I never would have attempted this is it weren’t for
stangemerlot’s video on YouTube. There’s a soap making myth that juices with
high amounts of acid (like grapefruit and lemon) will neutralize the lye and
prevent saponification.
Well, it’s simply not true.
I made this with 100% grapefruit juice (that I froze) and a
recipe of 68.75% olive oil, 25% coconut oil and 6.25% castor oil—all at room temperature.
The lye was added slowly (like when making soap with milk or beer) while
sitting in an ice bath.
It took a bit longer to trace, but I’m sure that had to do
with using cool ingredients. After I poured it into the mold (a cardboard tube
lined with freezer paper), I put it the fridge overnight.
It popped out—hard as a rock—in the morning. And the grapefruit
juice retained its gorgeous sunny color. Can’t tell if the scent stayed since I
added a blend of grapefruit and clay sage essential oils.
I then slipped my grapefruit soap into a slightly larger
lined cardboard tube and embedded it in a regular batch containing olive oil
infused with garden sage, Russian sage and purple sage. A little charcoal added
to half. An in the pot swirl.
I think my New Year’s resolution is going to be trying to do
the impossible. It’s not as difficult as it seems. At least in the case of
making soap with grapefruit soap.
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