Happy Birthday Mighty Mango

It’s my birthday today! I love the smell of mango and the beautiful colour of pink/red in my soaps. I look forward to lathering up some bubbles with a glass of bubbles in the bath.

For a birthday treat I decided to do some simple basic soaps. For this one I used Mango fragrance and a red mica for colour. It is simple and beautiful. Smells fresh and leaves your skin silky smooth from the coconut oil.

Ingredient and Equipment:

• 182g Sodium Hydroxide
• 435g Water
• 500g Olive Oil
• 312g Palm Oil
• 284g Coconut Oil
• 62g Shea Butter
• 25g Mango Fragrance
• 1 tsp Red Mica (mix with 10 g of any oil to make a paste)
• Microwave safe mixing bowl
• Mould (lined with grease proof paper to help the removal process)
• Rubbing alcohol (91% or more)

Method:

1. Prepare all your ingredients.
2. Place all your oils and butters in the microwave proof mixing bowl and place in the microwave to melt.
3. When all have melted, leave to one side to cool.
4. While the oils are cooling, mix your sodium hydroxide into your water, not the other way around. Make sure the room is well ventilated and you are wearing your protective glasses and have long sleeves on.
5. Allow the lye solution to cool somewhere safe.
6. Once both the oil mixture and lye mixture have cooled to around 55 degrees Celsius or below, pour the lye solution into the oil mixture.
7. Blend with a hand blender until all the oils have emulsified and the texture is consistent. You want to make a light trace where you can drip the mixture on the surface and write your name, it should then disappear after a few seconds or so.
8. Once the light trace has been achieved, add your mica paste and hand blend again.
9. Now is the time to add your fragrance. Do so slowly, this way you can control any seizing or issues as soon as you spot them. Hand blend to incorporate the fragrance until you have a medium trace.
10. Now pour the mixture into your lined mould and spray with rubbing alcohol.
11. Cover your soap and place in a safe, dark, cool place.
12. After 48 hours or so, you can remove the soap from the mould and cut into sections.

Here you have my finished product, ready to gift or sell.