Lavender essential oil used in soap will gently cleanse the skin without stripping it of moisture, allowing its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties to combat pimples and skin irritation. These properties also make lavender soap useful in treating skin infections, scabies, and eczema.
Essential Oil Blends for Soap Making
Lemongrass, geranium, lavender, rosemary are all examples of mid notes. Base notes are much heavier, tend to be woody or spicy but can include floral such as Ylang Ylang. These tend to be the longest lasting and can work very well in soap making especially when combined with some of the lighter notes.
Lathering hard oils include coconut oil, palm kernel oil, babassu oil, and murumuru butter. On the other hand, conditioning hard oils are oils and butters such as palm oil, cocoa butter, lard, tallow, kokum butter, illipe butter, sal butter, mango butter, and shea butter.
Lemongrass, geranium, lavender, rosemary are all examples of mid notes. Base notes are much heavier, tend to be woody or spicy but can include floral such as Ylang Ylang. These tend to be the longest lasting and can work very well in soap making especially when combined with some of the lighter notes.
How much Lavender Essential Oil to Use. In wash-off skin products like soap, you should use a maximum of 3% lavender essential oil by weight. This guideline was set down by the European Union and is there to protect us against skin reactions. Lavender essential oil, like all essential oils, is not 'pure lavender'.
Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil Lavender Essential Oil A good choice for soapmaking is Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil. (Or you might try a Lavandin, such as Lavandin Grosso or Lavandin Abrialis, rather than a true Lavender.) Lavender 40/42 is standardized so that it always smells the same. That makes it a good candidate for manufacturing.
Lathering hard oils include coconut oil, palm kernel oil, babassu oil, and murumuru butter. On the other hand, conditioning hard oils are oils and butters such as palm oil, cocoa butter, lard, tallow, kokum butter, illipe butter, sal butter, mango butter, and shea butter.
about 24 hours Most hot process soap will be fully cooled and ready to unmold and cut in about 24 hours. As with any bar of soap, the longer it sits, the harder and better it will be. Letting it sit for at least a week will really make a difference in the overall quality of your bar.
Having that small amount of extra oil in your bar adds to the moisturizing ability and emollient properties of the soap. It also provides a safety margin to insure that there is never any unreacted lye in your finished bar of soap. How much should you superfat? Superfatting is typical done at 5-20%.
5% is a commonly used superfat percentage, but it can range from 1-20%. 5% is a good starting point to create a bar of soap that keeps its cleaning power and is kind to the skin. Superfatting to a higher percentage may create a softer bar of soap or inhibit lather.
For Hot Process Soap Version: Once your soap has cooked for an hour, you can add any extras you'd like to your soap. Mix the honey with the extra 3 tablespoons of water and stir quickly into your hot soap. The extra water helps it stir in without scorching and makes it easier to mix.
Add in Some Yogurt Adding yogurt to cooked hot process soap transforms thickish goopy soap into a wonderfully pourable liquid. I also add sodium lactate to my water before adding the lye, and while that is helpful with making the bars harder, rumor has it that it also helps with fluidity.
Tips for Successfully Swirling Hot Process Soap