Natural, Vegan Bath & Body Book Recommendation

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Mar 25, 2023
Messages
115
Reaction score
224
Location
USA
Wife is wanting to get started in making lotions and liquid soaps that are vegan, all natural, etc. Is there a single book out there you'd recommend for all natural, vegan recipes, scenting, colorants, for lotions, cremes, liquid soaps?

So much info out there it's be nice to have a single resource just so she can get started on the right path, instead of 200 links to sites (which will come with time).

Thank you!
 
I'm in love with everything from DIY Bath & Body on Etsy (link below). Do all of her recipes qualify as vegan or all natural? Not necessarily but the products I make with her recipes are some of my best sellers. The Lotion Concentrate recipe is, in my opinion, a game changer. Sandra is a former esthetician who branched out into developing her own products. They're high quality and her recipes are easy to follow. There's also a FB page with a lot of very helpful people.

Another maker to check out (and she does have a book) is Humblebee & Me. Marie also has a book available, which I've seen in my local Costco.

And then there's always Swift Crafty Monkey; her site is by subscription, starting at $1 per month, and for $10 per month subscribers, there's a free e-book every month. They're jam packed with information. She is very scientific (almost intimidatingly so) but she does explain everything very well.

As for liquid soap, I swear by Ashley Greene's book, the Ultimate Guide to Liquid Soap. The book is well written, explains the process in a way that's easy to understand and there's plenty of support on her FB page. The recipes are really nice and there's even a charcoal liquid soap recipe! If she had been my Chem 11 teacher, I would have passed it, I'm sure! She also has some very basic videos showing the processes.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/DIYbathandbodyshop?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=630191706
https://www.humblebeeandme.com
https://www.swiftcraftymonkey.blog/blog/
https://www.ultimateguidetosoap.com/liquid-soap-how-to-process-book-buy-online
 
The most difficult thing about “all-natural” ingredients for lotions will be the preservative, but they are out there.

I’m not aware of any vegan-only resources, but the Humblebee &Me website is a great learning resource with many vegan recipes.

I also highly recommend purchasing the Lotion Concentrate recipe from DIY Bath & Body (an Etsy shop). This recipe teaches how to make one’s own lotion “base” (she calls it a concentrate but the concept is the same). You then customize that base with your preferred ingredients, to make lotions as thick or thin as you prefer.

All of her recommended lotion ingredients are vegan, except that you must be sure to use a vegan source of stearic acid. It will also be up to you to select organic or “natural” versions of all other ingredients, as well, but that isn’t hard to do.

This recipe is a proven winner among several of us here in SMF. The customizable nature is what sold me initially; the finished lotion quality sealed the deal.

I realize that doesn’t directly answer your request, but it might be wise to start with perfecting one product at a time. The DIY B&B recipe allows you to do that.

Edit: apparently @Misschief beat me to it - sorry for repeating what she said!
 
I'm in love with everything from DIY Bath & Body on Etsy (link below). Do all of her recipes qualify as vegan or all natural? Not necessarily but the products I make with her recipes are some of my best sellers. The Lotion Concentrate recipe is, in my opinion, a game changer. Sandra is a former esthetician who branched out into developing her own products. They're high quality and her recipes are easy to follow. There's also a FB page with a lot of very helpful people.

Another maker to check out (and she does have a book) is Humblebee & Me. Marie also has a book available, which I've seen in my local Costco.

And then there's always Swift Crafty Monkey; her site is by subscription, starting at $1 per month, and for $10 per month subscribers, there's a free e-book every month. They're jam packed with information. She is very scientific (almost intimidatingly so) but she does explain everything very well.

As for liquid soap, I swear by Ashley Greene's book, the Ultimate Guide to Liquid Soap. The book is well written, explains the process in a way that's easy to understand and there's plenty of support on her FB page. The recipes are really nice and there's even a charcoal liquid soap recipe! If she had been my Chem 11 teacher, I would have passed it, I'm sure! She also has some very basic videos showing the processes.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/DIYbathandbodyshop?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=630191706
https://www.humblebeeandme.com
https://www.swiftcraftymonkey.blog/blog/
https://www.ultimateguidetosoap.com/liquid-soap-how-to-process-book-buy-online
@Misschief thanks so much for these resources!! I've passed them along and will also check these out myself! 😊
 
The most difficult thing about “all-natural” ingredients for lotions will be the preservative, but they are out there.

I’m not aware of any vegan-only resources, but the Humblebee &Me website is a great learning resource with many vegan recipes.

I also highly recommend purchasing the Lotion Concentrate recipe from DIY Bath & Body (an Etsy shop). This recipe teaches how to make one’s own lotion “base” (she calls it a concentrate but the concept is the same). You then customize that base with your preferred ingredients, to make lotions as thick or thin as you prefer.

All of her recommended lotion ingredients are vegan, except that you must be sure to use a vegan source of stearic acid. It will also be up to you to select organic or “natural” versions of all other ingredients, as well, but that isn’t hard to do.

This recipe is a proven winner among several of us here in SMF. The customizable nature is what sold me initially; the finished lotion quality sealed the deal.

I realize that doesn’t directly answer your request, but it might be wise to start with perfecting one product at a time. The DIY B&B recipe allows you to do that.

Edit: apparently @Misschief beat me to it - sorry for repeating what she said!

Thanks so much! It's great to see a double recommendation for the same sources from knowledgeable people like you guys!

I've passed along this info to my wife.
*Now if I can just get her to join this forum!*
 

Latest posts

Back
Top