Homemade and handmade soap is rising in popularity. Many people are realizing how harmful some of the ingredients in bar soap and body washes can be. In this blog post, I want to share why I love soaps made at home. I will do my best to keep this blog post updated as I experiment with new ingredients in soap making and start soon to write soap recipe blogs for my most successful soaps.
PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE STATEMENT!!!
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The Big Scary LYE
Let’s go ahead and address the big scary elephant in the room because it’s a LYE.
*Insert knee slap for that pun*
Lye, or in bar soap making, sodium hydroxide, is also called caustic soda. It is a corrosive base and alkali that decomposes proteins and lipids.
WHOA! That sounds dangerous!
Well, yes. It can be. But using PROPER equipment and precautions will make handling lye, which is needed in soaping, safe for you.
Lye is needed in soap making because it converts the oils and fats in a soap recipe into actual soap through a process called saponification. Definitely encourage you to do some research but don’t be scared to try homemade soap making on your own.
When handling lye, always remember:
- wear long sleeves
- don safety glasses (not your regular eye glasses or sunglasses)
- long kitchen gloves or short latex/vinyl examination gloves making sure long sleeves are over the glove
- a mask such as an N95
- LYE TO WATER! Always add the lye crystals to the water, never the other way around
- Be in a ventilated area, preferably outside, when mixing the lye into the water
- Let your family and children know what you are doing and that you need a few minutes without them near it
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT FOR JOHNSON HOME NC BLOG! This will be shared a FEW times in this blog post to ensure you know where I stand when offering healthy living advice per my own experience.
Soap Bases
My very first experience with soap making on my own, I went with the easiest to acquire ingredient list which was a castile soap:olive and coconut oil. Pretty easy to snag those at your local grocery store.
I have also played around with other oils and fats in soap recipes and I’ll list those below.
Here are some of the reasons I love these oils and fats in homemade soaps but definitely not an exhaustive list of reasons:
Olive Oil Properties
This what olive oil adds to the soap: conditioning and lather silkiness.
Coconut Oil Properties
This is what coconut oil adds to the soap: great lather, hard bar, cleansing, moisturizing, lots of bubbles, shelf stability.
Use caution if allergic to coconuts.
Castor Oil Properties
This is what castor oil adds to the soap: creamy lather, moisturizing, cleansing, skin smoothing.
Cocoa Butter Properties
This is what cocoa butter oil adds to the soap: bar hardness, conditioning lather, and skin smoothness.
Use caution is allergic to nuts.
Beef Tallow Properties
This is what rendered beef fat AKA tallow adds to the soap: natural emollient, creamy lather, shelf stability, gentle cleansing, rich lather, longer lasting soap.
Sweet Almond Oil Properties
This is what sweet almond oil adds to the soap: conditioning lather, moisturizing.
Use caution if allergic to nuts.
Shea Butter Properties
This is what shea butter adds to the soap: silky moisturizing, skin smoothing and soothing, shelf stability, lather, and bar hardness.
Use caution if allergic to nuts.
Pssssstt: here’s my DISCLOSURE STATEMENT again.
No Dyes, No Fake Fragrance
I got into homemade soap in 2022 to try something more simple, less ingredients on my face to see if it would help clear up the, likely hormonal, white head breakouts I was having.
Turns out, less is more.
While I think colorful soaps are beautiful, I do not want to use even natural colorants like mica in my bars. That’s just my personal preference!
I also love a good smelling soap. It just makes me happy! I’m not looking for the scent to make my skin smell good. With that said, if it isn’t a third-party tested 100% essential oil, I don’t want it.
What essential oils bring to the soap:
PLEASE SEEK ADVICE FROM YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER BEFORE USING ESSENTIAL OILS ESPECIALLY IF PREGNANT, NURSING, OR HAVE HEALTH CONCERNS LIKE SEIZURES, ETC. Use your own discernment and research and ALSO:
… Read this blog’s DISCLOSURE STATEMENT. Okay, let’s go!
Essential oils bring more than aromatics to the soap.
Each essential oil has MANY health benefits. I encourage you to do your own research!
Here is what I have found to be beneficial from using essential oils to my bars:
Lavender– calming, skin soothing
Peppermint– stimulating, cooling, headache and muscle relief
Eucalyptus– soothing, cooling, purifying
Lemon– energizing, skin smoothing, clean and fresh
Lime– purifying, cleansing, mood boosting
Cedarwood– calming, grounding, for acne breakouts
Rosemary– stimulating, rejuvenating, hair growth, skin soothing
AND SO MANY MORE reasons when you start researching these oils and their properties on your own!
I am currently getting my essential oils from Simply Earth. Use my link HERE with the code: JOHNSONHOMENCFREE to get a $45 gift card to use on your next purchase!
I love Simply Earth’s monthly subscription boxes that come with recipe cards and all materials to get started making your own non-toxic bath and body and even cleaning products with quality essential oils.
A lot of the time, the fragrance I choose for soap that week will depend on what came in my monthly box. Many essential oils in my monthly box are blends of several oils which create a new and amazing mood-boosting fragrance!
My Simply Earth link for you to use at no additional cost or fee! Use code: JOHNSONHOMENCFREE for a $45 gift card on your next order!
Why add dried ingredients to the soap?
Most dried ingredients added to homemade soap are used for:
- looks
- exfoliation
- added skin benefits/longer infusion
Coffee Grounds– use gently as too many ground could cause abrasiveness on skin
Dried Mint
Dried Rosemary
Dehydrated Lemon– use caution as the dried lemon could be a little abrasive on skin
Dried Lavender
Dried Calendula
These dried ingredients are safe for your plumbing. In the small amounts coming off the soap bar with each use, you should not encounter any plumbing issues. But I make no promises. My own plumbing is doing fairly well currently.
How to make homemade soap last longer
Soap is soap. Let it make friends with water and it’ll eventually dwindle away.
Be sure to keep your bar dry in between uses by setting it on a soap dish where the water can drain off, allowing the bar to dry.
Alternatively, you can use a soap saver bag. Add your bar soap (or I like to use it to add the end pieces of a bar to the bag to get every bit of use from each bar) to a soap saver bag. Allow the bag to hang dry by its cord between uses. Replace soap saver bag monthly or as you see fit.
How can I purchase homemade soap?
Johnson Home, LLC has homemade soap available for purchase strictly from my newsletter or from my family’s Wednesday Farm Shelf as I have soaps available for it.
My newsletter readers are the real MVP for reading my ramblings so I decided for now to make Johnson Home, LLC homemade soaps available only for them. First come, first serve as availability is announced in my weekly newsletter.
Perhaps one day I’ll have an e-commerce website for ordering but for now, while this is a fun hobby, I will keep the selling low key.
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