Organic Body Wash Can Be Made at Home

Organic body wash is something that is tough to find in stores. Sure, lots of brands claim that they are from organic sources, but if you read their labels closely, you may find that they are really not. Many companies like to give the scientific species name of plant sources in their products, because doing this obscures the many chemical additives contained in their so-called "organic products." Furthermore, cosmetic makers can claim organic status if their product meets a 70% threshold of organic sources.

Organic body wash should always be chosen over non-organic types. Many brands that you find in stores have ingredients such as sodium lauryl sulphate(SLS) and its derivatives. SLS is a very controversial ingredient because, while it isn't a carcinogen in and of itself, when combined with other ingredients has the potential to form harmful substances that have been linked to cancer. SLS is a very strong chemical that can cause dermatitis in sensitive individuals.

Organic body wash may be made at home. It takes a little bit of work, but it is not a terribly difficult process. The nice thing about making your own body wash is that you can control its consistency; its scent and its price. Premium brands of body wash easily sell for around the $10.00 mark, but you can make your own for far less. It is definitely not a difficult process to do this. It just takes a little grating of some soap and a little melting, plus some stirring. Doesn't sound too tough, does it?

Organic body wash is just one of the many body care items you can make yourself. You can also make shampoos, conditioners and lotions, as well as many other products of this nature. By doing it yourself, you have complete assurance as to the ingredients that are coming in contact with your own skin and that of your family's skin as well. Make no mistake, the skin is our largest organ, and chemicals can be absorbed through it. If that wasn't the case, patches that deliver medications through the skin would not exist.

If you are at all concerned about the effects chemicals in our body care products may have, you owe it to your own health and the health of your family to learn about making products such as organic body wash. It's much easier than you think! The big manufacturers don't want you to know how easy it is, because they would soon lose money hand over fist!

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How to Make Soap From Scratch

How to make soap from scratch is a skill that at some point in the last few generations has been lost or forgotten by many. If you were to ask your grandparents if they had ever made soap, I can guarantee you either they have or their parents had. The reason soap isn't being made as frequently as it was generations ago is because soap is so commercially available that people would just rather run to the grocery store than take the time make their own.

I can understand this, today our lives are so busy and hectic it's hard to find extra time to set aside for making soap, but I will tell you what you are getting at the grocery store, regardless of what the label says is very hard on your skin.

Natural soaps are lylcerin based and this is a natural compound that is easy on the skin and very nurturing. During commercial soap making, the glycerin is stripped from soap and is replaced with harsh chemical softeners that can leach the skin of natural moisturizers.

How to make soap from scratch is best accomplished with a great recipe to follow. Soap from scratch isn't very difficult to make, but it can be dangerous. The dangerous comes from handling a compound called "Lye". Lye is a chemical that is found in drano, but you don't want drano, you want pure Lye which can found in your grocery store right next to the drano.

When you make soap it is a delicate mixture of lye, water, and essential oils that will give your soap the scent and color you are looking for.

Once you have followed your recipe to a "T" you need to pour your soap mixture into a mould to form your new soap. Moulds can be made from various items, you could use a stainless steel rectangle baking pan, a clear pyrex baking dish, pvc pipe capped off makes a great mould for soap as well. If you want fancier soap, you can go to a candy making supply store and purchase candy moulds. These are great looking novelty soaps, that are fantastic for gifts or even for resale.

How to make soap from scratch is a fun and rewarding skill to learn. Don't let this skill become one that is forgotten and only big name companies have the secrets.

Great soap starts with a great recipe. How to make soap from scratch isn't very difficult to learn, it simply takes time and extreme care. Just as anything else made with the hands, the more care put into it, the better it is. Learn Learn How to Make Soap Here!

Handmade Soap And Candle Business Advice

Boost Sales With These Easy Products

Wouldn't you like to add some easy extra profit onto your soap and candle business? If you act on the advice in this article, you can regularly turn $6 soap purchases into $30 transactions.

