When I used my last bar of shaving soap up while travelling the UK, I didn’t realize how much I would miss shaving soap. The only major difference between shave soap and normal soap is a tablespoon of clay per pound of oils, but my, what a difference that tablespoon makes. It’s the difference between a smooth shave and some unpleasantly stinging razor burn. I also find the clay really helps clean hair when you use the bar as shampoo. So, I set off to whip up a massive batch of shave soap so I won’t run out again anytime soon.
My mother brought me some lavender and rosemary from her garden in British Columbia, so that was my starting point. I’ve found that the scent of lavender really ages beautifully, improving as it ages as opposed to just fading off into oblivion. I’ve also found unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) soaps are exceptionally lovely, if only you can give them enough time to age and harden up so they don’t immediately turn to goo in your soap dish. Since I knew I was making a gigantic batch, lavender shea soap was a no-brainer as I knew most of the batch would get at least a year of aging time.
I settled on making 1.5kg of soap as that’s all my mold can hold. I used white kaolin clay (USA / Canada) since it’s white, and a combination of unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) and beef tallow for the hard oils. I bashed up the rosemary in my crafting coffee grinder, and off I went.
Lavender & Rosemary Soap
40% olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
30% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada)
10% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
13% beef tallow
7% castor oil (USA / Canada)30g essential oils of lavender & rosemary per 500g oils
Minced rosemary and lavender1 tbsp clay per 500g oils
5% superfat/lye discount
Use SoapCalc to calculate your final amounts of oils, lye, and water based on the size of batch you want to make.
Follow my basic soap making instructions, adding the clay, essential oils, and herbs at trace.
You are seriously cool! I love your beauty recipes and I’m only getting started!
Enjoy, and be sure to let me know if you make anything, I’d love to hear how it went!
This is wonderful, thank you! I will definitely try, i grow tons of fresh rosenary & lavender for this.. I”d like to try without beef tallow — any vegetarian suggestions?
Hi Jan! Read this 🙂
Gotta try this!
I really want to give this recipe a try. I absolutely LOVE Lavender. Rosemary is nice, but I have a special place in my heart for Lavender, always!
Agreed! I have absolutely fallen in love with lavender—I have at least 4 different kinds of lavender EO in my cupboard! It’s the classic herb for a reason 🙂
Sad story – I go to Washington State every year (where Lavender is abundant) and I brought home my very own lavender plant two years ago. Have you ever tried to bring a plant on a plane? Well, it isn’t very fun trying to keep it from getting squished or knocked over. Anyway, I brought it and researched the best way to plant it and care for it. I’ve babied it and pampered it for two years as I was concerned how it would do in Oklahoma (surprisingly well). Then we had a hail storm… Which it survived, but when the roofers came by to inspect our roof (which needs to be replaced again—3rd one in 5 years) they stepped on it with their giant feet…. Still waiting to see if it will make a recovery… Still hopeful.
Oh no! I hope your beloved lavender makes a full recovery!
My sad plant story is from a wedding I attended when I was 15. I caught the bouquet—a beautiful bunch of red and white roses… and then when I crossed the border back into Canada they confiscated them and destroyed them 🙁 Booo.
Oklahoma! I visited Tulsa once in the summer—I remember enjoying the sunshine and a beautiful old house/museum with fantastic gardens 🙂
I hope it wasn’t too hot. The summers can get pretty unbearable.
Too bad about the bouquet especially for the 15yo you. Catching that was probably a big deal.
It’s actually the second bouquet I’ve caught, out of the 3 weddings I’ve been to. And I got to keep the bouquet from the second one as the flowers were fake! Though the luck from them obviously isn’t working, marriage isn’t anywhere on my horizon 😛 I sort of feel bad for all the other ladies there if they have to wait on me, haha.
I guess i need to go buy some castor oil. It’s the only thing on the list I don’t have!
Do it! The castor oil is super important to lather and conditioning—it’s kind of magic in soap 🙂 I love using a well aged bar that is 10–20% castor oil, the bubbles are just divine.
I did it! I bought castor oil. I now have all the ingredients! I have no idea when I’ll finally have time to put it together though! The garden and the weeds have been taking all my spare time lately, but I really want to get this made for Christmas baskets I want to make for people.
Ha, I know the feeling, Amanda—you should see the list of DIY things I want to develop and write about over the next few months 🙂 I may be crazy, haha.
How long does this soap need to cure?
3 weeks minimum (which is pretty standard), but longer is always better… though after a while the scent can definitely fade.
Oh that’s not bad!!! I was thinking it may need 6 months or something and was hoping to gift some for Christmas. I LOVE the scent and color! Though mine are more earthy looking cause I think I used more rosemary pieces or something. But it’s very pretty! I really like it!
I get you there, soap = brilliant Christmas presents. I almost ran out of soap entirely last Christmas, so this year I’m starting earlier and making bigger batches. Keep an eye out for my 2013 Christmas soap recipes 🙂 I’ll be sure to publish them early enough to be made & aged before Christmas.
