The Natural Soapmaking Handbook: Easy Recipes and Techniques for Beautiful Soaps from Herbs, Essential Oils and Other Botanicals
The Complete Guide to Creating Sustainable Soap from Scratch
by Simi Khabra
Page Street Publishing, 2024 (200 pages)
Growing up, my mother enjoyed exploring all the how-to's of living a homesteading life, as well as living as close to nature as you can. One of her favorite things to do was every year, in the early fall, making batches of lye soap. It was a whole day experience. We would mix and "cook", and when we were done adding in the scents and colors, we would pour it all into molds to cure for a couple months. It was the most glorious soap, and the bars would last a long time. This once-a-year experience would carry us through a whole other year with plenty of soap. And it could be used for laundry too by cutting up the bars into a large mason jar, pouring boiling water over it and letting the soap dissolve. It created a fresh smelling laundry when done and it got the whites pretty white. As you can tell, we had plenty of cleaning supplies for just about pennies.
I discovered this new book on soapmaking and was quite impressed. It is a simple process to make your own lye soap, but it can seem to be complicated. Like anything worth doing, it does take time to become good at this. But the reward is so worth it. As Khabra states, "Are you ready to dive into one of the most incredible (and useful!) crafts? ...you can be as creative as you want, within the boundaries of the craft." I like how this author separates it out into a simple process, with timely tips and tricks to add.
She goes into what essential oils are best for skin. Surprise? Lavender is specified as the best, and it blends wonderful with every other scent. Want to make shampoo bars? Recipe included. Milky Rose is included, Purple Smoothie, Eucalyptus Dreams and more. Best of all, she talks about what tools are really required, and as you ease into it, which ones you might want to put on your wish list. You learn about natural colorants, and grits to add to soap to make it an exfoliant.
If you have been thinking about getting into soapmaking for real---not just the melt and pour kind, this would be the only book you would need to start out. Once the soap bug bites you, I guarantee you will want more.
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