Shea Butter M&P Soap With Lavender And Sandalwood

This shea butter melt and pour soap is super easy to make, yet it smells and looks absolutely wonderful. This is what I love about melt and pour methods, it’s so easy to make them look much more expensive and hard work than they really are.

Lavender and sandalwood are a match made in heaven and you’ll find yourself inhaling the aroma of these rustic looking soaps at every opportunity.

Introduction

Although lavender essential oil is very reasonably priced, Sandalwood essential oil can be very pricey around $34 per 1/6 oz and although I would be happy to add this to a diy face cream or body lotion recipe, I find it a little too extravagant to add to my soaps. So I’ve substituted this with a sandalwood fragrance oil.

This shea butter melt and pour soap will make a great gift for anyone, including the men in your life. The sandalwood essential oil has a clean, leathery aroma and the lavender buds have will turn a deep green within a couple of days of adding to the melt and pour soap so they don’t look overly feminine. That’s if you can bear to give it away.

Apart from the calendula flowers having some brilliant skin care properties, they don’t lose their lovely yellow appearance so they add a touch of brightness to the soap once the lavender buds begin to darken.

I’ve used Shea butter melt and pour for its lovely creamy lather, but you can substitute it for any white melt and pour soap such as basic plain white or goat’s milk.

Silicon soap molds are great for these sorts of single bars as they pop straight out and leave a flawless finish. Just remember to stand the mold on to something solid such as a chopping board or book before pouring the soap, as they can be very difficult to move whilst the soap is still warm and still a liquid.

Whenever I try out a new recipe I’m always conscious that it may not go to plan or that the finished product isn’t to my liking so the recipe below will make around 3 decent size bars which is a nice starter size. Then, if you want to make more, just double the ingredients! Simple!

What you will need

• 370g (12oz) Shea butter Melt and Pour
• A small handful each of Dried Lavender Buds and Calendula Flowers (around 2 tbs of each)
• 4 drops Lavender Essential Oil
• 14 drops Sandalwood Essential Oil (or Fragrance Oil)
• 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
• Silicon Mold

How to make them

Step 1: Cut the soap into small easy to melt chunks and place them into a heatproof container.

Step 2: Melt the soap in the microwave in 30-second blasts.

Step 3: Once the soap has completely melted add the lavender, calendula flowers and essential/fragrance oils.

Step 4: Working quickly before the soap begins to form a skin pour into the soap molds. As you pour try to hold back some of the flowers with a spatula or the back of a spoon otherwise you may end up with most of the flowers flowing into the first couple of soaps.

Step 5: Spritz with the Isopropyl Alcohol to remove any bubbles that may have formed.

Step 6: Place the soaps into the refrigerator for a couple of hours until they have completely cool and solidified before removing from the molds.

Step 7: once removed from the molds wrap your shea butter melt and pour soaps in plastic wrap and store in a cool dry place.