Hello hello! How are you?

First of all, let me explain that I’m not a soap expert! I didn’t make any course, I don’t have years of experience. I’ve started to make my own soap, after self-study and hours of videos online, as part of my journey for a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

The recipe (or formula, whatever you prefer to call it) I’m going to share with you is not the first soap that I’ve made, but as a novice, I didn’t write down my previous soap’s recipes (HUGE mistake, because up until now, none could beat the one I made last November...I didn’t even need to use any oil or mask, like EVER! Not that I use oil often… I just can’t be bothered...).

So let’s talk about what matters!

INGREDIENTS

• 12 oz of oils
  • 7 oz of olive oil
  • 3 oz of coconut oil
  • 1 oz of castor oil
  • 1 oz of grape seed oil
• 4 oz of water
• 1,5 oz of lye
• Few drops of essential oils (I used sage, anise and tea tree)

PREPARATION

Outside:

1. Slowly add lye to water and stir (NEVER add water to lye, because it can create a violent reaction known as a volcano effect).
2. Let it dissolve and set for about 10 min (it’s more or less the time to prepare the rest).

Inside:

1. In a double-boiler, let all the oils melt and mix together.
2. Add the lye solution to the oils, stirring gently and constantly until it homogenises.
3. Use a stick blender until it reaches trace.
4. Add the essential oils and mix it together.
5. Spray a mold with alcohol and pour the soap mixture inside.
6. Check when it’s hard enough to take out of the mold without breaking and slice it.
7. Let it cure around 4 weeks.

I use a hard glass bowl (so it doesn’t break), a wooden chopstick to mix the water and the lye (I have one just for that, that I don’t use for anything else), a hard glass measuring cup, a stainless steel whisk and a stick blender.

I have as well a bowl in the sink with warm water and vinegar, to put everything that was in contact with lye.

Well, I’ve been using it to wash hair and body, and so far so good. I like it a lot. As I said on the post, I used to have problems with lots of commercial shampoos. I had to have at least a couple of different ones at use, because I wasn’t able to use more than a couple of times the same one. My hair and scalp would be weird and or too oily, or too dry, or both! So when I had the “click” to stop using regular ones (for my own health and for the environment) and I started to make my own soaps and shampoos, I noticed right away a huge difference: I can use it over and over again, without having to switch to another one.

If you have any question about this or any other issue, please feel free to contact me.

Leave a comment to tell me what you use as shampoo, if you use a commercial one, if you like them, if you are thinking about trying to make your own shampoo bar, etc.

Hope you have a great week! *