Recipes

OK, so I've spent the morning going over recipes & colors & still haven't decided on a soap...was thinking of 'beachy' soaps but am now leaning towards black & whites....hmm....off I go.

Dog Days

The sun finally came out & so did the dogs...

Rooibos Pear

Today was cold & yucky so I decided on a warm homey soap. So I went with Rooibos, 100% olive oil, ground flax & rye for scrubbers, cinnamon, pear pieces and a dash of sweet orange EO. Hopefully it will have several shades from deep golden brown to light creams in the swirl . Rooibos is is an amazing herb, unique to the mountains of South Africa; it's benefits as a tea taken internally, as well as in skin preparations are numerous. It is known for it's anti-itching properties and soothing effects on eczema, psoriasis, diaper or prickly heat rashes, and acne; it's zinc and alpha hydroxy content is high.

I infused the entire liquid portion of this soap recipe with a strong rooibos tea also.
Cross your fingers & we'll see tomorrow....

First Blog Post !

Well I finally decided that another rainy day was a good reason to sit at the computer & create a blog...I've seen a few lately that made me chuckle and decided why not. You'll have to excuse my lags in posting now & then as I am often soaping all day, but will try & sneak away.

I discovered soaping about 12 yrs ago and it has led me to many other things such as learning about essential oils,  plants & their uses and things I never thought I'd need to know but I'm glad I took the time along the way to dig below the surface & get to know all aspects of what goes into my soaps. 

Many people are caught up in the ' all natural ' aspect lately and while I understand the thinking I prefer to take a ' minimalist' approach instead...meaning that I use the purest ingredients as in pure virgin olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, etc and keep additives minimal.

 Having said that there are some of the fragrances that are being made these days that you just can't get in 'all natural' scents and are selling like 'hot-soap cakes'... so when I want a Sunripened Raspberry Explosion for example then I use cosmetic grade fragrances and create recipes that have a ' less is more' approach to ingredients. By knowing the properties of the items, I can create many different varieties of bars without adding the unnecessary. 

Interesting that the definition of natural is :" being unprocessed or manufactured using only simple or minimal processes ; "natural yogurt"; "natural produce"; "raw wool"; "raw sugar"

I will also dabble in hot process and bases from time to time when I'm looking to try a change or experiment with color. 

I hope you'll drop by often & please leave a wee note to let me know you were here...I hate to think I'm 'typing' to myself.....