Edible soap

I feel more than a little guilty because I have sat on this recipe for about 7 months, and I know it could help others in the same way that it helped me.

There was a time when my skin was so bad that I could not use any pre-made preparation on it at all. Soap, soap substitutes and moisturisers all made me itch painfully and uncontrollably. I spent hundreds of dollars on products that only worsened the problem.

In desperation, I turned to my pantry and made my own ‘soap’ using food products and Mac — and my experiment paid off. I created a soap alternative that soothed and moisturised my skin at the same time.

The recipe I am about to share does not include any soap (usually tallow, lye and other nasties). I guess that makes it ‘unsoap’. Each ingredient (raw, organic) was hand-picked, based on my limited knowledge of its properties. This makes my unsoap 100% edible and, although it tastes pretty good, I prefer to use it on my body.

Recipe #115: Beauty bar. Makes 2 x 150g bars. I used Mac, my Thermomix, but you could equally use a double-boiler and a whisk.

You will need:
► 50g cacao butter | promoted skin elasticity and healing as it is high in Vitamin E and antioxidants
► 50g coconut oil | a known antifungal and antibacterial agent used, amongst other things, to treat skin problems
► 100g honeycomb | antibacterial, antimicrobial and antifungal, and even purported to have anticancer properties. Honey and beeswax are also humectants, which means that they attract water
► 75g oat flour | to soothe the skin. The oat flour is an anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory, and makes the unsoap milky on your skin as it melts
► 15g macadamia oil | an emollient that helps to soften skin, which is awesome for dry and ageing skin
► 10g avocado oil | rich in essential oils and sterolins, avocado is excellent for your skin
► 1 vanilla pod, chopped into small pieces | I have to confess to including the vanilla pod because I had some prescraped pods (I used the seeds in other recipes). Aside from making the mix smell delightful, vanilla nourishes the skin and the pod itself acts as a mild exfoliant.

Place all ingredients, except for the oat flour, into your Thermomix and stir on speed 1 for 5 mins at 37°C…

…until you get this:

Add the oat flour, then blend everything together for 1 minute on speed 3. Pour your mixture into bar-shaped moulds and set in the freezer for at least half an hour.

Chop your unsoap bars into single-use slices and store in the fridge or freezer. If you don’t keep the soap cool, you risk finding a melted mess when you next go to use it — and it is absolutely fine to use your unsoap that way too.

Although there are no preservatives in the recipe, your unsoap contains multiple antifungal, antibacterial and antimicrobial agents, and it will last for months if refrigerated.

This may seem an expensive recipe but, when you have tried everything (and everything includes very, ridiculously expensive creams), sometimes a little love is all you need. Your skin will feel waxy after using your unsoap in the bath or shower, however the natural oils do soak into your skin as it dries and cools.

As always, I would love to know if you try this out for yourself.

Have an awesome week!

H 🙂