Current lot of soaps for sale

This is the current lot of soaps that are available for sale. I do have more bars of each type. If someone would like to buy them, they can get in touch with me at soapsbysangi@gmail.com. This display is not the entire lot. I have around 10 bars left in each. I am giving below a list of the ones that are cured and currently available. All the bars are around 65-75 gms in weight (approx.). There are about 6-7 batches that will be ready for sale by the end of February.

The current batches availabe are:
1. Red Clay & Shea Butter scented with Orange & Ylang Ylang - Rs 140/-
2. Carrot, Honey & Coconut Milk scented with Orange Cinnamon - Rs. 110/-
3. Milk & Cocoa Butter - Rs. 110/-
4. Yoghurt & Aloe Vera with Vanilla - 120/-
5. Thyme, Vanilla & Cedarwood - 140/- 
6. Beer, Honey, Cocoa & Shea Butter - 150/-
7. French Green Clay with Lemongrass - 110/- (not in pic)

Cucumber & Yoghurt Soap

I made some Cucumber & Yoghurt Soap. We all know the skin loving properties both these ingredients possess. Cucumber is very good for acne prone skin as well. Since it is highly astringent, I wanted to add something that would balance it out and make it moisturizing as well. There is a generous helping of Shea Butter. I love the feel of Shea Butter in soap. It gives the soap a silky feel. Since Shea is high in unsaponifiables, which means that a lot of the fat in it does not get converted to soap, we get the true benefits of this butter. My Red Clay soap which I made earlier is a hot favourite with all who have bought it.  

Red Clay Soap with Shea Butter

Frozen cucumber puree

I was hoping I would be able to maintain the lovely green of the cucumber. I pureed the cucumber whole, skin et al. But as you can see in the photo below, the lye did manage to alter the colour a lot. That was disappointing. Next time, instead of substituting the water with the cucumber, I shall add it at trace. Maybe that would help maintain the green colour.

Lye & Cucumber mix

My new molds being put to good use

I <3 soap

The soaps turned out pretty big, weighing roughly 125 gms each. That is way above the size of my normal bars, which are roughly between 70-80 gms each. This lot produced just 12 soaps. I made a few sample soaps as well. Cute little pumpkins!

They smell lovely with a blend of Rose, Vetiver & Cedarwood EOs. The Rose though seems to come out more strongly right now. 

 I know it has been a while since I have posted here. It was sheer laziness that prevented me from writing. And a few disappointments. Yes, I have been making soap and not all the batches have come out the way I wanted them to. I guess I should take it in my stride. But, with the craft bazaar coming up in a month's time, I would like to have a lot more soap to offer. It will be the first time that I am going to exhibit my soap. The soap I was most looking forward to was the Tomato & Milk Soap which went wrong from the word 'Go'. I had made two similar batches, one with Tomato Puree and the other with Milk. The idea was to attempt a funnel swirl. But, I guess the fragrance I added took me by complete surprise and the mixes went into accelerated trace. So, I had to abandon the idea of swirling and decided to just layer the mixes. 

Soap after unmolding

But, I guess luck was just not on my side that day. It was too thick to even layer the soap! Everything seemed okay when I poured (put) the mixes into the mold. But, when I unmolded it the next day, I was shocked to find that the top layer of the Tomato soap had separated from the layer of milk soap, as you can see below. 

The centre though did not come apart. I decided to try the oven method and rebatch the tomato soap in muffin trays. And this is what I got...

Not the prettiest of soaps, but they are meant for personal consumption. They definitely have all the goodness of tomatoes. 

I decided I wanted to make a tomato soap because of all the skin loving properties that they have. Tomatoes are high in vitamin content and are a rich source of anti oxidants called Lycopene. Lycopene can counter the aging process on our skin by cutting out free radicals in our bodies. The tonic benefits of the tomato deep cleans and tightens pores. Alpha-Hydroxyl Acids found in tomatoes helps get rid of pimples and acne through its gentle exfoliating action. But, since tomatoes are an astringent, I decided to counter by combining a milk soap to add to its moisturizing properties.

I will definitely not be able to put it up at the stall. It looks quite ugly, I must say. So, I shall enjoy all the benefits of the tomato and the milk........

 

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