Lathered Up

One of my children has very sensitive skin and has suffered from eczema over the years. Some of the things we have tried to help her includes eliminating the use of washing detergents by using ecoballs, going dairy free, minimising wheat in her diet, using a Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator and using the most simple of soaps with the least amount of harsh ingredients.

All these things add up in cost and so began my latest quest (as if I hadn't enough things on the go!!! ). I decided I could try to make our own soap, and so after an awful lot of web based research and the use of a wonderful book called The Handmade Soap Book (The Handmade Series). I eventually donned my husbands face mask and respirator from his workshop, this coupled with my own pink rubber gloves, was not exactly a fetching look! However, fashion aside, the end result of the soap was excellent.

I'm delighted we now have a soap which I've made with natural ingredients, and some of those from my own smallholding. I used my goats milk, added some herbs from my garden, and used oils sourced with the least amount of air miles. That mean't that coconut and palm oils were out as possible ingredients. I also made an animal fat based soap which turned out wonderful. My local butcher who raises his own animals, donated the fat, which would otherwise have been thrown out. In return I'll give him a few bars of soap.

Before you shudder at the thought of using animal fat in a bar of soap ... unless you specifically buy vegetarian soap, it will be a major ingredient. It may be listed as tallow. Personally I think that unless I have chosen to be a vegetarian, then I should try to waste as little as possible of an animal which has lost its life for the sole purpose of providing people with food. 

Comments

[colour it green]

I'm with you there.. if you kill an animal, every part should be used. I fancy having a go at making soap from fat - as I don't see the real advantage in buying the materials over buying the soap.. if you see what I mean.

[a simple yarn]

Well done! There's such great satisfaction in making something so practical and useful with a few fairly simple ingredients! And what a wonderful way to recycle by using local tallow. Good on ya for that! I love making soap and stocking the lovely bars on the shelf all in a beautiful row! Perhaps oatmeal might be a good ingredient as oatmeal baths were helpful for skin as I recall?

We have similar issues with one of our kids. Doctor chalked it up to a mild allergy of unknown origin. Kinda hard to treat that one. Not that you've asked for input, but we've found fish oil capsules are beneficial...

[Karen in Wichita]

"Sodium tallowate," per the bar of Irish Spring (heh) I just picked up to look at.

We made a batch of soap some while back, and only just finished using it up (hence the Irish Spring), and have been talking about making more. The problem we encountered was in finding lye... seems local hardware stores and such have discovered that their primary customer for it are folks cooking something less legal than soap, and so most have stopped carrying it. We'll probably wait until the move before we make more, at which point we'll be a little more rural; I imagine the co-ops out in Mennonite country probably carry that sort of thing more readily.

[kaat at Mamastories]

They look yummy! I'm a vegetarian, though...

[fibrespace]

They look lovely, I wanted to create my own olive oil soap for felting but couldn't get lye anywhere!

[Jo]

Hi. I "lurk" here from time to time as you are already doing what we are hoping to be doing soon. I also enjoy reading this lady's blog: http://www.homesteadblogger.com/quiverfull
She also keeps goats and makes her own soap. She has soap recipes on her blog and website - perhaps you might enjoy a look too. Jo

[Vallen Queen]

It is a near perfect life you have carved out for yourselves.

[carolyn]

Your soap looks wonderful, have you tried evening primrose for the excema it worked a treat for my eldest son, also found marigold salve very helpful.

[hedgewizard]

Cracking, and well done! Looks delish, and makes me want pate for lunch... we've not really got to anywhere near that stage, being time-poor still.

Palm oil, btw, is something you really ought to read up on generally. Take a look on wikipedia - palm oil farming is causing deforestation and threatening the remaining habitat of orangutans.

[julie]

the soap looks great - almost edible! and I'm definitely with you about putting every bit of an animal to use.

[Soap Pro]

I've made a lot of soaps, and I have yet to beat a soap made with lard. I use it as 50% of the base. It makes the soap wonderfully creamy in a way nothing else does. I've read a lot of junk about how it clogs pores at those airy-faery soap websites, but I have yet to find any scientific studies backing this up. The health products websites are full of this unsubstantiated junk. The pig is such a marvelous animal that it gives us bacon, ham, pork chops, and the best soap you can find.

[Http//:eloiseohare.blogspot.com]

Love your soap it looks really good, unfortunitly I am alergic to soap but do not know which bit of the ingredients that triggers it. It is great that you know what your putting in it. I would like to know how to make facial scub, my etching teacher at school use to make it instead of using that green casnagenic car macanics stuff, to scub the ink off our hands, but I cant remember the reciepy. it has got sand in it.

[Simon]

If your worried about chlorine in your water why don't you purchase a water filter which filters it out. The initial cost and future maintenance may be less per bath than the Crystal Ball Dechlorinator. We have one at home and it produces water from the tap which is almost as pure as though it where distilled plus it tastes a lot nicer than tap water... well has no taste at all but that's the point lol.

[Gabrielle]

We're thinking of making some animal fat soap for the same reasons; using what's available rather than oils from plantations that were once rainforests. And the ecoballs - we've come to the conclustion that they're a waste of money (so is detergent), plain water is just as good in a washing machine. You could use your soap (grated), and white vinegar makes an excellent softener.
http://www.turnupsandtantrums.com/2007/06/balls_to_laundr_2.html

[justlikeawoman]

Your soaps look good enough to eat!! In fact they look like pate or fancy cheeses. Well done, it's one of the things on my to do list as well!