Catalog of Soap Themes

[Jaaret]

Some people categorize their soaps by their uses: shaving soap, shampoo bar, gardener's soap, kitchen soap, etc. I'm looking to categorize by the themes, below. I pulled most of these themes from Melinda Cross' wonderful book, The Handmade Soap Book.

Here are the themes with examples of ingredients:

Fruit Soaps - add finely grated lemon and lime rind, scent with citrus EOs
Vegetable Soaps - use mainly vegetable based oils; add pureed cucumber, carrot, pumpkin, etc.
Floral Soaps - add calendula petals or lavender, scent with floral EOs like Lavender or Rose Geranium
Bee Soap - add beeswax and honey
Herbal Soap - use chamomille or mint tea for water, add dried herbs
Spice Soap - add cinnamon; scent with ginger and cinnamon EOs
Woodsy Soap - scent with Cedar, Fir, Juniper EOs
Nut Soap - use nut-based oils, add ground almonds, scent with nutmeg EO
Dairy Soap - add milk or cream
Antiseptic Soap - add goldenseal powder and Tea Tree EO
Oceanic Soap - add seaweed; salt bars would probably be in this category
Beer Soap - this is the latest idea gleened from this site. Can't wait to try it!

I thought about added a Clay Soap category but I add some sort of clay to most of batches. Should it be a category unto itself? Can you think of any other categories that I'm missing?

 

[heyjude]

Gardeners Soap- pumice or some other nice scrubby material with a, minty fo/eos

Kitchen soap- brewed coffee with grounds for the exfolient and a coffee scented fo/eo

 

[BakingNana]

Did you have to label using INCI if you call soap antiseptic? Doesn't that make it fall under "drugs?" I'm kinda paranoid about doing that. But....I think your categories ROCK!

 

[Jaaret]

You're correct - I would have to label differently if I sold my soap commercially. I would just keep the antiseptic soap on hand for personal use. I have lots of thorny plants in my yard and inevitably get scratched when I'm out gardening. I'm thinking an antiseptic soap would be good handy to have for those.

 

[BakingNana]

Antiseptic soap would be great to have around for my grandkiddies, too. Do you use the same EO ratio you usually use when adding tea tree? I'm thinking since it's on the OK-neat list maybe you can go higher? What do you think?

 

[Jaaret]

Do you use the same EO ratio you usually use when adding tea tree? I'm thinking since it's on the OK-neat list maybe you can go higher? What do you think?

You bring up an excellent point. I always have observed my 2.5% rule using up to 2.5% of EO per the total weight of the oils, but I certainly could increase that with the two EOs that can be used without dilution: Tea Tree and Lavendar. A few years I slipped and lacerated the top of my foot on the metal buckle of my sandal. I should have gone to the emergency room but by the time I realized it was a minor laceration - not a cut - it was too late to try to stitch it closed. I used straight Lavendar and Tea Tree EOs on the wound topped with antibiotic cream and clean bandages. It healed so well that I can hardly find the scar. I think the Lavendar and Tea Trea EOs really helped in the healing process.

 

[Tabitha]

What about air/rain/laundry type scents?

 

[PrairieCraft]

What about air/rain/laundry type scents?

I always refer to those as Blue scents. Probably because Yankee Candle colors those blue except for the laundry or clean linen but to me those smell like "blue" scents too. Kinda like how red is a flavor of popsicle.