There are specific items that you should add onto your existing soap or candle line, even if you're just a hobby seller. They take little time, money, and skill to make, but have high value to your customers. Your regulars will be delighted to find that you offer these items in their favorite scents - the scents they keep coming back for - and the products will almost sell themselves. (You still have to do a little work, but not much.)

These products sell! Here's how I know...

For over two years, I was a sales rep for a bath and body boutique. We had a target amount of $30 per transaction; whenever a customer came into the store, we did our best to get her sale amount up to $30 or more. We didn't succeed every time, but our weekly "average daily transactions" usually hit the mark.

Our most popular products were bath bombs and both glycerin and cold processed soap bars. When someone came in to buy a bath bombs or bar of soap, expecting to only spend $4 - $8, we were instructed to point out any other products in the same fragrances. With only this gentle suggestion, a full 25% of customers bought additional scrubs, lotions, or massage bars.

They had come in expecting to spend less than $10, and they ended up spending $30 or more and being totally happy about it. No manipulation, hard selling, or obnoxious pitching was necessary; just asking "Did you see that we had this or that?" was enough.

More points of entry into your line of toiletries.

Our line was designed to have easy up-sells (those extra items you tack on at the last minute) and multiple points of entry to get and keep customers. Each product had different "use up" rates. You should do the same thing as well; you can have one-use items that introduce customers to the line, two-week products, and monthly products. You can try sample sizes to up-sell; perhaps customers don't want the full tub of scrub with their bar of soap, but they might want a 3-day trial size for a few dollars.

Best products.

These are products that were best-sellers for us. Whip up some small batches and test their desirability with your regular customers. Not all of them may be hits, but one or two will be. Make sure to only use the most popular scents in your line; don't create any new fragrances. Why mess with success?

1) Lotion or body cream. Many people already may have lotion, but a thick, luxurious body cream in a tub is an entirely different experience. Don't do a whipped butter; in my experience, people love the idea but find them way too greasy for practical use.

2) Single-use bath salt envelopes or bath bombs, especially ones that produce bubbles and foam. Bath salts and fizzies hardly cost anything to make; they just take a bit of practice.

3) Oil-based body scrub, like the first Origins scrub. Pure oils, sugar, and salt is unbeatable for a skin exfoliating experience. The simple 3-ingredient formula is still used in fancy spas. Be sure to use a shrinkwrap band to reduce container leakage.

4) Spritzers and body mists, with or without alcohol. If you don't want to use alcohol, put them in opaque containers and say "Shake Well Before Use." Burt's Bees and Aura Cacia do it with their herbal mists, and so can you. Brushed aluminum works well because of its high-quality natural look.

The "secret" of using bases.

If you don't know how to make lotion, don't worry. There is no need to learn how to make it from scratch. Instead, you can choose from the many high-quality lotion and cream bases available for just this purpose. Simply add your fragrances to the lotion base, and you have a nearly instant high-quality product.

Is it cheating to use bases?

If you're a CP soapmaker, you are probably attached to the idea of craftsmanship or being an artisan. It feels romantic to do things the pioneer way, but you're in business, not art. In my experience, customers don't care how much time or love you put into the products. All they care about is getting a high-quality product in the scent they adore.

Using bases is a form of leverage; you are leveraging other people's high-quality work. It's no different than if you hired a friend to make the bases for you while you do the scenting, bottling, and selling. The bases usually come from small farms and crafters who are as dedicated as you are to making great personal care products. If you're in business, your main concern should be providing customers with what they want at a profit.

Tell people about your products.

Once you have made your first batches, contact all your regulars and tell them! Don't wait for them to contact you. Look up all their emails and let them know that you're now offering more products to fall in love with. Not all of them will buy, of course. Some of your products may flop, but this is an easy, low-risk test. You'll be out a little time and money, but you have a good chance of gaining a big profit booster.

Better yet, pre-sell your customers by asking them what products they'd like to see next. Then, you can make them and be sure of your sales!

Article Source: http://www.artsymmetry.com

Katherine Durkes has written 3 ebooks on how to make bath & body, perfume, and home fragrance products. She runs a website, a newsletter, and a Yahoo Group for aspiring craft business owners. Visit www.excellentlivingguide.com for more creative bath and beauty projects.

