Since the success of my Coffee Soap endeavors, I have been itching to try out some more soap additives. Because I have an abundance of herbs, the obvious next step was to figure out how to incorporate them into my easy peasey melt-and-pour soap. Good news! It's simple! Just as simple as using coffee grounds.
Select a good, aromatic herb. Preferably one with some delightful medicinal qualities. I chose Lemon Verbena. It's cleansing, bright, and is known to help boost the immune system. I don't know if you can get that big of a boost from soap, but hey. This stuff smells nice. If you want to know about other good herbs to use in melt and pour soap, this website has an amazing list. The possibilities are endless!!
Crush your herb while you are melting your soap according to the directions on the package. Once the soap is all nicely melted, give it a good stir to remove air bubbles. Mix your herb into the soap and pour into molds. I was loaned these cute molds from a friend. Love how they say "natural" and "homemade"!!
To get a more in-depth discussion of how to do a simple melt-and-pour soap, read my Coffee Soap tutorial. But seriously, I promise, making this soap really is as easy as melting, mixing, pouring, and waiting. Waiting is the hardest part!!
I was really impressed by the great suspension I got from the lemon verbena. I've read that many people have issues getting herbs and other light weight additives to mix evenly through out the soap. Guess I was lucky!!
I did add one tiny drop of lemon bergamont oil to enhance the lemony scent. I really didn't need to! Lemon verbena has such a strong scent on its own. Perfect for soap making!!
I'll be passing these bars along as gifts. I'm having too much fun with this soap-ification not to share!! Have you made soap before?
Happy Tuesday!
-Carolyn
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