Orange and Tea Tree Solid Shampoo Bar

I used to make all my shampoos and soaps but have been a bit slack over the last few years (mainly due to having small children). But, I figured I had some oils that needed using up so why not get myself back into it. My first port of call was a conditioning shampoo bar. The castor oil brings conditioning proerties whilst the cocoa butter and olive oil help to give it a lovely lather. You can swap out the smaller quantities of oil but the coconut oil, olive oil, caster oil and cocoa butter are pretty much essential to having a lovely shampoo bar. Just adjust the receipe on an online soap calculator if you want to swap anything out. I have chosen orange and tea tree to give the bars freshness but you could swap out those oils or fragrances for anything you fancy.

You should always wear gloves and eye protection when working with lye (until it is mixed in with the oils it is very nasty - the stuff that goes down drains to unblock them) however when mixed with oils it is neutralised, especially, as in this recipe, when there is additional oil to give extra conditioning and skin softening properties.

Also, most importantly, mix the Lye into the water, NOT the other way around, and use a stick blender for a faster trace (trace is when you can lift up the blender and as the soap mixture falls off of it it takes some seconds to disperse itself back into the pot). Be careful not to splash yourself with soap mixture as you will end up with red patches (I know this from experience)

Silicone loaf tins/moulds made great soap moulds, or you can make them inexpensively out of wood. As this is my first time making this I have gone for a little over a kilo in total weight, which will make enough bars to keep us going for a while and leave us with some left over to give to friends. Handmade soaps make pretty gifts whether wrapped in greaseproof or brown paper, or tied up in an organza bag.

Ingredients:
285g water
99g sodium hydroxide
150g coconut oil
200g pomace olive oil
150g caster oil
50g sweet almond oil
50g cocoa butter
50g avocado oil
50g beeswax
50g wheatgerm oil

5 teaspoons fragranc/essential oils

1) measure out your oils and put on a very low heat to melt.
2) meanwhile, measure out your water and, in a seperate container, the lye (sodium hydroxide).
3) Mix the sodium hydroxide into the water (preferably outside or by an open window - the fumes are nasty!) and give it a quick stir then walk away. Hold your breath while you are mixing these, if you breath the fumes in they are nasty (again, I've done this).
3) When the oil has melted leave it to cool down
4) When the oils and lye are around the same temperature (room temperature or, if you have a thermometer, anything up to 38 degrees C) pour the lye mixture into the oils, again being careful not to splash. The mixture starts off looking like this:

5) With your stick blender mix the two together until the soap mixture reaches trace (you can do this with a hand mixer or even a wooden spoon but it takes AGES that way!). Once trace has been reached it will look like this:

6) Pour into your mould, cover with a try/board and then a towell to insulate it. I've used one 1kg mould and had enough left over for three 5x5 cm moulds. 

7) After 24 hours cut into bars and leave them for a good 4 weeks until you use them (they become more mild over this time).
8) Enjoy!