as absorb toxins. Suitable for all skin types. Pictured below is a soap I made with Rhassoul clay, calendula tea and orange essential oil.

French Green Clay, soft green in color,  is made up of healing volcanic ash that is full of important minerals. It is very effective in deep cleansing, and as with all clays is a natural de-toxifier as it absorbs and pulls out toxins deep within the skin cells. This helps to rejuvenate, tone and brighten the skin. This is another great shaving soap, as it makes a dense creamy lather with nice "slip". Suitable for oily skin.  Below is another Bentonite clay soap, with rosemary and lavender.

HOW TO ADD CLAY TO YOUR SOAP

1-2 Teaspoons of clay per pound of oils, ( I used 2 tsp)

Here are several methods:

1) Once your oils are melted, take out a few Tablespoons of oil and stir your clay into it. Mix well so there are no clumps, then add clay/oil back into your melted oils. Stir. Add your lye/water and proceed as normal. 

2)Another method is to add your clay directly into your melted oils and stick blend them in. I have seen little clumps this way, so be sure you stick blend well and fully disperse the clay. 

Then add your lye/water and proceed as normal.

3) At trace you can add clay in and stick blend until no clumps. I find this to be the easiest method and the one that I usually do.

Clay can be added in Hot Process and Cold Process soap methods.

Be sure and use cosmetic grade clay!

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO WITH YOUR CLAYS that you bought to make soap with?

Clay and Herb Mask recipe:

2 parts clay 

1 part finely ground herb, oats, and/or tea (I grind mine into a powder in a coffee bean grinder)

Hydrate this mix with water or tea, apply to skin in circular motions, leave on 10 mins. Rinse off.

Note: use wooden or plastic utensils when working with bentonite clay due to it's natural components and the reaction to metals.

According to Mountain Rose Herbs:  

Bentonite is very unusual in the fact that once it becomes hydrated, the electrical and molecular components of the clay rapidly change and produce an “electrical charge”… When it becomes mixed with water it rapidly swells open like a highly porous sponge. From here the toxins are drawn into the sponge through electrical attraction and once there, they are bound.

Clay facial

1 part clay

2 parts liquid, adding more if it's still too dry. You can use water for normal to oily skin,

or milk for normal to combination skin.

optional:  melt a little honey and add

Smooth on, leave on for 10 mins and rinse. Using a warm, wet washcloth works best. 

Then splash face with cool water.

Kokum butter uses in soap and skin care

Natural Soaper Wanda M. from He Loves Me Soaps,  made my Orange Tea Tree blemish bar soap, and like any true soaper she tweaked the ingredients to suit her needs.  In this case Wanda used a fabulous natural butter called Kokum in her soap, and created a facial bar to meet the needs of her family.

Kokum butter is a natural emollient, which means it is a moisturizer that makes the skin softer,  aiding in it's elasticity as well as increasing it's hydration by decreasing evaporation. It's ability to improve the skin's tone and texture and prevent and treat dry skin make this butter a great choice for this facial bar. Prized for it's ability as a natural astringent it's addition to this bar makes it a good choice for an acne bar.  Good for all skin types but especially for those with damaged skin, this butter is an excellent healer.

Kokum would be an excellent butter to use in lip balm recipes as it aids in healing of chapped lips. You will see it in the ingredient list of some of Bert's Bees products.

Cracked heals and hands?   Kokum butter would be an excellent addition to lotions and balms.

It's anti-aging properties lend to a great day cream additive as it reduces the degeneration of skin cells and aids in the prevention of wrinkles.   This is a hard butter with a two year shelf life.

Thanks Wanda for drawing our attention to this fabulous natural butter made from the Kokum Tree (Garcinia Indica) native to tropical regions of India.

Places to purchase Kokum butter:   I am not affiliated with any of these shops.
LuxNatures Supplies etsy shop
Essential Wholesale and Labs
Bulk Apothecary
Garden of Wisdom
Wholesales Supplies Plus

Click here for my original recipe, feel free to tweak it to suit your needs ! NOTE:  you should
always run any soap recipe through a lye calculator before making it !!!  Here are a few to try:
Bramble Berry Lye Calc
MMS the Sage lye Calc
9 of the best Lye Calcs


Enjoy,   Anna

How to use Tea in soap

      All natural handcrafted soap made with fresh brewed tea,  sweet meyer lemon and honey !

