This was part of the Christmas gifts for some of my relatives. Lavender-Rosemary Soap. I used the All-Vegetable, No Coconut or Palm recipe on Kathy Miller’s page (scroll WAY down.)

1. Sprinkle the lye crystals into the measured amount of water for the recipe. Swirl gently.

2. Weigh out the shortening and melt it over med-low.


3. Pour in the other oils.


4. Add lye (if it’s no longer screaming hot) and mix with immersion blender to trace.


5. This page said to use about 4 T of lavender oil and 2 T of rosemary oil. WHOA! I couldn’t bring myself to do that, so I did 3 T and 1T respectively. Then, I blended again. This went to SUPER TRACE, which I do not recommend as it’s like spooning mashed potatoes into the mold. Next time, I would put them in at BARELY TRACE-ESQUE.


6. Fill freezer paper-lined mold and cover with a towel. (If you make a smaller amount of soap, you can use empty household containers for your mold, like I did in this and this post.)


7. Cut into bars in the next day or so and allow to sit for at least a month.


Notice that mine were still in the BIG bars. Go ahead and cut them to the actual bar size you intend. It was NOT EASY to cut these babies after they cured for a while.

Also, to make sure they were as dry as possible come wrapping time, I set them in the dehydrator for a few days. That’s not typical soaping behavior as far as I know, but it worked well for me and my house smelled AWESOME.

Ivory