Teach Soap

I have a sidekick at work that wants to start doing more "all natural" type bath products for herself - I already do a few myself, and so we are going to start experimenting more...yes, homesteady farming type here

She is the research and I suppose I would be the development in this partnership (she looks up the clever ideas and I give it a whirl making them since I am more crafty minded than she is) - so tell me, are lotion bars really just that simple? Like everything makes them sound? Or is there some crucial thing I am missing? (I NEED to learn by doing...it's the best way for me, and sometimes I admittedly miss the obvious)

We are going for the most simple, easy, give it a try thing...just to see if A) we like it at all, B) we could improve for ourselves and C) is it really that easy?

So....tell me...the thought here is one part each avocado oil, shea butter and beeswax, tiny tiny bit of vitamin e oil, and VOILA...is that it? Just melt it together, mix it up, and pour into a mold? No stick blending? No lengthy wait time? Just "lotion on a stick" as it were? (I was gonna use popsicle molds I found at Wally World - hence the stick , which I will be skipping

Anyways, just wondering, don't want anyone's top secret mix, just curious if that would be a good start and decent quality of bar in the end?

OH! COULD I use popsicle type molds, lined with a plastic bag perhaps, as long as I don't mind wrinkles in the bars?

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

If you google for lotion bar recipe's, there are hundred's out there. All variations on the generic 33 / 33 / 33 recipe.

Technically no waiting time, however mine are harder after a week or more. They also soak in more / less sit on top of the skin after a couple of weeks. So I let mine wait.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Avocado and shea are considered heavier oils as far as skin feel. Make up a small batch and see how you like it.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Cool beans! Thank you so much I really like doing all this crafty type self sufficient stuff...

I kinda like the sound of the heavy oils to start...see...what I am pondering it this as well:

I'm not gonna lie....I have to admit I am kinda sorta wondering if a lotion bar wouldn't be good for dry chapped goat teats...I'll have to ask my "goat people"...but I wonder if it would be a good replacement for bag balm - which I dislike because of the lack of ease/germ factor....don't want to have to buy a different can for every doe, don't want to use a bunch of utensils scraping it out for each doe, FOR SURE do not want to be scooping in it bare handed then rubbing on something I drink raw milk from and possibly spread hidden mastitis should it arise from goat to goat and generally avoid it like the plague...but each lady in the milking line COULD have her own "teat lotion bar" no problem...perhaps small ones I could dispose of once the dryness clears up?

Anyways...just a thought...maybe someone here might know too (lotta people make milk soap and MAY just have some goats too)....I try to keep my milking as sanitary and clean as possible and all care for each doe apart from other does...so I wonder if this could be applied to my milking parlor routine...hmmmmmm....

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

lol that's wicked!

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

You could pour them into lip balm tubes! This would keep the waste to a minimum when the teats are no longer chapped. You could potentially clean and de-germ the tubes and re-use them as well, or recycle them if that's too much work.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I don't think that's something I would use for lactating goats. If any moisture gets into the lotion bar, germs and bacteria would happily thrive there, spreading themselves to whatever gets touched by it.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

You could pick up a couple of cheap ice-cube traps and pour the balms into that. Or some other small container (I have a small round silicon one I use for my wax melts. Make them single use.

That way you could apply and chuck without *too* much waste.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

A friend of mine told me that she uses one of my balms on her ewes, but it's one WITHOUT beeswax, which she said was bad for sheep tummies. I don't know if that's true of gots, too, but you can find out, I'm sure.

I've made lotion bars with just beeswax and olive oil, and some prefer them. But as soap buddy said, there are plenty of recipes out there.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Boom! Here you go!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!