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My Reward PointsMoisturising soap, made from natural ingredients like cocoa butter, berries, and grapeseed oil, nourishes and preserves skin, leaving it clean, supple, and nourished.
A moisturising soap with hydrating elements is essential for maintaining softness and preventing dryness.
Ingredients like essential oils, sodium chloride, and citric acid maintain skin moisture balance in a moisturizing soap.
Homemade moisturizing soap can be a cost-effective, customisable, and effective skincare solution.
What Makes Soap Moisturising?
A moisturizing soap includes oils and butters (e.g., shea butter, cocoa butter, olive oil, coconut oil) and natural humectants (e.g., honey, glycerin, aloe vera).
It is made with a superfatting technique that leaves extra oils in the soap. A moisturising soap also has a pH level of 5 to 7.
Ingredients You'll Need to Make Moisturizing Soap
A moisturising soap can be made with a variety of ingredients, such as base oils, butters, liquids, and lye. You can also optionally add additives and colourants.
1. Base oils
To make moisturizing soap, mix "soft" oils like olive oil, sweet almond oil, and avocado oil with "hard" oils like coconut oil and palm oil to create a balanced bar.
2. Butters
Add cocoa butter to moisturizing soap to give it firmness and a creamy texture. Shea butter is also known for its skin-soothing characteristics, which contribute to the creation of a soft, moisturising bar.
3. Liquids
To manufacture moisturising soap, you'll need water and moisturizing liquid ingredients such as distilled water, glycerin, witch hazel, milk, and aloe vera juice.
4. Lye
Lye (sodium hydroxide) is required for cold process soap production because it catalyses the saponification reaction that converts oils into soap.
5. Additives (optional)
Moisturizing soap can be enhanced with optional ingredients like essential oils, oats, honey, and herbs, which soften the skin, increase moisture retention, and provide additional skin-nourishing benefits.
6. Colorants (optional)
Moisturising soap can be enhanced with natural powders, micas, cosmetic-grade pigments, and clays like rose clay for colour and skin-soothing properties.
How to Make Moisturizing Soap at Home
Wondering how to make moisturising soap at home? This moisturizing soap recipe, made with cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter, is a soothing and mild option for dry hands or the body, making it ideal for dry skin.
Ingredients
- Cocoa butter: 6 ounces
- Coconut oil: 5 ounces
- Shea butter: 5 ounces
- Lye: 2.26 ounces
- Water: 5.05 ounces
- Essential oils (optional): 15-20 drops
How to Make?
- Use a digital scale to measure your water and pour it into a heat-resistant glass or metal container.
- Measure out the lye and mix it into the water. Stir the lye into the water slowly until it dissolves. Take note that the chemical reaction will cause it to heat up quickly.
- Measure the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter on a digital scale. Pour into a saucepan and melt over medium heat.
- Once the components have melted, let them cool to 100 degrees.
- To make soap, heat fats to 100 degrees, then add lye water and oils. Slowly blend with an immersion blender, taking a few minutes. The soap will drip and pool on top of the soap in the saucepan, indicating the appropriate consistency, known as the trace.
- If you're using essential oils, add them in now. Stir thoroughly.
- Pour the soap into the soap moulds. If you're using silicone soap moulds, there's no need to prepare them beforehand. Other moulds may require parchment paper.
- Allow the soap to firm and set in the moulds for at least 24 hours, or up to 3 days.
- Finally, remove the soap from the moulds and let it cure for 3-4 weeks before using.
Variations of DIY Moisturizing Soap Recipes for Different Skin Types
You can experiment with numerous DIY moisturizing soap recipes for various skin types, including dry skin, oily skin, sensitive skin, combination skin, mature or ageing skin, and normal skin.
1. For Dry Skin
For dry skin, use shea butter, goat milk, honey, and olive oil as the ingredients. You can optionally add oatmeal and vitamin E oil.
Lavender, geranium, and sandalwood are the suggested essential oils for dry skin. The suggested soap base is goat milk or shea butter.
2. For Oily Skin
For oily skin, utilise activated charcoal, tea tree oil, and kaolin clay as the ingredients. You can optionally add apple cider vinegar (in small amounts) and aloe vera gel.
Tea tree, lemon, and eucalyptus are the suggested essential oils for oily skin. Glycerin or aloe vera is indicated as a soap base.
3. For Sensitive Skin
For sensitive skin, utilise chamomile-infused oil, colloidal oatmeal, and aloe vera as key ingredients. Calendula extract and fragrance-free ingredients are optional additions.
Roman chamomile and frankincense (low dilution) are recommended essential oils for sensitive skin. Aloe vera or unscented goat milk is suggested as a soap base.
4. For Combination Skin
For combination skin, use jojoba oil, rose clay, and honey as the primary ingredients. Yoghurt powder or goat milk is an optional addition.
Lavender, rosemary, and bergamot are the suggested essential oils for combination skin. Shea butter or oatmeal soap bases are recommended for this purpose.
5. For Mature or Ageing Skin
The main ingredients for mature or ageing skin are rosehip oil, avocado oil, and cocoa butter. Optional ingredients include vitamin C powder and green tea extract.
Rose, frankincense, and neroli are the suggested essential oils for mature or ageing skin. Shea butter or olive oil is offered as a soap base option.
6. For Normal Skin
For normal skin, utilise coconut oil, olive oil, and shea butter as the primary ingredients. Honey and almond milk are optional additions.
Lemongrass, peppermint, and lavender are the suggested essential oils for regular skin. Any moisturising base, such as glycerin or shea butter, is recommended for use as a soap base.
Tips on How to Make Soap More Moisturising
Do you know how to make moisturizing soap even more moisturizing? Well, you can do so by following the tips below.
- Raising the soap's superfat percentage enhances its moisturising properties by retaining excess oil, which helps condition and soothe the skin.
- Adding trace nourishing oils can enhance soap moisturisation by increasing superfat levels, resulting in more free, unsaponified oils remaining in the finished bar for skin conditioning.
- Another method for making soap more moisturizing is to add shea butter, cocoa butter, glycerin, avocado oil, goat milk, honey, and other moisturising ingredients to increase the soap's moisturizing properties.
- Natural soaps are beneficial for skin due to their lack of harsh chemicals or drying ingredients. DIY soap recipes can enhance their nutritional value by avoiding harsh essential oils and drying additives.
Final Thoughts
Making moisturising soap at home is a personalisation option that uses moisturizing oils and butters like shea butter, coconut oil, and almond oil, avoiding harsh chemicals, detergents, and artificial aromas found in commercial soaps.
This makes it suitable for individuals with dry, sensitive, or irritated skin. Finally, we encourage readers to experiment and customise a homemade moisturising soap based on their needs and share their results.
