How to Make Your Own Scented Soap

Make your soap in any color or with any scent you like.

Revel in your favorite scents with soap you make yourself. Handmade soaps make lovely personalized gifts, too. It all begins with a plain white bar of soap from the grocery store. Added fats give your homemade soaps a luxurious feel on the skin, and you can experiment with colors and scents to come up with distinctive blends.

Things You'll Need

• 2 bars unscented white soap
• Grater
• Glass measuring cup
• Soap molds
• Petroleum jelly
• Saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• 1/4 cup palm oil chips
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Botanical fragrance oil
• Soap dye for coloring (optional)
• Baking rack

Instructions

1. Grate the bars of plain white soap into a large glass measuring cup. You should have about 2 cups of flaked soap.

2. Prepare your soap molds with a light coat of petroleum jelly.

3. Pour 1/2 cup of water over the soap chunks in the measuring cup.

4. Set the measuring cup in 2 inches of water in a saucepan. Over medium heat, bring the pan of water to a full simmer.

5. Stir the soap and water in the measuring cup with a wooden spoon. Stir slowly and break up any large chunks as the soap melts. Watch for the soap to reach the consistency of lumpy pudding.

6. Remove the measuring cup from the water bath. Quickly pour in 1/4 cup of palm oil chips and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

7. Stir your soap thoroughly with the wooden spoon. While stirring, add about 20 drops of fragrance oil and, if you wish, a few drops of soap dye. Stir until the ingredients are completely mixed, but be gentle so you don't make suds.

8. Spoon the liquid soap into the molds. Set the molds aside and allow the soap to cool completely.

9. Pop the cool soaps out of the molds and set them on a baking rack. Keep them there for up to three weeks to cure.

Tips & Warnings

• Mark the wooden spoon and set it aside to be used only for soap making. Do not cook with it.

References

• The Michaels Book of Arts & Crafts; Dawn Cusick and Megan Kirby