Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Making Shampoo Bars and Soaps with Fresh Aloe



I use fresh homegrown Aloe vera in my Vegan Aloe Shampoo Bar and my Sesame Aloe Shampoo bar for Sensitive Scalps. Yesterday I restocked my Sesame Aloe Bars so I harvested from this Aloe in the planter box outside my front door. The yeild was about 8 oz. I also harvested a couple large leaves from my mother plant in our raised bed, for about the same amount of gel by weight. After I cut the leaves, I let the yellow orange sap drain out for a while.



Then I slice off the spiny edges, the tips, any other irregular areas. Then I separate the green leaves from the inner gel.



I weigh out approximately one part fresh gel to 2 parts distilled water and put it in the bender.



Then I have a beautiful frothy bubbly liquid for creating a 28% Sodium Hydroxide solution to mix with the base ois.



The rest is just basic cold process soap making.

Today I cut the bars and they will be curing for about 4 weeks. In the meantime I still have 2 of these Sesame Aloe Bars in stock.

Here is some feedback on this shampoo bar from one of my customers:

"I LOVE the aloe vera shampoo bar. I have been facing itchy and flaky scalp for years, since I still used commercial liquid shampoo. After I switched to shampoo bars, the itchiness hasn't disappeared but it did lessen a bit, and some shampoo bars did actually clear the flakiness away. Since the first time I tried your aloe shampoo bar, the itchiness disappeared! The flakiness disappeared too! I have used it 5 times with very satisfying result. It also gives my hair volume and doesn't dry out my hair. Amazing! I wonder what your secret is for creating such a wonderful shampoo bar :)"

Now you know one of the secrets!

Thanks for reading. If you have an older browser and had trouble viewing the products at AquarianBath.com, then you can also find my shampoo bars on Etsy.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I missed this blog!

I have tried to get into a groove with the new blog at my new AquarianBath website. So far I haven't managed to post much at all. I miss this blog. The format is so easy and I'm somehow attached to it. I haven't decided yet if I want to switch my RSS feeds back here or not, but for now if I feel like making a blog post here, then I'm just going to do it!

I'm busy today trying to tie up loose ends before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I'm making cranberry sauce. I found a recipe for herbal cranberry sauces here. I'll also be making pumpkin pie with my Seminole pumpkins from this summer. Right now I have a yard full of green pumpkins that I hope will be ready by Christmas or New Years at the latest.



Starting on Friday I will be having a 10% off sale with my Daytona Etsy Team Mates. You can use the coupon code "2011holiday" through December 2nd at AquarianBath.com. Check out all the Daytona Etsy Shops participating below:

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Visit My New Store and Blog at AquarianBath.com

This is a quick blog post to let you know that I have a brand new online store at http://aquarianbath.com. There are a lot of cool features at the store including an integrated blog, a pick up option for Daytona Beach locals, and an affiliate program. My next step will be to transfer RSS and email subscribers from this blog to the new blog (fingers crossed to figure out that next step). If you have subscribed to this blog by google connect and would like to keep up to date, you can visit the new blog and subscribe by RSS.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Custom Party Favor Soaps for Weddings and Parties


It's wedding season, and I'm excited to show of this batch of mini soaps that I just delivered last week for a bridal shower. I made 40 of these soaps for a garden-themed bridal shower. They were castile bars colored sage green with French Green Clay and scented with Lavender and Spearmint Essential oil. What a treat. The bars were also stamped with Dragonflies also, one of my favorite insects.



I even had a few bars left because of the way that my mold is shaped. So the bride got a surprise large bar, and I have a few in my Etsy shop also.



If you would like a special batch of soaps for your upcoming event I would be happy to work with you. I need a one month lead time to prepare and cure the soaps when working with in stock materials. For specialty scents or custom stamps, I need an additional 2-3 weeks.

If you want to go all out, how about matching lip balms too? These Sweet Orange lip balms are the result of a 50 batch for another event earlier this month. I made them for a Women's Conference in South Florida and added "Handmade in Florida" by request. I can certainly customize labels with Bride and Groom names and dates as well. You can find more of these lip balms and other flavors at my etsy shop.



This blog post is a part of our monthly Unique Women in Business Blog hop. The theme is Wedding Bells. Be sure to check out the other posts from the talented ladies below.

Rita Wetzel http://RitasCreativeNest.com
Judy Woodley http://WellspringCreations.blogspot.com
Ann Rinkenberger http://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com
Nancy Pace http://NancysWildWireJewelry.blogspot.com
Trudy Miller http://MommaGoddessTreasures.blogspot.com
Linda Stranger http://capecoddreamer.blogspot.com
Wendy Kelly http://blog.vintageday.com
Miriam http://goldcrestbags.blogspot.com/