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| diy melt & pour loofah soap by Stella Crown |
Spring is on its way and is a good time to start preparing our skin for the summer, if we haven’t done it yet. The moto of this blog is that we never forget our skin care throughout the year; well, I don’t believe in miracles and I don’t think that there is a person on this planet which can actually get rid of cellulite the last moment 😱😱😱
Yesterday, I prepared melt & pour soaps using natural loofah and some special blends of essential oils against cellulite.
The loofah is a natural sponge of land and is used for deep exfoliation and stimulating blood circulation. The massage with natural loofah on skin areas which suffer from cellulite, make the skin to obey to the anti-cellulite treatments, using specific creams and oils for this job.
Moreover, these soaps contain essential oils which stimulate blood circulation and improve the skin elasticity drastically.
If you want these soaps to work effectively against cellulite, you should know that you must drink plenty of water, put exercise in your life and adopt a proper consumption.
Below, I have prepared three recipes; choose whichever you like or all!
recipe #1
100 g/ 4 oz crystal soap base SLS free
2 g/ 0.07 oz poppy seed oil
1 g/ 0.04 oz ivy oil
1 g/ 0.04 oz chondrus crispus extract
1 g/ 0.04 oz pineapple extract
36 drops grapefruit essential oil
30 drops lemon essential oil
24 drops fennel essential oil
natural loofah
mica or food colouring (optional)
recipe #2
100 g/ 4 oz crystal soap base SLS free
2 g/ 0.07 oz carrot tissue oil
1 g/ 0.04 oz ivy oil
1 g/ 0.04 oz cotton extract
1 g/ 0.04 oz seaweed extract
36 drops grapefruit essential oil
30 drops basil essential oil
24 drops thyme essential oil
natural loofah
mica or food colouring (optional)
recipe #3
100 g/ 4 oz crystal soap base SLS free
2 g/ 0.07 oz hazelnut oil
1 g/ 0.04 oz ivy oil
1 g/ 0.04 oz chondrus crispus extract
1 g/ 0.04 oz green tea extract
36 drops juniper berry essential oil
30 drops rosemary essential oil
24 drops lemon essential oil
natural loofah
mica or food colouring (optional)
the equipment:
saucepan
silicone mold
cutting surface
knife
beaker 250 mL
beaker 10 mL
electronic thermometer
electronic scale
measuring spoons
whisker
cling film (plastic wrap)
- Before we start making our soaps, we sterilise tools, containers and work surface.
- We cut the natural loofah into slices, by using a sterilised scissor. The size should fit into your silicone mold.
- In the 10 mL beaker, we pour the vegetable oil, the essential oils ant the extracts of the recipe we chose. We leave this beaker aside; we will use it later.
- We cut and weigh the soap base that we are going to use.
- We cut the soap base again in cubes on the cutting board. We put the cubes in the 250 mL beaker (if you don’t have one, you can use a large coffee pot) and we place it in a bain marie; I use a saucepan as a double boiler, this method is called bain marie. So, fill a heat- proof saucepan 1/3 full of water and place it to low temperature. Place the beaker into the saucepan and let the soap melt.
- We wait for the soap to melt and check with the thermometer. When the temperature reaches 60C, we remove the beaker from heat while mixing with the whisker or a spoon, until we make sure that the soap- base is well melted.
- We add the food colouring of our choice, drop by drop and mix well.
- When the temperature falls to 50C, we pour in the soap, the blend with the oils and the extracts, which we left aside before. We stir thoroughly.
- We spray with alcohol the soap in the beaker to get rid of the bubbles. We spray with alcohol inside of the silicone mold, we pour the soap into the cold and we spray its surface to get rid of the bubbles again.
- We wait for the soap to cool down and set.
- Once the soap cools down, we take it out of the mood and wrap it in plastic wrap in order to maintain its scent and moisture.
- The poppy seed oil generally is an excellent oil for soaps. It has a light texture, it is absorbed slowly, while allows the skin to breathe without feeling greasy. This slow absorption creates a protective cover on the skin. The poppy seed oil is rich in palmitic acid and omega-6 fatty acids, popular for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. Regenerates and rebuilds the damaged skin, acts again aging and leaves a very silky texture on the skin.
- The carrot oil moisturises and nourishes, regenerates the skin, it tightens, it tones the elasticity and fights free radicals. Favourite oil to combat cellulite and stretch marks.
- The hazelnut oil tightens and softens the skin, protects from free radicals and tightens the pores.
- The ivy oil is famous for its slimming effect. It fights against cellulite, tightens and stretches the skin, reduces the appearance of orange peel on the skin and treats localised fat.
- The plant silicone with the botanical name chondus crispus (Irish moss) strengthens the hydro-lipidic film of the skin, protects from dehydration and leaves a silky texture.
- The pineapple extract has exfoliating and anti-inflammatory effect, removes toxins and fight free radicals, the cotton extract refreshes the skin tissue and the seaweed extract boosts the production of elastin and it is high in iodine; ideal for combating cellulite and localised fat. The green tea extract has 20 times more antioxidants than vitamin C, it provides strong anti-inflammatory action, fights free radicals and detoxifies the skin.
- The grapefruit essential oil is styptic and stimulant, the lemon essential oil tightens the pores, the fennel essential oil detoxifies and helps the lymphatic decongestion. Basil, thyme and rosemary essential oils are slimming agents as the stimulate blood circulation and juniper essential oil is detoxifying.
Stella Crown©
