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Anyone make their own soap and/or beauty products
- This topic has 25 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 7 months ago by
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Well, Miranda…..I would not worry about flying critters being attracted to your hair on picture day….as long as you style it into a beehive hairdo! ROFL….
Okay, it wasn’t that funny….
Sue
Ruth, ok now I am totally freaked out about making soap! Goggles, gloves and a mask – oh my! I would be totally petrified I would be poisoning my children by making that in the house. My point was to make a natural product, free of chemicals. I guess no such thing with soap? How do you know you did it right so that you aren’t harming anyone, especially a baby?
I know some use soap bases, which seems like an easier way to go, but I looked into it alittle and it seems the base ingredients have a long list of chemicals too. Would you or anyone know of a base that is natural? And is a soap base, really just soap already and you are only adding something you like, like essential oils for smell? Like could you use it plain if you really wanted to? Thank you!
Hi, I just wanted to check something – I use essential oils and carrier oils like Jojoba and Grape Seed to make my products for face and body. I don’t fuss with lotions or creams as I don’t have time – will those work for you? I have two simple things here to start with a body scrub and softening bath bag with simple ingredients: Let me know if the oils for face and body with work for you – I also have hair rinses, and skin tonics – I use pretty much all aromatherapy. Anyway, here are two of my favorite recipes from England, these were given to a class I was taking on natural skin care.
Simple Body Scrub
5/8 cup coarse salt
4 TBS Olive Oil
Juice of a Lemon
Mix all ingredients together and rub all over the body once a week to exfoliate the skin. Pay special attention to knees and elbows and also your feet. After covering your body simply shower off. If you want to add herbs to the mixture the following are favorites of mine. DO NOT USE THIS SCRUB ON YOUR FACE it is too harsh.
Lavender flowers to promote restful sleep
Mint for a fresh and invigorating rub
Rosemary to energize
Thyme for antibacterial properties
Bath Bags for Softer Skin
Cheesecloth
Oatmeal
Herbs of your Choice
Ribbon or string
Cut 7 x 7 square of cheesecloth
Place a handful of oatmeal and your chosen herb in the center, then gather up the corners, secure with string or ribbon.
Hang from the tap as you run your bath so the water runs over and through the bag or you could just drop the bag in the water as the bath fills. You can squeeze the bag to get the most out of the treatment.
In winter I add a couple of drops of essential oil to the oatmeal – if using essential oil drop the bag in the water to ensure the oil dilutes thoroughly.
Sometimes if I just want a nice scented bath, I just add 6-8 drops of my favorite oil or blend to a quarter cup of milk and add to the bath water.
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Essential oils should be used with caution and always diluted – unless presribed by a trained practitioner. A 2% dilution to carrier oil or water is safe for most people, anyone with sensitive skin or young children should use a more dilute version.
I know it can sound kind of scary to make. I was a little nervous the first time, but all turned out well and I make soap regularly now with ease. Consider this: All soap used lye in the process of making it. Comercial soap has had the natural glycerin that is in the soap removed and had detergents, alcohols, and all kinds of other not friendly junk added to it.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/172510-what-is-a-glycerin-soap-base/
Here is a link about soap bases. It is pretty informative about what is in the base and how they make it. The bases are for those who want homemade soap but are not keen on using lye. It is pretty much a premade soap that you can add to.
As I mentioned before, when the lye and oil mix a chemical reaction takes place and no lye is left in the final product. There are numerous lye calculators online if you are making your own soap completely from scratch. If you are following a well used recipe the proportions for the lye and oil will already be calculated and you just follow the recipe. When I make the soap, I wait until the 2yr old is napping and mix the lye and water under the vent fan on the microwave or range hood.
I use our homemade soap on my whole family, and the kids when they were babies, and have never had any adverse skin reactions. It is far more moistiorizing than comercial soaps.
I hope this is a little more enlightening and not frightening to anyone interested in making homemade soap. It reallly is fun and enjoyable to make soap yourself.
