Pumpkin Spice Soap is a delightfully fragrant soap with many beneficial properties to help your skin feel soft and to heal rough, problem skin. This is a fragrant soap to celebrate the harvest season.
Pumpkins and pumpkin seed oil are rich in beta carotene, antioxidants, and minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and zinc which help your skin heal. These minerals and antioxidants make pumpkin a memorable choice for those who want healthy and glowing skin, and also want to delay wrinkles and aging, dry skin.
Handmade natural soap is a good choice to keep your skin hydrated in winter when the increase in handwashing with detergent soaps can lead to chapped, split skin. This bar soap makes a great all purpose soap that is gentle enough for facial use and also pleasant for regular hand washing and bathing. If you only make one soap this season, choose this one for all purpose use.
The Properties of Pumpkins and Pumpkin Seed Oil
Pumpkin seed oil is a first rate skin care oil. But it does have a short shelf life so buy it fresh and use it within 6 to 12 months for best results. Never use rancid oils for soap making.
- Pumpkin seed oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) which can curb inflammation. [source]
- It is a good source of vitamin C which is a powerful antioxidant and also contains beta-carotene which helps to reverse UV damage and improve skin texture
- It is used as a preservative and functional ingredient in many foods, cosmetics.[source]
- Pumpkin seed oil provides vitamin E which helps to repair broken skin.
This pumpkin spice soap uses pureed pumpkin as one of the ingredients. Allow this soap to saponify for a full 6 weeks as it air dries before packaging. Soap with food ingredients has a tendency to mold if packaged too soon.
Pumpkin Spice Soap Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 9 5-ounce bars 1x
- Category: soap
- Method: cold process
Description
Pumpkin Spice Soap is a delightfully fragrant soap with many beneficial properties to help your skin feel soft and repair blemishes. It’s a fun soap to celebrate the harvest season.
Ingredients
Water/Lye Portion
- 300 ml of water
- 160 grams of sodium hydroxide (lye)
Oil portion:
- 300 grams of coconut oil
- 500 grams calendula infused olive oil
- 100 grams of cocoa butter
- 100 grams of pumpkin seed oil
Herbs
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon spice
Essential oils (1%)
- 20 drops cinnamon essential oil
- 10 drops frankincense essential oil
- 10 drops clove bud essential oil
- 10 drops ginger essential oil
Instructions
Directions:
- While wearing safety goggles and rubber gloves, weigh lye on a paper plate.
- Add lye to cold water in a glass measuring cup. The lye will heat up the water and release caustic fumes. Do not breathe in the fumes.
- Stir the lye in the water with a wooden spoon to completely dissolve all lye crystals. Allow the lye solution to reduce in temperature to 100°F to 105°F.
Meanwhile
- Measure the oils in an 8 cup glass measuring cup. Place the glass measuring cup in a warm place or in the microwave to fully melt the oils.
- Remove the oils from the heat when some of the oils remain solid and are floating on the top of the oil.
- Stir the oils to melt the remaining oils using the residual heat. Allow the oils to cool to 100°F to 105°F.
- When both the oil and the lye are cooled to 100°F to 125°F, pour the lye solution into the liquid oils.
- Use a stick blender to blend the lye solution and the oils together. Continue stirring until the mixture reaches a thin trace.
At this point
- Stir in the essential oils that you are using, along with the pumpkin puree and the cinnamon spice.
- Continue blending with a stick blender until the soap is well blended and a trail of soap dripped on the surface of the soap, remains on the surface.
- Just a few more minutes after trace, pour the soap recipe into a prepared mold. Scrape the sides of the bowl to get as much of the soap as possible into the mold.
- Cover the soap with plastic wrap or a lid, and allow it to set completely. Keep the soap warm by wrapping the mold in a towel.
Notes
The soap will go through a gel phase indicative of saponification. Leave the soap overnight to complete saponification. In the morning remove the soap from the molds. Because of the fresh pumpkin. this soap may be softer than you are used to. Wait until it is completely cool before cutting into bars.
Stack the bars on a flat surface to cure for 3 to 6 weeks before packaging it. Due to the pumpkin puree in this bar, it should be allowed to dry fully before packaging.
Pumpkin spice soap recipe
Yield: 9 x 5-ounce bars
Ingredients:
Water/Lye Portion
- 300 ml of water
- 160 grams of sodium hydroxide (lye)
Oil portion:
- 300 grams of coconut oil
- 500 grams calendula infused olive oil
- 100 grams of cocoa butter
- 100 grams of pumpkin seed oil
Herbs
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon spice
Essential oils (1%)
- 20 drops cinnamon essential oil
- 10 drops frankincense essential oil
- 10 drops clove bud essential oil
- 10 drops ginger essential oil
Directions:
- While wearing safety goggles and rubber gloves, weigh lye on a paper plate.
- Add lye to cold water in a glass measuring cup. The lye will heat up the water and release caustic fumes. Do not breathe in the fumes.
- Stir the lye in the water with a wooden spoon to completely dissolve all lye crystals. Allow the lye solution to reduce in temperature to 100°F to 105°F.
Meanwhile
4. Measure the oils in an 8 cup glass measuring cup. Place the glass measuring cup in a warm place or in the microwave to fully melt the oils.
5. Remove the oils from the heat when some of the oils remain solid and are floating on the top of the oil.
6. Stir the oils to melt the remaining oils using the residual heat. Allow the oils to cool to 100°F to 105°F.
7. When both the oil and the lye are cooled to 100°F to 125°F, pour the lye solution into the liquid oils.
8. Use a stick blender to blend the lye solution and the oils together. Continue stirring until the mixture reaches a thin trace.
At this point
9. Stir in the essential oils that you are using, along with the pumpkin puree and the cinnamon spice.
10. Continue blending with a stick blender until the soap is well blended and a trail of soap dripped on the surface of the soap, remains on the surface.
11. Just a few more minutes after trace, pour the soap recipe into a prepared mold. Scrape the sides of the bowl to get as much of the soap as possible into the mold.
12. Cover the soap with plastic wrap or a lid, and allow it to set completely. Keep the soap warm by wrapping the mold in a towel.
The soap will go through a gel phase indicating saponification. Leave the soap overnight to complete saponification. In the morning remove the soap from the molds. Because of the fresh pumpkin, this soap may be softer than you are used to. Wait until it is completely cool before cutting into bars.
Stack the bars on a flat surface to cure for a full 6 weeks before packaging it. Due to the pumpkin puree in this bar, it should be allowed to dry fully before packaging, to prevent mold.
Other soap and skin care recipes from Joybilee Farm
Complete Guide to DIY Healing Salves for Everyday Care and First Aid
DIY Eye Cream for Puffy Eyes and Dark Circles
Calendula Soap for Soothing Dry, Rough Skin
DIY Rejuvenating Dead Sea Clay Soap
Would I need to make any adjustments to the recipe if I left out the essential oils, or can I simply leave them out?
Thanks
You can certainly leave them out. No adjustment necessary.