I’ve been dreaming up this Calendula and Charcoal Sweet Tobacco Soap for quite some time. With the Halloween season upon us, I thought what a perfect time to share my latest creation. A favorite soap in my nightly face washing routine. My favorite color is black, weird I know. There is something so beautiful the stark contrast of the deep color of the charcoal and the bright petals from the Calendula flower and rose petals.
Sweet Tobacco is a sweet scent that I can’t seem to get enough of.
Sweet Tobacco Essential Oil Benefits
- A sweet earthy scent thought to bring peace and relaxation
- Antiseptic properties
- Sedative Effect
Calendula Benefits
- anti-inflammatory
- antidiabetic
- anticancer effects
- effective remedy to skin irritations and wounds
Equipment Needed:
(I keep all my supplies for soap making separate from my regular kitchen tools, soap making no matter how well you clean the oils and lye mixture seem to leave a residue on all the things)
- kitchen scale
- measuring spoons
- glass bowls
- large spoon
- large stainless steel pot
- thermometer
- mold
- parchment paper
- stick blender
- rubber spatula
Ingredients:
8 ounces filtered water
4 ounces goat milk
10 ounces avocado oil
8 ounces lard or tallow (Tallow is simple to make on your own, and adds even more natural ingredients to your soap bars.)
8 ounces coconut oil
4 ounces calendula oil
2 ounces beeswax
5 ounces lye
1 ounce sweet tobacco essential oil
3 TBS Charcoal Powder
A Handful of dried Calendula Flowers and Rose Petals
Prep Ahead of Time
Combine the water and the goat milk in a large glass. Place the jar into the freezer for at least 2 hours before using. The slush helps prevent the lye from burning the milk resulting in a yellow, brown color.
- Heat your oils and fats together. I usually start this about an hour after my milk/lye mixture has been mixing. If you choose to start them at the same time, you can always place one in an ice beath to quickly cool it to the temperature needed.
- Mix the Lye and milk/water. This you want to do slowly, I sprinkle about a half teaspoon of lye into the milk mixture, stir and leave to set for about 20-30 minutes before I continue to add more lye to the milk mixture. Note the lye mixture always gets poured into the milk. Repeat until the lye has been completely dissolved into the milk and water.
- Prepare your mold, I like to have all my stuff setup in a production line so I don’t forget an ingredient.
- Combine and bring soap to trace when both the oils and the lye milk are 90 degrees to 100 degrees. (Always pour lye mixture into the Oil Mixture.) Just in this range it doesn’t have to be exact. Use a stick blender to mix for 1 to 2 minutes and then let the mixture rest, repeat this until you reach a light trace.
- This is when you mix the sweet tobacco essential oil and add in 3 tablespoons of charcoal powder and blend for about 30-45 seconds. You can absolutely blend this by hand my first batch I used a whisk and was able to get the soap to come to trace it just took me a really long time but it’s definitely possible if you don’t have an immersion blender or hand mixer.
- Pour the soap mixture into the mold. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and set somewhere to cure. I don’t insulate my soaps often because our house is usually over 75 degrees most days, but if yours dips below that you will want to insulate the sides of the mold using a kitchen towel or something similar.
- After a couple hours I sprinkle the Calendula flower petals and rose petals on top of the soap and gently press them in. Interesting fact the saponification process turns most flowers and herbs a brownish and sometimes black color, except for Calendula flowers they are fine to throw directly into this soap recipe.
- After the 12-24 hours have passed for the soap to set up take out your soap from the soap mold and cut as your heart desires. If your soap isn’t the desired firmness you can leave it to cure in the mold a little longer.
I’m not an enormous Halloween lover, but my kids love it for the hoards of candy they get. This is a sweet scented face wash bar (or body soap bar) with a touch of Halloween Spirit.
I’ve loved leaving this one to cure, it makes my house smell wonderful!
The sedative effects of the sweet tobacco essential oil make this a perfect evening soap bar to help settle for the evening.
The calendula oil is an excellent antiseptic for any skin issues you may have, all the while hydrating your skin with the avocado oil.
What do you think about Halloween? I find each year more people decorate for Halloween in Nevada, than for Christmas. What about where you are?
Happy soap making!
Danielle
The Introverted Homesteader