Tea is prized for it's healthy benefits, why not try it in a beauty bar?

If  you make your own soap, you simply use fresh brewed tea for the liquid in your recipe.

HOW:  Make a strong brew of tea, and freeze it in ice cube trays.

When measuring out your liquid for your soap, use your frozen tea instead measuring just as you would for liquid.  Pour your lye crystals right into your tea cubes and stir until melted and all lye is dissipated into the tea.

I also add 1 -2 TBL of warmed honey at light trace while stick blending. Honey adds it's natural humectant benefits to your beauty bar. Honey and tea are both antibacterial making this a lovely cleansing soap for troubled skin. 

Tea and honey in homemade soap make a great facial bar as well as body bar.

Add sweet meyer lemon, or lemongrass for scent and you have an awesome fresh smelling beauty bar.

Enjoy,   Anna

RMS Titanic Soap reproduction

Here at Natures Home Spa I have been researching and working on recreating the original soap recipe of the luxury soap exclusively given to the First Class passengers on the RMS Titanic owned by White Star Line in 1912.

Originally called Vinolia, this soap was given to those considered to be the richest, most prominent
people of their time. As they were used to the best, the Titanic owners naturally wanted them to
have the best soap as well.

This soap was an expensive soap for it's time.  Priced at .35cents and scented with lemon
and rose, it was not a soap affordable to the common class.  History shows it as being
a soap supplied to Queen Elizabeth.

This soap is made in England today, with the same shape and scent as the original, but it appears
the recipe has changed from the original as the company changed ownership over the years.
It version now contains petroleum oil.

I set out to reproduce as close as I could the original recipe.  After much research, this is my version of the famous vintage soap used on the R.M.S. Titanic.  My bar is rectangular, the original was oval.

Take a step back in time and experience what a privileged traveler on the worlds most famous ocean liner would have.

A small piece of history:   The ad below is the exact reproduction of the ad published in the
April 6, 1912 edition of the London Illustrated News, 9 days before the fated Liner sunk.
This ad was never printed in color or in a variation of the original here and is now in public domain.

You can view or purchase this soap in my Etsy shop, where each soap is labeled with this vintage ad,
and comes with a brief description of the soap and it's journey.

Enjoy,   Anna

New Soaper Shout-Out and Soap Give-A-Way !

Melissa from sunny California USA is a new soaper that recently made some awesome soap with recipes from Natures Home Spa. They came out so great that I had to share them, and it gave me an idea....

If you make any recipes from this blog, PLEASE contact me via comment or contact box found on the right (scroll down), and I will be happy to share your lovely natural bath and body creations.
Also, creativity of your own is totally acceptable ! Look at Melissa's adaptation of my "Mocha Cafe". Love it.

If you are a new soaper and just want to share your soap pictures and story, contact me, I'd love to blog about them!

In addition I will enter you into a blog-give-away of one of my newest natural soaps, Melissa you are entered!

You also can enter for soap give-a-way simply by leaving a comment below !

Great job Melissa, thanks for sharing your lovely soaps!

To enter your own creations please leave a comment or use the contact box on the right of blog post to send me pictures!

Winner will be drawn November 30th 2013.

Frankincense and Myrrh Soap: How to use Frankincense resin in your homemade soap

Frankincense and Myrrh, two ancient resins still used today that bring to mind the costly gifts given to the Christ child some 2,000 years ago.  

 I have long wanted to use these in a homemade soap recipe.

This particular soap I made has fragrance oil and essential oils in it.

You can use Frankincense resin, also known as tears, in your homemade soap.

Here's how:

1) freeze your Frankincense tears over night

2) grind them into a powder in a coffee bean grinder or other electric type grinder

3) you can now use this powder directly in your soap batter, or dissolve it in hot water 

Frankincense is used in wrinkle creams, lotions, emulsifying scrubs, and ointments as it rejuvenates the skin, perking up older skin, as an astringent for younger acne prone skin, and a calming, soothing effect overall.

FYI:  Frankincense will dissolve in water or alcohol.  Hot water dissolves it quicker.  A higher grade of Frankincense will still be a bit gummy in the center and opaque in color.

