by Lauren Kunce

See our recipe and the steps we took to make our own handmade lavender soap.

This was a project I did as part of a 4-H event. Our club held a craft fair, and one of the items I wanted to have for sale was my own homemade lavender soap. We had never made soap before. It ended up being very successful and fun.

Ingredients & Tools:

-Melt-and-pour soap base
-Soap mold(s)
-Optional fragrances or essential oils (we used lavender oil)
-Optional add-ins (I am using lavender and oats)
-Microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl
-Sharp kitchen knife
-Cutting board
-Stir stick
-Baking sheet
-1/2 Teaspoon measuring spoon
-Small spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol

If you are using oats, you can purchase them already ground up or you can use a food processor to grind your own. I used quick-oats like you might use to make oatmeal.

Step 1: Cut the Soap

Before melting the soap I suggest cutting it into smaller pieces first. If you are using a sharp knife always have an adult help you, just in case. Use the cutting board to protect your table or countertop. I used half of a 5-pound block of shea butter melt-and-pour soap.

Step 2: Prepare your materials

Assemble your materials. Process your oats, if needed—we used 1/4 Cup of ground oats in half of the batch of soap and kept some whole to decorate the tops. We also used homegrown lavender from our flower garden that we had hung up to dry the week before, so it needed to be crumbled into little pieces. This is a good time to set out your fragrance or oil with the measuring spoon.

Step 3: Melting the soap

We melted the soap in the microwave. We heated it in 30-second increments, checking and stirring in between until it was melted and there were no lumps left in the mixture.

Step 4: Adding the add-ins

First, we put the lavender flakes in, then stirred in the additional oats and fragrance (lavender essential oil). I suggest you stir often and work quickly so your soap doesn’t set up before you’re ready.

Step 5: Molding

Next, we poured our soap. We set our molds out on a flat surface. (We used a cookie sheet so if we needed to move them we could without damaging the actual soap.) I used a measuring cup with a spout and filled each section to the top. We used a small bottle filled with rubbing alcohol to spray the top of the soap if there were any bubbles.

Step 6: Finalizing

We waited overnight to take the soap out of our molds. We were careful with them but they came out easily. Because I wanted to sell them, I made my own logo and packaging.

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Ps. Don’t forget to check out my brother’s soap page here!–> https://windhillcreate.com/create/almonds-oats-homemade-soap/