My Lemongrass Essential oil soap is special to me because it is a remake of the very first soap I ever made, back in 2019.
Back then, I didn’t know yet whether I would like soap making. I had read about it and thought it would be cool to try, but didn’t know if I would want to keep making soap (spoiler alert: I was hooked after that first batch).
Anyway, since I was just starting, I didn’t want to spend a lot on materials or equipment. I bought a stainless steel pot and spatula from the dollar store (both of which I still use today 🙂), found an immersion blender at a thrift store (still use that too), and lined a small cardboard box with freezer paper for a mold.
For materials, I ordered some lye from a specialty store, but went with oils that I had on hand – a pound of lard from the grocery store and some coconut oil.
With much fear and trepidation (because I had never worked with lye before) I started my first batch.
When you make soap, you mix lye and water together and then add that mixture to your oils. Then, you need to blend it until it emulsifies and reaches “trace” – basically the texture of thin gravy. What I didn’t know back then is that lard in a soap recipe “slows down trace” so it takes a long time of blending to emulsify. When I think back to how long I had to blend that first batch (several minutes) versus how my current recipe works (less than a minute of blending), it truly amazes me.
Anyway, I had read that it is a good idea, when you are new to making soap, to just make an unscented, uncolored batch the first time because it’s easier. And I intended to do that. I really did.
But… then I wondered how I would like using it, and I changed my mind. So, I grabbed what I had on hand – Lemongrass essential oil for fragrance, and turmeric for color.
The next day, when the soap had set up, I used a knife to cut it and set the bars on a shelf to cure.
That first batch of soap made the whole house smell Heavenly! And I had so much fun making it that I had to keep going.
Today, my ingredients have changed and so have some of my tools – I don’t use lard anymore and I do use things like Shea butter and Cocoa Butter – but the process is essentially the same.
So, when I ran out of that first batch of Lemongrass soap, I decided to recreate it.
I still used Lemongrass Essential oil to scent it and turmeric to color it, but I did update the recipe to be what I use in all my soaps – Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, Shea Butter, Cocoa butter, and Castor oil.
Now, it’s available for sale so you can enjoy a piece of where it all began!
God bless.