Olive Oil Soaps - A Gift For All Seasons!

Stop Wondering What To Give As Gifts! Olive oil soaps are the answer to all of your gift-giving problems. Everyone loves a hand made gift, and a practical gift, such as olive oil soaps are even better. Olive oil soaps are inexpensive and easy to make! Where Did Olive Oil Soaps Originate? Soaps made of olive oil first began 3,000 years ago. The craftsmen of France experimented and mixed the oils pressed from olives with oils pressed from other natural plants (sea plants). The creation of olive oil soaps are considered to be an ancient ritual, a special art, and the process of making these soaps is taken very seriously. Olive Oil Soaps Are Easy To Make! There are a lot of sample recipes for olive oil soaps that use olive oil in them. Many people will use a recipe that requires only olive oil, but some will add a few other natural ingredients for other beneficial reasons. The olive oil soaps recipe listed below is 80% pure olive oil, but has some palm (to make the soap sturdier) and coconut (to add bubbles to the lather). It is a nice balance of these three oils. What You’ll Need: 16 oz. water; 6.7 oz. lye; 40oz. olive oil; 5 oz. palm oil; 5 oz. coconut oil; and 1.5 oz. of essential fragrance (if you would like a scented soap). If you are uncertain in anyway regarding the above measurements for your olive oil soaps, and the process of working with lye, please research further or ask a professional for assistance. Olive oil soaps tools: large pot; soap mold; spoon; rubber spatula; stick blender; gloves; and safety goggles. Let’s Get Started! 1. Before beginning the project, make sure you have all of the ingredients, as well as a proper work area. 2. First melt your solid oils, which are your palm oil and your coconut oil. Melt them in the large pot over medium heat. Once the oils reach around 110 degrees, turn off the heat. 3. Next, add the olive oil to the soaps recipe. Make sure the palm and coconut oils are hot before adding the olive oil. 4. Make sure the temperature is at or around 100 degrees before adding the lye to the mixture. Add the lye very slowly. Stick-blend the mixture slowly, and you will start to see it become cloudy. 5. When mixing, begin with short spurts by the stick-blender. Do this until the oils and the lye are mixed together 100%. 6. You will next reach what is called a trace by the ancient soap makers. Trace is defined as a point in the soap making process where your mixture is properly combined. The oils will not separate from the lye at this point. 7. Add the fragrances, colors, or any thing else you find essential, such as flower petals, etc. 8. Pour the soap mixture in to the mold. Pour the soap in a back and forth motion. It will be thick. Tap the mold softly, once you have finished pouring, on your counter top. This will help remove any excess bubbles. 9. You will want to put a towel over the mold in order to keep the heat in. Set your new, creative holiday gifts aside for approximately 24-hours to cool. 10. Once cooled, cut your soaps into the size/shape you want, and decorate with a piece of toile or ribbon. Everyone is sure to love your gift of handmade soaps! Margarette Tustle writes for family and the home. Discover more olive and other olive oil references on lolives.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Margarette_Tustle

Making Homemade Soap Is Easy!

