Carrot, Coconut & Honey Soap

I made another batch of soap. An improvisation of my earlier Carrot & Coconut milk soap. This time I made Carrot, Coconut Milk & Honey Soap, superfatted it at 8%. I used 50% each of frozen carrot puree and coconut milk. No water at all. Went very slow while mixing in the lye, so as to not discolour the carrots. As you can see, it kept the lovely orange colour. Was praying that the colour would not change during the saponification process, like the last time.

Mixing the lye

The lovely orange of the carrots

The soap turned out wonderful and I could also cut it smoothly the next day. I love the way the carrot puree shows through the soap. I scented it with orange EO.

As you can see below, the vast difference in colour between my last batch and the current one. Wonder if the honey had anything to do with it. Also, will the colour hold through the curing period. Updates shall follow.........

Soap for Eczema

My DD has suddenly developed a form of eczema and is very upset about it. She suffers from a lot of allergies, especially asthma, which she has had since the age of 7. It had settled down a couple of years ago, but has been acting up again. Unfortunately, Bangalore is not one of the best places to live in for asthmatic people because of the high pollen in the air. We plan to put her through an allergy test to help us identify which allergens are causing this problem. In the meanwhile, I started searching desperately for a soap I could make for her which would help relieve some of her symptoms.

One of the things I found during the course of my research and reading a lot of blogs of people with similar problems was that oatmeal is very beneficial in cases of eczema. Apparently, it is due to the high protein content in oats. So, I decided to make her a plain & simple soap with just olive and coconut oil, and put in finely ground oats. Kept it clear of essential oils, though I was tempted to put in some Tea Tree oil for its anti-bacterial properties. Nor did I put any colour. It is currently curing. I can’t wait to see if it helps her. Shall post an update once she starts using it.

Can you see the specks of oatmeal?

Honey, Beer & Butter Soap

Based on the rave reviews of my previous batch of Beer & Honey Soap, I decided to make another batch with a few improvements……..I think. In any case, I have just 3 bars left of the previous batch and they could be on their way to Dubai soon as someone wants to pick them up as a Christmas gift for the family back there……….

This time, I added my recently procured Cocoa & Shea butters to add that extra luxury to the soap. I scented them with a mix of Orange and Cinnamon fragrance oils and a few drops of Fennel and Nutmeg essential oils. I had recently visited a micro brewery with my DDs. They had some real good home grown beers flavoured with different herbs like fennel, coriander, cardamom etc. That is where I got my inspiration from. I must say, the soap smells divine. I am sure a lot of the smells will grow milder as the soap cures. Will be interesting to note which smells last. Will keep you posted. Any guesses?

Fresh soap in mould

There is no colour added to this soap and for the life of me I cannot imagine where the this lovely rust colour came from. I wonder if it was the reaction of the FO with, probably, honey. I think it looks good. It definitely does not look anything like the beer & honey soap I made earlier.

This is also the first time I have had Soda Ash forming on my soap. I wonder why? The internet tells me that it could be because I did not cover my soap enough while it was in the mould. Soda Ash is basically your Sodium Hydroxide coming into contact with the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. It does not impact the soap in any way, except, aesthetically. I seem to quite like it, though. I think it adds flavour to the overall 'handmade' concept..... To avoid it, the best thing is to keep the soap suitably insulated when you pour it in the mould. I normally do it, but this time I did not since I wanted to avoid a ‘volcanic eruption’ considering the amount of honey there was in it.

Soda Ash on Soap

Cutting the soap was also difficult and it kept crumbling, as you can see below, especially on the sides. I think it was due to the high butter content in the soap. Between Cocoa & Shea butter, I had nearly 30% of butters in the soap. Plus 8% SF. Plus water discount. What did you expect? Anyway, it seemed to settle down after about 48 hours and I was able to cut some decent bars. Lesson learnt. Don’t try to put too much into one soap. 

Ok......am back

My dad passed away on the 27th. So, I was away in Chennai for nearly two weeks with my mom and my sister.

Am back and have been restless to make some soap. I am kind of getting obsessed with this whole soap making……and so have just made a new batch of soap. I have attempted Milk Soap this time. Many soapers have warned about the milk getting burnt because of the heat it creates in soap. The sugars in the milk are the problem. After a lot of research, I decided to use the Half and Half method to make this soap. I divided the total amount of liquid required into half water and half milk. I mixed the lye in the water and when the oils and the lye mixture reached light trace, I added the milk in a slow stream. The soap mixture immediately started to heat up. I had very little time to add my FOs and a bit of colour. It really thickened up and when I poured (put) it into the mould, it was the consistency of thick pudding. Also, despite my best efforts to keep the temperature down,  it gelled on me. Am a bit disappointed as I was hoping I would have an ivory coloured soap. Have to wait and see how it turns out.

Soap going thru gel stage

 Adding fragrance oils instead of essential oils is another first for me. Thankfully, there was no issue when I added the FOs. I have scented the soap with a mix of Melon and Berry FOs. It will be interesting to see how the smell holds up after the soap has hardened and cured.

Since I wanted a really moisturizing soap, have added a good amount of cocoa butter. 

I bought myself one of those chocolate moulds so that I can make sample sizes of my new soaps. Aren't they cute?

The colour of the samples indicate that I could have ivory coloured soaps after all. Can you notice the hint of blue in them? I tried to swirl in some colour as it was thickening up pretty quickly