You REALLY Should Try DIY Soap. Here’s a Super Easy Recipe!

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You might’ve heard somewhere that if you can’t eat what you’re putting on your body, you shouldn’t be using it. While in some cases, that rule might be a little extreme, for the most part, you’ll be a lot healthier if you apply it and make DIY soap at home.

Take soap from the store, for example. Or if you’ve got a favorite body wash, next time you step into the shower, read the back of the label; right where the ingredients are.

Although you might see natural things like water (which should be the first ingredient), shea butter, honey, etc., we’d be shocked if you also didn’t notice other items including sodium laureth sulfate (sulfate tends to dry skin out, by the way), stearate, tetrasodium EDTA, methylchloroisothiazolinone (we’ll pay you $1 if you can pronounce that correctly on the first try!), disodium phosphate and even artificial colors.

Skin has pores and pores take in what we give it. We’re thinking you probably wouldn’t knowingly put methylchloroisothiazolinone (which is a preservative) or an artificial color (that has tons of chemicals in it) on it if you can avoid it.

The good news is you can avoid it. For starters, by trying out this really easy to make homemade soap recipe.

Aside from the fact that the ingredients are all-natural—and, once you get used to making your own soap, cost-effective (because once you have all of the ingredients, you can make lots of bars!) and super-convenient—another cool thing about DIY soap is you can customize your own ingredients.

Although today’s focus will be lavender and lemon, if you’ve got a favorite essential oil (you can check out more on how they are helpful here) or if you’ve read up on another kind of fruit or herb that will benefit your skin (and there are tons of those!), you can make your dream soap—and even gift it to others.

Hopefully that has convinced you to take out a few minutes of your day to at least give making your own soap a try. We’re pretty confident that once you make your first “batch”, you’ll say goodbye to all of the commercial soap products; ones that you probably have no clue if they are truly good or not for your skin anyway (trust us, we know the feeling!).

Lavender and Lemon Soap

There’s nothing like soaking in a warm bubble bath after a long hard day. If your soap is made from lavender and lemon, it’s even better. Lavender is a soothing scent that immediately helps to calm and relax you. It also contains antimicrobial properties that fight bacteria and fungi and can support in healing skin inflammation too. Also, if you decide to “double up” and use it as a shampoo, it’s great at treating scalp irritations while promoting hair growth. Lemon hydrates your skin as it improves the quality of it at the same time.

Now do you see why we’re such a fan of this kind of soap? Let’s get into how you can start making some.

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds of goat’s milk soap base
Lavender essential oil
Lemon essential oil
Soap mold
Rubbing alcohol

***If you want the soap to be more aesthetically-pleasing, add some purple soap dye and poppy seeds. For the dye, we recommend a product like Mica Powder from Target. It’s organic and a favorite among lots of soap and candle makers.***

Step One:

First, I pull out my double boiler and divide the soap base in half.

Step Two:

I melt one half (which is one pound) of it for around 20 minutes or so (the key is to make sure that the soap base is completely liquified).

Step Three:

I then add 10-15 drops of lavender oil into the melted soap. (If you want your soap to appear purple, this would be the time to also add around 4-5 drops of purple dye. Also, if you want to provide the soap with an exfoliant effect, a teaspoon of poppy seeds like this one from Target, should be added right here too.)

Step Four:

I slowly pour the soap into my soap molds (about halfway up). Then I spray them with alcohol, just so my soap bars won’t have any bubbles on them. I allow this part of my soap to harden for 60-90 minutes or so.

Step Five:

Now it’s time to make the lemon portion of my soap. I do the same thing with it that I did with the lavender soap. Only this time, I add 10-15 drops of lemon oil.

Step Six:

I pour my lemon soap base over the lavender and allow this layer of soap two harden for two hours before moving the entire bars from my soap mold. And, I’m done!

TIP:

*As far as the poppy seeds go, it’s best to add them if you’re going to use the soap relatively soon. Otherwise, it could end up discoloring your soap.

Oh, one more thing! If you’re more of a body wash than soap bar person, it’s your lucky day! I’ve got a super quick and easy DIY body wash recipe for you.

Coconut Milk Body Wash

The coconut milk will deeply-moisturize your skin. Castile soap is some of the best soap (that provides some of pretty good bubbles) on the market. The jojoba oil contains vitamins B-complex and E to heal the effects of eczema and rosacea and repair skin damage associated with breakouts or the sun. Glycerin is a humectant (which means it draws moisture from the air onto your skin). Honey contains powerful antibacterial and antioxidant properties. And aside from how good jasmine oil smells, it reduces age spots.