What do you use to cut your soap so that it doesn’t leave markings?
I actually just use a sharp kitchen knife. I’ve found with soaps like this (with the chunky bits like the lavender and what not), the herbs can pop out and drag down and create little “canyons” in the bar. The only thing I’ve found that really counters this is using a really sharp knife (so you slice through the herbs instead of dragging them), wiping it off between slices (to keep it as sharp as possible), and making sure you wait at least 24 hours (if not a wee bit more) so the soap is nice and solid (without being too solid to cut easily).
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now and it’s my favorite. 🙂
I’m thrilled to hear it! This is definitely one of my classics as well 🙂
Could beef tallow be duck, pig or chicken lard,?
Lard makes a good replacement, but both duck and chicken fat are too soft to serve the bar-hardening role the tallow is there for 🙂 You could use duck or chicken fat instead of the shea butter, though!
Hi Marie!
I am very interested in trying to make a shampoo bar, but the only thing I am wondering about is the castor oil. I know it has great effects on hair, but am still doing more research about its safety. (especially when one is pregnant, I’m not yet but trying) I would be curious what you think about this? Also, is there any similar substitute for the castor oil that would yield similar (if not AS great) effects? Thanks! 🙂
Well, castor oil gets a 3/10 rating on Skin Deep (mostly for being potentially irritating, which I have never found), and saponified castor oil has a rating of 0–1, which is pretty much as safe as it gets. So, I’d say you should be totally fine, but I’d probably ask your doctor, just to be sure 🙂 There really is no substitute for castor oil in soap, sadly—it does amazing things for lather and conditioning that simply cannot be matched by any other oil.
Awesome, great to know! Thanks! I hope to try this recipe out soon. 🙂
🙂
Please make sure you check with your doctor before using the rosemary EO as it as an emmenagogue and is not recommended during pregnancy! Not sure if it is ok later in pregnancy but early on it apparently can cause miscarriage.
This is a very good point, Melissa. Many EOs (not just rosemary) are considered to be possible abortifacient, which is why use of any EOs during pregnancy is generally not recommended.
Howdy Marie, fair warning, this is a silly newb question but I did not see a mention if lye in this recipe. Reading your basic soap procedure and your article on lye in soaps I was a little confused by the omission 🙂
It actually does have it on the ingredients list of a 5% super fat lye discount, as well as a link to a calculater to figure how much lye you would need for the weight in oils you plan to use. ;). You must have just missed it. 🙂
You’re very speedy! I actually added those additional lines right after April left her comment, but before replying to it 🙂
No worries—this is one of my earlier soap recipes and I wasn’t as explicit with the instructions as I could have been. The lye calculating part was part of the “basic soap making instructions”. I’ve since gone in and added more specific instructions 🙂
Thank you! I haven’t actually made any soap yet…still in the research phase. It is a little intimidating to me but you make it seem much more approachable in your posts. Will definitely give it a go!
No worries 🙂 Good on you for doing lots of research, I was really glad I had when I first got started as I wasn’t running around like a chicken with my head cut off when I made my first batch 😛 Once you’ve done it one or two times you’ll be sailing along like a pro 🙂 Have fun with it and definitely do give it a try!
Would this be suitable to use on hair too ?
Yup! Just be sure to follow up with an acidic rinse 🙂 You might also want to consider dropping the botanicals, as they can snag the hair.
I use acidic rinse, it’s just i didn’t have much luck with soap working for me. My hair often turned lanky and waxy with one soap that was supposed to work for hair.
I made my own, which is fine but it doesn’t lather really well. I also bought dr. bronners bar soap and this one works pretty good for now, but i need to make stronger acidic rinse next time.
Hmm. Something else I did find with switching to natural shampoos was a need for extra thoroughness with washing. Because natural soaps aren’t as strong as detergents I needed to be super sure I was washing all my hair or I could end up with lanky patches that were actually still just dirty :/ Gross, but an easy fix!
I know you already said this, but I have to clarify…does this really have to wait an entire year before you can use it?! I really want to make it but that’s such a long time!!
You’d probably want to swap 10% of the olive oil for an extra 10% beef tallow to shorten the aging time 🙂
I’ve made this one several times now and used it as early as 8 weeks after making it. It was fine! Loved it!
Thank, Amanda!
this blog ROCKS! these recipes are beautifully elegant and simple… exactly what I love. very inspiring, thank you for sharing 🙂
Thanks so much, Kimberly!
What ratio of Rosemary to Lavender oil did you use?
It’s been nearly four years, I’m afraid I don’t remember 😛 It was likely more lavender than rosemary, but beyond that I’d just advise you to go with something you like 🙂
Hahaha, yes it has been. I am a newbie to soaping and just discovered your wonderful website. Thank you so much for your prompt and honest response, will use more Lavender.
Welcome and happy soaping!