The Natural Beauty Workshop

Solid Shampoo Bar for Dogs

Like a lot of pet owners, I consider my dogs to be more than just slobbering, kibble-eating fur balls.  They are my cheerleaders, my peanut gallery, and my shoulder's to cry on.  If you'll pardon my cliche, they are my best friends!  I love my dogs, so it's a treat to make something special for them.  Often that means baking a batch of homemade biscuits or spoiling them with a fresh cooked meal of rice stew.  

Today I made them some solid shampoo using our recently reformulated, SLS-free Melt & Pour Soap Base.  A dollup of Neem Oil gave the bars some moisturizing and healing benefit.  Kaolin Clay and Fine Oat Four are added to increase the lather and help soothe itchy skin.  A dog-friendly blend of Essential Oils gives the bars anti-bug properties too.  

Neem Oil Solid Dog Shampoo Bars
Makes about 16 ounces of soap, enough for 3 - 5 bars

Ingredients

• 1 pound Melt & Pour Soap (Try using our Olive Oil, Aloe Vera, or Skin Nourishing Blend)
• 1/2 ounce Neem Oil
• 1 tablespoon Oat Flour, Fine
• 1 tablespoon Yellow Kaolin Clay
• 3 tablespoons water
• 4 drops Geranium Essential Oil
• 8 drops Rosewood Essential Oil
• 8 drops Lavender Essential Oil
• 8 drops Peppermint Essential Oil
• 4 drops Carrot Seed Essential Oil
• 4 drops Citronella Essential Oil

Directions
Cut the soap base into chunks, then place them in a double boiler over simmering water.  Allow the soap to melt completely.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the Clay, Oat Flour, and water.  Stir well to form a smooth liquid, adding a little more water if needed.  Stir the mixture into the melted soap base.  Remove the soap base from the heat, then add the Essential Oils, stirring well to combine.  Carefully pour the mixture into molds, then allow the soaps to set until completely cooled and hardened. 

Usage and Packaging
Remove any moisture from the outside of the bars using a clean cloth or paper towel.  Be sure to wrap the soaps in air-tight packaging such as shrink-wrap or a Cello Bag.  To bathe your dog, soak his fur in luke-warm water.  Using your hands, work the shampoo bar into a lather, then rub the lather from the soap onto the dog's wet coat.  Gently massage the shampoo into his coat, then rinse with luke warm water.  Try to make sure the shampoo rinses out of the dog's coat completely.

Ingredients
You can purchase the ingredients for this recipe online at www.FromNatureWithLove.com. Use discount code, NBWS4277 to save 7% off qualifying items in your online order!

Natural Soap Colorants Gallery – Clays added at Trace by Amanda Griffin

Today, we're featuring a guest post from Amanda Griffin of the blog, Lovin' Soap.  At Lovin' Soap, Amanda shares wonderful soapmaking posts and tutorials on everything from using natural herbs as soap colorants to creating unique swirls in CP Soap.  Amanda also publishes an E-Zine on soapmaking through the site, and offers soapmaking classes in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  

Recently, Amanda posted an article showcasing all of the Clays that we include in our Clay Sampler Pack on From Nature With Love.  Amanda added our Clays to a simple cold process soap recipe and yielded a rainbow of gorgeous colors.  This article provides a valuable reference for soap makers who are interested in coloring their soaps with clay.

Natural Soap Colorants Gallery – Clays added at Trace

by Amanda Griffin 

Here are some results using cosmetic clay to color your soap naturally. From Nature with Love has an awesome Clay Sampler Pack.

Sea Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Rose Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Rhassoul Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Red Kaolin Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Red Illite Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Pink Kaolin Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Multani Mitti Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Green Illite Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

French Green Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

Yellow Illite Clay – 1/2 tsp per pound of oils added at trace

A big "thank you" to Amanda for sharing this post with us.  For more great soap making tips and tutorials, be sure to stop by her blog, Lovin' Soap!

How to Make Natural Laundry Soap

This tutorial was generously shared with us by Kristi at Life Soap Simple.  Kristi owns her own handmade soap business and publishes a lovely blog by the same name.  This week, Kristi is sharing a recipe for making Laundry Powder Soap.  Next week, we'll feature the second part of this tutorial, a recipe for handmade fabric softener and dryer sheets.  Thank you, Kristi, for sharing your tutorials with us! 

Natural Laundry Care Tutorial, Part 1: Laundry Powder

Making your own laundry powder from items readily found in your local supermarket is easy, cost effective, and better for you and the environment. Here’s what you need to make a 2 pound batch of laundry powder, enough for over 100 loads of laundry! 

Equipment

• Box grater
• Large bowl
• Gloves
• Scale
• Food Processor (optional)
• Dust Mask

Ingredients

• 1 pound Cold Process Soap (Many soap makers offer soap chunks or pre-grated soap, or you can make your own.)
• 8 ounces Borax
• 8 ounces Washing Soda
• 1 teaspoon Essential Oil* (optional)

Instructions
Using the smallest size shred on the box grater, shred the soap into a large mixing bowl.  Next, measure the powdered ingredients by weight and add them to the mixing bowl.  Wearing gloves, mix the powders by hand until they are thoroughly blended.  I also recommend wearing a dust mask, as the mixing process can generate a lot of excess dust.  If you like, you can add up to 1 teaspoon of essential oil to the mixture. 

*Essential Oil should not be used on or around babies and small children.  Research any essential oil you plan to include in your laundry soap beforehand, as some essential oils can aggravate certain medical conditions.  Individuals who are pregnant, have high blood pressure, suffer from seizures or other medical conditions should proceed with extra care. 

