This is an old fashioned but luxurious cold process rose soap recipe, with rose color, rose scent and wonderfully soft. Perfect for Valentine’s day, Mother’s day or just a birthday gift.
Table of Contents
- Rose Geranium and Other Fragrances
- Pink Clay
- Cold Process Rose Soap Recipe – So Soft
- Find Where to Buy Handmade Pink Soap
- How To Use This Soap
- Related Posts
- Watch This Video About Safety
- Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial Video
- Cold Process Soap Making Lessons
Rose Geranium and Other Fragrances
I’ve spoken about rose geranium essential oil in other recipes: Pink Clay Soap Recipe, Patchouli Soap Recipe and this Face Soap Recipe with Shea Butter and Oat that smelled beautifully. However, for this recipe, I’ve used a rich blend of essential oils and fragrances that resulted very well: along with rose geranium, I’ve also used a fragrance of english rose, neroli essential oil, patchouli, and rose essential oil that I believe to be adulterated due to its price, therefore, consider it another fragrance oil.
The resulting aroma was relatively intense for a handmade soap and, no wonder, it smelled a lot like scented roses.
Pink Clay
Similar to rose geranium, I’ve also used pink clay in my Pink Clay Soap Recipe. Pink clay is a very soft clay that is adequate for most skin types – even sensitive ones. In this soap, it works as a “scent fixer” and a natural colorant. However, since my pink clay is so light colored that the soap was more skin-colored than pink, I’ve added just a small teaspoon (1/16 or 1/32) of red iron oxide mica to give it a stronger rose color.
Cold Process Rose Soap Recipe – So Soft
The soap itself consists of a mixture of oils chosen to be very conditioning and therefore, soft to the skin. Olive oil and sunflower oil makes the soap conditioning and soft; coconut oil is very cleansing, gives hardness to the soap and adds foam; castor oil also adds creamy foam.
Then shea butter works as a superfat oil (doesn’t saponify) for extra-conditioning properties, various vitamins and anti-oxidants. More than a soap, becomes almost a purifying / conditioning treatment to your skin.
Using heart shaped silicone molds, this soap becomes a must for Valentine’s day, as a romantic gift to your beloved, for Mother’s day, as a birthday gift, or simply as a treat to yourself.
Try this recipe at home and enjoy your soap!
Find Where to Buy Handmade Pink Soap
If you’re not yet ready to try to make this recipe at home, but you still wish to enjoy natural soaps, you can find handmade rose soaps at the following links:
- Rose Geranium and Pink Clay Soap (Etsy)
- Apple Valley Rose Geranium Salt Bar
- Heart Shaped Soaps (Etsy)
- Other Soaps – Apple Valley Natural Soaps ReviewEtsy carrot soap
How To Use This Soap
In the shower or bath, wet your hands and rub your soap in them to create a lather. Wash your hands first, then repeat the process and apply soap to your whole body using the soap directly and your hands. You may also wash your face with it. Rinse hands and body abundantly. Also wash your soap from lather before placing it in your soap dish or bag saver.
Washcloths and sponges should be avoided. Avoid washing your intimate zone and your hair, soap pH in not adequate for those parts of your body. Avoid eye contact with soap to prevent stinging. Make a patch test before using your soap. Stop using your soap if you feel any immediate adverse reaction in your skin (red skin, rashes, itching).
To take best advantage of your handmade soap (made by yourself or store-bougth), read How Do You Use Handmade Soap?
Related Posts
- Vegetable oils: Oil Properties For Soap Making
- Essential oils: Best Essential Oils for Soap Making
- Colorants: How To Color Your Soap With Kitchen Ingredients
- Cold Process Tutorial Guide: Learn To Make Cold Process Soap?
- Cold Process Soap Recipes: Free Cold Process Soap Recipes
- Beginner Recipes: Soap Recipes for Beginners
Watch This Video About Safety
Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial Video
Cold Process Soap Making Lessons
The tutorials in this blog are a great – and free! – help to start with cold process soap making. Practice is the next step to harness the art of making soaps at home. However, I understand if you prefer to have some formal lessons, where you will feel more supported with the steps. Feel free to join these courses at Udemy.
How To Make Soap – Homemade Soap Making for Beginners – Shona O’Connor
Equipment
Ingredients
Lye Water
- 120 g distilled water
- 64 g lye (100% sodium hydroxide)
- 1 tsp sodium lactate or fine salt, recommended to harden soap fast
- 1 tsp french pink clay
- 0,0625 tsp red mica (CI 77491) 1/16
Oils
- 182 g extra virgin olive oil
- 136 g refined or organic coconut oil
- 91 g sunflower oil
- 23 g castor oil
After Trace
- 23 g refined or organic shea butter
- 5 drops grapefruit seed extract (GSE) (anti-oxidant)
- 13 ml essential oils blend
- alcohol or witch hazel to sprinkle
Essential Oils Blend
- 2 tsp rose fragrance oil
- 0,5 tsp essential oil rose geranium
- 0,5 tsp essential oil patchouli
Instructions
Get Ready!
- Wear goggles and gloves! Look at “Safety Precautions” in the video above or in Soap Making Safety Precautions
- Watch the video above about "Cold Process Soap Making Tutorial" or read the post Learn To Make Cold Process Soap for instructions on cold process soap making before starting. These are generic but important steps for all recipes.
- Assemble everything: ingredients, equipment, safety equipment. Prepare your workstations. Measure all the ingredients. Don’t start the recipe without having everything ready!
Heat The Oils
- Heat the oils until the solid oils are completely melted (it is not necessary to heat all the time).
Make the Lye Water
- Make the lye solution according to How To Make Lye Water. Add the sodium lactate, the pink clay with red mica. Mix well until the vapours start to dissipate. The mixture will turn dark pink to almost brick red.
Make the Soap Batter
- Use as a target temperature 38ºC for the oil-solution mixture. If necessary, you can reheat the oils, but not the lye solution.
- Pour the lye water into the oils.
- Reach medium trace with the immersion blender.
Add After Trace Ingredients
- Melt the shea butter before adding it to the soap. Add after trace ingredients: essential oil(s), grapefruit extract and shea butter. Mix well the batter only with a spoon.
Molding and Curing
- Pour the batter into cute hearts mold, and sprinkle with alcohol or witch hazel, to avoid soda ash. Let it set for 48 hours, always keeping an eye on the hardness of the soap.
- Unmold when fully solid and let it cure for 4 to 6 weeks. See How To Cure Soap. Enjoy your beautiful romantic soaps!
Using organic shea butter for a more conditioning effect, I never thought of that, cool! I usually use shea butter lotions for my skin and I really love it as it’s very moisturizing especially for those with dry skin like me but having one for soap would be great. Do you think it’s good if I use shea butter for the soap too if I’m already using it for lotions?
Hello Riaz and thanks for your comment.
Yes, you can use shea butter in soap and lotions, I don’t think there’s a problem. Soap is going to be washed off your skin anyway, it’s just when the soap is doing its work, it’s not so harsh, due to some of the shea butter acting on your skin. Anyway, you should always test to see if it works for you.
By the way, I find the best conditioning soap to be 100% olive oil, or pure castile soap. You can give it a try as well.
Cheers,
Sofia
Castile soap, interesting! Definitely checking that out, thanks!
Yes, give it a try, it’s easy and fun!
Thanks again for your comment and come back any time!
Cheers,
Sofia