HP for Me :)

[CaraCara]

I haven't posted any photos in a while, so here are a few soaps I made. My kid took the photos--she's pretty good! Anyway, to the left is my canolive test batch scented with lemon, lavender and a bit of orange 5x...This smells YUMMY. The middle is OMH, unscented, made today and looks rather cool. The right is pumpkin carrot (CP), scented with patchouli and orange 5x. I forgot to discount the water so they're quite soft, but otherwise nice soap. I'm looking forward to when they're fully cured.

You may now return to your regular Friday night ritual. Cheers!

 

[AKjulz]

Very nice! Love the swirls in the OMH. Your photographer did a great job too : )

 

[judymoody]

Nice! The OMH is really pretty. I also like the photo with the dark background - it really shows off the soap.

 

[CaraBou]

This is my Friday night ritual! Thanks for enhancing it!

 

[Skatergirl46]

Ooh, Those are all nice! The OMH looks yummy. Is your pumpkin carrot colored only by the natural color of the pumpkin and carrots? I like the color. Will it stay that pretty orange?

 

[CaraBou]

I bet it will stay that color. A couple months ago I made a swirl from carrot puree, and it still has that beautiful yellow-orange color. But hers has pumpkin too, which I have not used. No matter what, my guess is it stays gorgeous!

 

[Ancel]

Lovely! Really like the colour of the carrot pumpkin!

 

[CaraCara]

Thanks folks! The carrot pumpkin soap is all natural and I hope it doesn't darken at all. I kept reading about carrot soap being lovely to use so I had to make some. True story-the OMH crawled out of the pot yesterday...never had it happen before but it came alive. Not enough time to get a photo for a laugh, unfortunately. It turned out rather nice looking IMO. The white soap on the left doesn't look like much but the smell reminds me of fresh citrus type gum. I think the combination with lavender makes it more full bodied.

 

[cmzaha]

I just bet you are going to love the Canolive soap, it is one of my favorite mild soaps. All the soaps look lovely. If you like your carrot soap infusing carrots in sunflower oil makes for fantastic soap and lotion bars

 

[CaraCara]

Ooh, nice idea, thanks Carolyn. I love sunflower oil in soaps because the lather is so rich. I think I'll try that right now.

 

[Skatergirl46]

May I ask how you prepared the carrots to use for this?

 

[TVivian]

Nice! And your kid IS a good photographer!

 

[CaraCara]

May I ask how you prepared the carrots to use for this?

I'm not sure if you were asking me or Carolyn. I ended up shredding and dehydrating carrots a bit in the oven and have them infusing in HO safflower oil and ROE. I've done infusions with fresh citrus peels before with no spoiling but the carrots had loads of moisture.

 

[cmzaha]

This is taken from The Soaps N Lotions forum and is how I make mine. Not sure if Zany is the original poster, but this is a sticky post from her:


Carrot Tissue Oil Benefits

Where has this stuff been all my life?! LOL I made carrot tissue oil and it's gorgeous! It feels really nice on my dry, mature, sensitive skin and soaks in almost immediately. I used it in face cream, in suntan oil for its anti-aging benefits, and in lip balm. I also added Carrot Seed EO that I had sitting around with nothing better to do. (TIP: 50/50 with Orange EO and Ginger Essence FO takes the edge off the "seedy" taste of the EO used alone.)

After doing a bit of research, I learned that carrot tissue oil is best made from the "flesh" of fresh carrots -- vs. "dried" that I normally do. High oleic sunflower oil was the oil recommended and one of my personal faves for lotions, creams, & balms. This is so easy to make:

MIY CARROT TISSUE OIL

1 cup grated carrots
2 cups high oleic sunflower oil

Simmer range top in a small stainless steel frying pan on lowest temp -- to a notch above LOW for 3 hours. You want just a bit of bubbles so the water from the fresh carrots can escape. The bubbling stops after 3 hours and the fat, juicy, fresh carrot gratings are tiny crispy things -- reduced to about 1/4 cup or less. I tossed them down the drain before I realized they probably would have been quite tasty in a salad.

This stuff is so pricey online that it makes me feel like I'm getting away with highway robbery by making it myself. If you make it, keep the temp low, but be sure there's a bit of bubbling going on because you want all the water in the carrots to escape.