Notes

• Choosing Your Cold Process Soap The cold process soap you use for this recipe should not be superfatted.  The extra oils can create a film in your washing machine, and potentially leave oil spots on your clothing.
• Handling Essential Oils When using essential oils you should always wear gloves as they are highly concentrated.  They should not be used on skin in their undiluted state.
• Scent Suggestions I really love lavender, but in the winter months I lean toward tea tree oil or eucalyptus instead.  Citrus oils like orange and lime are also excellent choices.
• Using a Food Processor I suggest running your powder mix through a food processor to get it as fine as possible.This helps combine the ingredients and also dissolves better in your washing machine.

Usage & Packaging

• In wash water add 1 tablespoon of Laundry Powder per regular load, or 2 tablespoons of laundry powder for heavy or large loads.  
• A batch this size should yield enough Laundry Powder for more than one hundred loads of laundry!
• Handmade laundry soap does not create foam and bubbles like commercial detergents.  This makes it perfect for HE machines.  
• Because Laundry Powder is made with natural ingredients, it is safe for baby clothes too!*
• Store Laundry Powder in an airtight container, away from high heat or humidity.

Projects from Soapmaking The Natural Way

One of the newest additions to our online Bookstore, Soapmaking the Natural Way by Rebecca Ittner features 45 melt & pour recipes that rely on natural ingredients for color, scent, and character.  Ittner does a great job of showcasing how natural additives can be used to enhance glycerin soaps.  You'll find page after page of colorful, unique soap projects with easy to follow instructions.  Soapmaking The Natural Way would make a great book for first time soapers, or for melt & pour enthusiasts that haven't branched out into using natural additives yet.  It covers a pretty good range of Essential Oil combinations, natural exfoliants, and ingredients used for color and texture.

I tried out two recipe from the book, Milk & Honey, and Himalayan Magic.  Both recipes are from the Exfoliate section of the book, simply because exfoliating soaps are my personal favorite variety of melt & pour.  

You can see the Himalayan Magic soaps on the right, and the Milk & Honey soaps on the left.  Of the two recipe, Milk & Honey was by far my favorite.  It had a nice aroma, even before I added the Vanilla.  I cheated a bit for the sake of thrift, and used Fench Vanilla Fragrance Oil in place of Vanilla Essential Oil, but even with that concession the bars smelled very nice.  Also, since we don't carry a Shea Butter Suspension Base, as called for in the book, I used half Shea Butter Melt & Pour Base and half Suspension Melt & Pour Base.  I think the color and the texture of the soaps turned out very nicely.  They are rich, creamy, and they lather very well.  What more could you ask for in a glycerin soap?

As for the Himalayan Magic, I wasn't as impressed.  I had my concerns about the salt and soap mixing when I looked at the recipe, but decided to suspend disbelief for a moment and give it a shot.  Mixing the Himalayan Salt into the melted Soap Base went about as well as I expected, which was not very well.  The salt clumped and sank, and for the life of me I could not get it to mix, let alone suspend in the soap.  If there is a trick to this recipe, Ittner did not include it.  On the other hand, the soaps smelled wonderful.  The combination of Rose and Geranium was very pleasant, and suited the color of the soap quite well.  I should also note that although the salt did not spread out in the soap, it still looks very pretty suspended in chunks through the middle of the bars.  

I am looking forward to trying out many more of the recipes in this book.  A few that have particularly peaked my interest are: Brown Sugar & Vanilla, Ladies Citrus Shave, Orange Marmalade, and Carved Quartz.  Kristi at Fiber Fool made up her own batch of the Ladies Citrus Shave from this book.  They are gorgeous, so make sure to stop by her blog and check them out!

Have you read this book?  If so, please share your own review in the comments below!

 

Garden Glory Salt Scrub and Exfoliating Cream Soap

By now most of us have harvested the bounty of our Summer gardens.  Keep the feeling of summer all year long with these nutrient rich, exfoliating recipes, made with some of our favorite summer vegetables.  Tomato Seed Oil is rich in lycopene, carotene, and other beneficial cartenoids.  It is highly moisturizing, making it great for dry, winter skin.  Cucumber Seed Oil is a refreshing, cooling, and conditioning oil, packed with fatty acids.  Carrot Seed Oil is another skin loving ingredient.  High in Beta Carotene, Vitamin A, and E, Carrot Oil can help to heal dry, chapped skin. 

Garden Glory Salt Scrub
Makes about 6 ounces (by volume)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Pink Himalayan Pink Salt
• 1/4 cup Honey Granules
• 1 ounce Cucumber Seed Oil
• 1/2 ounce Tomato Seed Oil
• 1/2 ounce Carrot Seed Oil
• 20 - 45 drops Geranium Essential Oil

Directions
Combine the Honey Granules and Salt in a small mixing bowl, followed by the Vegetable Oils and Essential Oil.  Mix well, then transfer to clean jars.

Usage & Packaging
Salt scrubs look great in our PET Jars.  Try making small jars with our 2 oz. Flats, or larger portions with our 4 oz. flats.  

Garden Glory Exfoliating Cream Soap
Makes about 4 ounces (by volume)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Garden Glory Salt Scrub
• 1 ounce Liquid Castile Soap
• 25 drops Geranium Essential Oil

Directions
Combine the Garden Glory Salt Scrub and Liquid Castile in a small mixing bowl, and stir together.  At first, the two will not mix easily, but just keep working the mixture until it combines fully. Add the Essential Oil and mix again.  If you'd like the soap to be a little looser, add more Liquid Castile. 

Usage & Packaging
This super thick soap will not fit through a pump bottle.  Instead, try using one of our PET Jars to package it.  Scoop out a little at a time and scrub away!

How have you incorporated Garden ingredients into your handmade skin care and soap recipes?