Those who have made it tend to like it because it's
1) fairly inexpensive to make (vs. buying bottles that run from $1-$5 each)
2) you control what goes in so it can be formulated to be just right for each user ( adding extra moisturizing agents or essential oils, for example)
3) it's just so much FUN to make something yourself :P
So I went through my crafting supplies, hit up my local Dollar Tree, and my kiddo (a.k.a. "Crafty Girl") and I got started.
What we used :
(shown here: FO, Skin Milk soap grated, recycled squeeze bottles, Bubble Magic)
(coconut oil)
(oatmeal, milk, and honey FO)
(Bubble Magic)
- 1 seven-ounce bar of Skin Milk bar soap from Dollar Tree, grated (Crafty Girl grated and grated and grated). It has a nice, light vanilla scent.
- 1 TBS. coconut oil (doesn't everything need a bit of coconut?)
- 1 TBS. of Soap Wizards Bubble Magic (this is purely optional; I like BUBBLES. I feel cleaner with them--I can't get past it. I know it's a foaming agent and some of you might not want to add this to your soap but it was leftover from my soaping days)
- 21 oz. of water (I began with 14 oz. but as the mixture cooled it thickened)
- 1 TBS. honey (honey is good for your skin and is nice to add into beauty products)
- 20 drops of Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey FO (also leftover from my soaping days...why waste it?)
- squeeze or pump bottles (recycled from previous B&B products or you can buy picnic condiment bottles for around a dollar at Dollar Tree or Walmart)
(I have developed extremely itchy skin and new allergies over the past year, so if this batch works I plan to make a batch for sensitive skin without all the Fragrance oil and Bubble Magic):
Step 1: grate the bar of soap
Step 2: add your water to your pan and turn it on medium heat (start with about double the amount of soap used; if the mixture starts to harden/thicken as it cools, add more water and reheat it. This seems to happen to a lot of homemade body wash mixtures on other blogs and it looks as though it is just trial and error depending on the type of bar soap that was used)
Step 3: put your soap shreds in the pot and start the melting process
(adding in coconut oil)
(adding in the Bubble Magic)
Step 4: cook the mixture until it's melted, on medium heat, gently whisking it as you go. You can add in optional ingredients such as coconut oil, honey, etc. at this point. Hold off on the fragrance oils. Wait 'til the mixture cools to add those or the scent can evaporate right out).
Step 6: Crafty Girl added the optional 20 drops of FO and gave the mixture one last stir before we left it to cool the rest of the way.
Step 7: pour your body wash into recycled pump or squeeze bottles to enjoy! Might need to shake it each time before using if it begins to separate.
You can just use the soap and water and nothing more and make the most simple, basic version of body wash. It can't get too much easier than this. And if you can't even stand the thought of grating all that soap, you can just cut your bar into tiny chunks instead. There you have it.
This was my first effort and I have my bottles ready to use. So far this one batch filled 4 recycled squeeze bottles, each one about the size of a picnic condiment bottle. So if it works then it was well worth the price. And if I had only used the bar soap and water, it would have been SUPER CHEAP. Almost ** free** even.
Try it yourself and be sure to let me know how it goes, how much water you used, what type of bar soap you started with, if it thickened in the bottle, and all that jazz. ;)
Blessings,
Lynn
