Homemade Soap: Goat's Milk, French Green Clay and Peppermint EssentialOil

Soap making seems like a pretty fun thing to do and I love showering (and I don't just mean normal love... it's goes beyond that) it's a pretty serious kind of love. *true story*

Anyways I did a lot of research into this and realised that in Singapore, there's no way you could make bar soaps from scratch because you can't buy lye here. (Maybe I don't know where to get it but I'm quite sure it's not sold here coz it could be used to make stuff that could cause serious damage.) Lye is the solidifying agent and allows the liquids to become solid = giving you the bar.

I managed to find a place in Singapore that delivers the soap bases with help from some trusty people (yes you super tweenz). I went ahead and purchased 1kg of Goat's Milk Soap Base and 1kg of Clear Soap Base. Each for SGD $25.90 at Massage Supplies Warehouse. The service was prompt, the order was placed in at night, the next morning I was contacted by the salesperson, and the next day it arrived (delivery charges were SGD $6). Pretty impressive hey! One of the reasons I love Singapore is efficiency like this.

Now that the goods were in my hands, more research was underway as I couldn't decide on the smells, colours or combinations for my first try. Eventually the choice was made...

Goat's Milk, French Green Clay & Peppermint Essential Oil

French Green Clay is a mineral clay - a strong natural antiseptic with anti-inflammatory properties, feeds new cells by promoting blood flow, draws toxins and impurities out, removes dead cells... the list goes on. Pretty impressive stuff. If you have read my previous post on DIY Makeup Face Powder, you would know that I also use French Green Clay. I buy it from Cest Natural, also online for SGD $28.90, no delivery as the seller met me and passed it to me the next day.

Peppermint Oil is minty and good for asthma, flatulence, headaches, nausea, sinusitis and vertigo. It's stimulating and enhances alertness and stamina. Not to mention how refreshing it feels and smells! I buy my essential oils from Young Living even though they are really expensive SGD $44.75 for 15ml, but they are therapeutic grade oils (I've added these oils to my drinks to change my tea to peppermint tea. 1 or 2 drops go a really long way) and I believe in using top grade stuff in fear that my skin will be messed up otherwise... I have really sensitive and bad skin.

Instructions

I couldn't find a disposable container, you know the ones where you buy take away food and they give you a rectangle plastic box? So I had to use the baby size pyrex and lined it with aluminium foil. I lined it completely so that when the soap is ready, I can pull the foil out and not face the problem of having all the soap stuck in the dish.

I used about 1/3 of the 1kg block of goat's milk soap base, cut it into small blocks so that it microwaves quickly and evenly and put it all into a microwavable bowl. The soap base felt a little sticky but not in a gross way. Microwaved it in 30 second intervals so that I could stir it. After 2 minutes, I had what looked like a bowl of milk. It didn't smell like milk either so that was a relief.

I added in 2 teaspoons of French Green Clay and about 5ml of Peppermint Oil. Mixed it up well and poured it into the foil lined pyrex, popped it into the fridge. Easy! Took me less than 15 minutes in total. It doesn't look that nice considering the foil was all crumply, but it beats not being able to get it out of the dish. Also most of the clay settled on the bottom of the dish, to prevent this I think you need to stir it when the soap is semi hardened. I will try that the next time.