Herbs, Botanicals, and Infusions Oh My!

There are simply NO limits to what you can create when producing handcrafted soap.

You have colors your can choose from.

You have hundreds of essential oils and fragrance oils you work with.

And then there is the magical world of herbs, botanicals, and infusions.

Let's look at herbs first.  In general, herbs should be dried and ground for use in soap, though occasionally herbal teas are used to replace some or all of the water for the lye solution.  If you want to avoid darkening of the herbs when added to soap, incorporate an antioxidant such as vitamin E into your soap (more on this in another post).
Lavender is, of course, the most commonly used herb in soap making, but rosemary, sage, chamomile, hops, lemongrass, spearmint and many other beneficial herbs are used to enhance the visual and aromatic appeal and skin-soothing properties of soap.

Imagine chocolate mint leaves - dried and added to a chocolate mint soap!  Bliss!

Secondly, botanicals can be used in soap making.  What exactly are botanicals and how are they different from herbs?  Botancials can consist of flower petals such as calendula petals, rose hips, chamomile buds, leaves, powders, and seeds.  Seeds can provide a gentle exfoliant to the skin all the while nourishing the skin at the same time.  Again, like using herbs, it is best to use dried botanicals.

Finally - what is an infusion?  Infusions are when we take a base oil such as olive oil and add herbs or botanicals to the oil.  We then let the oil slowly heat or sit in the sun for days or weeks so that the beautiful color and scent can penetrate the base oil.  This results in some beautiful colors as well as remarkable scented base oils.
If you have a fragrant garden, you can pick the buds, leaves, and flowers to add to a base oil.  You can gently heat the oil for an hour or two in the top of a double boiler or left to warm in the sun for 24 to 48 hours. Some soap makers will let the infusions soak for several weeks, changing out the soaked herbs for fresh ones each week until the desired scent and/or color is reached. Soaked flowers can be removed and new flowers added to intensify the fragrance that will be transferred to the oil. 
Infused oils can be used either as a base oil or added at trace to fragrantly superfat the soap (more on superfatting in another post).

Infusing Olive Oil with Calendula petals.

Finally - you can simply 'decorate' your soaps with beautiful buds, herbs and botanicals.  I love to top lavender soap with lavender buds.

But ~ I must warn you ~ some folks do not like the 'mess' of buds on their soap.  They are so beautiful on the bar - but yes, they do fall off the soap when you use it. Yes, they do leave little bits in your sinks. Yes, they do leave little reminders in your bath tub.  But, to me, the beauty of the buds and the scents that radiates off the soap is SO worth the little bit of mess!

I have found soap making to be so very therapeutic.  While going through some life changing events this past year, I found much peace as I could let my creative side flow through my soap making.

Coming up with colors, scents, and then thinking about botanicals, herbs, and infusions opens a whole new world to soap making.

I hope this gives you a little glimpse into the amazing world of soap making.  Now when you see my soap with buds, or infused oils on the label - you will know exactly what has been added or gone into the process of making that bar special!

Have a blessed day ~