Science and Soaping

I have been soaping my little heart out. Almost every day I can be found tinkering with recipe ingredients, researching the internet, making soap or just plain pondering what wonderful botanical elements can be added that will make skin and the bodies it is attached to-- happy!

My new crock pot from Goodwill!

I learn something new every day. Science has never been my interest, or my strong point, yet I find soap making fascinating. I am concentrating on making hand milled soap. This means simply: make the plain soap and then grate it and re-melt it, adding substances from nature.

Because this soap has already undergone the saponification process in the first round, I can control the heat applied to the new ingredients added. The problem with the saponification process is that ingredients are exposed to extremely high temperatures, many times nullifying the beneficial effects of the botanicals.

Making herbal tea for soap

Another reason I like making hand milled soap is that I can make very small batches, not risking a lot in the experimentation process. In addition, if I have someone who wishes a few bars of cucumber soap for example, it will be available after much less cure time.

By the way, the cucumber soap has shrunk in the curing process, loosing about 30% of its mass so far. It still smells of the wonderful cucumber from which it was made, no fragrances added.See below the green bar and compare it to the others in size. The fattest bars are the newest.

I am enjoying adding to my soaps dried, frozen and infused plant materials from the Garden of Nemesis. I know that none of these plants have been exposed to toxins such as insecticides, chemical fertilizers or herbicides. No, I have had no governmental agency looking over my shoulder or “certifying” these dozen years of gardening this plot. My conscience and my love for the Earth has been my guide. 

So far, I have incorporated: chamomile, calendula, annatto, turmeric, plantain, rosemary, lavender and many more interesting and subtly colored and fragrant botanicals.