Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Ugly Soap reformed!

Remember this soap, again?  It has turned out to be an amazingly hard bar of soap.  The fragrance oil caused it to turn more of a beige color rather than the pretty white you see in the pic, but it is still amazing.  I've been using this on my face, actually using the bar of soap on my face, not lathering on my hands first, and the oatmeal is a great exfollient, the smell is nice and light and my face looks so much better.  I can actually feel the oatmeal tightening my pores up.  So today, I used this on both my kids during bath time.  Gabby has had a little bit of a red bottom (from juice) and so I took this bar of soap and ran it under the water while the tub filled.  It made the water like a little bubble bath, but also made it feel somewhat silky.  This soap is so mild, I'm so impressed with it.  I used it to bath my little ones in and it didn't burn their eyes.  When I got Gabby out of the tub, her redness had decreased dramatically, again very impressed.  I decided against selling this at first because the fragrance oil didn't leave the bar of soap a pretty white, but now I'm rethinking because it truly is a good bar of soap for kids and babies, even to just have to run under the water while the bathtub fills.  If you're interested in trying, it's $3.00 plus s/h, no s/h if you are local.  If you have little ones, this soap may be for them.  It's 100% saponified handmilled olive oil with colloidal oatmeal and oatmeal, milk, and honey fragrance which is very light. :)






Remember that ugly batch of 100% Olive Oil soap I made?  Well, I decided to handmill it, added Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey fragrance, and colloidal oatmeal.  And, it turned out great!  Handmilling is a great way to add a special touch to your basic soap recipe via adding additives such as teas, essential oils, fragrance oils, and even fruits and veggies!  Like I said before, it's very hard to have to dump a batch of soap.  I've only had to dump a batch once over the past year and a half.  Handmilling is quiet easy.  Just take your basic soap once its been unmolded and cut.  If your soap is still too wet after cutting, just let it dry out for a day or two.  Then, take your good ol' cheese shredder, and shred it up.  I weigh mine prior to milling so I know how much distilled water to add.  Mine weighed 1.5 pounds, so I used 18 ounces of distilled water.  Too much water will leave you with a slimy mess.  I put this in the crock pot on low.  Then let the crock do the work of melting giving a stir with a wooden spoon every now and then.  Once completely melted and looking like this Vaseline, then put in your additives.  In my case, I added my fragrance first, and then my colloidal oatmeal.  Mold it up, let it get the hard film on top, then pop in freezer til completely hard.  To know how much fragrance I want to put in a batch of soap or lotion, I use http://www.thesage.com/calcs/fragcalc.html.  This calculator will save you much time and money.  Once your handmilled soap is frozen solid, you can unmold it and cut it, gently.  Then let it dry out!  There ya go, handmilled soap!



Here is the guide I use when handmilling to know how much water to use:

Grated Soap                                                    Water
12 ounces (341g)                                             9 ounces (255g)
1 pound (453g)                                                12 ounces (340g)
1-1/2 pounds (680g)                                        18 ounces (510g)
2 pounds (907g)                                               24 ounces (680g)
3 pounds (1.4kg)                                              36 ounces (1kg)

Your soap will be thick and hard to stir in the beginning so DO NOT add more liquid thinking it needs it.  It doesn't.  If you do, it won't set up and your stuck with either dumping it or making some liquid soap out of it.

Happy Soaping!

3 comments:

  1. This soaps looks amazing Jodi !! Good job!! This looks like a lot of fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Polly! Soapmaking is addicting! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. They look like blocks of chocolate.. Yum!!!

    ReplyDelete