DIY Soap Ideas You Will Adore
Soap-making can be a tricky process, but these DIY soap ideas will intrigue you enough to make you try it. There are many different methods and materials when it comes to making soap, so it is important to undertake this process carefully. Just like with baking, soap making is a recipe that the unexperienced should follow closely. But for the advanced soap-makers, you’ll enjoy seeing these DIY soap ideas and putting your own twists on them. Without further ado, here are our DIY soap ideas that you’ll want to try out!
Basics
Here is some basic information on soap making that you should be aware of. Soaps are a heated combination of oil and alkali, with alkali being a product of lye. Lye is required for any soap made from scratch and is hazardous. If you intend to use lye in your soap making, then be sure to wear goggles, a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants. As for the oils, animal fats are traditionally used, but many different vegetable oils can also be used. There are four basic soap-making processes, two of which use lye and are completely from scratch. The first of these two is the hot method, combining lye and oil and heating them in a Crockpot or double boiler.
This process usually takes anywhere from an hour to a day. The cold process is the second of these, in which the oil and lye are combined, and left for about a week, letting the inner heat combine them into soap. The remaining two soap making methods are melt and pour, which requires premade soap-making bases, and rebatching, which is taking failed soap batches and remaking them into proper soap. Neither of these processes requires lye and is essentially heating your products, adding any personal touches wished and then shaping them in soap molds. Soap molds can be made from plastic food containers, like from take-out, or from milk cartons.
Vetiver Cold Soap
This soap is described as having a very masculine smell, filled with earthy scents and very similar to cologne. For this recipe, you’ll need coconut, canola, castor, and sesame oils, shea and kokum butter, lime, vetiver, and cedarwood essential oils, lye, and kaolin clay. To start the soap making process, you should melt the coconut oil and butters together, then adding the canola, castor, and sesame oils.
Once this mixture has cooled, add a little bit of the kaolin clay and essential oils. At this point, the oil and butter mixture will be combined with the lye with a mixing stick. Separate a third of the batter and add charcoal. Add the rest of the kaolin clay to the remaining batter, and alternate pouring the two batters into your container for a marbling effect. This cold process soap will sit for about 3 weeks before it is ready for use. For a cold process soap, this is a fairly simple recipe, and good for those who are itching to make their first soap from scratch.
Melt & Pour Citrus Soap
This soap is a melt & pour, which does mean you’ll need to buy a specific soap batch, but the upside is that this is a very simple recipe and allows for personal adjustments without much hassle. This soap needs a goats-milk based melt and pour base, citrus essential oils, and dried citrus slices. Your citrus slices (oranges, lemons, limes), will need to be thin and sized appropriately for your soap mold. All you need to do is heat up your melt and pour base, add in your essential oils of choice, and gently place in the dried citrus slices. Once the mixture cools down in a few hours, this soap should be ready. The goat-milk base is subtle enough to really highlight the citrus scent. This citrusy soap is great for any fruit lovers!
Cinnamon Cocoa Melt & Pour
Another melt and pour soap, but this one requires a little more patience to get a beautiful result. For this soap recipe, you’ll need a white melt & pour soap base, Honey melt & pour soap base, cinnamon cocoa essential oils, vanilla color stabilizer, brown oxide color block, and a little bit of cocoa powder for flair. You will want to put your White and Honey soap bases into two separate microwavable containers, and start by melting the White base and adding the cocoa essential oils and vanilla color stabilizer.
You’ll pour an even layer of soap into your mold, and then wait for it to cool. Once it has cooled, you’ll melt the Honey soap base, add in the same amounts of cocoa oil and vanilla color stabilizer, and also include the brown oxide color block. Pour another layer, aiming for it to be as even as possible to the first layer. Once this layer has cooled, you will remelt the white soap base, pour the third layer, and let cool. You’ll repeat this process over and over, until your soap mold is full or you’re out of soap bases, and sprinkle a little cocoa powder over the top. This layered soap not only looks amazing but it sweet enough to be mistaken for candy. Don’t worry, this will get you just as clean as any soap, but with that appealing cinnamon scent as well.
Gemstone Soap
This DIY soap ideas has a unique, visually stunning design, and can easily be customized with your personal choice of colors and essential oils. This soap recipe needs a pound of clear melt & pour soap base, colored cosmetic mica, iridescent cosmetic glitter, essential oils of your choice (like lavender), and a small sprayer of rubbing alcohol. Melt the clear soap base, and add in a pinch of colored mica and glitter.
Pour the base into your mold, filling it about a third of the way up. Let the soap cool down enough to form a skin at the top, and use the spraying alcohol to remove any air bubbles and ensure the soap sticks to the next layer. The next layer will also be a third of the soap mold and is the same as the previous layer, but with another pinch of mica added in. You’ll repeat the process of letting it cool and spraying it with alcohol. The third layer will have another pinch of mica, and then let the entire soap mold cool down till solid.
Remove the soap from the mold, and slice it into four columns. Then, carve the soap, using various angles to ensure they look like gemstones. You’ll want the clearest layer to be the smallest area, with the dark, colored layer being the base. Save any shards you make, all of your materials should be useful. Finally, you’ll add one last pinch of mica to your remaining soap base, and pour a thin layer into your soap mold. You’ll use this thin layer as glue to connect all the soap shards you’ve carved. Try to vary the positioning and use all your space. The end result is a beautiful, gemstone-like soap. This stunning soap will bring the best out of any place it’s placed.
