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Anyone can DIY with these easy soap recipes!
Working with caustic lye has never appealed to me, so I set out to develop easy soap recipes that don’t require a respirator, special equipment or very much time. Now that I’ve got it figured out, every month or so, I spend a few minutes in the kitchen whipping up a supply of fragrant, homemade soap that lasts for weeks.
These easy soap recipes take about 5 minutes of work & are inexpensive. Pair them with our herbal aromatherapy humidifier sachets that we teach in the Garden Mentors Academy!
Not only are my DIY soap recipes easy to prepare…
But they cost much less per bar* than the $4+/bar I had been paying for organically based bars of soap at the grocery store or farmer’s market. Plus, I can decorate my easy soap recipes with a number of homegrown flowers and herbs from my garden. We use these soaps daily in our shower, and I’ve always got a few bars on hand for gifts.
My easy soap recipe for peppermint pucks is a great green & blue gift
for your favorite Seattle Seahawks fans!
Following are a just a few of my botanically rich and easy soap recipes
I’ve included blends scented with peppermint, rose and citrus. Plus, I’ve put together a shopping widget to make it easy for you to buy all the ingredients you’ll need to grow your own flowers and make your own soaps at home. And, for you knitters, we’ve got a link for instructions to DIY exfoliating soap sleeves.
Main ingredients for these recipes:
\Vegetable glycerine goat’s milk melt and pour soap base, essential oil drops, a few dried flower petals (from your garden or herbal apothecary) and a few drops of olive or sweet almond oil.
Our easy soap recipes use just a few botanical ingredients & tools like these.
Tools for making these soaps:
A microwavable measuring cup with a pouring spout, a spoon, a clean rag and a soap mold. (For my soaps, I use an old muffin tin that I no longer bake in; it burned everything! Using a loaf pan is also an option, but it will take longer to set up, and you will need to slice your bars. I do covet fancy flower and bird-shaped silicone molds for gifts; those are available below. Update 11/2018: Check out the soap molds for sale via our Amazon Store ; these make for some super-cute soap gifts!)
Now that you have your gear, let’s make some easy soap recipes!
Three Soap Recipes from Garden Mentors
Print
(Each recipe makes about 8, 3-4 ounce muffin-size soaps)
1 lb Melt & Pour Goat’s Milk Organic Glycerine Soap Base
30 drops grapefruit essential oil
2 t. dried Calendula petals
2 t. freshly zested grapefruit or lime (optional)
1/2 t. sweet almond or olive oil
Colorful & fragrant dried rose petals adorn this batch of homemade soap.
Romantic Rose Soap Ingredients:
1 lb Melt & Pour Goat’s Milk Organic Glycerine Soap Base
10-15 drops pure rose essential oil (or less expensive rose geranium oil)
2-3 t. dried rose petals
1/2 t. sweet almond or olive oil
Peppermint “Seahawks” Soap Ingredients:
1 lb Melt & Pour Goat’s Milk Organic Glycerine Soap Base
15 drops pure peppermint essential oil
2 t. dried cornflower or bachelor button flower petals
2 t. dried peppermint leaves
1/2 t. sweet almond or olive oil
Here’s how to prepare each easy soap recipe blend:
If you are using a muffin tin or other non-silicone soap mold, oil it well with sweet almond or olive oil. And, set aside.
Wipe a non-silicone mold with sweet almond oil or olive oil before adding soap.
Then, chop soap base into uniform pieces. And place the pieces in microwavable measuring cup with spout. But, do not fill completely to the top. That’s because you don’t want it to overflow.
Then, cover and place in microwave. Melt for about 20 seconds and stir. And, continue melting another 10-20 seconds, watching carefully. That’s because you want it melted, but not overcooked. And overcooking can happen fast.
Sprinkle drops of essential oil into the melted soap base. Try not to breathe too deeply right over the warm mixture; it can go from smelling great to overwhelming your sinuses.
Now, pour the fragrant mixture into your molds, distributing the liquid equally. (Don’t worry if you don’t fill every muffin tin.)
Allow the filled mold to sit for a few minutes until a light “skin” begins to form on the surface.
Then, sprinkle about a 1/4 t. of petals (and peppermint leaves for the peppermint soap or citrus zest if you’re making citrus soap) over the surface of each. And, push lightly with your finger or spoon so that the botanicals are partially submerged. And, the “skin” should help hold some at the surface.
However, if they all sink, that’s okay too, but ideally a bit of the colorful flowers will decorate the surface of your soaps.
Allow a “skin” to form on your soap before adding botanicals.
This way some color will remain on top.
Insert your filled soap mold onto a level rack in your freezer.
Then let the soaps harden in the freezer for at least an hour. But, the size and material make-up of your mold may require more or less set up time.
