People who suffer from skin conditions like eczema need cleansers that are mild and not over-drying. This sensitive soap recipe is not only easy to make but will replenish the skin with every wash. Though it’s a soap recipe, it uses a natural pre-made soap base so handling lye isn’t required.
This simple soap recipe uses healing calendula oil, rich shea butter, and German chamomile essential oil. The essential oil gives the bars a lovely natural fragrance but it’s also been shown to be effective in the treatment of eczema. It’ smells beautiful and it’s generally non-irritating to sensitive skin, as long as you don’t have an allergy to plants in the ragwort family.
This recipe calls for calendula-infused oil and the instructions for making it are below. Please note that you could use any light oil to make it including sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, cold-pressed sunflower oil, or olive oil. The important thing is that you infuse it with high-quality calendula petals. You can grow the flowers yourself or purchase them from a reputable herb seller.
Calendula is a sensitive but powerful skin herb that soothes inflammation and speeds up the healing of minor wounds, burns, and dermatitis-related skin issues. You can also find calendula used in Lovely Greens recipes for rich body cream and thiscalendula cold-process soap recipe. I advocate calendula so much that I’ve even written an ebook that shows you how to grow, harvest, and use calendula in skincare.
More Soap & Skincare Recipes
Rose Facial Soap Recipe (melt-and-pour)
Butterfly Pea Flower Soap Recipe (melt-and-pour)
Neem Oil Soap Recipe (for eczema)
Step 1: Make Calendula-infused oil
You can purchase pre-made calendula oil but it’s actually very easy to make yourself. Fill a clean and dry jam jar with dried calendula flower petals. Pour your choice of liquid oil over the top, filling almost to the brim, and then screw the lid back on. Place the jar inside a brown paper bag and then set it in a warm window sill for 2-3 weeks, shaking the jar every few days.
After two to three weeks have passed, strain the oil from the flowers and into another clean and dry jar. Discard the flower petals. Your calendula oil is complete and has a shelf-life of a year or the expiration date of the oil you used. Whichever is closest.
Step 2: Melt the soap base
Cut the melt-and-pour soap into cubes and melt it with the shea butter using a microwave or the double boiler technique. If using a microwave, heat for 30 seconds at a time and then stir. Repeat until fully melted.
For the stove-top method: Place the soap and shea butter in a pan that’s nested inside a second pan filled with simmering water. The indirect heat will melt the soap in a consistent way without the fear of scorching it. A lid over the pan will help melt the soap quicker and stop evaporation of water from the soap base. Stir occasionally while the soap is melting. When the soap and shea butter are completely melted, take it off of the heat and stir it together with the calendula oil and essential oil.
Step 3: Molding the soap
Working quickly, pour about ¼” of the soap base into silicone soap molds. Sprinkle dried calendula flowers on top and then fill the rest of the mold with the melted calendula soap. If there are bubbles on the surface, lightly mist with rubbing alcohol. This is optional but makes the bars look more professional.
Leave the soap to cool to room temperature before popping the bars out of the mold. This will take at least a few hours but I recommend leaving the soap to cool and harden for six hours or more. Once popped out of the mold, the soap is ready to use and has a shelf life of up to a year.
Soap bases like melt and pour soap base (also known as glycerin soap or glycerine soap) or liquid soap bases are great for soap makers if you are uncomfortable handling lye or obtaining lye.
Soap bases like melt and pour soap base (also known as glycerin soap or glycerine soap) or liquid soap bases are great for soap makers if you are uncomfortable handling lye or obtaining lye.
Lye is a caustic substance that can certainly damage your skin if you're exposed to it. It can cause a number of problems, such as burns, blindness, and even death when consumed. But, and this is a big but, soap that is created with lye (which is all real soap) will do absolutely no harm to your skin.
Using lye avoids the use of unnecessary synthetic chemicals larger companies may use that can cause skin irritation or allergies. Because lye creates soap with powerful natural cleansing properties, it makes for an amazing bar of handmade soap!
NO, chemically-speaking, soap itself cannot be made without lye. Soap is made by blending oils (like olive oil or coconut oil), a liquid (water, goat's milk, etc.), and an alkali (lye). Lye is needed to convert oils into soap.
Glycerin is a natural result of saponification. And the first step in creating bases for melt-and-pour soap-making – the most convenient home-based process? Saponification.
These bases are ideal for individuals with sensitive or irritated skin. Goat milk soap bases can be combined with natural colorants, such as herbs or clays, and scented with essential oils to create mild and soothing soaps.
Castile soap is a true soap that's known to be great on sensitive skin and those prone to allergies. This is due to the hydrating nature of the saponified oils it contains, making it a great natural moisturizer, especially when combined with sugar, as in our Organic Sugar Soaps.
Castor oil is a great choice for liquid soap and is also great for people with dry or sensitive skin. Almond oil and jojoba oil are also great choices for making liquid soap. Avocado oil is also a great choice for making bar soap.
Yes, Dove is made with lye! These alternative words are not always used to deceive consumers! Many handmade soap makers or companies leave out the words "sodium hydroxide" (lye) from their ingredient lists because of misinformation and fear among consumers. They often choose to use the words "saponified oils" instead.
Is there lye in Dawn dish soap? Yes - it's listed on the packaging as 'Sodium Hydroxide' - otherwise known as lye. However, it isn't used for saponification. It is used as a pH adjuster.
The secret to making soap without lye is called melt-and-pour soapmaking. With this technique, the lye work is already done and all that's left is the fun part–crafting your own unique varieties of soap!
It is a vegetable soap (aka Castile soap) made from an oil and lye solution, specially formulated to be sudsy and gentle, while killing germs. The lather has the function of collecting excess dirt, puncturing germs and then removing them during the rinsing process.
The problem for soap makers in Singapore is that lye is a controlled substance in Singapore. Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are industrial chemicals controlled as a hazardous substances under the Environmental Protection and Management Act (EPMA) and its Regulations.
So if a recipe requires 1 teaspoon of lye water, simply mix 1/4 teaspoon of baked baking soda with 1 teaspoon of tap water. Other recipes might specify what concentration of lye water is required.
Cooking baking soda turns it into a compound similar to lye
Cooking baking soda in the oven copies this because the heat transforms it into sodium carbonate, which has a higher pH, closer to lye. It's not exactly the same substance, but it has similar chemical effects.
An alternative to the fat and lye base is a glycerin soap base. Glycerin results from saponification, the chemical reaction between fat and lye that makes soap. Making homemade soap from scratch can give you flexibility in the type of fat you use.
In summary, magnesium hydroxide is a safe alternative alkali to use as a replacement for sodium hydroxide and is readily available as both a powder and as 63% solids slurry.
Introduction: My name is Tyson Zemlak, I am a excited, light, sparkling, super, open, fair, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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