Skincare Naturals » Handmade Natural Skin Care Products

5 Shopping Tips for a Natural Homemade Soap Bar

Jan — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:53:36 +0000

Here are a few tips if you are shopping for a good quality natural soap bar. If you can remember to look for these 5 tips, the quality of the soap will probably increase making your soap less drying and leaving your skin with a clean glow rather than dry flakes.

Matter of fact that’s how I test my recipes, if I wash my face and it feels too tight or gets dry I know I need to work on it!

I remember before I started making my own soap when dry flaky skin after a shower was the norm. It doesn’t have to be that way! And a bottled cleanser full of preservatives and who knows what is not necessary either.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

It can be confusing sometimes to find a good natural soap bar since there are so many varieties of soap on the market, both homemade and commercially produced.

1. Check for artificial colouring on the label. If the colour looks artificial it probably is.

2. Check for fragrance oils or scent listed on the label. You are looking for pure essential oils. The bar may be more expensive but there is a world of difference between these two. If pure essential oils are listed, it will very likely be stated as this is a big selling plus and indicates a high quality bar as well as justifies some of the cost as they are much more expensive to use than most fragrance oils.

TIP: If the scent is typically very expensive such as jasmine or rose or a fruit like mango or pineapple, it is likely a synthetic fragrance oil.

Some high end bars do contain the real thing, but they will most likely be either a small bar or very expensive. For instance the soap bar I have pictured is Sandalwood – it is a blend of pure essential oils including Sandalwood so that takes the cost down but still smells divine - there can be variables so don’t be afraid to ask if you’re not sure.

If you have a sales clerk who doesn’t know, it likely is synthetic unless it’s a place that sells a lot of homemade items including high end specialties. Be sharp, some labels can get a little tricky in their descriptions.

3. Check the list of oils. A pure natural soap can be made from these three ingredients and still be a cut above most other soap bars – coconut, palm and olive oil but if you can find soap that also lists at least one other beneficial oil/butter or a few, such as shea, cocoa butter or even castor (not expensive but gives some grand conditioning and bubbles -its not always used or even necessary but it’s nice.) you will increase the odds of having yourself a nice bar of soap (or giving a gift that will be very much appreciated).

BTW, in a 3 oil soap such as the one above, the more olive oil that is in it, the better.

Coconut provides butter and hardness but can be drying if taken too far, palm can be condition but can also be a cheap filler that I don’t find to be extremely beneficial in comparison to some other oils and also can be a sustainability issue.

Olive oil is one of the greats however. Pure Castile soap or a high olive oil content bar will not be very bubbly but will be very gentle and soothing on the skin.

4. What else is included in the bar. If it contains oatmeal, goat milk or dead sea mud, chances are higher that you will have nice bar even if it doesn’t have an added luxury oil or butter.

5. Many glycerin bars are made from a premade base often called melt and pour. There is a huge scale of quality in these bases. Unless you know who you are getting it from and can see an ingredient list for yourself, you may want to avoid these although they sound good.

Getting the Jump On Christmas

Jan Ferrante — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:56:22 +0000

Just a reminder for those of you who find yourselves doing Christmas 'last minute' every year (like me!) that there is still plenty of time to get the jump on everything right now, if you get to it (already).

I shocked and amazed everyone by requesting that we do our name draw now, because if my husband or I picked any of the girls in the family, I wanted lots of time to make some nice gifts this year… go on a soap making binge, get out my Make It Special eGuide and to round it out nicely with some herbal pillows and other goodies from Robin (don't forget, if you place an order with her, let me know and I'll send you the guide for free). BTW, we got both of the girls so I'm really looking forward to having some fun!

I'm going to add an essential oil assortment to the package, I was amazed to find out that my mother in law had no idea where to get them (besides the fact that she could have gotten them from me, she had no idea where to shop for them.) We all have a cold air vaporizer that they have out now, you can add essential oils to the water and make a room moist if it's dry AND smell good, maybe even kill some air born germs.

I'm going to put together a 5ml essential oil gift pack, let me know if you have any suggestions on scents you'd like to see in it.

Hope you are having visions of sugar plums dancing in your head as we head into the Christmas season!

Don't forget to get a good start now and enjoy yourself with plenty of time for crafty Christmas creations!

Last Day for 1/2 Price Soap Making Video – Unscented Castile Soap

Jan Ferrante — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:12:21 +0000

If you are learning to make soap and would like to have a teacher in your own home, showing you exactly what to do, jump on the Soap Making Fun video that is on for half price until the end of today.

After that, it goes back up.

Today is the last day to get it at such a reasonable price.

Soap Making Fun 50% Off Sale

See a complete table of contents for the bonus guide that comes with it!

Soap Making Fun Details

Below, is an example of some of the great soap that you can make when you know how! It is a lot of fun, environmentally friendly and skin healthy. Sounds good to me!

ORGANIC CASTILE SOAP

I'm happy to say that I've got my Castile Soap made with unfiltered virgin olive oil back in stock.

This is one of my favourite soaps. Not only is it extremely gentle, as gentle as any high end pricey cleanser that you can buy on the market, but there is something about the purity of it… the remaining scent of the olive oil that comes through… the feel of it… the colour… the green glow of it… the froggy stamp :0)… everything about this otherwise unassuming bar of soap just makes me feel good :0)

I add a touch of unrefined organic coconut oil to give it a barely there touch of lather. I keep it to a minimum because the silky "non lather" of a true castile soap is what gives it's gentleness and benefits of using it to the skin – especially sensitive, young or aging skin.

It is available for sale at my handmadesoap.ca soap making and skin care supplies site at this page – Organic Castile Soap made with unfiltered organic olive oil. (note, I do not presently have the sandalwood soap that is on that page in stock)

CASTILE COCONUT SOAP RECIPE

At this time, I cannot stock the unfiltered organic olive oil but I can give you the recipe.

You can use any other olive oil, I would advise that you not use pomice. It is used often by soap makers but be aware that it can have solvent remnants in it.

INGREDIENTS

15 oz organic olive oil

1 oz unrefined organic coconut oil

2.16 oz lye

5.6 oz water (you can round that up to 6oz, I am breaking down a 5lb batch)