Soap Making Self-Sufficiency by Sarah Ade

I was very kindly sent a copy of this book and am now inspired to have a go at home soaps. In the past I have made home shampoos and body washes with the help of my left over soap pods as well as home made body lotions, but I have always been a bit nervous of making my own soaps as it does take a few chemicals and a lot more care than my other home attempts.

Our skin is our largest organ. We often think about how the things we put into our body effect us, but how much time do we take to consider how the things we put onto our body effect us? This timely book is packed full of helpful advice about how to make your own luxurious and beautiful soaps at home, using only the best natural ingredients. Not only are the soaps good for you, they look great and are wonderfully indulgent too. Sarah Ade begins by listing the natural ingredients available and their properties before describing how to put ingredients together for a specific purpose. She also discusses the benefits of a macrobiotic lifestyle and holistic skin care, and why your body will thank you for it. The recipes range from the fun and frivolous to sensible and serious and the text is packed with homemade skin care ideas. This is an essential guide for anyone interested in what they put onto their body as well as what goes inside.

 

Sarah’s book is simple, easy to follow and aimed at those just starting out, although it does contain many recipes for the more experienced soap maker.  It explains in a simple step-by-step guide how to safely make your soap using conventional kitchen equipment which means even a novice can get stuck in without out-laying a fortune on bits and pieces for the job.

 

Sarah knows what she is doing as she is the joint director of The BareNaked Soap Company a family-run holistic company who make soap and other skin care products. The recipes in the book all sound great, with sensitive skin, kids and men all taken into account in the ingredients and scents.

 

I think I’ll be giving the Sensitive Soother and Oat , Honey & Hemp Face Soap a go as a starting point and will let you know how it goes!

 

Note: The author of the book has asked I let readers know that there are two typos in there. On p110, in the Liquid Soap Recipe, in the first line of the ingredients 29.5g of potassium hydroxide is equivalent to 1.04 oz, NOT 10.5 oz!

Also, in the first listing of water in that recipe, it should be 72g rather than 142g (142g is the total amount of water in the recipe, but it is seperated out into two lots as it’s for different uses).