Today I am sharing how to make my Lavender & Buttermilk cold process soap. Lavender essential oil is an amazing oil to use in your cold process soaps. Not only do you get the aromatherapy benefits of relaxation and calming but Lavender essential oil is also very soothing to the skin which is great for anyone who has sensitive skin or any sort of minor skin irritation happening.
I like to pair Lavender with buttermilk powder in my cold process soap as the buttermilk adds an additional layer of skin soothing properties and helps your soap bar have a silky feel and it also boost the lather of the soap.
Before we get into the recipe please be sure that if you are new to cold process soap making, you have educated yourself on the necessary safety precautions needed when working with lye. Brambleberry has a great beginner's guide to soap making playlist if you are looking for an easy to follow resource on how to get started making cold process soap.
Now on to the soapmaking;)
For this recipe you will need:
Batter Oils & Butters:
Olive Oil - Check your local Sams or Costco for the best price.
Coconut Oil- Check your local Sams or Costco for the best price.
Essential Oils & Additives:
Colorants & Glitters:
Fantasia Mica or colorant of choice
Jam Session Mica or colorant of choice
Purple Vibrance Mica or colorant of choice
Parisian Rose Eco Glitter or colorant of choice
Molds & Other Soap Equipment:
Soap Mold - I have linked the mold I use but any soap mold that holds at least 3lbs will work:)
The soap batter recipe I use is as follows:
Sweet Almond Oil 5% - 1.9oz
Castor Oil 5% - 1.9oz
Sunflower Oil 5% - 1.9oz
Cocoa Butter 15% - 5oz
Coconut Oil 30% - 9.9oz
Olive Oil 40% - 13.2oz
Superfat 5%
Water as % of oils 35%
1 TBS of Buttermilk Powder
Lye 4.6oz
Water 11.5oz
1 TBS Sodium Lactate
2.1oz Lavender Essential Oil
1 TBS Kaolin Clay
The amounts in oz are based on 36 ounces of oil. If you are making a bigger or smaller batch you will want to run the percentages through a soap calculator to determine the amounts you will need.
Your first step will be to make your lye water solution and measure out and melt your butters and oils.
While you are waiting for your lye water and oils and butters to cool, disperse your purple micas into seperate containers along with about a tablespoon of your batch oils. I like to blend them with a mini frother to make sure all the mica is incorporated in the oil.
Next measure out your lavender essential oil and then disperse it in about a tablespoon of kaolin clay. This helps the essential oil anchor into the soap batter and keep it's scent longer.
Once your lye water and oils and butters are at your desired temperature(I usually soap in between room temperature and 100 degrees) add about 1 tablespoon of buttermilk powder into your oils and butters and blend until combined.
Now add your lye water and blend until emulsified.
Next add in your lavender essential oil and blend until you are at a light trace, then split off your batter into three parts. I left about half the batter in my main container and then split the remaining batter between two additional containers.
To my main batter, I added the purple vibrance mica and then I used the Fantasia and Jam Session micas in the other two containers. Blend or whisk until the mica is combined evenly throughout your soap batters.
For this soap I did a drop pour. So I poured in about half of my base color into the mold and then did several passes of my two accent colors before pouring the remainder of my base color. I then used a hanger tool to swirl the soap together.
I did a simple swirl using a bamboo skewer on the top of the soap and followed that up with a little Parisian Rose eco glitter.
Let your soap set up for around 18-24 hours before removing from the mold and cutting into bars.
For this particular batch I made I did try cutting it a little different than I usually do so I wasn't able to see as much of the swirl as I would have liked. In the future I will either make a larger batch so I can have taller bars in this mold or I will go back to cutting these into "chunks" which is what I typically do when I use this mold.
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