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 

Sandalwood Rose Rain soap

     Highly aromatic, this one! Lovely rose and sandalwood combination. Rich. Enticing and exotic.

Sandalwood is the rich and aromatic wood from the Santalum tree, highly cultivated. The Indian and the Australian are the two most noted varieties in this genus.

The interesting thing about Sandalwood is that it will keep its fragrance for decades, literally. That is unusual in a fragrant wood. It is a beautifully fine grained, yellow wood. It's East Indian wood source is becoming scarce making it very pricey.

In this recipe I used a fragrance oil blend that was infused with natural essential oils of Cedarwood, Patchoulli and sustainably harvested Sandalwood. Woodsy, musky and softened with the rose fragrance oil made a lovely rich exotic bar.  Very aromatic.

The "pencil line" you see is a dark cocoa. The almost indiscernible white creamy line is finely ground Jasmine rice. Soft and silky, not grainy.   Just a lovely Spa bar made with fresh Arizona rain and enriched with unrefined Shea butter for that additional luxury!

You can find this bar in my etsy shop.

Pumpkin Puree in Homemade Soap Recipe

      Updated: 9/16/16 - Yes, you can put real pumpkin into your homemade soaps!  It makes a lovely bar of rich, creamy goodness. Make your own puree from fresh pumpkins, or pumpkin from a can.

originally published 8/22/13 updated 9/16/16

 Warm, homey and with a scent reminiscent of crisp fall mornings and toasty evenings at home.

I used canned pumpkin puree, yes, the kind that you make pies from. This was pure pumpkin puree, not the variety with spices added.  I made this hot process method in a crock pot and added the pumpkin at trace with a TBL of  honey. Frozen fresh goats milk and Arizona rain water for my liquid. (You can use all water for this recipe if you choose.)

vintage pumpkin seed package

This makes a hard, bubbly, moisturizing bar of soap.

Rich and creamy.  Absolutely decadent!  The lather is light tan.  I put real spice lines of ginger, and just a touch of cinnamon and cardamon. (optional) Spices alone are not strong enough to give a good scent when the soap is done, so I added some pumpkin fragrance oil. The result is a heavenly smelling, decadent bar that just makes you feel good to use.  You will love it.

__________________________________________________________________________________

2 oz beeswax

2 oz castor oil

12 oz coconut oil

12 oz olive oil
12 oz palm oil

2 oz canned pumpkin

1 TBL warmed honey at trace (optional)  FYI ... honey darkens the color of your soap

1.5 oz  to 2 oz  fragrance oil added after the cook. Strength of scent is your choice. 

5.5 oz lye   (6% superfatted using SoapCalc ) Always use gloves and glasses when working with lye (sodium hydroxide). I recommend long sleeve shirt as well, and an apron.

15.2 oz of liquid  ( I used 5 oz of frozen goats milk and 10.2 oz water)
__________________________________________________________________________________
NOTE:  You do not have to use goats milk if you don't choose too. 
You can use buttermilk or cow milk.     Freeze it first. 

frozen milk cubes

Always freeze your milk in cubes, this keeps temps down so your milk does not scorch. Next add water to milk cubes so that your total amount of milk and water is 15.2 oz
Then slowly pour your lye crystals into frozen milk/water,
stir until dissolved. 
It will turn orange, this is normal when using milks.

Don't want to use milk in your recipe at all? No problem...
Simply use the full liquid amount of 15.2 oz as water. This does not change the rest of the recipe.

I've noticed that using purees in my HP soaps makes the soap take a bit longer to get done,
this is normal. Relax and read a book, but don't walk away from a crock pot of cooking soap!

Always run a soap recipe through a lye calculator before making it yourself.   Be safe.

If you don't want to make this fresh Autumn soap yourself, check out my etsy shop. 

    Enjoy,  Anna

Fruit and Oatmeal Soap

   For a great fall inspired soap, I paired fruit preserves and oatmeal, and came up with a really great bar of soap.  The lather is fab.  And the soap is sooooo mild.  Warm with just a hint of fruit.

You can use your favorite basic soap recipe and add fresh fruit puree in at trace and blend well.

