Activated Charcoal Face Soap

• Produce

  • 1 tsp Green tea extract

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 25 g Castor oil
  • 125 g Coconut oil
  • 225 g Olive oil
  • 100 g Rapeseed oil
  • 20 drops Rosemary essential oil

• Dairy

  • 25 g Shea butter

• Liquids

  • 100 g Distilled water

• Other

  • 1 Tbsp. activated charcoal
  • 1/2 tsp Citric acid
  • 68 g Lye
  • 5 drops Vitamin e
  • 90 g Witch hazel (distilled, no alcohol

Found on thethingswellmake.com

Description

Ingredients

• 225 g olive oil
• 125 g coconut oil (Type that solidifies below 76ºF, not fractionated.)
• 100 g rapeseed oil (If you use canola oil instead, use 69g of lye)
• 25 g castor oil
• 25 g shea butter
• 100 g distilled water
• 90 g witch hazel (distilled, no alcohol)
• 68 g lye
• 1 Tbsp. activated charcoal
• 1 tsp. green tea extract
• 1/2 tsp. citric acid
• 5 drops vitamin E
• 20 drops rosemary essential oil (optional)

Directions

• Measure out the water in a large glass or ceramic bowl, and add the measured lye to the water (and NOT the other way around). Its a good idea to use gloves and a mask for this part of the process, and to mix together outside, avoiding the fumes. If you havent made soap before, or have questions about the process, Id suggest you check out my first post about how to make an easy, beginner soap.
• Carefully mix together the lye and water until the lye is completely dissolved. It will get cloudy at first, and will begin to warm up. Leave the mixture alone to cool in an area where it wont be touched by other people, children, or animals. Youll notice that the mixture becomes more transparent again as it cools off.
• Meanwhile begin to measure out and combine the olive oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, castor oil, and shea butter. The easiest way is to accomplish this task is to tare the empty bowl before adding the first oil and taring again between additions of the oil. (I tend to make less soap in the winter when the coconut oil is solid, but since you are measuring by weight, it doesnt make a difference if the oil is solid or liquid when you add it.)
• Combine the oils together with a hand held blender. The solid shea butter should easily combine into the liquid oils, forming a smooth, thick liquid. If you are working in cold temperatures and are having a hard time combining all of the oils, you can slightly warm them to make the process easier.
• Add the witch hazel to the lye-water mixture and stir it together carefully.
• You can now carefully combine the water-witch hazel-lye mixture with the oil mixture. I do this by pouring the lye mixture into the oil mixture and combining slowly with a metal spoon.
• Once everything is well combined, you can begin to use a hand held blender to continue to mix together all of the ingredients. We are looking to keep blending until reaching what is called trace, the point in making the soap when it will begin to thicken like a mayonnaise.
• When you start to reach a light trace (a thin, runny mayonnaise consistency), begin adding in the rest of the ingredients and combine them well.
• When you have a more normal mayonnaise consistency, pour the soap into the prepared molds.
• Ive gotten into the habit of covering the soap with plastic and covering it with a towel for the first 24 hours or so, but its not really necessary. Leave your soap alone in the molds to completely set before removing them.
• This soap takes longer to set than my basic beginner soap, so you will need to wait longer before unmolding your soaps. I found it possible to unfold them after a few days, but the soap was still very soft and distorted and lost details. My best looking soaps had been left in the molds for a week or so before trying to unmold them.
• Once you have removed the soaps from the molds, leave them out to air dry and further harden. Ideally, you should turn the soaps occasionally so they dry equally on all sides, and you should also wait around a month before using the soap so that it is harder and lasts longer. (If you use the soap when its soft, it will easily dissolve and be used up much more quickly.)
• You can now use your soap, or package it for gift giving. Enjoy!