Each of us gave gifts at least once in his life. Even the most-most selfish natures gave gifts to themselves. And in our time, with all the seemingly huge choice, the problem of the original and memorable gift is quite acute. Especially before the massive holidays: New Year, February 23, March 8 ... It is necessary to congratulate not only relatives and friends, but also a fairly large number of friends, work colleagues (or fellow students), teachers, kindergarten teachers, doctors, etc. What can we say about holidays such as Birthday or Valentine's Day.
Financial costs are looming, you know what ... At the same time, I don’t really want to have a chocolate bar with a postcard or a Chinese trinket, but I want to give a small and interesting gift (at the same time, it is advisable that only you know its true value). Of course, there are numerous shops of “unusual” gifts, only their range does not change, practically, over the years and has become quite commonplace. So what come up? Try handmade soap. The recipes of its manufacture are so diverse that you can easily create the perfect gift with your own hands. Moreover, not necessarily in the form of a small interesting surprise, because man-made soap can also be a serious, good gift, if you approach the matter wisely.
Of course, you will need some ingredients and simple tools. Before you make handmade soap, get at least the simplest components, and this:
- soap base or ordinary baby soap ;
- base oil (it is also the base oil, for example, peach, almond, apricot and any other);
- essential oil (depending on skin needs);
- dye (either special for soap, or food, or natural in the form of chocolate, cocoa, vegetable or fruit juices);
- additives (milk, glycerin, honey, herbal infusions and decoctions, creams, etc., and for scrub soap - ground coffee, oatmeal or ground nutshells);
- water (preferably purified to dilute the future soap extract).
Of course, to make handmade soap, you need dishes, and it is advisable that in the future nothing but soap is cooked in this dish. If you melt the components in the microwave, then you will need the appropriate utensils. But it’s better, nevertheless, to cook soap in a water bath, so two old pots will be enough for you. To mix future toiletries, donate a spoon, and let it be from then on only for this purpose.
To get high-quality handmade soap, recipes must be followed very accurately. When you fill your hand, you can create your own proportions of the components, but for now take a fine grater and, if you take baby soap as a basis, rub it on it. Then mix with each other one tablespoon of glycerin and base oil and place the mixture in a steam bath. When the oil-glycerin mixture warms up, add grated soap to it a little, and pour a little water over to speed up the melting process.
When the soap has completely melted and mixed with glycerin and base, start adding essential oil to it. But remember that by adding it to handmade soap, recipes recommend pouring just a few drops, not teaspoons or milliliters. After each “impregnation”, mix the mass well so that the smell of oil spreads evenly across the soap. When you're done with the essential oil, start adding dye and filler. Thoroughly mixed hot mass now needs to be poured into molds. They can serve anything you like: baking dishes for curly cookies, baby molds for sand, jars of yogurt and even molds of sweets.
Spilling the forms of handmade soap, recipes are advised to let it cool down first, and then put in the refrigerator. When it freezes well, remove it from the tins (you can put the tins in hot water to make the soap easier to remove) and leave it to dry for a couple of days. That's all, the soap is ready to drink. And if it turned out to be really beautiful and fragrant, place it in its original packaging and give it wholeheartedly.