These natural homemade dog shampoo bars feature neem oil, which is especially helpful at repelling fleas and treating a variety of skin complaints. Since neem has a fairly strong aroma, I also included some lavender essential oil to help mellow the scent and to add a calming note to bath times. After washing your dog with a shampoo bar, follow with a diluted apple cider vinegar rinse (1 part vinegar to 1 to 2 parts … Continue reading
While my Natural Soapmaking Ebook Collection continues to be a best seller, I’ve also received a lot of requests from readers wanting to purchase individual items from the set. This weekend, I dug into my online shopping cart system, made some tweaks and changes, and finally made that happen! If you’ve ever wanted to just purchase one ebook at a time from me, then you’re at the right place. Each item is listed separately below, … Continue reading
Learn how to adjust for and add lanolin to soap recipes, plus guidelines for using it. Kimberly asked a great question the other day, about how to include lanolin in a soap recipe she’d recently made. She also wanted to try including it in my Dandelion Scrub Bar recipe, but wasn’t sure what changes to make. I thought it might be helpful to type up my answer here, in case anyone else has the same … Continue reading
We all have soapmaking fails. This ultimate troubleshooting guide breaks down the reasons and solutions for 30+ common cold process soap problems. On a daily basis I receive emails from readers about problems and questions encountered while making soap. (Currently, I have 70+ of those emails in the queue to answer!) A few months ago I realized that I’ve been writing variations of the same answers over and over for several years now, so it … Continue reading
This red, white & blue swirl soap is naturally colored with botanicals and clays, and scented with a blend of essential oils. Credit for the design inspiration goes to Kapia Mera Soap Company (see their lovely soap video HERE), only instead of cutting a thin layer to use for rimmed soap, I cut a thin layer off the top to show the design better and then cut into regular bars. Natural Soap Colorants Notes Creating a … Continue reading
Learn why you need lye to make soap and how to handle it safely. Our great great grandmothers made soap without having to use a caustic chemical, so why do we? The short answer is that our grandmothers manufactured their own caustic chemical of sorts, called potash, by combining hardwood ashes and water. This created an extremely strong alkaline substance that was considered ready when it would dissolve a chicken feather. The caustic wood ash solution … Continue reading
While there are other methods of making soap (hot process and melt & pour), this soap making 101 tutorial provides a basic overview on how to make soap the cold process way. It will be added to my Natural Soap Making page along with other helpful links and recipes; so be sure to bookmark or pin it for easy reference. Making soap is one of my favorite hobbies. There are so many ways to personalize a single … Continue reading
This herbal vinegar face soap recipe features sage for its astringent and anti-inflammatory properties, plus chlorella, a nutritious algae that has impressive acne fighting and anti-aging skin benefits. It’s especially helpful for those with normal to oily, or acne-prone skin. Sage & Chlorella – for potential skin benefits & natural color This face soap recipe features sage (Salvia officinalis) for its astringent, bactericidal and anti-inflammatory properties. (source) Sage can also be used in oil and water infusions … Continue reading
