First of all, let me say, it's been a week since I promised to post this recipe for soap, but I'm a busy Mommy... and frankly, there wasn't enough time.
And just to let you know, I really wanted to make the soap completely from scratch, but because of a bunch of meth heads who use potassium hydroxide, or lye, to make drugs, it is illegal to buy it in the solid form unless you are a known "soap maker." Whatever that means! So we used solid castile soap and ground it down with a cheese grater and added what we wanted to it. Also, I have 2 kids in the house under 5. Using lye can be dangerous in its raw form. (when you use lye in soap making, all of it is cooked off when saponifying oils into soap and glycerin... according to Dr. Bronner)
This is how we made all natural castile soap, as close to from scratch as we could:
1 bar Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Castile Bar Soap
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/8 cup calendula water (directions to make this are below)
3 drops lavender oil
4 drops tea tree oil
Grate down the bar soap, or process in the food processor. Add grated soap, and coconut oil and calendula water to a double boiler, with about a cup of water in the bottom pan, so you don't scorch the soap. Heat on medium until all soap melts and a liquid is achieved. Add essential oils of your choice.
Essential Oils can be found here. Feel free to look at uses of them and choose a combination that suits your needs. The soap we made is good for eczema and dry skin, also has a calming scent. If you are not using calendula (for eczema) you can just use an 1/8 cup distilled water.
Calendula water:
1 cup dried calendula flowers (from a health food store)
1 cup water
Boil water. Add calendula flowers and remove from heat. Allow to steep for 1 hour or more for a stronger "tea." Allow to cool before adding to soap. Use whatever is left over for an eczema mist. Put it in a spray bottle and mist on affected area to soothe it.
Happy soap making!!
