Today we have a special DIY homemade eco chic soap guest post from Anne-Marie, founder of Bramble Berry Inc.…

More and more families are growing increasingly concerned about their ecological footprint. In addition to taking less trips, recycling and planting more trees, there is an easy thing you can to help save the environment, improve your family’s health and save money in the process. Making your own soap is a great way to control the ingredients that go into your bath tub, onto your child and down your drain. And, bonus! It’s a fraction of the cost of store bought soap.

Eco Chic soap is the next big thing in personal care. What is Eco Chic soap? This category of personal care is all about creating yourself, controlling the ingredients and reusing common household goods. Rather than throwing away single use plastic containers, give them a new lease on life and use them as soap molds.

Making soap is an ideal creative outlet for the entire family. When you make your own soap, you choose the ingredients so you can use all natural colorants (like cocoa powder or charcoal) to color your soap and all natural essential oils to fragrance it, creating a soap bar that is naturally derived and cleans effectively.

Here’s an easy recipe to follow (hint: it’s perfect to make with children ages 4 and up with parental supervision):

You’ll need:

• Herbs, oatmeal, coffee, spirulina, clay, or food-grade charcoal
• 1 pound (16 ounces)Bramble Berry melt and pour soap, organic base
• 1 ounce essential oil (we used lavender, orange and eucalyptus)
• “Soap mold” (a clean, used plastic food dish, like an empty yogurt
• container)
• Rubbing Alcohol

How to make your soap:

1. Prep your herbs and make sure they are the right size for exfoliating gently. Sharp herbs may be too abrasive on the skin. I love using charcoal. It helps to remove toxins and impurities, similar to clay. Plus, it gives the soap a nice black hue.

2. Cut the organic melt and pour blocks into 1 x 1″ cubes.

3. Melt the soap in 30-second increments until the soap is fully melted.

4. Add .25 ounces to .50 ounces of essential oil. Remember, if you use a yellow or orange colored fragrance, your soap base will look less clear and look more yellow/orange.

5. Mix in your herbs or additives. Stir until the herbs seem mostly suspended.

6. Pour your scented and herb’ed soap into the make-shift mold

7. Tip: Don’t fill your make-shift soap mold all the way up. It helps for easy release to fill 85% of the way to the top and not the entire way.

8. Do one finishing touch of rubbing alcohol to finish off your soap and give it a nice smooth surface

Last steps: Wait for the soap to harden, get the soap out, wrap with saran wrap, label and enjoy the compliments you get on your innovative way to help save the earth, improve your household’s carbon footprint and help save the family budget this holiday season.

For more information on how to make your own soap, head to www.soapqueen.com and to buy supplies, including essential oils and the organic soap base, go to www.brambleberry.com

Some of the lovely soaps you can learn to make:

Coffee soap

Layer soap

Spirulina soap

A word from Jennifer:

First off, thanks so much to Anne-Marie for the excellent post. This is a fun holiday gift idea for sure, especially because everyone loves a good eco soap. Secondly, I visited the Bramble Berry site, and it’s amazing – well worth a visit (a long one). Not only do they carry everything you need to make delicious eco-friendly soaps, but they offer loads of tips and recipe ideas as well. This is not just a shop site, but an excellent resource if eco chic soap is your thing (of course it is!).

If you need a merry holiday reason to visit – check out this adorable Christmas tree centerpiece made of soap!

Learn about how to make this and many other beautiful soap creations at Bramble Berry.