Shea Butter Soap

I can not tell you how excited I am to be soaping again! I wasn't sure it was safe to soap during pregnancy because there can be some pretty strong fumes from the lye and water mixtures at first. After the lye fully dissolves into the liquid the fumes dissipate and it is fine .

Actually, when I began to wonder if I was pregnant I asked my husband to mix the lye and water together for me outside and then I did the rest of the soap and that worked fine. But after I discovered that I was definitely pregnant, I didn't want to run the risk. Come to think of it I also lacked the energy to care.

Fortunately, we found a great deal online with a friend who also soaps so that we could still have handmade soap. Once you have tried handmade soap you will never go back.

My husband used to have bad, dry, itchy, skin with eczema in the winter-time, but since using handmade soap it has cleared up. There are, of course, other reasons why a person might have eczema, so it won't necessarily be the cure for every case.

For this soap I used Coconut oil, Olive oil, and Shea butter. The speckles are from the natural colorant that I got at Emporium Naturals. I can't figure out if there is a way to not get speckles. I would prefer the color to be uniform, but maybe that isn't possible with natural colors. The fragrance is an essential oil blend, Bergamot Grapefruit, from Wholesale Supplies Plus .

The soap traced super fast because I used a water discount, which I have never done before. It was at a pretty thick consistency when I tried to put it into my mold. and would not smooth out. I decided to make the top of the soap swirled and pretend that is what I intended it to do. It's kinda pretty that way.

YAY for handmade soap. Now I just have to try and be patient and wait for it to cure. . .