Random Fact of the Day #9

While showering today, I counted seven bars of soap in our shower. Yes, seven.

Four are mine, two are Dustin's, and one is a facial soap bar that we're currently sharing.

Excessive? Nah. A girl needs options. Who wants to smell the same every day?

That is all.

Adventures in Soap Making

People, I made soap!

Okay, well, I sorta made soap. I guess what I really did is turn some lovely handmade cold process soap base into scented stuff. But I made soap... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Of course I had to photo log my journey. What kind of blogger would I be if I did not?

First I had to measure off one pound of the goat milk soap base and cut it into chunks. For a really dry soap, grating is best, but this soap was still pretty fresh and soft, so I took my chances and cut it into chunks.




Then I dumped it into a pot. Now, melting the base on direct heat like this was not one of the recommended methods of rebatching it. However, I don't have a double boiler, did not want to use the microwave, or take hours melting it in the oven. So, I decided to take my chances. Because me taking my chances in the kitchen?

That always works out well.




Next I measured and added 1/4 cup milk, added it to the pot and turned the heat on low. While it got to cookin', I decided to measure out my essential oils to try to get a good combo of scents going. I decided to try a mixture of cedarwood and sage based on a soap I bought off of Etsy for Dustin. He loved it. Any handmade soap that excites my husband is a good soap in my book because then he looks at me just a liiiittle less strangely when I go and spend our entire life savings on it.




I decided to throw in just a tiny hint of lime because I'm obsessed with citrus. Just a tiny bit though. You have to be careful wth citrus oils. Actually you have to be careful with all of the oils.

Let me take the time to add a healthy warning here. Essential oils can be good and wonderful and they can be dangerous. Don't go adding them all willy nilly to things. In fact, don't play around with them at all unless you know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing, so I really should not be within 100 meters of them. However, I did look them up on my supplier's website to get the safe and recommended 1-lb soap amounts for each of the oils. Hopefully our skin will remain on our bodies and we will not melt when we step out into the sunlight.

Let me also throw in another warning here. Don't use your food stuffs for your soap stuffs. Once essential oils, fragrance oils, or colorants touch any of your food stuffs they can no longer be food stuffs. I bought a cheap set of pans, spoons, and measuring items to be used only for soap.

Ok, enough of the scary stuffs.

By this time I saw that it was not melting very fast.




See?

So I turned up the heat to medium low.

That worked.




See?

That is what I called the rice krispie phase. Because a couple weeks ago we made rice krispie treats and the melting soap looked a lot like melting marshmellows.

Another warning: melting soap is not melting marshmellows. Don't eat it. Even though it's goat's milk and oil.

Then it hit the tapioca pudding phase, which I failed to capture. Sorry. I was too afraid you'd eat it.

Next comes the vanilla puddin' phase. Ahhh, vanilla puddin'.



See? Aint she purdy?

This is where you stir in the extra stuffs. Essential oils, fragrance oils, colorants, seeds, herbs, small critters...

I just chose the cedarwood, sage, and lime essential oils. I decided to keep it all natural. No pretty colors needed. It was a nice creamy vanilla puddin' already. Who needs, like, purple? I wanted to add some kind of exfoliant but I didn't know if what I had on hand would work so I skipped that.

It was time to pour it into the mold. Now, I must have misunderstood the mold description when I bought it because I thought it made a 16 oz bar in each of the cavities. However, I quickly found that there was no way the entire 16 oz was going to fit into one cavity. Apparently it makes two 8 oz bars of soap. Oookay.



I had to let it cool off, then popped it into the freezer to harden it long enough to get it out of the mold. Once it softened up again, I cut it into weird sized bars.



See?

Now we have 8 2oz bars of cedarwood sage soap with a twist. It smells delightfully spicy with just a little refreshing zing! in the background. Love it.

We're supposed to wait a few to several weeks for it to fully harden and be ready to use. However, I confess that I took the tiniest bit of it and used it on my hands. It lathers like a dream.

I have four more pounds of soap base left and several scents from which to choose. Next time I'm doing something girly. Once I use all the base, I want to buy my own oils and lye and make some completely from scratch.

You know me. I'm clumsy. Doesn't seem like such a wise idea?

Pray for me.

And don't eat my soap. It just looks like white fudge.

Cuffed

I have a thing for bracelets lately. I don't mean wearing them, I mean making them. I don't think I could personally pull off a cuff, but for some reason I'm obsessed with them. I made two in the past couple months and I like them both and wish I could wear them both.

I also have a thing for bangles but haven't made any yet. Soon though, soon.

Black birch sterling silver cuff:


Rippled copper cuff:


<------ Oh, and do you see the little sponsor section over there to the left and down a bit? If you see Zaja Natural there, go click and buy. For real. Do it. Best soap ever. In case Zaja Natural is no longer there, click here and buy. Try the charcoal facial soap. I'm so not kidding. Ask my husband, he uses it too. In fact, I think I need to order some more soon. And the dead sea mud scrub? Divine. Oh and look! Now she has deodorant!

Someone buy a cuff. I need to go shopping.

Things I love Part 2, Or: Do you think I have a problem?

If you're one of my faithful readers, you might remember my first post about things I love, where I mentioned all sorts of yummy goodness. Well, today I'm all about the body stuff. You know, the stuff we use to clean and primp. I'm a simple girl. A simple girl gone crunchy. I'm really not into makeup and my beauty cabinet has very few products. Not that I think I'm gorgeous or anything, I just like my face to speak for itself. On the rare occasion I dress up, I only wear a little mineral foundation with a neutral light brown eye shadow, maybe a touch of mascara and a nice lip gloss.

