Two simple DIY's for how to make soap at home with various ingredients and additives, using a melt & pour base recipe. The first is a moisturising & exfoliating loofah soap with coconut milk and rose essential oil. The second is a rose-infused soap sphere recipe.
Cut slices from the loofah sponge. Make sure that they are just thick enough to fit your mould.
Tie a string through each of them. This step is optional but a great addition to the loofah soap so you can hang it to dry after every use. This will help reduce unnecessary moisture from clinging to the loofah sponge.
Melt the soap base by placing your chopped soap base pieces into a large heat-proof bowl and melt either in the microwave or using a double-boiler method over low heat. I used a microwave and heated it in 30-second increments, till all the pieces had melted entirely.
As soon as it's all liquified, add the coconut cream & 10-15 drops of rose essential oil. For a more intense scent, you can double the amount.
Stir well to mix the liquid soap and coconut cream, working quickly, as the soap will begin to set fairly quickly.
I then assembled the soap mould. First I added a few dry rose petals into each soap mould and then placed the loofah slice over them.
Carefully pour the DIY soap mix into the mould compartments, over the loofah slices. You might need to gently press over the loofah slices so they absorb the liquid without coming out of the mould.
The soap will begin to harden with just a couple of minutes. However, you can also place your moulds in the fridge to help them set faster.
The loofah soap is then ready to use. As you use the soap more, the loofah sponge will be revealed more and exfoliate while cleansing.
For The Rose-Infused Spheres:
The first step to making any homemade soap is to set up everything you need in a little 'work station'. As all the additives are mixed into the melted liquid, you need to work fairly quickly to incorporate everything you want and pour it into the moulds, before it starts to set.
Once your work station is ready, you need to cut and weigh your melt and pour base, till you have the required amount.
Place the base pieces into a large heat-proof bowl and melt either in the microwave or using a double-boiler method over low heat. I used a microwave and heated it in 30-second increments, till all the pieces had melted entirely. I have heard that microwaving it can sometimes cause the soap to dry out. However, I was delighted with the results I got. *
It's best to work fast while it's melted, so you then add a drop of red colouring into the base and mix thoroughly. Increase the number of drops depending on how intense you want the colour to be. I like only to add a few drops maximum if using any non-natural colourants.
Stir in the rose essential oil till thoroughly combined.
Finally, it's time to pour the liquid into your moulds. I prepared the moulds by adding a few dried roses to each half-sphere. Because I didn't use a 'suspension formula' base, I knew that my roses would mostly sit above, as a decoration. Luckily this works excellently for dried roses anyway as it keeps them looking pretty for longer. **
Carefully pour the base into your moulds and give each mould a gentle tap to remove any air bubbles. You can top them up with a few more dry roses, then put them aside to set and harden.
Once set, pop them out of their moulds and they can be used immediately or stored somewhere cool and dry. ***
Video
Notes
* Be careful when you get the bowl out of the microwave as it will likely be quite hot!** As I mentioned in the blog post above, roses can bleed colour into the soap over time. Having the flowers as decoration will delay that effect.*** If you find the top surface uneven and wish to fix this, then you can pour a little amount of extra soap over the surface to level it. Leave that to set before removing them from their moulds.