Soap Making Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to common soap making questions:

What is soap made from?

Soap is a composite product made from fats, lye, and water. It can also contain botanicals, fragrance, and dyes.

What makes homemade soap different from mass produced soap?

Handmade soap is softer and more luxurious than mass produced soap. It also is less likely to crack and dry out then mass produced soap is. This is because homemade soap keeps its glycerin, and mass produced soap removes the glycerin.

Can you use handmade soaps the same day that you make it?

Homemade soap should be allowed to cure for several weeks before you use it. The longer the soap is cured the milder and gentler it will be.

What are soap pigments?

Soap pigments are used to give handmade soaps their color. Soap pigments, such as oxides, used to be mined from natural sources, however, now they are generally made in laboratories.

What are FD&C Colorants?

FD&C colorants are additives used to color your handmade soap. These coloring additives do not come from natural sources, they instead are created in laboratories.

Are there natural ways to color soaps?

Yes, there are natural products that you can use to color your soap. If you want yellow soap you can use saffron, Turmeric, or Carthamin. If you want red soap you can use paprika. If you want brown soap you can use cocoa powder or tea.

How many different types of soap making are there?

There are several different methods of making homemade soap. The basic methods include: melt and pour, hot processed, cold processed, and handmilled.

When should you add fragrance to your soap?

Fragrance should be added to the soap mixture after it has been completely melted and it has passed the stringy stage.

Can you use both fragrance oils and essential oils in cold process soap?

Yes both of these oils work well in cold process soap.

Is it normal for dried herbs and botanicals to turn brown in my homemade soap?

Yes it is.

Do I need to line my soap molds?

Generally yes you do. You can use grease, plastic wrap, or wax paper. Just make sure that you create a flat lining, and that there are no gaps between liner parts.

For more information on how to make homemade soap as well as soap making recipes visit the PureandNaturalSoaps.com

Check out the soap making forum to discuss techniques, share ideas and post your favorite soap and candle making recipes.

Homemade Soap Making Methods

Simple Soapmaking. Click Here to Learn to Make Your Own Handmade Soap The Simple Way!

There are several different soap making processes that will allow you to easily make homemade soap products. The first soap making method is cold process soap making. This process requires a scale, a large stainless steel pot, measuring cups, kitchen thermometers, rubber gloves, mold, cardboard, plastic bags, olive oil, coconut oil, shortening, lye, distilled water, and fragrances. The cold process gets its name from the general low temperatures that are used to mill this type of soap.

In addition to cold process methods, hot process soap making methods are also available. This process is named for its boiling pot method of soap milling. For this type of homemade soap making you will need palm oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, shea butter, castor oil, sodium hydroxide, water, borax, soap molds, stainless steel pot, stirring stick or spoon, plastic wrap.

If you have soap scraps that you would like to rework into a new bar of soap then you can use a handmilled soap making method called soap rebatching. To do this you will need soap scraps, a mold, a grater, fragrance, dyes, and other additives. The best type of soap base for this type of soaping making is a cold process soap. To start with you will want to grate your soap into fine particles. Then place all of your shavings into a glass bowl that can be placed in a double boiler. As the double boiler heats up you will need to stir your grated soap pieces. Add in your vegetable oils and fragrances at this point, making sure that everything is incorporated. Break up soap clumps that form. Continue to cook until the soap reaches the string stage. At this point the soap will thicken rapidly. Remove the pot from the heat source quickly add in fragrances, coloring, herbs, and optional items in that order. Spoon into molds and allow it to cure.

The final way to make handcrafted soap is to use the melt and pour soap making method. Out of all of the soap making methods this is perhaps the easiest for novice soap makers. It involves simply melting a soap base in a double boiler, adding in fragrance and dyes, and then placing the soap mixture into a mold. This is the soap making method that most soap making do-it-yourself kits will use.

For more information on how to make homemade soap as well as soap making recipes visit PureandNaturalSoaps.com

Check out the soap making forum to discuss techniques, share ideas and post your favorite soap and candle making recipes.