Homemade Hand Soaps
Hello everyone! Talitha from Love, Pomegranate House here again! And I’ve got another super cute and simple DIY Mother’s Day gift for all of you! Seriously, can it get any cuter than Handmade Hand Soaps!?
My mom was in town last week to help us get settled into our new house. I knew I wanted to make her something special for Mother’s Day that was handmade, you know… because I’m all crafty. {winks} And I had to have it ready for her while she was here since I wasn’t going to be with her for Mother’s Day. So I whipped up 3 different “flavors” of hand soaps, for lack of a better word. The scents are honey-oatmeal, aloe vera, and chamomile. But it is really easy to make your own variety and “flavor” your soap any way you want!
Ingredients
When it comes to making soaps, I was definitely a novice. I hadn’t done it since I was in 2nd grade. And I don’t really remember that. So I went the simple route: melt and pour glycerin soap. Here are the basic supplies for the base of every soap:
- 4 cubes {4 ounces} of glycerin soap {this can be found at Michael’s craft store. I chose a clear glycerin but you could choose any variety you want}
- Petroleum jelly or vegetable spray
- Spray bottle {set to mist} filled with rubbing alcohol
- Soap molds {you can get molds specific to soap making or use the base of a yogurt container or any other plastic container}
How to Make Hand Soaps
Now on to the basic instructions for soap making. Regardless of the “flavor” of soap you want to make, the basic steps are the same.
Begin by coating your molds with either petroleum jelly or vegetable spray. Set aside.
Cut your glycerin into cubes and placing your cubes into a microwave safe container with a spout. The glycerin comes molded into cubes. Four cubes is all you need per soap mold.
Heat the glycerin in the microwave in 20-second intervals until melted but not boiling. Stir until smooth. Mix in other additives to “flavor” your soap.
Pour “flavored” soap into your prepared mold. Mist with rubbing alcohol to eliminate any bubbles on the soap’s surface. Allow soap to harden for 2 hours.
To release the soap from the mold, pull the mold away from the side of the soap. Then press on the bottom of the mold to pop the soap out. If the soap is still resisting coming out this way, place it in the freezer for 10 minutes and try again.
Variations
Phew! Now that the steps are done, I can share the wonderful recipes with you! All of these are added into the melted glycerin before pouring it into the mold.
Chamomile Hand Soap
1/4 tsp chamomile tea leaves
Honey-Oatmeal Hand Soap
1 1/2 tsp honey
1 pinch ginger
2 tsp oatmeal
Aloe Vera Hand Soap
2 tsp aloe vera gel
I made several different kinds of soaps all in one afternoon! They really don’t take very long to make and are a wonderful gift just in time for Mother’s Day. Or you could even make them up fast and share them this week for Teacher Appreciation Week! I even made a few extra just for myself!
Love this idea – I’m going to feature it on my DIY section of my blog today. Feel free to grab a button if you wish. 🙂 Great idea! [email protected]
A very nice gift to give to your mom on Mother’s Day.
How many bars of soap did this make?
Each 4 ounces made 1 bar of soap! So each container of glycerin could make 16 soaps!
{Oops – hit enter too soon!} Anyway, Talitha these are so pretty! I used to make gift soaps all the time and completely forgot how easy it is! I usually made the regular bar shape but I adore the round molds. So cute!!
Thanks for having Talitha over Jamielyn!! 🙂
Love these. How did you add the oatmeal on top and the colors?
In the honey oatmeal soap, how did you keep the oatmeal at the bottom? Or top… I feel like if I tried that one it’d get all mixed up.
I was wondering if this recipe can be converted to an oven recipe? I do not own a microwave but I really like the simplicity if this!
Oh great! These soaps look adorable.Thank you for reminding me that I wanted to try to make soap!! I am defiantly going to try one of these very soon.
Making soaps is so much fun! Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Love the simple packaging on these!
Thank you Lisa-Jane! 🙂
Thank you for this amazing recipe ! I love the idea of homemade soap but I have a question – can I use glycerin syrup instead of glycerin soap ?Â
Can you use ruglare soap
Such a wonderful idea! Could you share with me the amount of essential oil you would use?
About 10 drops or until it smells fragrant 🙂
It looks like the green one is frosted. Is it just the photo or did it frost up. I like it frosted. Â If it is how did you do it, thanks.Â
I think I’ll make these for favors for my wedding…. 🙂  Seems simple enough.Â
hi what did u colour the soaps ?
Since we used clear glycerin, the color came from the additives. Typically colors for soaps are sold right next to the glycerin in craft stores. 🙂
Ginger as in what I have in my spice cabinet? Or gratings from a fresh piece of ginger?
I would use the Ginger from the spice cabinet – the only reason being it has much less moisture, and will not offset the chemistry of the soap. 🙂
For the chamomile additive can we use what’s inside of a chamomile tea bag?Â
Yes! 🙂
Also, what did you use for the packaging?? It’s beautiful!!!Â
These are just lovely ! May I ask where you bought the color for the mint
green soap and what color it is. Everything came out so pretty, from theÂ
soap to the packaging ! Thank you for sharing .
Oh my goodness!!!!!! Love love love the homemade soaps. I think all my gifts will be from your site. Thanks again.
Homemade soaps are my favorite! Definitely stop by in the next few weeks, we have a bunch of cute gift ideas coming! 🙂
How much of the flavoring was put in the soap??
Hi Teresa! It really depends on how strong you want the flavor. 🙂
Do the molds have to be plastic, or can I use a glass?
I’ve always used plastic, but glass should work! 🙂
Thank you! Btw My friend gave me the great idea of using coffee grounds for one of the soap bars, if anyone else wanted to use that idea 😉 Thanks for the recipe this will make great Xmas gifts for the extended family!
How long do they store for? If I made now for Xmas would they still be good this give as presents?Â
I would probably wait a little to make them. Maybe a couple months before. 🙂
I love this site! This is gonna be my go-to for christmas presents from now on! 😉
Thank you! 🙂
How many bars of soap does this recipe yields- thank you
Each 4 cubes makes 1 soap mold!