So I've been feeling a little inspired over the last few days …

I started on my first batch of homemade body wash which naturally, did not go quite as according to plan

I used the ‘Bar of Soap’ method that I found on Pintrest on Sunday night.  The pin originates from Jillee’s blog www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com

 

I've read a handful of articles on this method and while the recipes change a little from article to article, the method itself remains the same.  
Jillee tells us she used 3 bars of Dove and 6 cups of water.  

Jillee explains that it is very watery at first but thickens over night, ending up just slightly runnier than a normal body wash.  She also advises that due to the amount of moisturizer in Dove, the 6 cups of water works perfectly and recommends adding more to suit depending on the soap you use...

I like Dove soap and I love all things Shea Butter, so I opted for a 2pk of Dove Shea Butter soap. 

As I was using 2 bars instead of 3, I used 4 cups of water instead of 6 – this is where it went wrong!!

My turn now!!

I put the 4 cups of water into a large pan and started bringing it to the boil.  As it started boiling, I put the first bar of soap into a glass jug and microwaved it on full for 90 secs.  I stirred it with a wooden chopstick and transferred it directly into the pan then did the same with the second bar of soap. It takes an age for every last bit of soap to dissolve but all  you need to do is stir it from time to time while you're waiting.

I don’t know if it was because of the Shea Butter, but it was actually pretty thick by the time all of the soap had dissolved and actually solidified in just a few hours!! 

Luckily, I had some spare time last night so I put 1 cup of water in a pan and brought it to the boil.  I turned down the heat and started to spoon the body wash mixture into the water.  It actually wasn't as solid as I’d thought – it could be cut with a knife but was still actually quite soft and had almost a mousse kind of consistency - which was good as it meant it dissolved really quickly!

As you can see, once melted, the consistency was just slightly thicker than water.  I transferred it into a container and left it to cool. 

 I checked the body wash mix after about 8 hours to find it was still too thick! 

 It was more like a body butter consistency! so today, I've  melted it into another cup of boiling water – bringing it to 6 cups of water for 2 bars of soap - again, it melted really quickly and this time it was even waterier (is that even a word?!)

Fingers crossed, but I’ll let you know how it goes!!