I am planning on making Blue Sugar soap this weekend it is a new scent that I had to try. I’ve always loved Pink Sugar and Auqolina has come out with a masculine version of it and named it Blue Sugar. I can definitely smell Pink Sugar in there, there is that familiar sweetness but the blue sugar has some woodsy notes in it, fir or pine, and maybe a hint of licorice? I think it could be popular for either gender. Personally I like really girly scent so its to masculine for me but I definitely wouldn’t mind my husband using it! This oil unlike its feminine counterpart does not discolor at all! That is really exciting for me!! I am envisioning a light, light blue soap with a cream colored swirl and perhaps a very thing bold navy blue vein running through out. I’m kicking myself for not having any ultramarines around. Those would be a perfect choice to color this soap with! I will have to go through all of my colorants and see what I have to give me a dark deep blue. I know I have some jojoba beads that are dark blue, but I’m not sure if I want this soap to have scrubbiness to it. It would give a nice affect with the color though. I’m using my smaller 13 bar mold for this.
Homemade Organic soap is a bit of a labelling stretch, but many businesses chose to label their soap this way if they have used organic oils in their soap making process. Sodium Hydroxide is a caustic chemical, essential for soap making. Organic oils and organic essential oils can be used but still sodium hydroxide must be used to make the soap. So labelling a soap Organic is not exactly truth in advertising. If organic living is a big priority though, soap made with organic ingredients, and sodium hydroxide is the closest thing you will get to a natural soap product. Watch also for the ingredients used to scent and color the soap as well. There is no such thing as ‘cotton candy essential oil’ or ‘rootbeer essential oil’ both I have seen on labels and both of those are fragrance oils, synthetic fragrances. Also watch for the way the soap is colored- natural coloring is easy to come by with mica’s and clays, even tea and coffee color soap nicely. So while organic homemade soap isnt exactly correct it can be very close.
Lavender is a classic scent and additive in soap. One of my first batches of soap was lavender. I used a pretty simple 4lbs recipe that had palm oil (wasnt a fan of it didnt reorder it) lard, olive oil and palm kernal oil. Once my soap traced I added in an ounce of bulgarian lavender essential oil and a small handful of lavender buds, I also sprinkled some lavender buds on top. It turned out lightly scented and very pretty and very scrubby. I recommend grinding your lavender buds if you wish to add it to the body of the soap so it wont be so sharp.
Cucumber can add some fantastic label appeal. Itll be up to you and your customers to decide if they find it adds any luxury to the actual soap. The ground cucumber peel gives beautiful green flecks in the soap but they will eventually fade into yellow due to the chloriaphil. It eventually is broken down and the color fades. A smidge of green fd&c dye can cover that yellowing and the ground bits of peel will give a slight scrubbiness to your soap. If you wish to add the actual cucumber just puree it up and add it in as part of your water. If you have 16oz of water in your recipe use 14oz to mix with your lye and at trace add in your 2oz of cucumber. There are also cucumber fragrances available to help scent this cucumber soap. Some that I have worked with accelorate trace. If your fragrance oil is an accelorater be sure to soap at room temperature. Keeping your temps low will help keep it from moving too fast.
If you are a beginner wanting to give a batch of soap a shot you should be able to find almost everything you will need locally. The only thing you will need to order online is lye. There are many online suppliers, I personally have had great experiences ordering sodium hydroxide. Look for a supplier that knows there are hazmat restrictions on the amount of lye that can be shipped, and what it can be shipped with (for instance you cant ship citric acid and sodium hydroxide together) Once you have your lye reference my soapmaking supply list (found here) for the rest of the supplies youll need. There are tons of exotic oils out there that can be soaped but for your first batch you can keep it very simple. Simpley pick up some lard, olive oil and coconut oil. That will get you a decent bar of soap.
4 pound batch- not vegan
Coconut Oil- 14.4 oz
Lard-19.2
Olive Oil-14.4oz
Water-16 oz
Lye-6.9oz
Gentley melt your lard down,, and if your coconut oil is solid then you can add it into once the lard is melted and that will help cool your melted lard, then add in your olive oil.
Now get your safety gear on, gloves and goggles and gather your scale, metal bowl, spoon, lye and water (in your pitcher) measure out your 6.9oz of lye and very carefully add your lye into the water- NEVER put the water into the lye. That is very important. Always lye into water. Stir until its disolved and let it cool. When your oils and lye water are both cool you can begin to soap. But first you will want to ready your mold. If you have purchased body safe fragrance or essential oils or coloring now is the time to measure and have them ready. Once all of that is ready-and you are geared back up with gloves and goggles grab your stick blender and slowly pour your lye water into your oils and stir your mixture, you can give it a few bursts of the stick blender on low. Soon youll get the hang of using a stick blender, if you love to stir just use a spoon, but a stick blender makes soap trace much faster. When your soap begins to look like a thin custard you can put in your fragrance or coloring now and bring it to a full trace-it will look like thin pudding. If you pull your spoon out and let a drop fall itll hold that drop for a moment, at this point you are ready to pour. Pour into your mold and put it in a warm place, either in an oven with a pilot light or an over turned box with blankets insulating it. Leave it there for at least 12 hours, you can of course peak, after about 24 hours you should be safe to unmold, if you just cannot wait, check it after 12, if its still squishy put it back to bed. You can cut your soap as soon as its solid enough to handle. You should wait 3 weeks to use your soap. But personally I have never lasted that long. I always give a sliver of soap a go to see how the soap turned out right after Ive cut it. I dont recommend that, but its your call.
Enjoy your soap!