Busy busy busy

We have been very busy recently making soap ready for peak season. Our spare bedroom is slowly turning into soap warehouse

Cook's Coffee Soap

I'm so pleased with my new creation so I think this bar will make it to my range. It's very hard bar with fair amount of coconut oil in it to help to wash off grease from the hands and ground coffee for scrubbing effect. It's scented with coffee and clove which will help to get rid off nasty smells of garlic and onions. It has lovely fluffy lather and gentle to hands.

Shampoo - 2 weeks

So I've been using my shampoo bar for 14 days now. And I'm starting to like it. At first my hair felt sticky and didn't look very fresh and shiny. But with every wash it was getting better and better. It's definitely more manageable and looks healthier now. But  I think this particular recipe needed some tweaking so I've already have my new improved shampoo bar ready to try next week.

Shampoo Bar

About 3 months ago one of our customers suggested we come up with a Shampoo bar. Since then I've been reading a lot about soap shampoo bars and finally 2 weeks ago I formulated and made a tester batch of my first shampoo. But because I'm so inpatient the very next day I've made the same batch using Hot Process method. I'm not a big fan if HP and very rarely use it so I didn't really knew what to expect, the soap came up all right but on a soft side. I let it sit and cure for 2 weeks and finally tried it yesterday. I was very pleased with lather - it's enormous, fluffy at first but then turns into dense, creamy, mousse like lather. As I expected (from reading a lot about switching to handmade shampoo bars) my hair feels a bit different, it doesn't have volume I get from commercial shampoos. But as I know you need to give your hair 14 days to adjust. I will keep updating you.

My First Shampoo Bar (with nettle infusion and a blend of
rosemary and lavender essential oils)

Perfect Saturday morning

I enjoy my Saturdays a lot. It's the only day I can dedicate to my soaping experiments, formulating and researching. And quiet sunny Mornings are the best. I can get my thoughts together and plan my day while sipping coffee and eating bagel

New creation

Have been experimenting with shampoo bars recently. Two new creations are on the curing rack - CP with essential oils of Lavender, Rose Geranium and Ylang-Ylang and HP with nettle infusion, Rosemary, Lavender and Tea Tree. Can't wait to try them. (And will definitely post pictures later). Also I've decided to try out clays in soap (never used any colours) but this pink clay looks amazing, will see how this soap will turn out in 4 weeks time. French Pink Clay has a softening and toning effect on the skin making it ideal all skin types and particularly for mature skins. I've tried new blend of essential oils which will compliment these properties - Ho Wood, Palmarosa and Cedarwood. This should be a very nice facial soap.

Olive Oil, Almond Oil, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter,
Castor Oil, Pink Clay, Ho Wood,  Palmarosa, Cedarwood

UPD: Thought I will post a picture after each week of curing to compare a colour

Sea Salt Bar

I have been  busy this weekend, attempting liquid soap, but unfortunately no luck so far :(. But I've also made my first sea salt bar. Read so many nice things about salt soap (especially here www.thesoapbar.blogspot.co.uk) so wanted to try it myself. It looks as really hard bar, like a smooth stone. I've also experimented with scent,it is a combination of Cedarwood and Eucalyptus essential oils. So far I like it. Will see how it will be after 4 weeks of curing.