This soap looks great; like a slice of orange embedded in the centre of a square of creamy goodness. It’s an easy two-step soap that’ll take about three days, most of that downtime.
First you make a batch of the soap you want the core of the loofah to be (this recipe is a great base recipe). Think ahead of time about what colours and scents you want to pair together (since there are two batches of soap). I chose bright orange for the soap that fills the loofah. You’ll want to take it to a fairly light trace so it will quickly and easily permeate the entire loofah. Set the loofah in your mould, and pour the raw, liquid soap over top of it. Let that batch saponify and set up for a day.
After the loofah batch has set up, remove it from the mould. Using a knife, trim the extra soap off from around the loofah. I used the excess soap to make soap balls for polka-dot soap. Smooth out the soft soap around the loofah to make it more or less cylindrical.
Next up, the suspending batch. Make it contrast colour-wise with the loofah (mine was beige, as you can see). Bring it to a nice, thick trace; it has to support the entire soap-filled loofah, which is pretty heavy.
Take your lined mold, and pour in about 3cm of the suspending batch. Add the soap-filled and trimmed loofah, and top off with more suspending soap. Let it set up, slice, and cure. Voila!
Cool, eh?
Is there a step missing when making the loofah soap?
I would like to try this, but after making the first bath of soap it doesn’t say how to combine it to the loofah – like do you pour the soap into the middle of the loofah?
Thanks!
Debbie—Thanks for bringing this to my attention, those instructions were kind of terrible 😛 I’ve gone back and tweaked them, let me know if they’re clear (or clear as mud :P).
good morning! What a fun idea. I have not been able to locate loofah sponges, just ground loofah. I tried “New Directions” but they gave me a we do not carry anything called loofah error message. Where do you find your loofah?
I found my loofah at http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com
Thanks for chiming in with an American option, Amanda—I’m not usually very good with those (for obvious reasons, haha).
I got mine from Canwax 🙂
loofahs can be purchased at Dollar Tree and WalMart in the USA
Great tip, thanks Carole! Just be sure you’re getting one of these, and not one of these, as I’m sure they carry both 😉
I have made hundredths of soap with many recipes but I’ve never created Loofah Soap in my life but I would really like to try it for my own experiences. First time for everything 🙂
Have fun! 😀
What a great idea! I even have a loofah sitting around waiting to be used!!!
Thanks, Bonny! Have fun with it 🙂
Can you share the recipe for the Loofah Soap? I am new to this and all I see are the steps but not the recipe… Thanks
Hi Stephanie! The point here is that you can use any recipe you like 🙂 I used my All-in-One soap recipe, which is a great recipe for beginners!
This is really weird cuz I made a loofah batch this morning and now i’m running into this! I wasn’t even looking into it. i didn’t think about trimming it and adding it to a whole new batch. What an awesome idea!! (here I can state that i am REALLY mad at the color blue… Blue micca, blue water color, blue oil color. MAD MAD MAD. It NEVER ever ever turns blue! I’ve never had blue soap. and i want blue soap!!!)
yeah anyways, thanks for the idea Marie!
Hi Dorey! Have you tried blue ultramarine? It’s a pretty sure fire way to get a blue 🙂 You can also try indigo powder—I’ve never been able to find any to play with, but I’ve seen beautiful results on Instagram!
Hi I’ve bought a loofah but it is HUGE! Way bigger than the soap would be. Would it look terrible to trim off the edges and make it square instead of round?
Hmm… could you do a “sunrise” soap? Or a slice of orange soap? I’d probably cut a wedge of the loofah to try and keep the citrus thing going 🙂
How much of the recipe do you use towards the loofah versus the suspended batch for roughly a 4lb loaf? I’d like to make sure I don’t make too much or not have enough ingredients 🙂 thanks!
Hmm. You’ll need to do enough to fill your mould for the first batch (to set the loofah in) to make sure you cover it, so that ends up being close to a full batch of soap to fill your mould. After that you’ll probably only need about half a batch to suspend the loofah in for the second go 🙂
Do you have any tips for cutting this? I made loofah soap, only I used slices of loofah and a silicone mold as it was a small test batch. That stuff was hard to cut! I’m nervous about trying to cut it in soap. One site suggested an electric carving knife, which I don’t own. Still…any tips?
Hey Stephanie! I didn’t have any issues cutting this as the loofah was nicely softened by soaking in the soap for a day before slicing. Perhaps try hydrating yours a bit before cutting it?
i use quart milk containers
..the cardboard peels off easily
Thanks!
Marie,
Soe questions: I know someone asked this already but I still don’t get it. What size batch os soap do you do to fill the loofah and what size do you do for the surround/suspend?
Also do stand the loofah and pour the soap in to set? If so, do you use a pringles can while this is setting uo or do younhave some other method?
Thanks
Hey Roberta! This is 100% dependent on the size of your mold, so you will have to do some figuring for yourself. You’d probably be using almost an entire batch of soap to fill your mould with for the loofah suspend; the loofah doesn’t take up a ton of space once it soaks into the soap. You’ll likely have a bit of batter leftover, which you can put into a smaller soap mold and let it turn into a wee bar. I used my standard loaf mold and trimmed the edges down after 24 hours, and used those scraps for another project. I think I only needed about a half or 2/3 batch for the suspension batch. Remember, though—I made this soap in 2011! I don’t remember everything about it.
i should say that i plan to put the loofah in a 4 pound mold. i haven’t measured so i’m not sure how long the loofah would be but you get the idea?
My previous answer still stands here; you’d probably want a 4lb batch for the first part, and a 2–3lb batch for the second depending on how large your loofah is. Err on the side of having extra soap batter and just make a few orphan bars if need be 😛
this is the best blog ever
Thank you so much! 😀
I saw that you already kinda answered my question. You said you didn’t have any trouble cutting your Loofah soap. How are you cutting it? are you using a knife? a soap cutter with wires? I just made a lemon loofah meringue, and I’d be grateful for any tips before I try to cut it!
Thanks so much!!!!
I used a big, proper kitchen knife 🙂