Lavender & Chamomile Cold Process Soap Recipe
Create your own bubble of calm with our lavender and chamomile cold process soap recipe. Soothing, relaxing and just what's needed after a long day.
This soap has a luxurious creamy lather and a beautiful fruity, floral aroma from the dried chamomile flower infusion and essential oils.
It smells like summer gardens, so it's a great one to make during the summer months, or even a recipe to keep for winter so that on those cold, grey days you can be transported back to summer sunshine!
What is a chamomile infusion?
There's not much better than a cup of calming chamomile tea! So how do we bring this goodness to a bar of soap?
Simple! You take our dried chamomile flowers and add them to some boiling water, just like making chamomile tea. Using our chamomile flowers will save you quite a few teabags, or using any expensive dry chamomile tea leaves.
Leave it to infuse overnight, and then it is ready to use in place of water in this soap recipe.
What will lavender & chamomile bring to a soap?
From soothing your body and mind after a rough day in the office to sending little ones off to the land of nod, our lavender & chamomile soap recipe is super calming, relaxing and gentle.
The scent of lavender essential oil blends well with chamomile essential oil, creating a relaxing, floral aroma. Absolutely wonderful!
Aside from helping to relieve anxiety and aiding a restful night's sleep, the lavender and chamomile combo is also great for your skin! We find homemade soap a lot less irritating than commercial soap.
Let's have a go at our lavender & chamomile soap recipe...
Makes 9-10 bars of soap
Takes 1 hour making time and 4-6 weeks curing time
Ingredients:
- Olive oil pomace 320g | 351ml
- Cocoa butter 240g
- Babassu oil 240g
- Dried chamomile flowers 50g
- Water 240g
- Sodium hydroxide 112g
- Chamomile essential oil 10g | 12ml
- Lavender essential oil 10g | 11ml
- Amyris essential oil 5g | 5ml
Equipment:
To make our lavender & chamomile soap recipe, you will need:
- Gloves
- Goggles
- Digital scales
- Digital thermometer
- Stick blender
- Soap mould or DIY alternative
- Silicone spatula
- Heatproof bowl
- Plastic measuring jugs, ideally 2x 1L and 1x 2L
Method:
1. Make the chamomile tea
- Boil the kettle.
- Weigh the chamomile flowers.
- Weigh 240g of boiling water.
- Add to the chamomile flowers.
- Leave to infuse overnight.
- Test the temperature, it should be under 20C. If necessary, chill it in the fridge.
2. Mix the sodium hydroxide solution
- Put your gloves and goggles on.
- Open the window, the fumes are unpleasant.
- Weigh the sodium hydroxide
- Weigh the water
- Add the sodium hydroxide to the water, not the other way around
- Mix well until combined. Careful, it will get hot!
- Leave to cool
3. Weigh and heat the oils
- Weigh the olive oil, cocoa butter and babassu oil into a heatproof bowl.
- Heat gently above a pan of boiling water, or using short bursts in the microwave.
- Stir regularly until completely melted.
- Once melted, leave to cool.
- In a separate jug weigh the essential oils
4. Test the temperatures
- Test the temperature of the sodium hydroxide solution. It should be between 25C and 40C.
- Leave it to cool if necessary, but don't reheat it if it's too cool.
- Test the temperature of the melted oils. They should be between 35C and 40C.
- Leave it to cool or reheat if necessary.
- Once the temperatures are correct, add the sodium hydroxide solution to the oil mixture.
5. Blend until trace
- Mix with the stick blender, and blend with short pulses.
- Watch for the soap batter starting to thicken.
- Test for trace by dripping soap batter on the surface of the mixture. If the drips sit on the surface before disappearing, your mixture has reached trace.
- Add the essential oils.
- Mix and blend a little until combined.
6. Pour into moulds
- Pour the soap mixture into moulds. We offer a range of soap moulds
- Tap the mould to get rid of air bubbles
- Sprinkle some chamomile flowers on the top (optional)
- Leave on a flat surface for 48 hours before unmoulding
7. Leave to cure
- Unmould your soap
- Place bars with space in between
- Leave to cure for 4-6 weeks.
Continue Reading:
Now you've learned how to make homemade lavender & chamomile soap, why not continue reading?
- Looking for a soap to wake you up? Why not try our zesty and uplifting Patchouli & Orange Soap Recipe
- Not feeling flip-flop confident this summer? We've taken a good look at the science in our blog Can Tea Tree Oil Cure Nail Fungus?
- Need more help nodding off? Take a peek at our Best Essential Oils For Sleep blog
Did you try our lavender & chamomile cold process soap recipe? Let us know in the comments below!
