Lavender & Tea Tree Soap

How do you feel about tea tree oil?  I think it really stinks! 
However, some people dearly love the fragrance.  A friend of mine used it in her hand made baby wipe formula since it is good for minor skin irritations and it has antiseptic properties.  Tea tree essential oil comes from the leaves of the tea tree which is grown in Australia.  This has nothing to do with the green or black tea we drink.  Tea tree is placed on the skin (topically) and used as an antiseptic for minor cuts, burns, skin irritations, eczema, and many other things.  I am camouflaging the smell of tea tree with lavender in this batch of soap.  My home smells heavenly!  Aside for a little color, everything in this soap is natural.  Since there is no real definition of natural in soap, it may not mean much to you. lol  When I mixed the lye, I added the sea salt.  About 1/3 does not mix totally.  This does not pose a problem for me.  I use salt totally mixed into the water and the opposite way where the soap is crunchy and needs to be cut right away. As the soap cures, it will have a white film on it due to the salt. 

I visited with a lady not long ago that had a son with eczema.  She said that his eczema (on his neck) cleared up when they were on vacation and he was in the salt water at the ocean daily.  That healing could be a result of many things other than salt, including stress, food, clothing he wore, soaps and shampoos he used, laundry soap and fabric softeners, etc.  The mother thought it was the salt and salt makes my skin feel awesome.  I am not a doctor and I can't tell you what does or does not work, but I have skin issues and so do many of my friends and family members.  I would like to say that my soap is used because everyone that uses it loves it and wants his or her skin to feel great!  Unfortunately I am realistic.  Many of my friends and family members use it because it is free.  LOL

Soap Ingredients:  Coconut oil, Tallow, Water, Lye, Sea salt, Shea butter (Unrefined and organic), Sunflower Seed Oil,Cocoa butter (unrefined and organic), Grapeseed oil, Colloidal oatmeal, Lanolin,  Purple and lavender oxide

Every once in a while, handmade soap may have a problem setting up.  With this soap, I had lye pockets.  This is something that I rarely ever have.  I noticed a small hole in the soap when I cut it.  I also noticed a little hole/pocket in the bottom of the soap, almost at the bottom of the mold in another loaf of soap.  There was some liquid in these holes.  I usually cut out these areas of the soap and the bad areas become family soap, or scraps used to re-batch.  This is what lye pockets look like:

I have been spinning a little.  I will keep you posted in case I make anything with the yarn.  I am intentionally making it look like tweed.

 

Have a great weekend!!!  Dawnie

PS  Don't forget to go to my website at: https://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com or my website at: https://www.custercottage.com or my Etsy shop at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

Laundry and dirty laundry

I was almost out of laundry soap, so I made some laundry soap bars. This is the soap I use to make my laundry soap/laundry butter.  I decided to try the new "Fluid Acrylic Pour Technique done in soap," to make the soap more decorative.  I began using the top of plain coconut oil soap and two colors of purple since I used lavender fragrance oil in the soap.  This is a new technique we learned about in The Soap Challenge Club.  I only did a small amount on the top of the soap to practice.  Once you put small amounts of colored soap on the top, you blow air out of a straw into the soap making it fray out as a decoration.  This can be done one time or many times.  It is easiest to use in a tray mold since it gives it more space to spread out.  The number of colors can vary from 2 on up.  It works best if you use contrasting colors. 

Since I was talking about soap and dirty laundry, I am going to air some of our dirty laundry.  

Don't you just love the words that come out of the mouths of children? When my oldest grandchild needs to be held and given attention, she says, "Grandma I need you."  Not very often in this life do we get told that we are needed.  My son never could say the word comforter.  He always said he wanted a comfortable for his blanket. When we sing the song Baa Baa Black Sheep, my granddaughter sings Baa Baa Sheepies. There are a few other words that have been repeated and should have not been repeated.  Most of them have not come from my mouth.  Mother Ducker has just become a repeated word combination.  YIKES!  That is the word combination she says, but it is not exactly what the adults said.  Occasionally she likes to be funny and repeat another phrase that I actually said.  It came from her mom first in a similar phrase, so I blame her part way.  LOL  I said I needed to get my ass up and get something done.  Now my granddaughter teases me and tells me to get my ass up.  Then she giggles.  She knows it is not a nice word, but she loves to tease me.

I made a strawberry soap with a lot of cocoa butter, shea butter, lanolin, colloidal oatmeal, along with other ingredients.  The first batch contained raw cow milk.  The smell changed and it was no longer strawberry.  It smelled good, but not a fruit.

