Bubble Bath

Since we have our own soap business, we already had some of the ingredients for bubble bath on hand, but really they wouldn't be difficult for anyone to procure. I found a simple lavender bubble bath recipe using 1 qt distilled water, 1 - 4 oz bar grated castille soap, 3 oz vegetable glycerin, and fragrance/color as desired. Traditional castille soap was made using 100% olive oil, but more and more frequently we see castlle soap defined as made primarily with olive oil, supplemented with other vegetable-based oils. So I cheated a little (feeling lazy?) and grabbed a bar of Central Coast Lavender (Union Street Soapworks). I used a standard kitchen grater, but I recommend using the smallest holes your grater has (smaller pieces will likely dissolve easier than mine did). I mixed the flakes with the distilled water, which you can get at any grocery store, and then added the glycerin (you can also add your fragrance and color, if desired).

Glycerin is a natural byproduct of the soapmaking process, and is the moisturizer that sets homemade soap apart from commercially-produced bars. Believe it or not, the commercial soap producers extract the glycerin (the best part!) and sell it off to make a higher profit, leaving only a dry cake of chemicals for consumer use. Yuck. However, since making your own soap for the sole purpose of obtaining vegetable glycerin would be a monumental waste of time. We get ours at Majestic Mountain Sage, where you can also purchase the fragrance or essential oil of your choice.

Since my lavender soap was already scented and colored, it yielded a light-scented, pale purple bubble bath. I tested it out last night, and it worked pretty well. I added it kind of late in the bath-filling process so it got a little dilluted before a lot of bubbles could form, so next time I'll add it at the beginning.

Now I have a natural way to enjoy my bath, and it was SO easy to make!