There are other body things that I love, however.

Take for example my huge collection of soap (and ignore, please, the messy shelf. This is after I cleaned out and organized my linen closet the other day.):


Do you see that? I have developed a strange love affair with handmade soap. Sure, there are a few old bars of Dove hanging out, but except for that, almost the entire section of that shelf in our linen closet is devoted to handmade soap. What you probably can't see is that behind all the soap is... more soap. In our master bath closet is... more soap. In the master bath shower is... more soap. Love that soap. And you know, it's not even that we're really dirty people. I just can't stop buying it. (Shipped just yesterday is, in fact, more soap.) I believe that once this newest bar arrives, I will have acquired enough soap to clean up the biggest of industrial oil spills. Olive oil soap, goat's milk soap, oatmeal soap, charcoal soap... if it's made, I probably have it.

"Wait! Back up! Charcoal soap!?"

Oh yes. Charcoal soap. I found it on Etsy after a friend told me about squalane.

"Squalane?? What the... have you gone mad?"

Yes. Yes, I have gone mad. Mad about these products from Zaja Natural. I'm telling you, this person is on to something. Her charcoal soap may be strange, but it's great. It lathers really well. A wonderful thick, dark gray lather. It cleans my face like nothing I've ever tried. It's great for blemishes, though not so great for your nice, white sink if you're a messy like me. *giggle*

I've even gotten my anti-crunchy husband hooked on it. When he ran out of his toxic chemical-filled shmudge, I handed him my big black bar and said, "dude, just try it" (or something not so surfer-like, anyway). After just a couple of days, he was convinced. Now he uses it more than I do.

As for the squalane, that's just the best moisturizer I have ever tried. While many of the sources out there come from shark, hers is totally vegan - taken from olives. Not that I'm a vegan, but I don't exactly relish the idea of shmearing shark on my face. Yumm. Either way, why coat your precious facial skin with chemical crud made from God knows what when you can put pure, God made stuff on it? I only use 2-3 drops. The bottle will last forever. We're talking baby butt skin. On my face. Ahhhh.

Perhaps my absolute most favorite product ever is the Zaja Dead Sea Mud Foaming Scrub.


People. People. This stuff is aMAzing. Never in my life have I used a product I adore so much. It's completely natural, made from all earthy crunchy granola type stuff. It's fan-freaking-TASTIC. I'm telling you, baby butt skin times ten. It cleanses. It exfoliates. It brings about world peace. Or at least I fully believe it would, if only everyone gave it a try. I mean, who could be all grouchy and stuff if their face felt like a baby butt? Not I... not I. Both my mom and I love this stuff. If Zaja ever stops selling it, I will cry. Then I might just start a war.

My next mention is absolutely shocking. It's *gasp* natural deodorant. I will tell you that natural deodorant is not something I ever... ever... thought I would try. I don't like to smell crunchy granola, thankyouverymuch, but when several people recommended this product called Funk Butter and absolutely raved about it, I really had no choice but to give it a try.


Funk Butter is made by Oyin Handmade, and is a creamy type stuff you shmear on your pits with your fingers. While not the most pleasant of applications, this stuff is really great. I bought the unscented and also the Black Cedar Fig. Dustin loves the smell of the latter, and so do I. I'm not ashamed to admit that when I wear it, I'm strangely drawn to the fragrance wafting from underneath my arms. Perhaps it's just my weird senses, but it reminds me of warm, raw cinnamon roll dough. This stuff actually works. For about 24 hours. I don't get that kind of mileage from the scary chemical stuff! It even works for my man. And we all know that men don't perspire, they sweat.

There is one other natural deodorant I have been very pleased with (and to be honest, I have only tried three. The third - which was actually the first I ever tried - was by Tom's of Maine and it made my skin peel. Pleasant, no?). The Thai Crystal Roll-On.


I've heard horror stories about the rock deodorants, but even though the concept is the same for this roll-on, this stuff does work. I think the idea behind it is it inhibits bacteria from growing where it is applied (you have to apply it to clean skin) and no bacteria = no odor.

I was skeptical.

After two days, I was a convert.

The only thing I do not like about this product is the fact that it is a roll-on, and I feel as though I need to wait for it to dry before fully dressing. It also does not have any odor at all to it, so I cannot walk around smelling myself and getting hungry for a pastry as I can with da Funk Butter. In terms of ease of use, however, it wins out over da Funk hands down. (Besides, every time I use Funk Butter I get "We got da funk! Gotta have that funk!" stuck in my head. And that's never a good thing.)

Also worth mentioning:

Gudonya Too products - I bought my mom and myself one of their body scrub kisses, and they are lovely. Unfortunately, I do not see them in their shop at the moment, but I'd happily recommend anything they make!

Rose of Sharon Acres goats milk soap - This company is in Texas. You gotta love that. Goats milk is wonderful for the skin. They even make tooth soaps. I bought a sample. They're unused in my cabinet. The idea still freaks me out. (While I'm mostly crunchy, I do like my fluoride. Sorry. I do.)

Burt's Bees - I'm sure you all have heard of this company. I simply adore their Milk & Honey body lotion. It's one of the two lotions that actually works on my hands (which love to crack and bleed). Their Citrus & Ginger body wash is great too. Actually, I've not met a product from them that I did not think was great.

So now that you have been informed of my handmade soap addiction and have learned about how cleaning your face with charcoal and mud can stop the ugliest of wars, tell me what you love. If it sounds interesting, might just have to clear a spot on my shelf.

Or buy a bigger house...