I am aghast that I haven’t made time to get down to some serious Christmas time soap making. This past week has been a whirlwind of driving in crappy weather and all that fun stuff that seems to always land right before Christmas.
Maybe this week I’ll get down to it (crossing fingers!)
I thought that you might like to see this recipe from last year. I gave this soap out as gifts and used it myself for quite awhile and never got tired of it, not once.
If you make it, send me your pictures! I’d love to post them.
So here it is -
HOLIDAY WOODLANDS SOAP RECIPE.
Essential Oil Blend…
I made this soap using the Angels Wings essential oil blend.
I used
4 parts fir needle
2 parts white grapefruit
1 part frankincense
That blend had smelled quite light and pretty to me as it was.
After I made the soap, I found that it became quite woodsy, it reminded me a little of opening up an old cedar chest, probably the combination of fir and frankincense. The frankincense really comes through although there is quite a bit of a smaller amount.
This makes a really nice man’s soap, but I like it too :0)
I also used the same recipe, but had to make a few changes, of course.
Here is the recipe that I used to make a 1lb batch.
HOLIDAY WOODLANDS SOAP TAKE 1
Castor Oil .5oz
Cocoa Butter 4oz
Coconut Oil 5oz
Canola Oil 4oz
Shea Butter 2oz
Aloe/Sunflower Oil .5oz
5 oz water
2.25oz lye
I used .5oz essential oils.
THE RESULTS
I love this soap!
I decided to mix a bit of green and red mica in.
I mixed up a small bit of each separately and drizzled it in using layers.
I poured a layer of the white base, then drizzled some red across the top, then some green.
Then I did another layer, finishing with a layer of the red and green.
I cooked it in the over at about 170* for 2 hours, shutting the oven off and leaving the soap in until a little after noon the next day.
A LITTLE WHITER
My daughter pointed out that the soaps would have been nicer if the base was a little whiter.
I tried to keep it white but I will have to try harder.
As it dries, it seems to be turning more and more beige.
Next time I’m going to try some vegetable shortening to replace some of the canola and see what happens.
I’ll keep you posted!
I’m pulling out my favourite homemade shampoo bar recipe again and thought you might also want to try it. I usually make it in the crockpot although I may try it in the oven this time – I LOVE making soap in my crockpot but the bars do come out nicer in the oven – hmmm. Decisions, decisions!
I’ve been using ’store bought’ shampoo for awhile again and once more am getting appalled at the mountain of bottles we are collecting and the chemicals etc that are streaming through my hair and scalp and over my body as I rinse.
Here’s the recipe…
http://www.skincarenaturals.com/recipes/crockpot-shampoo-bar-recipe.shtml
If you try it, I’d love to hear how it goes and if you did any tweaks.
We all know that healthy skin care and nutrition go together but the exact why’s and how come’s are fuzzy.
I came across this article that I thought was really interesting. It has good info on some nutritional points that may not be exactly common knowledge, but I also like the information on how some of the organs in your body helps to maintain and build nice skin – and how we can support those organs.
I’ve noticed myself since making my diet a bigger priority that my skin has improved. My biggest discovery has been green smoothies.
I’ll post more information about those coming up. (I went on a raw/green smoothie challenge for a week once when my daughter was away. When she came back she said my skin looked like water. I didn’t even ask!. That sold me! – my largest skin care problems are large pores and a ruddy complexion.)
My current challenge is to spend more time in the kitchen making ‘real food’ and to cut the crap out of the cupboards (again). (if you want more info on that or if you’d like to get to know me better, you can check out my ‘at home’ blog and my health journey blog where I will have more indepth info about these things – My Home Blog and Healthy Habits Blog.
Here’s the link to the article if you’d like to have a look. You need to scroll down a bit to get Dr. Mercola’s comments and the additional information.
Healthy Skin Care Nutrition
While there are plenty of things that you can do to on the outside, getting in the habit to care for your skin and to keep it healthy from the inside is always a good idea – and a great place to start when brainstorming your next natural skin care creation.
If you need some help, the Soap Naturally book and my How to Make Body Butter eguide are a great place to start.
