March 10, 2003

Well, I just finished cutting up a batch of soap for my pal Steph. She's addicted to mint soap, so I named this one after her. Here's a picture:

Here's the recipe. I made it yesterday using the CSDBHP method, and it's still pretty soft -- this recipe usually is because of the soft oils in it, but it always hardens up if I let it cure a little while. It's a nice recipe because it has a nice balance of oils and the castor makes it nice and lathery.

Steph's Peppermint Buzz Soap
Ingredients:
16 oz. Water
6.2 oz. NaOH (appx. 7% superfat)
Pinch silk fibre

4 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
3 oz. Castor Oil
4 oz. Coconut Oil
12 oz. Olive Oil
20 oz. Palm Oil
3 oz. Shea Butter
2 oz. Beeswax

Add to melted oils and mix well:
1/2 tsp. Chromium Oxide Green pigment
1-1/2 tsp. white/silver mica

Add at trace:
1 tbsp. poppyseeds
1 tsp. powdered pumice

Scent:
2 oz. Peppermint EO

I like scratchies, so I actually don't think this has quite enough poppyseeds in it. Next time I'll probably increase it to 1-1/2 tbsp. poppyseeds. The green pigment turned out exactly right, and the mica shows up pretty well (although a little bit more wouldn't hurt). It lathers really well at 24 hours (actually, at 12 hours... I showered with it this morning. Ah, the advantages of HP!). It's pretty soft and sticky yet though, so I'll hold off on rounding off the edges with a potato peeler until it firms up a little more, probably by tomorrow evening it'll be good.

Yay, fresh soap!