Soap - it has the ability to produce strong, lasting emotions in us, and this depends on its peculiar scent... charming aroma, or color. I clearly remember when my child was very young and loved a special soap bar with a little ducky inside – she would get it out at every bath time. I easily remember the cool invigorating feeling of washing with sea-spray scented soap, or the luxurious feel of scrubbing with vanilla soap. I remember these things easily - soap scent easily brings such memories back. Nowadays, richly scented soaps aren't cheap, and we can't always afford the ones we want. Often, we have to settle for commercially made soaps with only a hint of fragrance. But what if I told you that you could make your own homemade soap? That you could choose any fragrance you wanted, and even put herbs, flowers or other things inside the soap? Would you be intrigued? Would you be willing to give it a try? There are hundreds of great homemade soap recipes and we'll start with a very basic one. It's important to remember that sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right, but once you've got the process down, homemade soap making is easy and fun! Here's the recipe, followed by a link that will help you find all the supplies and additional info you need. Basic Recipe For Homemade Soap Ingredients: Lye solutionAnimal fatCool waterScents, herbs or anything you want to add to the soap Things you will need: 2 quart jarLarge pot (at least 12 quarts)Candy thermometerWooden spoonSoap moldsRubber glovesSomething to cover soap at the end of the process, such as a towel, Styrofoam or Cardboard The first thing you will have to do is make the lye solution ready for use. You do this by pouring 2 1/2 cups of cold water into an enamelled pot. Next, you should slowly add 13 ounces of the lye, being sure to stir continuously with the wooden spoon. The water will heat up the lye, and it will have to be cooled before you can go to the next step. If you want to cool it quickly, place the pot in some cool water. After the lye has cooled, you should pour it into the 2 quart jar. Next, you need to prepare the animal fat. To do so, put 6 pounds of it in a pan, and heat on low until it melts. Once all of it is melted, remove it from the heat and cool. It's important to remember that one of the biggest problems people face when making homemade soap is trying to rush the process and not allowing the lye or animal fat to cool. If you rush it, the process may not be a success. The lye and fat need to be between 95-98 degrees for the next step (use the candy thermometer to measure the temperature). You may have to place them in basins of either hot or cold water to get the temperatures just right. Once they're right, stir the fat (it's probably hardened a little), and then slowly add the lye, stirring the entire time. The substance will turn opaque and brown, but then after stirring for some time, will begin to lighten. Once that happens, and it is the consistency of sour cream, you are ready for the next step. Now for the fun part! Add your scents or whatever else you want to the mixture, and then pour it into the soap molds. Place them in a warm location, and use something (the towel, Styrofoam or cardboard) to insulate it by placing it over the top. Wait twenty-four hours, and then remove the soap from its molds. You're almost done! Now you should set your soap in an area where there are plenty of breezes, and allow it to sit there for 2-4 weeks. Waiting is the hardest part, but it will allow your soap to set properly. For all sorts of additional information on soap making, specialty soaps and other soap topics, be sure to check out http://www.soapazon.com - it's a simple site that's possibly the most complete soap site on the web. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Branka_Ilech

Soapmaking Idea: Sugar + Cornstarch = ?

To me, soapmaking is a never ending learning process. There's just so many different ingredients and techniques to try- the possibilities are endless. I have always kept my mind and eyes open for new ideas. Well, I also love to cook and where better a place to come up with new ideas than your very own kitchen? I'm not sure if anyone else has tried this or thought of it yet, but for me a new trick popped up and I wanted to share my experience with other soapmakers. Having a sensitivity to coconut oil in soaps and also having temperamental skin in general, has kept me stingy with lathering oils in my soapmaking recipes. However, people are so used to the abundance of lather usually associated with bought soaps (since they cheat with sodium laurel sulfate), that a more "lotion-like" lather is harder for some to except. Besides, let's face it- who doesn't like big fluffy bubbles? Because of this I have always tried to increase lather in my soaps through other natural additives. The addition of various types of powdered milks not only adds the nourishing we all know is famous for gorgeous skin, but has seemed to help somewhat in adding more of a lather and contributed a certain creaminess to it. Silk fibers added to my lye water gave even more positive results for me. I always knew silk provided wonderful "moisture locking properties" and a truly luxurious feel- but since I felt how it significantly increased my soaps ability to lather, it quickly became one of my favorite indulgences. Then there's the other trick of the trade... Sugar. Whether dissolved in lye-water or it's presence enters in from the addition of honey in my soap batches, sugar has displayed outstanding results. As a matter of fact, when I first began soaping, castor oil was almost mandatory in all my soap recipes due to the rare ricinoleic acid in it that contributes to lather without being nearly as drying as typically used "lathering oils". I have found the combination of silk and sugar works so well together that even though I still respect and welcome castor oil for it's wonderful content of essential fatty acids, it is no longer absolutely necessary for me to soap with. Well, good thing I'm a "label reader"! One day while baking my husband a special treat, I happened to glance at the ingredients list on a bag of confectionery sugar. "Ingredients: sugar and cornstarch". As with many addicted soapers, I have a personal problem with often swiping items from our food cabinets to sneak into soap- if it's in the kitchen, it's game! I have tried cornstarch in my soap before and it was in fact really nice. (Cornstarch is soothing to the skin and sometimes used as a replacement for the feel that silk gives in vegan soaps.) I decided to give it a shot. When my soap got to a very thin trace I added about one tablespoon confectionery sugar per pound of base oils, attempting to add it carefully and space it out around the bowl for easier mixing. I then put my stick blender to it and mixed it very well, making sure that it was evenly incorporated into the mix and no clumps were left behind. I noticed it did thicken up a tad, but not so much that it was that hard to manage getting my soap into it's mold when it was ready. Once curing time was up and I tried it, I jumped up and down like a kid at Christmas. It seemed to have the effects a soap would have from the batches I would take the extra steps to dissolve my sugar in water before introducing the lye, and the added feel that cornstarch can bring! The only difference is that was a lot easier and faster than having to heat up your water and stir like a mad person to dissolve your sugar, and then wait for it to cool down a little before adding my lye. It seemed to be a truly effective time saver. I love sharing ideas with other soapmakers and I really hope some of you out there will find this trick helpful. Happy and safe soaping! You can visit Lisa Chambers' website for more soapmaking ideas & tips and other health and beauty related articles from a more natural approach. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Chambers

