Avocado is a wonderful addition to cold process soap, featuring: Here’s how to add avocado to your cold process soap recipes! 7 quick tips when making avocado soap: Here’s a bonus tip and helpful idea kindly shared by reader & soapmaker Penny: “I mash an avocado with a bit of oil and grapefruit seed extract…
This forest-scented charcoal and pine tar soap lathers well and washes off cleanly. It’s a favorite with the guys in my family! Pine tar is a fantastic ingredient in soap, renowned for clearing tough-to-treat skin problems, but it can have a strong smell that’s off-putting to some. When a relative requested a pine tar soap…
Learn how to make your own orange peel powder and how to use it in cold process soap recipes. Do you or your family enjoy snacking on fresh oranges? If so, save some of those peels for your soapmaking projects! Orange peel powder adds: Depending on the texture of the powder used (coarse or fine),…
Learn how to naturally color handmade soap with beautiful mineral-rich Brazilian clay. One of my favorite soap additives is clay. Not only does it add natural color (derived from minerals naturally found in the soil), it also contributes to the skin benefits of our soap. Clay draws oils and impurities from your skin, making it…
Learn how to use charcoal in soap, how much charcoal you need to make gray and black soaps, plus a helpful usage rate table for reference! Activated charcoal is a popular natural ingredient to include in soap and other skin care products, because of its power to draw impurities from your skin. (This same action…
Pine resin brings mildly stimulating and potentially antimicrobial properties to soap, making it a popular choice for troubled skin. While it does speed up trace, infusing it into oil first makes it much easier to work with. Related Pine Resin Tutorials Pine resin works best when infused into oil before using. These guides show the…
Learn how to make natural herbal liquid soap from scratch. Homemade liquid soap can be used as a hand soap or body wash! The idea of making liquid soap from scratch used to intimidate me, but once I gave it a try, I realized it’s a lot easier than it looks! If you’ve successfully made…
This extra gentle herbal soap features skin soothing chickweed and shea butter. It’s coconut-oil free which makes it perfect for those who are allergic or extra-sensitive to coconut. Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a nourishing spring time weed that’s used in skin care products especially for itchy skin conditions and eczema. Since I have an abundance…
Learn how to make your own DIY melt and pour soap base using all natural ingredients. Homemade soap base is perfect for creating shaped embeds for your cold process soap recipes, or if your kids want to make their own soap projects but aren’t old enough to handle lye. It’s also just fun to do…
Learn to make a homemade laundry soap and stain sticks using just three ingredients. Also included is my easy recipe for laundry detergent! Unlike my other natural soap recipes, this one is intended for laundry purposes only. It has no extra oils or fats in it, making it better suited for cleaning tough stains on…
This tricolored soap was dreamed up by newsletter reader Patricia who wanted to make her friends a cute soap for Valentine’s Day. She requested a soap with three layers – chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, and wanted it to smell like strawberries and chocolate. While my version doesn’t smell like strawberries since I have family members…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Do you want to make your own aloe vera soap using fresh aloe? If so, then this tutorial is just for you! I’ve also included a gentle aloe vera facial soap recipe, along with a variety of ingredient substitution ideas. With a little bit of preparation, fresh aloe can be used to replace part (or…
To accompany my Calendula Shave Soap Recipe, I though it’d be helpful to write up some FAQS I’ve received about how to create your own shave soap recipe. This information is also useful to know if you want to make substitutions in an existing recipe you’ve found in a book or online and aren’t sure…
This calendula shave soap recipe was requested by newsletter subscriber Lianne, which was perfect timing since my husband also requested some new shave soap. :) It includes both sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, plus has a high amount of stearic acid in order to produce a dense lather that’s perfect for shaving. Most shave soap…