I added 3oz of berries pureed  in 40oz of oils.  And 2 TBL of finely ground oats.

Tip: use fresh or frozen fruit, not jarred preserves or jam..... I tried it CP and the soap stayed soft due to the citric acid in the fruit preserves. I won't make that mistake again.

For my liquid I used some creamy goats milk and a bit of Arizona rain water, my fav.

I added strawberry FO just to give it a bit of a fruity scent, as the fresh fruit scent does not come through the soaping process. You can do this Hot Process or Cold Process. Pictured is my HP batch.

Japanese Mochiko, rice flower soap

Fresh and clean, this soap smells like spring air. Mochiko is Japanese for rice flower. Smooth, creamy and skin nourishing.

Made with moisturizing and nourishing skin loving oils and butters like Olive, Coconut, Shea butter,
castor, and soybean/palm this soap not only smells delightful and is great for the skin, it is a beautiful pure cream color with large bubbly lather.  Just gorgeous.

I wrapped it in homemade tea paper. Yep, real vanilla tea right in the paper.

Smells like a dream, you don't even wanna open it!

Soap Packaging Inspiration and a great hobby, Papermaking

For all my Soaping friends, here is a simple and inexpensive way to package your beautiful homemade soap. It looks elegant, and is "gift ready".

Plus, inspiration for a new hobby for all those creative ideas floating around in our heads!

I wrapped this soap in 5 1/2 x 8 1/2"  sheets of paper.  Wrapped present style.  Tied with natural rafia that I picked up at the Dollar Store. And accented with a sticker I made through Vista Print, but  you can make using Avery sticker sheets and printing yourself.  The ingredients are typed out using Word on my computer and glued on the back.   

For display at Farmers Market, etc, simply have a bar wrapped in cello at the forefront for folks to see the actual soap.   Or, make a cigar-band of natural paper to wrap around the center for more visibility.

These sell themselves as pre-wrapped gifts.  Beautiful boutique quality and look. Just lovely. And the soaps scent comes through nicely.

This particular paper is something I make homemade, using real rose petals. Making paper yourself is not difficult AT ALL !  Here is a link to "Paper Alice" who makes incredible paper using botanicals in your backyard. This video shows you the basics.  All you need is a blender, a frame you can make yourself, and scrap paper to recycle.  This next link shows you how to add things from your own yard

Make paper from your backyard botanicals by Alice Rusk.

It is basically free to make your own gorgeous paper to wrap your soaps in, or to make cigar-band style labels for your soaps.   The results are anything but ordinary. 

Use colors and additives to compliment your branding:   Making a Green Tea Soap? Add tea leaves to your paper and wrap!  Lemongrass or Peppermint? Add fresh cut grass blades or real peppermint leaves to your paper.  Stunning.  

It is not as hard or time consuming as it sounds. Give it a try! You just may find another creative outlet that you end up really enjoying.  Especially us "Soapers" , we really do love natural products, and creativity, don't we!

Honey Beeswax Natural Soap

Made with local Arizona honey and beeswax, this natural soap is a moisturizing treat for your skin!

Living in Arizona USA, I've learned to appreciate any moisture my skin can get! I've formulated the recipe for this soap to be moisturizing and soothing with a great lather.


Beeswax: has emollient, or softening and soothing properties and helps the skin retain moisture.

Honey: A natural humectant, meaning it attracts moisture, keeping it locked inside, close to the skin.
Honey is known to aid in retaining elasticity without drying out your skin. A natural antioxidant with natural antimicrobial properties.

Coconut oil:  A beautiful natural emollient, moisturizer, conditioner and protector of our skin.

Castor oil: Great conditioner and moisturizer. It is unique in the fact that it is almost entirely composed of ricinoleic fatty acid found in no other oils and possesses an affinity for water molecules, which means that it attracts and holds moisture in the skin, a humectant.

Olive oil:  Keeps the skin soft and supple with its conditioning and moisturizing properties  as it attracts external moisture to the skin.

Soybean/Palm oil blend: lends a silky feel, cleans well and is mild, high in linoleic and oleic acid.

This was a fun soap to make, I used bubble wrap to create the honeycomb effect on top and bottom.

If you don't want to make this soap yourself, you may order from my etsy shop.

Enjoy,   Anna