Adding Additives

I will admit, this is a very late post, and this time it was not the internet's fault. I worked a lot this week and I was just plain tired. On the plus side, I managed to squeeze in a little time to try some new soap!

I decided to finally do something with my lavender. It has always been a favourite of mine and I know is a staple among soap and scent lovers. It's calming, of course, by nature and I decided I needed a little of that in my life. I also wanted to give additives a try so I settled on lavender and oatmeal. Simple enough for a first try and it sounded like something I really wanted to use. Oatmeal has been something I came across in looking for an answer to a terrible little stress rash I get on my hands and insides of my elbows. It would be nice to be able to make something as simple as a soap myself to soothe it just a little bit. Either way it interests me and is something I could find at home.

In searching how to add it to the base I turned to the internet and the books I have here at home. I was looking for a cut and dry 'here is how you add oatmeal to soap' but of course I never really found it. What I actually left with was an idea of how much to put in but confusion over whether I should grind the oatmeal or not. Some recipes said do and some said don't but neither said either way was fine. All I really found was recipes and no straight answer so I decided to pick my books that left the oatmeal whole. Another bit of confusion I found myself with was over how exactly to add the oatmeal to the base. I was told to remove it from the heat and add it but no more was really specified. So this time I closed the books and moved into the kitchen to figure it out on my own.

I started by, of course, melting my base. (My little brother decided to watch and was very interested in how quickly it went) Still stuck using the microwave I moved the bowl to the counter and added a few tablespoons of oatmeal first. I stirred it only a few times, trying to avoid air bubbles and it separated perfectly, swirling around the bowl and looking very pretty. I then added (maybe a little too much) lavender then poured the whole mix into a bread pan for a mold. This is where I know I went wrong. The second the mixture poured into the pan all of the oatmeal settled to the bottom and no matter what I did would not swirl back around and stay. I already had too many air bubbles and knew I couldn't mess with it anymore so I let it be. After a little when I knew it had set just a bit I sprinkled a pinch more oatmeal on top. It only just barely sunk, some poking up on top and stayed in place. It wasn't exactly what I was going for but at least I had salvaged a bit.

Impatiently my brother and I left the soap in the kitchen to set and waited about an hour and a half before we just had to poke it. It had solidified perfectly. Even with the bit of heat in the house. (I don't know how I have ever had the patience for the candy making I do.) But then I had the trouble of figuring out how to get it out of the deep pan. I had read couple of ways that included dipping the pan in hot water as well as using a hair dryer. They sound logical and next time I will probably use one instead of trying to pry it out with a knife that doesn't fit in the pan. However, after I ruined the first two pieces a bit the rest came up in one very easy to lift out piece.

Overall it is not the perfect soap. Next time I am going to let the base sit a bit before adding the oatmeal which seems to be the consensus on fixing the sinking problem. I will also try using water or a hair dryer instead of prying. Next time I think I may buy a white base instead of a translucent one. Translucent looks amazing in the cute mold but for the bars I want something that looks a little more solid. Eventually when I get some recipes worked out I would definitely like to make it in a loaf and see how that works out.

Even with its imperfections, however, the soap feels and smells amazing and I am very happy with it. A few tweaks and a little more time and it could end up being a favourite of mine. I wonder how it would look shaped like Hello Kitty...

♥ Amanda Leigh