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charcoal soap bar with activated charcoal powder on wooden spoon

DIY activated charcoal soap bar

Making a DIY activated charcoal soap bar to use as a face wash or body wash is going to become part of your natural skin care routine. It requires a few natural ingredients that are going to leave your skin smooth, nourished and glowing.
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Equipment

  • glass measuring cup or large glass bowl
  • double boiler or large saucepan
  • wooden spoons
  • soap mold set

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Chop up 1 pound of your shea butter or goats milk melt and pour soap base into similar size pieces, about 1-2 inches in size. This will make it easier to melt and stir the soap.
  • Place the pieces of melt and pour soap into a double boiler on your stovetop. Heat the water to a gentle boil, while using the wooden spoon to stir the soap pieces after they start to melt.
    If you don’t have a double boiler, then you can do what I did and use a large saucepan with water halfway up the side while placing a 4 cup glass measuring cup inside. The measuring cup works well and makes pouring into the molds much easier.
  • Continue stirring the soap until smooth and no pieces are left. Once that happens, remove the double boiler or glass measuring cup from the stovetop and dry off the bottom. They will be hot, so make sure to have towels and pot holders nearby. Turn off the stove.
  • Add the 5 teaspoons of activated charcoal powder to the melted soap base, making sure to stir very well to avoid lumps. Next add the 5 teaspoons of sweet almond oil and 80-100 drops of essential oils directly to the mixture and stir again. SEE NOTES FOR MY RECIPE & RECOMMENDED ESSENTIAL OILS.
    Then pour the charcoal soap into your soap molds. I find that this charcoal soap bar recipe makes around 5 bars of soap, depending on the molds you use.
  • Leave the soap in the molds for several hours to overnight. The soap is usually ready after a few hours, but it’s best to leave overnight to be sure it has hardened all the way through. Peel the molds back slowly and gently, so the soap comes out clean and beautiful.
  • If you aren’t going to use all of your activated charcoal soap right away, then you will need to wrap your soap so it stays in good condition for your future use.
    Plastic wrap, coffee filers and parchment paper are great choices to wrap homemade soap. You can also use tissue paper, scrapbooking paper and wrapping paper!

Notes

When making an activated charcoal soap bar, you are going to need to work quickly once the melt and pour soap is ready. One downside of melt and pour soap is that is can harden quickly. For this reason, I highly recommend getting out all of your supplies and ingredients right away.
In my recipe, I used 25 drops lavender, 35 drops peppermint and 30 drops bergamot. More essential oil recommendations by skin type are below.