Reader Question: Lotion Recipes & Liquid Castile Soap Recipes

Do you have any good recipes that include essential oils and fragrant oils in lotions and/or liquid castile soap? - Anonymous Plugoo User

Essential Oils and Fragrance Oils can both be used to add scent or properties to lotions and liquid soaps.  

Here's a simple lotion recipe that uses some of my favorite Essential Oils.  Blossom Body Cream can also be made with Fragrance Oils, just leave the Essential Oils out of the recipe, and add one teaspoon of your favorite Fragrance Oil in its place.

You can add Fragrance Oil to Liquid Castile at a rate of 5% (about 24 ml per 16 ounces of soap) or you can add Essential Oils at between 1 - 3%, depending on the Essential Oil you are using.  As always, make sure you research the safety and recommended usage for any Essential Oil before using it in a recipe. In general, the aroma of Liquid Castile Soap blends best with sharp scents such as citrus, herbs, or fruits.

Comments

[Jen]

When I add essential oils to castile soap, it creates a floating "mass" at the top of the bottle. Is there any way to prevent this without using solubilizers? Will heating the soap and eos help? Or do I just need to continue shaking the bottle for several days? Please help!
Jen

[The Natural Beauty Workshop]

Liquid Castile can become a little challenging to work with when it gets cold.  The natural esters in Castile can harden up into solid wax that can settle on the bottom, or keep other ingredients from incorporating properly.  Warming the Castile gently can be a great way to make it behave.  Just make sure not to overheat or scorch the soap, and be careful not to agitate it too much, or you could have a bubbly mess on your hands.  You can also try warming just a small amount, adding the Essential Oils to that, then adding that small amount back into the main batch of soap.

[The Natural Beauty Workshop]

Hi Denyse.  You can certainly add extracts to liquid soap.  Just be sure to make sure that you are adding them at a safe ratio.  2 - 5% of the volume/weight of the soap is usually a good place to start.