Something for the Hands

The weather is getting colder in Colorado (most of the time). This means dry and cracked skin have returned. My boyfriend works outside year round so this is when his hands get banged up the most. I wanted something with a lot of healing and moisturizing properties to help his hands make it through the winter.

I infused the olive oil with healing herbs before making the soap. Using 1/8 cup of the following; calendula flowers, chickweed herb, comfrey root, echinacea, marshmallow root, plantain and St John's Wort. I placed all herbs in a small crock pot with 2 cups olive oil. Heated the mix on low temperature for about 36 hours then strained through a coffee filter.

Fixed oils=
avocado oil- 2 oz (rich in vitamins and moisturizing)
castor oil- 5 oz (humectant and bubble booster)
coconut oil-5 oz (for the lather)
infused olive oil-9 oz (moisturizer)
palm oil-9 oz (mild, hardens bar)
shae butter-2 oz (moisture and nutrients)

Lye=
4.45oz NaOH dissolved in 10 oz cold coffee (helps remove odors)

Trace Additions=
2 Tbsp aloe vera juice (soothing)
2 Tbsp borax (extra cleaning ability)
1 oz tea trea oil (healing properties, antiseptic)
2 oz emu oil (to draw the healing herbs into the skin)
sandlewood EO- 3 drops, vanilla EO- 4 drops, orange EO- 2 drops

Notes-
Even with a hand mixer the oil/lye solution took a long time to trace (~2hrs), but went from no trace to thick goop in less than 2 minutes. Not sure how this is going to turn out. I feel I didn't stir enough after trace and before I placed the goo in the mold. I will post an update soon.

Something to Clean the Face

I wear a respirator a lot at work. If you've ever worn one you probably noticed how irritated your skin becomes underneath. I keep getting a line of blackheads and pimples right where the respirator touches my face. I wanted to try and design a soap that would help eliminate the blackheads, yet be gentle on my dry skin. The plan is this:

Fixed Oils=
almond oil- 3.22 oz (good for dry, irritated skin)
avocado oil- 3.22 oz (rich in vitamins, good for sensitive skin)
coconut oil- 8.52 oz (lather, lather, lather)
olive oil- 8.52 oz (moisturizing, good for sensitive skin)
soybean oil- 6.42 oz (fluff and moisturizing lather)
beeswax- 2.09 oz (similar properties as honey)

Lye=
4.16 oz NaOH dissolved in 8oz strong tea (2 bags celestial seasoning green tea with honey and chamomile)

Trace Additions=
.75 oz apricot kernel oil (easily absorbed into the skin)
1 oz jojoba oil (very similar to skin oils, may help remove blackheads)
1/2 cup oatmeal (emollient for dry skin)
2 tbsp honey (emollient, good smell)
1 oz aloe vera juice (soothing for the skin)
lavender essential oil (anti inflammatory properties)

I have not yet looked up the claims of each oil. In the future I hope to look into that.

Note: Tracing occurred quickly and I didn't get the lavender EO in the mix before I needed to pour the soap into the mold.

I'll let you know how it turned out in a couple weeks.

A Reason For All Of This

I have made soap in the past, but it's been a few years since my last batch was created. Recently I have had an unexplainable urge to start again. Since I never got into making my own recipes the first round, I thought I would keep an online notebook to document my progress as a soapmaker. Being the nerdy scientist that I am, I also want to research and record information on the soap making process. This site will be my lab notebook, documenting my thoughts and experiments. I hope to include reasons on why ingredients are used and any scientific properties of those ingredients that I can find. Eventually I want to develop a comprehensive site for those seeking to make their own soaps at home.