This easy-to-make soap uses a melt-n-pour soap base and dried mint, chamomile and rosemary from the garden! It’s flavored with essential oils and smells as good as it looks!
I’m working up my courage to make lye-based goat milk soaps. In the meantime, while my freezer overflows with bags and jars of frozen goat milk, I decided to try my hand at melt-n-pour soaps instead. You know, playin’ it safe!
Melt-n-pour soap is soooo simple that I think it actually did help my confidence! My first attempt (ever!) at soap making produced these gorgeous bars of dried herb soap filled with mint, chamomile and rosemary! Let’s just take a moment to adore these!
We had a fantastic herb harvest this year and I was itching to find a new and creative way to preserve our chamomile, mint and rosemary. While looking for ideas, I came across this post from Homespun with Love. In the post, they describe how olive oil melt-n-pour soap base suspends added ingredients within the bar, which is what makes these soaps so mesmerizing! ‘Nuff said – I was off to Hobby Lobby to buy supplies!
The dried herb soap turned out gorgeous, right?! Oh, and they smell incredible too! It lathers up really well and that fresh mint scent is released as you lather. As an added bonus, the crushed dried herbs create some pretty nice exfoliating action! It might only be August, but these would make excellent Christmas gifts! Make a batch now while fresh herbs are in supply and store them away for a gorgeous handmade gift!
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If you’re ready to make your own dried herb soap, here’s what you will need:
- Olive oil melt-n-pour soap base (I used this one)
- Soap molds (plastic or silicone)
- Dried herbs (about 2 cups – I used mint, chamomile and rosemary but you can use any combination you want)
- Essential oils (Optional, but they make it smell yummy! I used peppermint and rosemary oil)
- Glass measuring cup (you can use a glass bowl, but it will be harder to pour the mix into the molds)
- Spatula
How to Make Dried Herb Soap:
I would like to point out again that I have zero knowledge of soap making, so feel free to drop suggestions in the comment box. Now that we got the waiver out of the way, let’s talk about the totally non-scientific method that I used to make this dried herb soap. 🙂
Step 1: Gather all your supplies and lay your molds out on a flat surface.
Have your herbs and essential oils close by. You’ll need to incorporate them quickly and get everything into the molds before the soap base hardens.
Step 2: Cut the soap base into cubes and place in a glass bowl or measuring cup.
Step 3: Melt the soap.
I read about the “proper” way to melt soap base, which is apparently not in a microwave (even though that’s what the instructions on the soap base container say). No worries, I don’t have a microwave anyways.
An alternative method that was mentioned quite a bit on the soap making forums was setting the soap in the sun to melt. I thought this would be perfect since it was about 101*F outside. After three hours in full sun, the soap looked exactly the same, except for the addition of some bugs! So, I tried a new approach: the toaster oven. I set it to 350* on the “bake” setting and watched it closely. I stirred it a couple times while it was melting. After about 20 minutes, it was completely melted and ready to go! I realized after the fact that a water bath would have also probably worked really well!
Step 4: Add dried herbs and essential oils into the soap base and stir gently to fully incorporate them. Avoid over-stirring as it can create bubbles.
You will need to work somewhat quickly to incorporate your oils and herbs, as you want to prevent the soap base from hardening until it’s poured in the molds. I honestly didn’t measure my herbs, but I would guess that I used around 2 cups of herbs total. I would only recommend using herbs that are completely dried as fresh herbs will release moisture that could make your soap become rancid. Blech!
I added about 10 drops of peppermint and rosemary essential oils to add scent to my soap bars. You can buy soap scents at the craft store, but I opted to use pure essential oils rather than “fragrance” which may have less than pure ingredients.
Step 5: Pour soap into soap molds.
Gently pour the soap into the molds. Once filled, I gently tapped the molds against the table to release air bubbles and to level the soap mixture. Allow the soap to fully cool and set before removing the soap from the molds.
Store your soap in an airtight container in a cool, dark location. I used a kitchen tupperware and placed wax paper between the individual bars so that they don’t stick.
Viola! Gorgeous homemade soap, packed with dried summertime herbs from the garden that you can savor all year long!
If you like it, then you better put a pin on it!
Thank you so much for this post, I’m new to soap making and this post looks like a good place to start!
Yes, this is such an easy way to get started! I was surprised by how easy it was and beautiful the soap turned out! Enjoy! 🙂
Congratulations on your soap, it does look wonderful. One caution about rosemary essential oil in lye based soap, it can cause the soap to turn a brownish color on the outside over time. Once of the first batches I made looked like well smoked gouda cheese if cut into! Worked a treat, but some people found the color off putting. Good luck on your soaping!
That’s a great tip to know, Kathryn! Thank you for sharing!
can you use metal muffin pans as soap molds for this?
I haven’t done it myself, but I bet that it would work just fine! Let us know if you do try it. I’d love to hear about the results! 😀
I used the muffin tins and they worked fine!
That’s awesome! What a great tip – I’m so glad you shared! 😀
I love my melt and pour. I make soap all the time. Not interested in the lye – too many chemicals that I am not familiar with & scary for me. But I can tell you this, you can use the microwave on 15 sec intervals (stir & put back for 15 sec) OR you could use the double boiler method. Put your measuring cup in a pot of boiling water. Takes longer and you also have to make sure there isn’t too much water or it can boil into your soap and ruin it. So less is more. Keep a strict eye on it. Burnt soap survivor tip. Please don’t forget your potholders when handling your measuring cup. Another accident to learn from. Also instead of tapping (yes another accident & no I am not a typical clumsy person…usually. OK maybe a little) you can just spray the top with alcohol. Removes the bubbles and does not affect your soap. Hope these tips help.
To end on a positive note….I love this and cannot wait to try it. Thanks
These are fantastic tips! The double boiler is a really good idea though – much easier than what I tried! I will have to do that next time! And spraying the top with alcohol = genius! Thank you so much for the tips! So glad you shared! 😀
Me encanta el resultado y la combinación de hierbas. Una duda con las semanas de terminado tu jabón ¿sigue siendo igual? o ¿Se han oxidado las hierbas oscureciendo el jabón? Gracias por todo
It looks amazing…did you use 1 pound of soap base?
I used the 2 pound one that I linked in the post but honestly it made a lot of soap and one pound would have been plenty! 🙂
Please if i use lavender buds in my soap they will get rotten over time??
Lavender buds can be added to soap, however they tend to turn brown and lose their color. This post from Lovely Greens has some great tips though for adding buds to your soap while maintaining their color! Best of luck – let us know how it turns out! https://lovelygreens.com/simple-lavender-soap-recipe/