Aloe Vera Soap

When a dear friend asked me to make soap for her son at his request, I felt I had to make him something special. His mum usually gets the French Red Clay soap but I switched it out for Activated Charcoal.

Soap in my very busy crocpot 🙂

I also switched half the water for aloe vera gel.

In the mould

I’m also tickled to be using this silicone loaf mould for the very first time. I’ve had my eye on one for about 2 years. I now own 2 🙂

The cut...

This soap is scented with a blend of Black Tea fo and Eucalyptus eo  because he’s in university in the UK (they love their tea!) and its getting colder as autumn/fall progresses. It smells really good!

You can see the poppy seeds in flashlight

It was a real pleasure to fill this order.

It's a wrap!

Felted Soap

I’ve had my eye on this project for a while and actually ordered wool roving months ago. Happy to finally get this project ticked off my list!

Felted soap is basically soap wrapped in wool. As the wool is agitated around the soap, it felts together and tightens around the soap. What you are left with is essentially a soap and washcloth in one.

Wool roving in popping colour

Felted soap tends to last longer in the shower (if you drain it well between uses of course) and when the soap runs out, the left behind felt can be used as a facial scrubbie because wool is naturally antimicrobial. Another thing you can do is put a slit in the side and insert another soap. Or you can just use it to clean your bathroom sink and tub.

Felted soap 1

I really like how these turned out. I immediately want to felt up some Castile soap. I have a year old one that’s been winking at me for a while now 😀

Felted soap 2

Felting soap is labour intensive but makes beautiful unique gifts. What do you think? These are definitely going in my Christmas gift sets this year.

Aloe Vera Hair Styling Creme

I harvested 3 large leaves from one of my aloe vera plants to make soap with but somewhere along the line, that plan was totally abandoned for a styling cream.

What I did different this time is that I allowed most of the aloin (the bitter part of AV, also used as a laxative) in the plant to mix with the gel because I’ve read many research papers that showed that topical applications of aloin for skin issues and wound healing have been documented for decades.

Aloe vera turned purple gel ❤ ❤

I added a little preservative becsuse the strong enzymes in AV start to break it down very quickly once its cut, and stuck it in the fridge while I sanitized my other utensils. One hour later it had turned this lovely purple gel colour.

Emulsifying with a stick blender

The colour didn’t make it through the emulsion stage though. This hue is mostly from the unrefined shea butter and unrefined PKO. I used conditioning emulsifier because its essentially a very thick cream for hair and while you can actually apply this mixture to skin, using a regular emulsifier for body lotion in my hair has not been a hit. Ask me how I know 🙂

Just what my dry hair ordered 🙂

The resulting creme is thick and fluffy with good non-sticky slip, just what my dry kinky hair ordered. Essential oils of rosemary and tea tree add the final touch to what is now a staple for my family’s daily hair care.