Selfsufficientish.com

Toner is dead easy but I'm not too good on exact amounts so bear with me:

Green tea (bag or leaves)
Sweet almond oil (although you can use avocado oil or even olive)
essential oil of your choice

steep the tea in boiling water for a couple of minutes, strain (or remove tea bag) add approx 1/2 tsp sweet almond oil (to about 100ml tea) and a couple of drops of essential oil. Decant into empty (sterlised) spray pump bottle and allow to cool.

Thats basically it but you can add other things like rose/ lavender water, I've done one with a few drops of rescue remedy before. I tend to use green tea with jasmine but any variation will do. try to choose essential oils suitable for your skin type eg. lavender for sensitive, t tree for oily/ spotty, rose for dry/red skin.

To make wipes I simply make the same solution as above but with maybe another tsp of sweet almond oil then I add it to a tupperware containing folded squares of muslin, make sure they are soaked all the way through and then pop the lid on. The wipes can then be popped in with the laundry after use, if you don't hem them (like me!) they will last 2 or 3 washes.

I usually do enough for a couple of weeks and have never had any problems with things going moldy. if your worried though you can keep them in the fridge, which is nice and refreshing and tightens your skin up.

enjoy!

Green tea for toner is nice. I know someone who mixes it with aloe vera gel for after-shave.

Now that does sound lovely! Quite often the most simplest is really the best!

Mylovelyhorse wrote:I've been making my own soaps for a couple of years now. And yes, everyone does love them - and thinks I'm very clever for making them (I'm not going to let them know how easy it is!). But the best thing for me is knowing exactly what's gone into them. For my favourite soap, the ingredients are just olive oil, coconut oil and lavender essential oil. Wonderful stuff...

I think that's the thing isn't it, so much stuff today that we buy has lord knows what in it, making it at home removes those worries and you're free to experiment with scents too which I like... it's definitely on the to-do list next year (would have been this year but for the two month set back we just had).

I'm definitely going to start of with simple, plain recipes and then experiment once I can do the basics in my sleep

Hi, I;m new both to this site and fairly new to soap making. I've been making it using the melt and pur kits but have found that it is really greasy. I wondered if other people have had this experience or could tell me where I;m going wrong? Would I be better to make it from scratch?

Best wishes
Beth

we have been making wvo biodiesel and have lots of glycerin as a waste product. im after a way to make soaps .at the mo i just use a dab of glycerin as a household cleaner and for an alternative to swarfega. does any one know what else i can do with it? if any one is in the area of northamptonshire then we have lots of glycerin going spare,would like to trade some for tips and ideas methods or ingredients. regards .