Making Your Own Herbal Hair Shampoo

In 1990 I decided not to use the commercially made shampoos after reading Aubrey Hampton’s book, “Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care.” In this book Aubrey tells you how to read the label on any product that you put on your skin or hair.

Manufacturers are constantly using toxic chemicals in their skin and hair products and disregard their toxic effects on your body. This is easily seen in the list of chemicals that they use. Here are a few of these chemicals found in many product labels:

* propylene glycol or glycol– a petrochemical used because it is cheap

* cetearyl alcohol – emulsifier that can be synthetic or natural

* methylparaben or propylparaben – typical synthetic preservatives

* distearate – this is polyethylene glycol or polypropylene glycol which are petrochemicals
* isopropyl alcohol – used as a cheap solvent to carry synthetic oils.

Here is a natural shampoo that you can make. This formulation is something that I have been using for many years. First collect the following items:

4 oz of castile soap with any scent is that available – plain, peppermint, eucalyptus.

½ oz of rosemary - stimulates the hair follicles and helps to prevent premature baldness

½ oz of sage – has antioxidants and keeps things from spoiling and is antibacterial

½ oz of nettles – acts as a blood purifier, blood stimulator, contains a large source of nutrients for hair growth

½ of lavender – controls the production of sebaceous gland oil and reduces itchy and flaky scalp conditions

2000 mg of MSM – provides organic sulfur to your scalp, which improves the health and strength of your hair. It also helps to drive herbal nutrient into the skin and follicles where they can do the most good.

one empty 8 oz plastic bottle, or any other empty shampoo or soap bottle.

Mix the herbs in a mason jar, which has a lid. Boil 2 cups of distilled water. Add 3 heaping tablespoons of the mixed herbs into the boiling water. Pull the boiling water and herbs off the stove. Let the herb mixture sit for 30 – 40 minutes. Put the 2000mg of MSM into the herb mixture after 30 minutes of cooling. After 40 minutes and the MSM is melted, strain the herbal mixture into a bowl.

Pour 2 to 2 1/2 oz of strained herbal tea into the 8 oz plastic bottle. Now, pour the 4 oz of castile soap into the 8 oz plastic bottle. Cap the bottle and shake to mix the ingredients.

The shampoo is now finished and ready for use. Use this as a base for all of the shampoos you make. You can add different herbs as you learn what these herbs do and how they help your hair. You can vary the ingredients according to your taste. But now you have a shampoo that has no additives that can harm you.