My grandmother (and my 90yo great aunt who is still living…need to go pick her brain) made their own lye for their soap using ashes. I have instructions and a woodburning fireplace but I haven’t tried it yet. Lye is a natural product. There are many natural products that have to handled with extreme care.
Wardeh on gnowfglins had a “thank-you” video some time back where she showed you how to make soap in the crock pot. It was very well done. The video was given as a thank you gift for paying members of the ecourses she does but I think you can buy it separately. Worth the money if you want to make this soap. Also one of the Homestead Blessings videos teaches soap making as well.
Linda, Oils work fine for me! Simplicity is best! I don’t need to make anything into a cream or lotion either if it is more work. I am excited to try the body scrub tonight!
Are hair rinses like a conditioner or something different? Are skin tonics for if you are feeling bad? Can you use oil on your face as a moisturizer instead of the commercial lotiony stuff? Does it cause break outs? That would be so nice to use something I can make myself, because the list of ingredients on commercial facial stuff is a mile long and all chemical. Thank you sooo much for sharing all your wisdom!!Ruth, also thank you for the second post. I feel better. I am doing more research and think I will be brave and give it a try once I get all the stuff together. I am thinking just to ease my mind, I might try to take the lye mixture outside when it is time for the reaction to occur if possible. I just thought of a couple more questions: when you make a batch, how many bars does it make on average? I guess the root to that question would be how often do you make soap for your family use? Also, you mentioned you use it for your babies too. I am guessing it would burn their eyes like any soap if it got in them? I guess I am trying to figure out how they make “no sting” baby soap commercially and how you could do that at home? Is it just because they water down liquid soap alot? And finally, how do you buy lye? I am guessing that just isn’t in the grocery store. What supply places do you like? Thank you too for all your wisdom and sharing!
I might even try the baking soda “shampoo” and ACV “conditioner” tonight too! It is a brave new natural world out there!
I have seen a few tutorials for crock pot soap – here is one I have bookmarked for “someday” LOL
http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2008/09/making-hot-process-soap-in-crock-pot.html
I fixed up my baking soda with water in a squirt bottle for shampooing last night – about 1:3 soda to water. You have to shake it up each time as it settles to the bottom. From what someone said in a post above, that may be too much soda.
I also have my a.c. vinegar too strong – about 1:1 with water, I think I will dilute this some more.
I make soap about once a month. Most recipies will make enough for one “log”. Then it just depends on how thick you cut your soap. I cut mine at about 1″, so I get around 18 bars per each batch. I have a few other moulds if there is extra soap. As far as my little one, I just try not to get the soap in her eyes. Sometimes it does get in here eyes when she handles the soap and then rubs here eyes. She cries, but usually rinsing her face helps and she goes on playing in the bath.
I buy lye online. I always shop around to see where the least expensive site to buy is. You don’t use a lot so it can be a while between purchases. Sometimes there are sales or price changes, so I just shop around.
I can give you a hair treatment for dry hair, it is quite long winded takes a few hours of your time to do it right, but it works well. I don’t have a daily conditioner recipe. I can also send you a recipe for a face oil for a combi skin – however with face oils it can take a little trial and error as we are all a little different. Skin tonics can do many things, they can be for the skin purely to nourish or they can help with moods, ie energising, relaxing etc. I will try and put a couple of things together for you this weekend. As these will be specifically for you, I may pm them to you. Linda
My friend recently showed me how to make some olive oil castile(?) soap. All it has in it is olive oil, water and lye. After she had heated the stuff, she used a hand held wand blender to mix it. She said it cut her mixing time from about an hour to about 10 minutes. I have to order that online, but I thought I’d mention it. Homemade soap can be easy and fun – certainly makes me feel productive and happy. =)
Are hair rinses like a conditioner or something different? Are skin tonics for if you are feeling bad? Can you use oil on your face as a moisturizer instead of the commercial lotiony stuff? Does it cause break outs? That would be so nice to use something I can make myself, because the list of ingredients on commercial facial stuff is a mile long and all chemical. Thank you sooo much for sharing all your wisdom!!
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