Money’s tight this year, and many people are looking for alternative methods to buying a ton of holiday gifts. But for the obligatory exchanges (everyone has those friends they could go without buying gifts for, but exchange is always expected so they pony up anyway), why not make the perfect gift? These environmentally-friendly soap recipes will take big bucks off of your gift-getting budget and leave you with enought leftover ingredients to make some eco soap of your own. Many don’t even realize that everyday natural ingredients – oatmeal, coffee, herbs, etc. – can have serious homeopathic properties. Coffee, for instance, makes for a great anti-aging product – caffeine is known to tighten skin in areas that might need a little work over the years! Why not use it on your face and legs?
Bramble Berry soapmakers have made it easy to put together your own organic soap in only a few short steps. Because it’s free of all the chemicals in commercial soap, it makes a great gift for your sensitive-skinned friends who you can’t ever buy bath and beauty products for, and its eco-friendliness makes it great for the environment.
Here’s a recipe for a simple soap using ingredients around your house and Bramble Berry soap organic base.
ECO-CHIC SOAP
Herbs, oatmeal, coffee, spirulina, clay, or charcoal
1 pound (16 ounces) Bramble Berry ‘melt and pour’ soap, organic base
1 ounce essential oil
Soap mold (or Tupperware, or anything you find, like an empty yogurt
container, old tofu container, empty soy milk container, etc.)
Rubbing Alcohol
- Prep your herbs and make sure they are the right size for gentle exfoliation. Sharp herbs may be too abrasive on the skin.
- Cut the ‘melt and pour’ soap into 1 x 1″ cubes.
- Using your microwave, heat the soap in 30-second increments until the soap is fully melted.
- Add .25 ounces to .50 ounces of essential oil. Remember, if you use a yellow or orange colored fragrance, your soap base will look less clear and look more yellow/orange.
- Mix in your herbs or additives. Stir until the herbs seem mostly suspended.
- Pour your scented and herb’ed soap into the makeshift mold. Tip: Don’t fill your make-shift soap mold all the way up. It helps for easy release to fill 85% of the way to the top and not the entire way.
- Do one finishing touch of rubbing alcohol to finish off your soap and give it a nice smooth surface. Wait for the soap to harden, pop or unwrap the soap out of the mold, wrap soap with saran wrap, label and enjoy the compliments you get!
Your finished soaps would look great in homemade gift baskets – throw in a baked good, a bottle of wine, some fruits or chocolates, and wrap it in pretty paper!
