Luxury Handmade Soap Makes a Charming Low-Budget Gift

Handmade soap is soap made the old fashioned way, with oil and lye. For those with sensitive skin, handmade soaps can be a respite from itchiness. A properly pH balanced soap can help heal dry skin, and handmade soaps made from natural oil are often pH measured and balanced by hand by the artisan who made the soap.

If you lack the skill, ambition, or tools to make soap, a number of small craftsellers offer handmade soaps milled on their kitchen stoves for sale online. If you choose an independent soapmaker who mills soap in their home, you can be sure that you will get an absolutely unique gift for your loved ones. Handmade liquid hand soap or laundry soap can also make charming boutique gifts for soap lovers who already seem to have everything.

Oils used in organic handmade soap include olive oil, coconut oil and refined palm oil, but almost any oil can be used in soap, including bacon fat. Many natural ingredients are added to soap to give it color, fragrance and texture. According to Tatyana Hill in her book "Soap", common additives to handmade soap include chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, herbs, mint, paprika and turmeric.

Handmade soaps are often said to have healthful properties. Healing ingredients like aloe, vitamin E, carrot, and goat's milk can be added to soap. Molds for handmade soap can be bought as cookie, cake or bread molds at local stores, or can be cast from plaster to create a handmade soap mold that is completely unique.

In the soft time before it sets into hard soap, handmade soap can be decorated with flowers, packaged neatly or left on its own to stand with no packaging. Some handmade soap can be designed to look like food items such as brownies, cupcakes, and cookies. While not a good recommendation for a household with children, handmade soap that looks like food can be a fun and calorie-free gift for food fanatics of all types.

Soap is a gift you can keep on giving. Unlike candy, which can be unhealthy in large quantities, no one ever became diabetic because of soap. Soap is not a trinket that can build up and become overwhelming in a pile of clutter. Beautiful soap will not end up at the bottom of a box on the way to the thrift store.

Because soap is perpetually in need to wash oneself, unless you positively bury your gift recipient in luxury handmade soaps, the gift of a unique soap made by an independent soap artist will always be appreciated by anyone who understands the need for good hygiene and beautiful, fragrant, handmade organic soaps.

References:

Soap by Tatyana Hill; 2003