The family of soap batches is growing

“Lavender #8″
I mentioned this recently in another post, but here’s the skinny on this lavender batch. Like I said, we’ve gone off of the vegan wagon and headed home back to the farm with an old recipe that your grandmother, or great-grandmother if you’re younger, would have used to make soap. Lard and lye. Now, hold on just a minute…I see that wrinkle in your nose. That “ew” gurglin’ up in ya. Don’t. This batch of soft, beautiful lavender soap will make your skin thank you. It’s possibly the only known cure mankind knows to Monday morning blues.

“LemonPeppermintHappyPlace”
Another aforementioned favorite of mine is a dynamic duo that will…rock. your. socks. It will ease nausea in pregnant women, speaking of – Happy Mother’s Day! I propose a question to you. Do you want a soap that makes you smile? Well cuddle up to this bar in a nice, hot bath. You know, making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. I suggest taking a break from all your worries, it sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where the LemonPeppermintHappyPlace is.

Yellow top with white ‘lava lamp’ like swirls in the middle.

“Freckles”
Castile soap. A recipe that goes back thousands of years. Even Queen Cleopatra was a lover of olive oil soap. However, she liked a little laurel oil in her batches (about 16%) which is called Aleppo soap. It’s medicinal for your skin woes. I, like early European soap makers, did not have immediate access to laurel oil and made simple, pure olive oil soap – Castile. However, I took five twists in this adventure.
1. I did not use any fragrances.
2. I did not use any artificial coloring or dyes.
3. I used evaporated and powdered goat’s milk.
4. I used paprika to give it a tint of red and create what looks like…freckles throughout the bars.
5. I refrigerated the batch instead of letting it ‘gel’ and heat/cook overnight. This will give it a different texture. We’ll see how it turns out in a couple of weeks. It will be awesome soap for your skin.

Freckles