Home-made Coconut and Olive Oil Soap

Yesterday for the first time I made home-made cold-pressed soap, using Rhonda's tutorial found here.

Before I began I was quite nervous as there seem to be so many soap-making disaster stories on the internet.  However, perhaps due to the excellence of Rhonda's instructions, I had no difficulty at all and, indeed, wondered why I had never tried making soap before.  I think I might even make another batch today.

I spent about $10 on ingredients (olive oil, caustic soda and copha) and the recipe made 30 ordinary-sized cakes of soap.  For the mould I used a plastic container I already owned, so there was no extra expense.  To mix the soap I used my old stick blender, and it did a great job.

The soap has a lovely, clean smell and doesn't smell at all like the rather peppery olive oil which is the main ingredient.  I like the idea of using such a pure, simple product on my skin and in my home, rather than commercial products that are so often laden with mysterious chemicals.

The soap will now need about six weeks to cure, when it will be ready just in time for some of it to be given as home-made Christmas gifts.