To remove your soaps from the mold: If you are using a silicone mold, follow the directions on the mold package. (Probably, you’ll just need to twist, and they will pop out.) If you are using a muffin tin or bread pan, partially fill a cookie sheet with warm water. Set your frozen soap mold into the water bath for a moment or two. Lift it out of the water. Flip it onto a cutting board, and the soaps should pop right out. If they don’t, re-insert into water bath until they loosen. Or, use a thin knife to pop them out of the mold.
A warm water bath will help loosen firm, frozen soaps from the mold.
Print
(Each recipe makes about 8, 3-4 ounce muffin-size soaps)
1 lb Melt & Pour Goat’s Milk Organic Glycerine Soap Base
30 drops grapefruit essential oil
2 t. dried Calendula petals
2 t. freshly zested grapefruit or lime (optional)
1/2 t. sweet almond or olive oil
Colorful & fragrant dried rose petals adorn this batch of homemade soap.
Romantic Rose Soap Ingredients:
1 lb Melt & Pour Goat’s Milk Organic Glycerine Soap Base
10-15 drops pure rose essential oil (or less expensive rose geranium oil)
2-3 t. dried rose petals
1/2 t. sweet almond or olive oil
Peppermint “Seahawks” Soap Ingredients:
1 lb Melt & Pour Goat’s Milk Organic Glycerine Soap Base
15 drops pure peppermint essential oil
2 t. dried cornflower or bachelor button flower petals
2 t. dried peppermint leaves
1/2 t. sweet almond or olive oil
Here’s how to prepare each easy soap recipe blend:
If you are using a muffin tin or other non-silicone soap mold, oil it well with sweet almond or olive oil. And, set aside.
Wipe a non-silicone mold with sweet almond oil or olive oil before adding soap.
Then, chop soap base into uniform pieces. And place the pieces in microwavable measuring cup with spout. But, do not fill completely to the top. That’s because you don’t want it to overflow.
Then, cover and place in microwave. Melt for about 20 seconds and stir. And, continue melting another 10-20 seconds, watching carefully. That’s because you want it melted, but not overcooked. And overcooking can happen fast.
Sprinkle drops of essential oil into the melted soap base. Try not to breathe too deeply right over the warm mixture; it can go from smelling great to overwhelming your sinuses.
Now, pour the fragrant mixture into your molds, distributing the liquid equally. (Don’t worry if you don’t fill every muffin tin.)
Allow the filled mold to sit for a few minutes until a light “skin” begins to form on the surface.
Then, sprinkle about a 1/4 t. of petals (and peppermint leaves for the peppermint soap or citrus zest if you’re making citrus soap) over the surface of each. And, push lightly with your finger or spoon so that the botanicals are partially submerged. And, the “skin” should help hold some at the surface.
However, if they all sink, that’s okay too, but ideally a bit of the colorful flowers will decorate the surface of your soaps.
Allow a “skin” to form on your soap before adding botanicals.
This way some color will remain on top.
Insert your filled soap mold onto a level rack in your freezer.
Then let the soaps harden in the freezer for at least an hour. But, the size and material make-up of your mold may require more or less set up time.
To remove your soaps from the mold: If you are using a silicone mold, follow the directions on the mold package. (Probably, you’ll just need to twist, and they will pop out.) If you are using a muffin tin or bread pan, partially fill a cookie sheet with warm water. Set your frozen soap mold into the water bath for a moment or two. Lift it out of the water. Flip it onto a cutting board, and the soaps should pop right out. If they don’t, re-insert into water bath until they loosen. Or, use a thin knife to pop them out of the mold.
A warm water bath will help loosen firm, frozen soaps from the mold.
In our house, we keep the soaps in the mold in the freezer until we need them. These homemade soaps will sweat a bit at room temperature, so storing them frozen is ideal. (Don’t worry. They won’t melt to mush immediately in the shower once they’re defrosted.) If you choose to pop them from the mold to store them for use, wrap them in wax paper and store them in the freezer or fridge until you need them.
Join the Garden Mentors Academy to learn more herbal maker lessons with us!
Calendula flower opening in the garden in summer sunshine.
Thanks Robin for this! I will try this soon. One question though…..won’t the flower petals get clogged in your shower drainpipe?
There are so few petals that only a few fall out as you scrub each wash. And, many are really delicate and just melt away. We haven’t had an issue with clogs – except when I made bars with big lavender buds. Those needed rethinking. Hopefully, you have a drain catch/clear for all things that “shed” in the shower. 🙂
Could not find a link for the knitted soap sleeves. Any chance the directions are available elsewhere? Thank you.
Crista, thanks for bringing the broken link to our attention. Unfortunately, it looks like Jenny’s no longer maintaining that website. You could check her new site or reach out to her here: https://www.jennynybropeterson.com. Good luck!