Rudy Silva has a Physics degree from the University of San Jose California and is a Natural Nutritionist. He writes a newsletter called “natural-remedies-thatwork.com” and he has written an ebook called “How to Relieve Your Constipation with 77 Natural Remedies.” You can get more information more on hair health at this site. http://www.hair-loss-remedies.for--you.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rudy_Silva

Instructions for Making Crock Pot Handmade Soap

Making soap in a crock pot is an easy way to use the “hot process” method.
This how-to tutorial outlines my steps for making crock pot soap and assumes you are familiar with the soapmaking process.

Start with a good recipe. I prefer recipes that have a higher amount of liquid oil to solids. One of my favorite recipes is very simple: 60% Olive Oil, 20% Palm Kernel Oil, 20% Palm Oil. Run it through a lye calculator to determine the amount of lye and [distilled] water needed. I don’t discount my water when making hot process. (One of my favorite recipes is at the end of these instructions.)

I use a 6 1/2 quart crock pot. A 4 pound batch of soaps fits perfectly. It fills the crock pot about half full - giving room in the case of it bubbling up, but not too little an amount that it could burn.
First, measure water and set aside.

Then measure the lye into a separate container. Slowly pour the lye into the pitcher of cold water. Stir until dissolved. Set aside in a safe place.

Once I have my lye mixture set aside, I measure my solid oils. These can be put into the crock pot to be melted. But, it takes longer this way, so I generally put them into the microwave for a couple minutes until melted and then pour into the crockpot.
At this point, my crock pot is on low.

I recommend using a good rubber spatula to scrape the bowl - no sense leaving any good oils behind.

Next, I measure my olive oil - and/or any other liquid oils I happen to be using - and pour this into the crockpot.

Get out your handy-dandy stickblender and using low speed, slowly pour the lye mixture into the melted oils. Gently move the stickblender around, up, down, around, ensuring a nice even blend. If you don’t have a stickblender, a stainless steel wire whisk works great too - just requires a little more arm power.

Once it has reached ‘trace’, I put the lid on the crockpot and turn the heat setting up to high. However, the first few times I made crock pot soap, I left it on low until I was confident in how it worked (both the soap AND my crockpot).

Now, I ready my mold, measure out any fragrance oils or essential oils and any additives I plan to use.

After about 15 or 20 minutes, I take the lid off and, using a potato masher, mash the soap around. It has a look of a vaseline texture; glossy, slick. It will have a waxy feel if you rub a piece of it between gloved fingers.

Add your additives, colorants, herbs, etc and mix well using the potato masher. Once that is blended fairly well, add your fragrance and mix again.

It is done! At this point, it’s really soap. It only needs to be put into your mold. I do this in large spoonfuls, pounding my mold on the counter every few scoops to ensure it packs into the mold tightly. Once I have it all in the mold, I put a baggie on my hand and flatten the top - making sure to “squish” it into the corners really well.

Now is a good time to wash all the dishes. And you don’t even need to add any soap! You should see some lovely lather from the soap you’ve just made.

I let this sit over-night. The next morning, I unmold and slice into bars to air out for a week or so. Once each bar has had time to harden, I bevel each one and it’s ready for use, or sale.

My favorite crock pot soap recipe:
Rosemary Mint Handmade Soap
4 pounds- 38 ounces olive oil (59.38%)
- 14.4 ounces palm kernel oil (22.5%)
- 11.6 ounces palm oil (18.13%)
- 8.7 ounces sodium hydroxide (5% discount)
- 17.5 ounces distilled water
- 3 ounces rosemary mint blend essential oils
- 2 teabags of Organic Peppermint tea

Disclaimer: Sodium Hydroxide is highly caustic and should be handled carefully and knowledgeably. It is the soapmakers responsibility to research safety procedures for soapmaking.

