Are there any homemade soap recipes that don't use a lot of oils or shortening?

Question

I'm looking for some homemade soap recipes that don't use a lot of oils or shortening. My mom made an oatmeal soap once and I don't recall her using shortening in it. Are there similar recipes?

Answer 1

Look for recipes using glycerine.

Answer 2

-1 large bar of soap - I used Dove beauty bar which is a great product to use in hard water areas and very mild on your skin.
- 3 to 4 tablespoons of ground up oatmeal.

- 4 to 5 tablespoons water

- Decorative rope (if you want to make soap-on-a- rope)

What You Do:

Grind up the oatmeal in a food processer, hand chopper or blender until finely milled. You want the mixture to have some substance - don't reduce it to flour - but chop enough to break up most of the individual oat flakes.

Grate the Dove bar into small slivers in a large, microwavable bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes. The time will vary according to your microwave; be careful the soap doesn't bubble over the bowl. Stir mixture once or twice. If you use scented soap, your kitchen will smell fragrant for hours after you are done!

When the soap has dissolved, remove from the microwave and stir. Add the oatmeal gradually, mixing in with a spoon, until you happy with the consistency and the proportion of soap to oatmeal. Pour the soap into a mold and let cool to shape.

I used a bowl-shaped cup for the two bars shown. The mixture was solidifying, but still slightly warm, when I removed it and sliced it into the two bars shown.

For larger amounts, you could use a tin can with both ends removed as your mold, then slice into round bars.

Soap on a Rope:

To make soap on a rope, follow all directions as above, until you are ready to pour in the mold. Fold your rope in two and knot it at the end. Pour half the soap into the mold ( a bowl-shaped cup would work well). Insert the knotted end of the rope and pour the remainder of the soap around it, to position the rope in the center of your new soap bar.

Allow to cool slightly, then remove from cup and shape with your hands into a ball or eloganted egg shape keeping the rope centered. Allow to cool totally; you could even put the soap in the fridge to harden.

Present as a gift with a shower puff or washcloth and a handtowel.

The oatmeal soap recipe outlined above isn't a true 'hand made' soap - but the help of the microwave and other shortcuts make it a simple gift to make for Father's Day or Mother's Day.
However, for true hand made soap, I recommend two sites that sell luxurious homemade soap and other personal care products - all made with painstaking care, the old fashioned way - by hand. Janis Rittenhouse is the J@R behind J&R Craftswhere you'll find soaps made from the finest oils, aromatherapy and essential oils, hand poured soy wax candles and other delightful things.
Janis also maintains another J@R Crafts Bath and Products site, where you'll find more bath and body products, including bath salts, hand poured soap, massage oil, face and body creams, and other such enticements to make your time in the bathtub pure heaven.
Michelle Browning amazes me because the production of her goat's milk soap starts with - guess what? - maintaining a herd of goats! Her site at Rose Arbor Soaps gives a brief explanation of the way her soaps are made, and she'll even send you a free small soap slip if you'd like to sample the scent. Michelle makes candles too, and you'll find wonderful scrubs to get that fresh skin feeling after you shower.

Answer 3

http://www.soapnaturally.org/recindex.html
http://www.greensense.com/ZENDA.HTM
http://www.millersoap.com/castile.html