| I love baking spices. You know the ones. Ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, etc. I have loved them since I was little. Now that I am older, you can always find crystalized ginger and cinnamon sticks, as well as a variety of the powders I listed above, in my cupboard. That is part of why I love Chai so much. If you or anyone you know is a big spice lover, come join me this week. You will love it. Let’s head to the kitchen!
I had wanted to use Coconut Oil in this formulation but when I went rummaging through my cupboard for my Coconut Oil, I discovered a small crisis. I don’t have any Coconut Oil! Ack! How did that happen? Quick, call the fire brigade! (Just kidding.) However, until I remedy this crisis, I will just have to make soap with the oils I have on hand.Instead of using Coconut Oil, I decided to use Palm Oil. While it doesn’t create the big, bubbly lather that Coconut Oil does, it does create a nice dense, almost creamy lather. I love that really thick lather that just covers your hands. I also used Hydrogenated Soybean Oil. It contributes hardness to the bar and assists with a dense, creamy lather. It also makes a smooth, hard white bar. Another oil I used in this formulation was Olive Oil. I really enjoy using Olive Oil. Sometimes a pure Olive Oil soap can feel slimy to me but match it with other oils, I find it dreamy! It contributes dense lather and a conditioning sensation to the skin. I wanted to use a luxury oil in this recipe. I decided on Shea Butter. Shea Butter is one of my favorite luxury oils for soap. I personally think it adds a creaminess and conditioning that is dreamy. Are you ready to make soap now? Let’s go!
Recipe:
Weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the Sodium Hydroxide to the water to form a lye solution. Allow the oils and the lye to cool to a lower temperature. We do not want to have the soap overheat and volcano. Mix the oils and lye solution and blend until trace is achieved. Add the fragrance oil at this point. Stir well. Pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. Enjoy! Notes: This finished soap had a much denser lather than what I am used to. It was definitely a lot of fun though. This is a perfect soap for felting wool around. If you are curious, check out my post on Wool Wrapped Soap here! They are such fun projects to do!
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 Finished Soap  Weighing Oils  Weighing Oils  Melted Oils  Adding Lye Solution to melted oils  Mixing Oils and Lye Solution  Mixing Soap  Adding Cream Chai Fragrance Oil |
Sounds yummy… would love to try this one.
Does soybean oil behave the same as hydrogenated soybeal oil?
Yes and no. The liquid oil will make a softer soap but otherwise they behave the same.
I absolutely love this blog…I pick up such wonderful tips from all of you. Thank you so much and now I’m going to try this new recipe…
Thank You,
Janet Schreiner
Yum. I have been wanting to make a Chai soap for along time, I love the smell of all those spices together!
Great timing! I just bought chai fo to make soap with! I have been worrying about overheating the soap though, because I also want to add ground cloves. Guess I’ll just have to try it and see what happens.