 This fresh herbal soap is another in the line of more affordable oil blends that provides gentle and satisfying cleansing power from saponified olive, soy and coconut oils, and each $4 bar will weigh over 5 ounces. I can't wait for it to set so I can cut it and get intoxicated by the scent again!
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 It is possible to create a perfectly fine soap without Shea butter, cocoa butter, or jojoba oil. The simple blending of olive oil, coconut and soybean oils produced the suds you see on the left. Let's not sneer at the common little soy legume! Soy bean oil produces a gently cleansing salt that gives a boost to bubbles and acts as a humectant. It's only drawback is that it does not give a satisfying hardness to the bar, so it must be balanced by other oils that do harden nicely when saponified, such as coconut and olive.  My personal soap ball I took this humble blend of oils and added some super mineral sources from earth and sea: Dead sea salt, dulse and nori, bentonite clay, French green clay, mined sodium chloride, ground patchouli, and activated charcoal give this one some super mineralised cleansing properties. It wouldn't be complete without a scent of clean earthiness, so I combined patchouli, peppermint, cypress, basil and rosemary for the perfect complement. This soap is full of interesting ingredients and strong cleansing power, yet friendly to the budget. When the loaf has hardened and is ready to cut, I plan to offer generous large long lasting bars that weigh over 5 oz each for no more than $4.
I love making great soap and other things with superior natural ingredients, but this can really run up prices. I hate the idea of passing on exorbitant materials costs to customers, so I try to go for the least expensive and most minimal packaging, and best shipping deals. It is easy to find inexpensive soap and lotions in the physical retail world, and you get what you pay for. I don't want to pay more for the colorful box a product comes in than for the product. I don't want to pay for 'fragrances' that could possibly contain up to fifty different human made and unproven chemicals and soap that could contain salts of animal fats, harsh sulfates and triethalwhatsits. My mission is to make high quality product varieties without bunches of scientifical mass produced chemiwhatsits that are affordable for the widest budget ranges. I'm always on the lookout for good deals on raw materials and when I get them, a soap variety might be for sale for less than it was previously. If I make a variety that has an ultra expensive scent, I hope to offset that cost by selling other varieties too while offering that ultra expensive variety for less than it can be found elsewhere. Look for similar Lily soap on Amazon, for example, and you will see a huge price difference-and most likely a huge difference in ingredients. If you crave the finest champagne but have a beer budget, I understand. I want to give the experience of luxury soap at moderate prices as much as I possibly can! I'm body care products spoiled and would gnash my teeth if I couldn't indulge daily. I can't imagine going without my Shea butter and jojoba oil concoctions and having to slather on some stinky unsatisfying lotion. I can't imagine washing my hair with that dubious stuff known as shampoo. When I say I test every soap variety, that goes for washing my hair with it too! I will confess though that nothing I have made is as satisfying for hair conditioning as some good old commercial store bought conditioner. When I discover the right stable blend of uncomplicated mostly natural ingredients for this-you bet I will share it too!
I temporarily surrendered my personal Lily Flowers Frankincense soap ball in order to give the wash test to a new clay soap variety that I just couldn't resist creating. If you have never used a soap containing clay before, it might seem like a weird contradiction. Isn't clay some form of mud? Mud and suds? How could this be a good thing? Here is what my latest clay soap blend does: 
From the variety I call Gerhassoul since I scented it with rose geranium essential oil
 I have incorporated Rhassoul into this soap in two different ways. Nice suds! For this soap, I incorporated Rhassoul clay into a blend of olive, walnut and coconut oils and raw Shea butter. Rhassoul clay comes from Morocco and usually has a reddish color due to iron oxide. On the left is my bit of soap from the latest batch. It is still very yellow because it is very fresh. It's quite usable, but still somewhat soft. It will harden and the color will change to faint pink with a darker reddish swirl as more moisture leaves. Of course, I'm too impatient to wait for this to happen to my little chunk! Below is a more mature soap made with Rhassoul clay. 
This is Rhassoul clay and activated charcoal soap
The special mineral mixtures that are known as clay have been used since ancient times for cleansing and healing. Some people do not use soap at all, but prefer straight clay. Why not have the best of both? Clay draws away toxins and so does soap. I have developed a liking for cleansing clay and suds mixed together. My latest blend that I have named Gerhassoul is concentrated with clay and it certainly does not perform like mud. If you like the scent of roses, rose geranium essential oil delivers the pleasure while being more friendly to the budget. A whimsical association with rose geranium is that it has the power to repel gossip.
Here is some more information about clay that makes me want to go dig a chunk from my yard and turn it into pottery or bricks: _http://uwsslec.libguides.com/content.php?pid=192631&sid=1615244 I do have accessible clay deposits, but I would not put these into soap because I do not know what harmful impurities they might contain. Not all clay deposits are of equal purity and I acquire my soap clay varieties from reputable providers of highest quality clay. |
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