The Best Natural Homemade Soaps: 40 Recipes for Moisturizing Olive Oil-Based Soaps

There are only three essential ingredients required to create these soaps: water, olive oil, and caustic soda. Olive oil is the primary ingredient enjoying the highest rating as its properties are well known throughout the world. Olive oil is the most beneficial oil to your health, and in cosmetics it has been used since ancient times for its virtues for glowing hair and skin. Rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins it has the added benefit of being available virtually everywhere. Once these three key ingredients are in place, there are a number of wonderful extra ingredients that will customize and create a personal soap. These ingredients include beeswax, cocoa butter, clay, kaolin, seaweed, goats milk, egg yolks and others. Some will give the soap hardness (beeswax), softness (honey) or make it more 'oily' and foamy (cocoa butter) or add a greater cleansing ability. Since using soap is such a sensory experience, there is a comprehensive section on essential oils which create that air of perpetual breeze of a good soap. A comprehensive section on these essential oils, their history and therapeutic uses provide all the information needed to create the perfect scent. The recipes feature essential oils of the highest purity which are added to the soap right before it is placed in molds. Easy step-by-step preparation techniques produce luxurious soaps such as: Sandalwood Soap, Kiwi Soap, Chocolate Soap, Wheat Germ Soap, Green Tea Soap, Cedar Soap, Echinacea Soap, Lavender Soap, Marshmallow Soap, Lemon Soap, Rose Hip Soap, Marigold Soap, Coconut Soap, Vanilla Soap, Seaweed Soap, Oat Soap, Clay Soap, Mung Bean Soap, After Eight Soap, Beach Sand Soap. This fascinating history of soap and its ingredients with therapeutic recommendations is informative and fun to read. The comprehensive recipes with preparation, utensil and ingredient tips guide the reader to create better-than store-bought quality soaps made at home.

Mar Gomez has a diploma in Naturopathy, Dietetics and Nutrition and collaborates with a variety of media outlets. She also leads workshops on preparing natural cosmetics and other naturally based products and has written several books.