How was your week ?  I hope you are well.  Dawnie

Calamine and lanolin

All of us should have goals and aspirations.  I won't bore you with mine, except for two short-term soap making goals I had. They were to make a soap using calamine and a soap with lanolin.  Most of us have used calamine lotion on our itches.  We put calamine lotion on sunburn, rashes, poison ivy, poison oak, chickenpox, and insect bites.                                

Lush sums up calamine very well:  "Calamine powder is a zinc oxide, traditionally used in medicinal ointments as an antiseptic. It comes from the natural mineral deposits, which is transformed into a soft powder when milled. Calamine powder is one of the main constituents of the traditional calamine lotion that is used extensively to relieve redness, stinging and irritation of the skin. Calamine powder treats the skin with a gentle toning and antiseptic action. Historically, it's been mixed with rose water to create a soothing face mask. Beacause it's such a gentle ingredient, we use it in lots of our products for the face, where your skin is very delicate. Calamine powder has also traditionally been used in face powders, dusting powders and toothpastes. It is one of the most absorbent and soothing bases. Calamine powder is mainly zinc oxide, a white powder, combined with a dash of ferric oxide to produce a pretty, light pink powder."  
https://uk.lush.com/ingredients/calamine-powder 

Calamine is a peachy pink color and they even use the name calamine as a color name of paint. LOL

Lanolin has been used for a long time.   It is a very thick grease/oil/wax substance.  Sheep wool contains lanolin and lanolin protects the sheep and the wool from the elements.  This is best described by lanolin.com.  " Wool wax is a natural substance, designed by nature to soften both skin and wool fibres, and to protect them against adverse weather conditions.  The best known uses of refined wool wax products (lanolin and lanolin derivatives) are in medicine, cosmetics and toiletries, which take advantage of these natural protective qualities...  Lanolin is a key ingredient in some of the world’s most popular cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Without it, they would not have the emollient qualities that protect and care for our skin and hair."

http://www.lanolin.com/lanolin-for-personal-care-and-medicine.htm  Lanolin soap is sometimes called wool fat soap.

lanolin soap

Many people choose to purchase only vegan products.  Most of the products I make are not vegan.  I use lanolin, milk, honey, eggs in my soap.  No animals were harmed in obtaining these ingredients!  Without the use of these products, people who purchase only vegan miss out on natural substances which are great for your skin!  I also use tallow and that is obtained after an animal is slaughtered. Many additives I use are natural and come from plants and the good old earth.  Out of all of my soaps, there should be one that meets everyone's need, whether it be pretty or plain, red or green, round or square.......   I am slowly adding items into a new website that only displays my soaps.  I will let you know when that site is available to view.

Since I first used colloidal oatmeal, I have continued to use it in most all of my soaps, along with the use of vegetable based glycerin, shea butter, and raw cow milk.  There is a certain texture I want in a soap, along with lather and emollient qualities.  This being said, all my soaps have to look and smell great too!!!  What do you look for in soaps that you use for yourself?

Please view my web store at:
 http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage
 

Thank you for viewing.  I hope you have a great week!  Dawnie

Dirty Hands Soap

Just out of the mold. 

Soap for People Who Get Their Hands Dirty

Shea Butter, cocoa butter, 4 types of exfoliants, colloidal oatmeal, and raw cow milk are just a few of the wonderful ingredients inside this soap.

Thank you for viewing.  

I hope you have a wonderful week!  

Dawnie

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

 

 

 

A SOAP WITH NO NAME

I made a new soap this weekend.  I have enjoyed the teal green color lately, so I had to add 2 of those colors and some soap shred which is blue-green in color.  On the top I added a little oatmeal for decoration.

I also added a secret ingredient.  Can you name it?  Here is the hint:

The fragrance will probably make the soap a little darker after it cures.

The soap lightened after it was cut.  The one on the right was cut first.

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FOX NEWS FEATURE ABOUT SOAP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stf8QC4cE6c&feature=youtu.be


Do you give up yet???  Well here it is:

I have been making soap since the 1980's.  I haven't used colloidal oatmeal until now?  I hope it is a great addition to my soap.  I also used tallow, raw cow milk, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, sunflower oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, glycerin, fragrance, soap shreds, titanium dioxide, coloring, and oatmeal.

So far, the soap has no name, but it has great texture!

The fragrance I used was oatmeal, milk, and honey.  The soap shreds contained another fragrance and the fragrances blended a little.  It still has a great smell.  

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

 

I hope you had a good weekend!  Thank you for reading my blog!  Dawnie