Do you suffer from dry, itchy skin? If you do, try this Shea Butter Soap recipe with soothing essential oils.
Finding a soap that works well, keeps skin balanced, doesn’t add to the dryness or make it feel oily is tricky. So, I started making soaps for myself and have found this blend to be one that works great.
I use a shea butter soap base comes in a suspension formula where you basically just have to melt it down and add your oils or whatever else you’d like. It’s super easy to do, and I love the way it feels and smells.
I have also added some Vitamin C serum in this recipe. The lavender oil, geranium oil, frankincense oil and melaleuca oil all work and smell wonderful.
This recipe uses ice cube sized silicone molds, which make individual soaps that are smaller in size than making a large bar. If you would prefer doing one large bar instead, you can choose a larger soap mold.
The trays I use make around a dozen or so of the small soap bars and I like them because they not only look cute in a dish by the sink, but it makes them easy for travel or to gift to someone in a little bag or mason jar.
How to Make DIY Shea Butter Soap for Dry, Itchy Skin
Supplies
- 1 silicone mold in the shape of your choice, or 1 or 2 large bar sized molds
- 7-8 blocks shea butter soap base (this will vary if your silicone molds are larger or smaller)
- 8 drops vitamin C serum
- 10 drops lavender essential oil
- 9 drops geranium essential oil
- 5 drops frankincense essential oil
- 5 drops melaleuca essential oil
- Glass measuring cup or bowl, knife and scraper
Directions
- Lay out your molds so that they are ready to be poured into. If you’re using silicone molds, you’ll probably want to place them on a baking sheet or cutting board so they’re easier to move around when full.
- Next, you’ll need to cut the soap base into small squares. Then, depending on your mold sizes, you may need more or less than 7. Once I cut mine up, I will just place them on top of the molds, to help me figure out about the right amount I’ll need. I ended up with 14 soaps in this flower shaped size, using 7 blocks.
- Now, place the soap blocks into a double boiler. Use a silicone spatula to stir, making sure to also scrape the soap from the sides down into the middle, until it’s fully melted. The soap will be nice and smooth when it’s ready. It may even look a little frothy.
- Turn off the heat and let the pan sit for a couple of minutes to cool slightly.
- Next, add in your Vitamin C serum and essential oils. Do this carefully, especially with the oils. Lavender and geranium are both runny oils and it’s easy to over-do it.
- Sometimes the soap base will start to set up as you’re doing this part. If it has, once you’re done adding the drops in, place it back in the double boiler just long enough to get it back to the right consistency for pouring.
- Fill your molds up to the top edge slowly, not going over, and you will have a nice flat back to the soaps.
- Let the molds cool down at room temperature for about 30 to 45 minutes. I have found that the best way to know if they are totally cooled off and ready to pop out, is to feel the bottom center of the molds. If they don’t feel all the way cooled, give them a bit longer.
- Once they are cooled, you can turn out the soaps. This part is why I love using silicone molds – they pop right out, look great and leave barely any mess in the trays.
- Now, it’s up to you how to finish them off, you can make cute labels for them, or place into cute drawstring baggies for gifts, or if they are just for your own use, store in a glass mason jar or place on a nice dish.
