How to Make Soap With Patchouli Oil
Patchouli oil comes from the steam distillation of the leaves of the patchouli plant, a member of the mint family. This essential oil has an earthy, musky fragrance that you can add to homemade, cold-process soaps. Soaps made with patchouli can help certain skin conditions such as eczema and acne, as well as soothe cracked or irritated skin. Make homemade soap from natural vegetable oils and add some patchouli oil to scent it and give it skin-healing properties.
Things You'll Need
- 2-quart heat-resistant glass measuring cup
- 27 ounces distilled water, chilled
- Gloves
- Goggles
- 9.5 ounces of lye
- Wooden spoon
- 6-quart soap-making pot
- 28 ounces olive oil
- 14 ounces palm oil
- 14 ounces coconut oil
- 4 ounces cocoa butter
- 4 ounces grapeseed oil
- 4 ounces sunflower oil
- 4 ounces beeswax
- Soap-making thermometer
- Stick blender
- 4 ounces patchouli essential oil
- Soap mold
- Wax paper
- Blankets
- Knife
Instructions
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1
Pour 27 ounces of distilled water that you have chilled in the refrigerator into a 2-quart heat-resistant glass measuring cup.
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2
Put on gloves and goggles and go to an outdoor area before working with lye, a highly caustic chemical that can burn your skin.
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3
Add 9.5 ounces of lye to the chilled water, pouring the lye in slowly and stirring the mixture gently with a wooden spoon until the lye crystals dissolve into the water. When combined, the mixture becomes very hot. Put the mixture aside to cool.
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4
Heat 28 ounces of olive oil, 14 ounces of palm oil, 14 ounces of coconut oil and 4 ounces each of cocoa butter, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil and beeswax in a 6-quart soap-making pot over medium heat on the stove. Stir the ingredients until all of them have become liquefied. Remove the liquid oils from the heat.
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5
Use a soap-making thermometer to take the temperature of the oils and then the lye solution's temperature. Continue to test the temperatures until the temperature of each substance reaches about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
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6
Pour the lye-and-water solution into the soap-making pot, stirring constantly. Once combined, switch to a stick blender to mix the contents of the pot. Mix until the contents reach the consistency of honey or pudding, at which point the mixture has formed soap, a state that soap makers call trace.
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7
Stir in 4 ounces of patchouli essential oil with a wooden spoon until you combine it throughout the soap.
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8
Line a soap mold with wax paper and pour the soap mixture into it. Cover the mold, and insulate it by wrapping it in blankets. Allow the soap to sit undisturbed for 48 hours.
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9
Remove the soap from the mold by pulling on the wax paper. Cut the block of soap with a knife into smaller bars. Place the bars on wax paper to dry for six weeks; this allows the lye to react completely out of the soap, a process called curing. Flip over the bars every week during this process.
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Tips & Warnings
Add some texture and decoration to the soap by adding 1/8 cup of crushed, dried patchouli leaves to the soap.
Substitute 3 ounces of patchouli oil and 1 ounce of orange oil for the 4 ounces of patchouli oil to add some sweetness to the soap.
The recipe above makes approximately 7 pounds of soap.
Keep pets and children away from lye when making soap.
Lye reacts badly with aluminum; use only heat-resistant glass to mix your soap or stainless steel for your soap-making pots.
Accurately measure all of your ingredients using a digital kitchen scale.
References
- The North County Soap Making Library: Pam’s Recipe for Patchouli and Hemp Oil Soap
- Soapnuts: Cold Process Soap Recipes
- The North County Soap Making Library: Heidi’s Sweetened Patchouli Soap Recipe
- Melt & Pour: Making Cold Process Soap
- Snowdrift Farm: Soapmaking 101: Cold Process Soaps
- Eden Botanicals: About Patchouli Oil
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
