Exfoliating soap combines cleansing and gentle abrasion to smooth and rejuvenate skin. With the right soap making supplies, you can craft customized exfoliating bars with natural textures and scents. Here are four ways to make exfoliating soap at home for personal or commercial use:
Select a Soap Base
The foundation for any exfoliating soap is a quality soap base. Glycerin bases are often preferred for homemade soap due to their high-lather and moisturizing properties. Look for pure white, opaque melt-and-pour glycerin bases when shopping for soap ingredients and supplies. Suspension soap bases support floating particles that are common in exfoliating soaps. Try blending palm, coconut, or olive oil bases with your preferred exfoliants to customize your products.
Choose Exfoliants
Natural exfoliators come in many textures, from fine powders to coarse grits. Ground oatmeal, almond meal, and cornmeal provide a gentle abrasion without irritation. For a more invigorating scrub, medium grits like walnut shell powder or ground apricot seeds renew the skin’s surface. Coarse exfoliants remove rough patches, leaving skin silky smooth. Textured citrus peels, poppy seeds, coffee grounds, and pumice are other texture enhancers to explore when selecting exfoliants.
Make Your Soap
Melt-and-pour soap bases are easy to use and require few soap making supplies for customization. Key tools for this process include bowls or pans, additives, and molds. Here’s how to get started:
1. Heat Your Soap Base
Melt your base in the microwave or on the stovetop over low heat. Stir regularly to prevent scorching. Once melted, remove the soap base from the heat and stir in your preferred exfoliants. Combine ingredients quickly to avoid clumping as the soap thickens and hardens.
2. Add Nourishing Oils
Nourishing oils can replenish moisture and increase lather. Add a few drops of vitamin E, argan, or avocado oil after blending exfoliants. These oils soften the paste and enhance conditioning. Incorporating liquid castile soap may also increase the soap’s ability to moisturize. Adjust oil ratios based on desired outcomes for consistency and lather.
3. Incorporate Essential Oils
After combing the base and exfoliants, add a few drops of essential oils to add scents or increase your soap’s nourishing benefits. Common scents include lavender, lemon, eucalyptus, or vanilla. Adding tea tree oil or chamomile oil enhances your soap with acne-fighting benefits. Undiluted essential oils are usually potent, so only two to four teaspoons are enough for a single pound of soap. Stir in extra virgin olive oil or almond oil as a carrier for smooth, consistent dispersion.
4. Pour Into Soap Molds
With your exfoliating blend complete, pour your soap into molds before it solidifies. Standard loaf molds can be cut into rectangular bars once cooled. Floral shapes, animal figures, and geometric molds create fun novelty soaps. Spray molds with nonstick oil before filling and let the soap harden for several hours before removing it.
5. Do a Final Cure
Once removed from the mold, soaps require several weeks of curing. Air dry soaps on racks to ensure adequate airflow, and rotate soap bars to prevent warping. Curing helps soaps become denser and longer-lasting while developing a smooth, glossy texture. Exfoliator soaps are suitable for daily use once cured.
Store Your Soap
Storage extends the life of your handmade soaps, retaining oils’ scents and soaps’ hardness for longer use. Keep soaps in a cool, dry storage space away from direct sunlight. An airtight plastic tub with a lid protects scents. Wrap individual bars in plastic wrap and store them in linen-lined baskets. Rotate your stockpile to encourage the use of older soaps first. Check bars regularly and discard any with signs of mold growth.
Buy Soap Making Supplies Today
With the right soap-making supplies, you can craft personalized exfoliating soaps at home. Supplies like bases, exfoliating ingredients, and oils put custom creations within reach. Experiment with goat’s milk and shea butter bases as well as dyes and botanicals to craft seasonal or themed soaps. Start making exfoliating soaps today.
