Aloe Vera and Cucumber Soap

I have been wanting to make Cucumber soap for quite a while but waited till we had some growing in the garden. As we now have quite a few Suyo Long Cucumbers grown from seeds bought from Green Harvest it was the perfect opportunity to make up a batch based on a recipe in Jan Berry's book Simple and Natural Soapmaking.

 We also have heaps of Aloe vera growing so the first step in the process was to weigh both the Cucumber and Aloe vera ....

 

 ....juice, blitz it in the food processor and then strain it to get out the bits and pieces. It was then chilled and was quite a nice green colour but unfortunately once the lye was added ....

 

 ....it turned brown :-( That's the way it is with natural colours much of the time.

First I filled up my favourite moulds...

...and then poured the rest into one of the very first moulds I bought when I started making soap. It is very difficult to get the soap out of these particular moulds even though they are expensive so they need to go into the freezer for a little while to make the process easier.

I had heard that they eventually go brittle and that is what happened which was a shame as the thistle soaps are quite lovely and remind me of my Scottish mum. However, I might be able to cover the mould on the outside with glad wrap to contain the soap batter when I use it again. If you are new to soapmaking the silicone moulds are much easier to use but I didn't realise that when I was starting out. 

If you haven't made soap before and are keen to start this year you might like to read through an old post of mine 'Do you make your own soap?' You can read more about how to make your first batch on Rhonda's blog as she has a number of posts about soap on this page. She does use a Mixmaster in one of those posts but I am pretty sure she would use a stick blender these days as that is the norm for the majority of soapmakers.

 Soap Queen also has a Free Beginners Guide to Soap Making and YouTube videos on the Basics of Cold Process Soapmaking. However, to avoid confusion I found it easier in the beginning to just stick with one set of instructions which were from Rhonda's book 'Down to Earth'. I printed the instructions out and read them through a few times to make sure I understood what to do. The main thing to remember is to add the lye to the water not the other way around and I kept saying to myself  'Add the lye to the water' just in case I forgot. LOL! 

Once you have made your first batch of soap you will have the confidence to keep going. Just treat the lye with respect as you would a hot stove or boiling water and you will be fine. Unless you make a huge mistake, even if your soap doesn't look too wonderful, it probably will be just fine to use once it has cured after six weeks. I didn't start experimenting with scent and colours until I had mastered the basic steps but everyone is different and you might like to start off early in the piece with them  but make sure you do some reading first about how those additives might impact on your soap. 

For those who are interested here is the recipe I used for the Aloe Vera and Cucumber Soap which, as I have mentioned, was based on one in Jan Berry's book. Check out her website as she has lots of good stuff there and the book is excellent too. 

My favourite mould

Aloe Vera and Cucumber Soap

50g chopped Aloe vera

28g chopped cucumber

85g water. More water as needed to bring the total up to 248g

111g lye

1t olive green clay mixed with 1T water

198g coconut oil. I used copha which is made from hydrogenated coconut oil and is cheaper than coconut oil. 

454 olive oil

113g sweet almond oil. Can be replaced by sunflower oil.

28g castor oil. The cheapest place I found to buy castor oil was from N-essentials. 

25g Lemongrass and Persion Lime Fragrance Oil from Gavin's Little Green Workshops but you could use essential oil instead of course. 

The Spruce has a list of equipment you can buy for making soap.  I wear my glasses and rubber gloves. Accurate scales are essential and a stick blender is a real help but you can use milk containers etc. as moulds so it doesn't have to be an expensive outlay. 

I look forward to hearing how all the beginners are going so do leave a comment down the track so we can all congratulate you!