Judi Cox is a wife and mother of 4 children. Her hobbies include, but are ever growing, making handmade soap, gardening, crafts, web design, reading...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judi_Cox

For more great soapmaking recipes, please visit us at: http://youcanmakesoap.com

Melt & Pour Soap Making

This article is copyright © 2004 by From Nature With Love (www.fromnaturewithlove.com) and is reprinted with permission.

Melt & pour soap making is a perfect method for beginners because it is much safer to make than the cold process method, and you are able to use the soaps that you make within hours instead of the weeks it takes for cold process soap to cure. With proper supervision, children may watch or even participate in some of the steps that are involved.

The visual and artistic effects that can be created with melt and pour soaps is stunning. Melt and pour soaps can be made that contain multi-colored confetti soap pieces, soap colors can be swirled together to lend a marbled look, can contain soap pieces that you have cut into various shapes and can be layered to give a striped appearance. The effects that you create are endless. For ideas that go far beyond this introductory article, we recommend the book Melt & Mold Soap Crafting by C. Kaila Westerman.

A melt and pour soap base is a premade soap base that is usually sold in 2 lb. blocks, with preferated lines that make it easy to divide the block into 1 ounce chunks. When making melt & pour soap, cut the desired amount of soap base into blocks and then melt them on the stove using a double boiler. The soap melts to become an easily pourable liquid that can be poured into a soap mold. Molds are available that make your soaps look like professionally molded bars complete with inset designs and patterns. Alternatively, melt and pour soap may be poured into any large mold and then hand cut for a more natural appearance. Essential oils and fragrance oils may be added for fragrance. Other additives such as nourishing vegetable oils, vegetable butters, colorants, herbs or clays may also be added for their nourishing or asthetic appeal.

Types of Melt & Pour Soap Bases

Melt and pour soap bases are available in transparent colors and also in opaque and clear varieties. Soap bases with special nutritive additives are also available. Soap making supplier From Nature With Love, for instance, offers a large selection of specialty melt and pour soap bases such as aloe vera, avocado & cucumber, cocoa butter, goat's milk, green tea & hibiscus, hemp, honey, rosehip & jojoba, seaweed and shea butter.

Combining Soap Bases

It can be fun to experiment with combining two different soap bases to achieve different visual effects or to combine the nourishing properties of different bases. A popular combination, for instance, is to make a "Milk and Honey" soap by combining equal portions of honey soap base with goat's milk soap base.

Heating Melt & Pour Soap

Use a double boiler or use a double boiler insert that is big enough to hold all of the soap that you wish to melt. For melt and pour soap making, 2 lb. batches are very easy to work with and fit well into a small 2 quart double boiler.

It is best to melt the soap slowly over medium-low to medium heat over a double boiler, stirring frequently. Try not to heat the soap for too long or heat it too quickly. Doing so can dry out the soap. Once all soap is melted, it can be taken off of the stove. If planning to fragrance your soap, it is best to transfer the soap into a bowl large enough to stir the soap without splashing. After transferring the soap to the bowl, plan to stir the soap often and to be able to work quickly to keep the soap from hardening too fast.

Adding Other Ingredients to Melt & Pour Soap

Colorants, herbs, butters and exfoliants can be added to your soap. The type of ingredient and its properties will determine the point in time that you add the ingredient to your soap base.
Vegetable butters and vegetable oils can be added during the heating of the melt and pour soap base. Adding additional oil or butter will add greater moisturizing and nutritive properties to your final bars. A good rule of thumb is to use approximately 1-2 tbs. per pound of soap base.
Color additives such as natural tinting herbs, mica powders, oxides and ultramarines and organic dyes can be combined with the melted soap while it is still heating in the double boiler. Be sure to check the color additive to make sure that it is suitable for inclusion in soap recipes. For natural tinting herbs, mica powders, herbs and ultramarines, it is best to start by using only 1/8 tsp. per pound of soap. A little colorant goes a long way. You can always add a dash more color if the mixture looks too light. For liquid dyes, stir as you add the dye drop by drop. If you are using a powdered organic dye, mix it with a little water first before adding it drop by drop to your soap. Avoid tinting your soap to a dark shade as darker soaps may discolor the skin.

