Homemade Soap; Loofah Soap Recipe

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Make a high quality soap with this easy homemade loofah sponge soap recipe. Makes a great sudsy and gentle exfoliator for your entire body.

If you’ve ever wanted to make soap now’s the time! This homemade soap is my go-to recipe. What I like about this soap is how easy it is to make and the way it feels when using it. Plus it has so much lather! Even more lather than what you get from store bought soaps. Yep, it’s definitely a keeper in my home.

I have another recipe for making soap. The ingredients are the same it’s just for this recipe I have added the loofah sponge.

I had always wanted to make soap and thought it was too hard until I really decided I was going to do it! Actually, making soap is pretty easy. Matter of fact, one night during the holiday season, I decided to make soap instead of cookies. One of my top fans on social media made a comment saying, “Soap is good but cookies are better”! I had to chuckle. Yes, cookies are better but there is something about making soap that is gratifying too.

Before we go any further and since we were in fact talking cookies for a brief moment, I want to mention I do have some really great cookie recipes. Just to name a few of my favorites I love these melt in your mouth Pecan Meltaways and when I need a nutty chocolate fix I make these Ultimate Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies. Yum Yum! Okay, that’s all I’m going to say about cookies.

Where Do You Get A Loofah Sponge?

Did you know loofah sponge comes from a vine? You can actually grow your own. How fun is that? Growing your own loofah?! I share my experience on How to Grow A Loofah Sponge Plant starting from seed. So, if you decide to grow your own I do sell seeds. Just check out my shop for loofah seeds here. But if growing loofah’s is not your thing then you can easily purchase soap loofah’s online here since I don’t have them in my shop yet.

Is It Hard To Make Soap?

Actually, it’s not hard to make soap at all. Some recipes I’ve seen only have a few ingredients and that is okay but I want my soaps to be high quality and that is exactly what I have accomplished with my soap recipe.

Each soap recipe posted on this blog currently has the same ingredients. There is a difference because each recipe has a little bit of a different take. For instance, my original soap recipe, Make Handcrafted Soap Like A Pro-Easy Soap Recipe, is made this same way except Rose Chamomile Lavender Herbal Tea is incorporated to make it a different soap. The tea not only gives the soap a pretty presentation but it can also be used as an exfoliator too. In that recipe I share some about the soap lingo like lye, saponification, trace and soap stuff like that. So if these words are new to you, please be sure to check out my original Easy Soap Recipe.

Items To Consider Having On Hand When Making Homemade Loofah Soap

Tools/Supplies:

It is best to designate utensils and supplies strictly for soap making. Reason so, is since the supplies may come into contact with Sodium Hydroxide, also known as lye, every day kitchen utensils or supplies should not be reused for meal preparation.

Why not take the below list and head to your local Thrift shop. You may find some of the supplies needed for making cold process soap. That’s where I got a lot of mine.

protective eyewear and gloves for when working with lye
large heat tolerant glass bowl
plastic measuring spoons
plastic measuring cups
rubber Spatula
stainless steel pot for melting oils (NEVER ALUMINUM)
scale for candle and or soap making (this is a must)
10″ durable silicone soap mold
6 cavity silicone circle mold (I use both the 10″ and the 6 cavity mold when I make soaps.)
old large stainless steel spoon for stirring lye – one you don’t care about
soap cutters (crinkle and straight edge)
Immersion blender or stick blender (you could stir by hand but you’d have to stir a gazillion times…like 45+ minutes straight). What the heck did they do in the olden days!?
newspapers to protect work surface
fragrance oil for cold processed soap (optional but recommended)
mica powder for coloring or tinting soap (optional but recommended). I use this brand to color my lip balms too.
baking pan (use for setting silicone molds on after pouring soap)
2-3 towels
infrared thermometer
loofah sponges

Ingredients and supplies for making loofah soap.

Homemade Loofah Soap Recipe

For this recipe I make six loofah soaps and about ten bars of regular bar soap just because I only have one 6 cavity silicone circle mold.

Loofah Soap Ingredients:

12.97 ounces distilled water (do not use tap water because it contains minerals and containments and may have a negative reaction with your soap making process)
5.80 ounces sodium hydroxide flakes (lye)
11 ounces coconut oil
9 ounce pure olive oil
9 ounce palm oil
4 ounces castor oil
4 ounces avocado oil
2 ounce sweet almond oil
2 ounces mango butter
fragrance oil (optional): light scent: 1.5 oz. / mild scent 2.0 oz. / Strong scent 3.0 oz.) This soap I used Oatmeal Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil (FO) from Brambleberry
3 teaspoons Sodium lactate (helps to make removing soap from mold easier)
6 loofah sponge pieces cut to size (moistened with tap water and squeezed of excess water)

Loofah Soap Instructions:

Water/Lye

Measure distilled water and place in a large heat tolerant bowl. I place a piece of newspaper in the kitchen sink and put the water bowl on top of the paper.

For safety measures wear goggles, glove up and wear a long sleeve shirt because this next step is working with lye. Measure the correct amount of sodium hydroxide and pour into distilled water slowly while stirring until the lye is dissolved. Be careful not to splash the liquid out of the bowl. The reaction of water and lye will lead to high temperatures. You can even feel the heat if you place your hand above the bowl. Notice below when the lye was added to room temperature distilled water the temperature reached 152.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, that’s some hot stuff so be extremely careful! Working with lye can be dangerous so it is highly recommended to wear protective equipment and don’t have any children or animals around when working with lye.

Leave bowl in sink and allow to cool to about 100 – 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In the meantime move on to the next step.

Note: Once the lye water has cooled to the above temperature (100-110 degrees Fahrenheit) add the sodium lactate and stir to combine.

Oils

Measure exact amounts of oil using the kitchen scale and place in a stainless steel pot to melt oils completely. Remove from heat and allow to cool to around 100 – 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Oils and Lye Water

When both, the oils and lye water, have reached temperatures of around 100 – 110 degrees Fahrenheit carefully pour the lye water into the oil mixture.

Using the immersion or stick blender pulse a few seconds to combine. If using fragrance oil and or mica colorant add that now. Continue blending until trace is reached. (the consistency of pudding).

Pour Into Molds

Place both molds on a baking sheet and fill 6 cavity silicone mold half full with soap. Place a moistened loofah sponge into each mold cavity then add more soap mixture as desired. After the six cavity mold is filled then pour the rest of the soap into the 10″ mold.

Smooth out the top of the 10″ mold and make some swirl designs on top if desired using a spatula or fork. Gently wrap each mold with a towel and then place a towel over both and set in a draft free area for 24 hours.

Unmold and Cut

Gently remove soap from molds by inverting molds and gently pushing on the bottom until the soap falls out. Place round soaps on their side on a baking sheet to cure.

Take the 10″ bar of soap and turn it on it’s side. Using a knife or crinkle cutter cut soap into desired bar sizes.

Cure

Allow soap to cure for 4 to 6 weeks. Reposition soap weekly. Enjoy your homemade loofah soap and you might even want to give some away as a gift!

I AM EXCITED YOU ARE VIEWING JETT’S EASY RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE LOOFAH SOAP AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW YOURS TURNS OUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE SOME!

***Please come back and share your comments and tell my readers how you like this loofah soap recipe.***

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