This watermelon soap recipe from guest blogger, Rebecca D. Dillon of Soap Deli News, is a great way to enjoy your favorite summer fruit year round and naturally fight aging!
One of my favorite things about summer is eating juicy, ripe watermelon! Sticky, sweet and delicious, watermelon is full of nutrients our bodies love like vitamins A, B6 and C, lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids.
However, it doesn't have to be summer to enjoy the health benefits that watermelon has to offer. Not only is watermelon fruit powder available year round, but when used in natural beauty products your skin can enjoy some of the same healthy benefits.
An easy way to take advantage of the beauty benefits of watermelon is to craft your own watermelon soap recipe.
Those nutrients I mentioned? Well, their properties make watermelon a perfect choice for natural, anti-aging skin care.
Vitamins A and C, in combination with the lycopene content found in watermelon, have been shown to help fight the free radicals that cause aging. While vitamin A has wonderful toning properties that can help to shrink pores as well as combat acne.
And making homemade soap using the cold process soapmaking method means you won't need a preservative for my watermelon soap recipe. Because of the chemical process homemade soap goes through to convert the fats and alkali into soap, the watermelon fruit powder in this recipe is naturally preserved.
This means you can enjoy watermelon soap year round without having to worry about your homemade product going bad.
Learn how to make fruit powder so you can make your own watermelon powder.
While you could easily use fresh watermelon fruit in place of the water in my watermelon soap recipe, utilizing watermelon powder means watermelon doesn't have to be in season for you to make this soap.
Links in this post may be affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission from sales.
Let's Make Soap!
Ready to get started? Great! There are a few things to know if you've never made cold process soap. It's of utmost importance that you never use any aluminum containers or utensils when making cold process soap.
I know someone who made of the mistake of doing this recently not realizing her soapmaking pot was aluminum and the video documentation was quite terrifying.
The combination of aluminum and lye (sodium hydroxide) creates both hydrogen gas and sodium aluminate. And they aren't something to fool around with. So if you're not sure whether your container is made of aluminum or not, err on the side of caution.
In addition, you will also need to wear eye protection, a safety mask and gloves as well as have heat safe containers in which to mix the lye-water and soapmaking oils.
If you've never made cold process soap before, then I highly recommend that you first read my tutorial on how to make cold process soap from scratch.
You may also want to start with a more basic soap recipe such as my basic Bastille soap recipe that I shared previously on Everything Pretty.
WATERMELON SOAP RECIPE WITH REAL WATERMELON FRUIT
Ingredients:
- .8 oz. castor oil
(5%)
- 4 oz. refined coconut oil
(25%)
- 7.2 oz. pomace olive oil
(45%)
- 2.4 oz. safflower oil
(15%)
- 1.6 oz. refined shea butter
(10%)
- 4.8. fl. oz. distilled water
- 2.1 oz. lye
/sodium hydroxide
- 1 tablespoon watermelon powder
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon raspberry red mica
(or similar)
- 1 oz. melon ball fragrance oil
Instructions:
My watermelon soap recipe has 6% superfat with the water as 30.5% of the oil weight. It will yield six homemade soap bars when using this six-cavity rectangle silicone soap mold.
Step #1
Begin by measuring out the distilled water in a heat safe container or pitcher. Then, using a digital scale
Step #2
Now weigh out the soapmaking oils and shea butter. Combine in a separate heat safe container. Then gently melt the shea butter and oils together either at 50% power in the microwave, in a crock pot or over medium-low heat on the stove.
Once the oils have been heated and the shea butter has fully melted, remove from heat and set aside.
Step #3
Once your soapmaking oils and the lye-water reach around 95°F (and are roughly within 10 degrees of one another) you are ready to make soap!
Using measuring spoons, measure out the watermelon powder, poppy seeds and mica. Add to the container with the soapmaking oils then mix briefly with an immersion or stick blender
Step #4
Then slowly pour the lye-water into the oils. Mix with your immersion blender until the soap reaches a light trace.
Step #5
Once the soap has begun to trace, weigh out and add the melon ball fragrance oil. Then mix again until the fragrance oil is evenly combined throughout and the soap rethickens.
Step #6
Pour the soap into the cavities of your silicone mold using a spatula to smooth down the tops. Then lightly cover the mold with plastic wrap.
Step #7
Set your soap aside in a safe location. You can then unmold your soap 24-48 hours later.
Step #8
Once you unmold your soap, allow it to cure for at least four weeks before use. Then wrap and label as desired for personal use or gifting.
If you love my watermelon soap recipe then you may also enjoy some of my other homemade soap recipes. Some of my favorite soapmaking recipes are my aloe vera soap recipe, my calendula soap recipe, my coffee soap recipe and my egg soap recipe. (Yes, it's made with real eggs!)
You can discover more of my homemade soap, bath, body and beauty recipes at Soap Deli News blog. Or you can follow me on all of your favorite social media platforms
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