Experimenting with Melt & Pour Soap
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
I've been searching around a lot lately for a good homemade soap recipe. I initially wanted to make my soap from scratch. I knew lye can be made from wood ash, and while we have plenty of that, I didn't want to go that far! I didn't really have a problem with the idea of making soap with lye. I know it's ok as long as the proper precautions are taken. But after watching a how-to video, I found out you need an electric beater. I don't own one of those, and I'm quite certain if I got one, that's all it would be used for. No thank you. So melt & pour method it is!
Milk, Honey, & Lemon Soap
I finally settled on a recipe. I've seen a few recipes that say to melt the soap base in the microwave, but I wanted to use the double boiler method instead. I thought this would give me a bit more control. I was surprised by how slippery the goat's milk soap base was when I unwrapped it. Must be the glycerin? I skipped chopping it into cubes before putting it into my glass bowl and broke it apart while in the bowl with my knife. I regretted this after I found that it took a while longer to melt the big chunks.
All melted.
I added 2 heaping tablespoons of honey in this step. I'm not sure if you can see the color change. The recipe said to use 3 tablespoons, but honey is one of those things I like to use sparingly so I can hold on to it as long as I can. (Maybe I could venture into beekeeping one day..) It smells oh so delicious!!
I wanted to add one more scent to my soap, just because. I wasn't really sure what would go well with honey, so I hopped on Pinterest and started typing "honey and". "Honey and lemon face-masks" was listed as a suggestion. Why not? I have lemon essential oil, so it's perfect. In another soap making video, the lady dumped a whole bottle of essential oil in her batch. Granted she made 30 bars of soap, but essential oil is another thing I like to hold onto and use sparingly. So 15 drops it is! Not sure if that was enough. We shall find out!
Finished product. For now. I didn't want to wait until I could peel the soap bars out before I made this post.
I sure hope they work as good as they smell!
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I used mine two days after I made them. They may not suds as much as the lye soap I make, but they are creamier, hold their scent better and I do like mine!
Do you still make lye soap? Or will you continue to just do melt and pour? I took them out of their mold this morning. They feel luxurious!
I make the lye soap in the spring and summer and then the melt and pour in the winter. I don't like using the lye (mixing with the water) in a closed in area. At least in the spring and summer I can do it outside, away from myself and my dog.
That is true. It’s hard to get ventilation in the winter. I think I’d like to try the lye method once, just to try it. I heard you can just whisk it if you don’t have a beater (I’m sure it would take awhile). Is the most danger just when you mix the lye in the water? I’m sure you should take precaution during the whole process, but is it mostly just that beginning step?
I love homemade soap. Great job.
Thank you!
Am I the only one that wants one of those glass pots with a handle?
Thats terrific. Why have I not seen that before?!
The honey lemon sounds wonderful also!
Right?! I needed to recruit my husband to help me with the pouring process. I have a plastic 2-cup measuring cup that my parents had forever. I use it a lot, so I’m thinking of replacing it with a glass version.