DIY Exfoliating Soap

There is a dilemma in my house.  I need exfoliation.  I bought one of those exfoliating brushes on the end of a long handle and my husband banned it from the house because every time he looked at it, it reminded him of the old lady in the shower in Caddy Shack.  I also don’t like to pay a lot of money for stuff like soap.  My solution? DIY it.

DIY Exfoliating Soap

First let me say I didn’t “make” soap.  Apparently only chemists should do that.  I would call this “designing” soap.  You buy a plain, meltable brick of soap at the craft store and then you add what you choose to it.  Here’s how I did it.

materials for diy soap

Materials:

Melt and Pour soap, 12 oz for about 4 bars

1/2 c of Oatmeal

Essential Oil of your choosing (I chose Honey Almond and it is awesome)

Plastic mold in a soap like shape (I bought mine at Michael’s)

Step 1:

Melt your soap.  You can do this in a double boiler on the stove, or you can melt it in the microwave in :30 increments.  I chose to do this in the microwave because I didn’t really like the idea of using one of my cooking pots to melt soap.  Don’t pop your soap in for 5 minutes and not check it.  It can burn.  You’ll probably do about 5 or 6 :30 second increments.

Step 2:

Grind your oatmeal.  I used my magic bullet and pulsed for just a few seconds until it was coarse.  The coarse oatmeal will act as an exfoliant and oatmeal is moisturizing and helps with itchiness from the dry winter air.

Step 3:

Sprinkle some ground oatmeal into your mold.  A word about choosing your soap mold…  Michael’s has an inexpensive soap mold that makes ovalish and round soap.  I used that.  You can also use a silicon baking mold. Those come in some cute shapes.

Step 4:

Add the ground oatmeal and your essential oil to the melted soap.  I used maybe 15 drops of the essential oil and I could have used more.  Mostly because I really love the way it smells.

Step 5:

Pour the melted soap into the mold.  I filled the mold right up to the top.  Then you have to wait.  For like 2 hours.  Actually, in the grand scheme of things, two hours is pretty quick. I made the soap and let it harden and then I used it the next day.  Can’t complain.

DIY Soap Honey Almond Exfoliating w Oatmeal on Table

Adding the little bit of oatmeal to the mold before the soap will give you that extra bit of exfoliation on one side of the soap.  I use that side for rough spots and the smoother side of the soap for the rest.  I can feel a difference in the softness of my skin when I’m done showering.

And if I could digitize the smell of this honey almond soap and email it to you, I would.  It’s good.  Really good.  It’s a little sweet and really fresh. It’s definitely not perfume-y.  Just clean and delicious.  But don’t eat your soap.

DIY Honey Almond Exfoliating Soap pcloseup

And, yes, I would totally wrap this up and give it as a gift.

In all, the actual making of the soap was pretty quick, about 20-25 minutes not including the time it takes for the soap to harden.  I spent $5 on the melt and pour soap (with a 50% off coupon at Michael’s!), $5 on the essential oil and I think $2 on the soap mold.  I only used half of the soap and a tiny bit of the essential oils and I already had the oatmeal. If I overestimate, I spent about $4-5 dollars for 4 bars of soap.  Not bad for a custom product made just for me!

Linking up to:  Plucky’s Second Thought, Merry Monday Link Party, Motivational Monday, Frugal Crafty Home Blog, My Two Favorite Things, On Display Thursday

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