Herbs and exfoliants such as nut meals can be added to your soap base, but it is best to wait to add them until after adding fragrance. Otherwise, the herbs can sink to the bottom of your soap molds and create a layer of botanicals on the top of your soaps. Using too much can also cause this to occur. A good rule of thumb is to use 1-2 tsp. of herbs per pound of soap. Stir the herbs in well and continue to stir well up until you pour your soap into the molds. This will help to keep the herbs from settling.

Adding fragrance to your soap will be discussed in the next section.

Fragrancing Melt & Pour Soap

Before melting your soap or while it is melting, you can measure the essential oils or fragrance oils so that they are ready when it is time to blend them with your melted soap base. Avoid measuring your oils after you have removed the soap from the stove as the soap can cool quickly and make it hard to properly blend the oils with the soap, let alone pour the soap into the molds later.

For consistent essential and fragrance oil measurements, it is best to use a gram scale. Set the small container that you wish to hold your oils onto your scale and then set the scale's tare feature so that it reads zero (so that the container is not weighed). Using a small pipette, dropper or the orifice reducer included in the bottle of oils, measure the oil into your container until the desired weight is reached.

A good rule of thumb is to use 5 grams of essential oil or combination of essential oils per pound of soap. If using fragrance oils, the rule of thumb is 7 grams of fragrance oils or combination of fragrance oils per pound of soap. Most people stick with the use of just essential oils for a more natural soap or to just fragrance oils. If you do combine both essential oils and fragrance oils, start by using 6 grams of your combined oils per pound of soap. After you make your first batch of soap, you may adjust the amount of oils used based on the strength of the aroma. Some more potent essential oils such as peppermint will require less essential oil while other softer aromas such as cedarwood may require a bit more. It is very important to select oils that are not irritating to the skin and to not use too much oil as excessive oils can cause irritation in some individuals. Certain essential oils such as cinnamon, clove and black pepper can be irritating and should only be used in very tiny quantities, if at all.

As mentioned within the Heating Melt & Pour Soap section, it is best to transfer the melted soap base to a bowl that is large enough to allow the soap to be stirred without splashing. After transfering the soap to the bowl, stir the soap until it firms up slightly, but try not to wait until it begins sticking to the sides of the bowl. The reason for letting it cool a little is because the excess heat of the soap can cause your oils to evaporate too quickly, making the soaps less aromatic. Once the soap has cooled slightly and while still stirring, add your essential or fragrance oils to the soap base and continue to stir it well. Be aware that adding these room temperature oils will cause your soap to cool more rapidly, so plan to work quickly and plan to add your soap base to the molds promptly.

Filling the Soap Molds

Most plastic soap molds contain 4-6 soap cavities, and each cavity generally produces a 3-4 oz. bar of soap. The first time you use a new mold, it may take some experimentation to know how much soap base and other additives is needed to make the number of desired soaps.

After you have fragranced your soap, pour the soap base into a container that contains a small spout. A glass measuring cup works well for pouring soap into the molds and is easy to clean up. It is best to try and quickly work as you pour the soap into your molds so that the soap does not cool off too much and stick to the sides of your pouring container.

Once you pour your soap into the molds, you will often see small air bubbles form on the top of the soap. These air bubbles will remain in the soap as it dries. Fill a small spray bottle with alcohol (rubbing alcohol will work fine for this purpose). As soon as you've poured your soaps into the molds, lightly spray the top of the still liquid soap with the alcohol to eliminate the air bubbles.

From Nature With Love offers all of the melt and pour soap bases, ingredients and packaging supplies described within this article. For more information, please visit www.fromnaturewithlove.com.

This article is copyright © 2004 by From Nature With Love and is reprinted with permission. This article may be reprinted provided that all credit information remains intact. From Nature With Love does not review or pre-approve the organizations that reprint its articles.

Soap Making - Soap Making

Soap Making - Soap Making
How To Make Liquid Soap