This is day nine of my 30 day blogging challenge. My goal this month is to post one recipe every day.
These recipes feature natural colorants and additives and are scented using natural essential oil blends. They will all fit into a 10″ silicone loaf mold (affiliate link http://www.brambleberry.com/10-Silicone-Loaf-Mold–P5199.aspx?bb=5) from Bramble Berry. So let’s get started!
Featured Ingredients:
Yarrow Powder – Yarrow is antibiotic and anti-inflammatory. It is also astringent. We’ve used yarrow before here.
Oatmeal is great for the skin! It is soothing, nourishing and slightly exfoliating. I like to take regular oats (not instant) and pulverize them in a coffee grinder. Whole oats can be a bit scratchy on the skin. We used oatmeal before here.
Yarrow and Oatmeal Cold Process Soap Recipe
Olive oil – 24 oz.
Coconut oil – 4 oz.
Mango butter – 4 oz.
Lye – 4.3 oz.
Water – 6.4 oz.
About this recipe: There is a HIGH amount of olive oil in this recipe which will make it super gentle and nourishing. It is cleansing, but LOW cleansing. Because of the high amount of olive it will require a longer cure and will have the ‘olive oil soap snotty feel’. BUT, it makes a great soap for babies, elder skin or anyone that needs a gentle soap. I like to let this cure for at least 8 weeks.
Water – My normal water amount is 2 times the lye amount. For soap that is this high in olive oil, I use a formula of 1.5 times the lye to get my water amount. So above, I just took 4.3 x 1.5 and that equals 6.4. Do the water amount that you feel comfortable soaping. However, I highly recommend not to use the standard water amount that soap calculators spit out at you because it it closer to three times the lye and that is just too much water for this recipe.
Additives:
Oatmeal – 2 teaspoon (be sure to powder it first so its not scratchy)
Yarrow Powder – 1 teaspoon
Essential Oil Blend:
Since we’re calling this baby soap, I recommend leaving out fragrance or essential oils. Unscented it perfect for babies.
Basic Soapmaking Process:
New to soapmaking? Visit our basic tutorial here.
Step 1 – Wearing safety gear, weigh out the lye and water into two separate containers.
Step 2 – Pour the lye into the water while stirring. Place in a safe place and let cool while you prepare the oils.
Step 3 – Weigh out the hard oils/butters and melt.
Step 4 – Weigh the liquid oils into the melted oils/butters. This helps cool the oils down.
Step 5 – Add additives to the melted oils. Stick-blend to get rid of clumps if any occur.
Step 6 – Once both the lye solution and oils have cooled to under 100° F, add the lye solution to the oils and mix to trace. Be sure to wear goggles and gloves!
Step 7 – Pour the soap into your mold.
Step 8 – Unmold, cut and cure your soap for at least 8 weeks.
Happy Soaping!
Amanda Gail
Can you double this Recipe?
HI there, this recipe looks lovely. I am curious why there isn’t a superfat for this one?