Grapefruit & Calendula Soap

by Marie | Feb 8, 2013 | Soap, Very Crunchy | 17 comments

There’s something about citrus that makes it perfect for morning showers. Bright, happy, clean, and refreshing. Grapefruit is a nice quasi fringe citrus fruit—lemon and lime are so cliché, don’t you think?

Calendula is one of the only flower petals you can put in soap without it turning weird, gross, dead colours. Lavender turns brown (and has a tendency to look like mouse poop if you don’t mince it first), and rose petals turn black (sadly). Calendula stays a nice, bright, sunny yellow. Thanks, calendula. You’re a champ.

Grapefruit & Calendula Soap

40% olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
30% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada)
15% lard or beef tallow
10% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
5% castor oil (USA / Canada)

30g pink or white grapefruit essential oil per 500g oils

¼ tsp red iron oxide per 500g oils
1 tbsp white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada) per 500g oils
3 tbsp calendula flower petals per 500g oils

Follow standard soap making procedures. Take to a light trace. Mix the essential oil, clay, and calendula petals into the entire batch and pour half of the soap into the mold. Stir the red iron oxide into the remaining soap, and then pour that into the mold on top of the white half. Swirl with a spatula. Let set for 24 hours, cut, and age at least 3 weeks.

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17 Comments

Michelle on February 8, 2013 at 1:43 pm

What about the grapefriut?
Reply
- Marie on February 8, 2013 at 1:46 pm
  
  Whoops! I’ve added it in, Michelle. Thanks for catching that!
  Reply
Mel C on February 8, 2013 at 5:29 pm

What can be used in place of either the tallow or lard?
Reply
- Marie on February 13, 2013 at 7:42 pm
  
  I’d recommend using a hard natural oil that isn’t palm oil, which is really bad for the environment. Try cocoa butter 🙂
  Reply
Amanda on July 26, 2013 at 9:31 am

Where do you get your oxide’s from?

Thanks!
Reply
- Marie on July 29, 2013 at 8:05 am
  
  As noted above, I get almost all my ingredients from New Directions Aromatics.
  Reply
Jamie on May 5, 2014 at 5:03 am

Hi Marie!
I absolutely love your recipes and tips.
Can I replace the lard/tallow in this recipe with more sheabutter?

Thanks!
Reply
- Marie on May 7, 2014 at 5:34 pm
  
  Hi Jamie! I’ve written a blog on why I use tallow & lard in my soaps (and the alternatives)—you can read it here.
  Reply
  - Jamie on May 7, 2014 at 9:21 pm
    
    Thanks Marie!
    Reply
    - Marie on October 17, 2014 at 8:46 am
      
      🙂
Connie Willis on December 9, 2016 at 2:14 pm

I made this, but forgot the grapefruit and silly me added it when I had it in the mold. I think the oil separated out and I mixed up all my colour swirls. I expect I have plain pink soap if it manages to set 🙁
Reply
- Marie on December 12, 2016 at 1:13 pm
  
  Uh oh 🙁 I hope it works out!
  Reply
  - Connie Willis on December 13, 2016 at 5:33 am
    
    It sucked the oil in, but its a really soft bar. Its going to take a while to cure. I think I maybe needed to bring it to a stiffer trace before I poured it. ITs soooo pretty 🙂
    Reply
    - Marie on December 13, 2016 at 6:23 pm
      
      That’s good! At least it’s not a loss 🙂 And a month or two will pass in no time as you make other things 😉
Regina on June 20, 2017 at 5:30 pm

Hi Marie,

I was wondering about red iron oxide substitution for red clay (french red or Australian reef red). What do you think about it and would I need to use the same amount of clay as iron oxide? Would you have any suggestions on the swap? Thanks
Reply
- Marie on June 28, 2017 at 10:25 pm
  
  For a soap that’ll work great 🙂 Just mix to what your eye likes—you’ll likely need a bit more clay, but probably not much as that stuff is POTENT!
  Reply
  - Regina on June 28, 2017 at 10:28 pm
    
    Thanks..:-)
    Reply

Grapefruit & Calendula Soap