4th of July bath sugar cubes – single use body scrubs
By Erin Pikor owner of Naiad Soap Arts
These easy to make, festive scrubs combine cleansing glycerin soap with exfoliating sugar to make perfect single use solid sugar scrubs! Erin was generous enough to share it with SoapQueen.com readers. It can be done in all sorts of colors, not just patriotic seasonal ones.
This recipe makes approximately 24 ounce-ounce single use sugar scrubs.
What you’ll need:
4 oz. by weight clear glycerin soap (for the red and blue scrubs)
2 oz. by weight white glycerin soap (for the white scrubs)
6 oz. by weight grape seed oil (jojoba, sweet almond or olive oil may be substituted)
18 oz. by weight white sugar
Red Apple Fragrance for your red scrubs
Sun-Ripened Raspberry Fragrance for your blue scrubs
White Tea & Ginger Fragrance for your white scrubs
Blunt edge soap cutter or knife
2-cup glass measuring cup or melting soap
Spoons
Cutting surface
Wide mouth jars or plastic food containers for storage
These ingredients will be split into three batches - one each of red, white and blue!
Step one: Melt 2 oz. of clear soap in the microwave using your 2-cup glass measuring cup. This should take about 30 seconds.
Step two: Mix 2 oz. of your oil with the melted soap and stir until blended. The mix should still be liquid at this point. If it starts to thicken pop back in the microwave for a few seconds until your soap/oil mix is liquid.
Step three: Add color, pinkberry sherbet lab color to your liking and mix thoroughly. For this project I diluted the 10ml bottle of lab color in 2 oz. of water and used 4 drops. (skip this step for the white scrubs)
Step four: Add 20 drops of fragrance oil and mix thoroughly.
Step five: Add 6 oz. of the sugar and stir rigorously until completely blended.
Step six: Pour or spoon into you mold cavities. You should have a thick yet pourable mixture at this point. If it is too thick to spoon or pour into your mold you may heat for a few seconds in the microwave, but don’t heat it for too long as the sugar will begin to dissolve.
Each color will make enough to fill 2 of the 4 cavities of the mold. Let harden to room temp and pop out of the mold! Note you may have to pat down the mixture with your fingers as it may thicken quickly.
Repeat steps one through six for your blue and white scrubs, making sure to use the white glycerin soap for the white scrubs.
Step seven: After you have all of the scrubs unmolded, cut them into quarters using a knife or soap cutter.
Store in an airtight container such as a wide mouth jar until you are ready to use them. The glycerin soap in the recipe makes for a creamy emulsified scrub when mixed with water. To use, just take one scrub into the shower, knead with a little water in the palm of your hand and scrub over your skin! These will stay fresh for 3 months and be sure to keep them away from moisture so they don’t melt. Enjoy!
Big thanks to Erin from Naiad Soap Arts You can always buy her pre-made sugar scrubs at her Etsy shop if you don't have the time or inclination to make them yourself. Happy Fourth of July! Have a safe and happy holiday celebration with your families.
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48 comments:
OMG!!! Thank you Erin and Soapqueen for sharing this recipe with us! I have been playing with this idea for a little while now with less than optimal results. You are so generous for sharing your ideas, thank you:D
Can't wait to try these! I've been meaning to and this looks like such a simple recipe. Thank you!
Very cute. One question.... which mold are you using in this tutorial?
Loves it! I've been trying to perfect this technique forever. Can't wait to play around now!
Joanna,
It's the Milky Way Basic Square mold.
Patrice,
I am so thrilled that the recipe is the tipping point for you to perfect your recipe. Yippee!
Glad you guys like this! These are so fun to make and once you get the basic proportions down you can really get creative with the oil blend! Have fun!
Erin and Anne-Marie,
You ladies are "Da Bombe's!
Erin, your pictures look
absolutely tantalizing. The product, along with the photography creates a truly visceral experience!
Thank you so very much!
I cannot wait to make these and the recipe has been Well Worth Waiting For!
:) :) :) :)
yippee hi ho cayee..!
Let Freedom Ring!
Happy 4th!
I want to rush into my kitchen and make these, but alas,
dinner guest are coming in a mere 3hours and I have to make my famous beans, ribs, stawberry shortcake, tea, and all the fixins! It will just have to wait!
So I set aside some time this morning to work on a sugar cube scrub recipe...after pouring my third batch and waiting for it to cool, I thought, "I wonder what the Soap Queen has to say today?" :)
The moral of the story is, always *start* your day with Soap Queen!
This is so neat! I love new ways to use glycerin soap and this is really different!
I have used Erin's sugar cubes before and they're so great - I highly recommend them!
Update: I just came out of the shower with my sugar cubes I made this morning...fabulous!!! These were a snap to make. Erin and Anne-Marie thank you:D
happy 4th of July
oh these are really really nice :)
I'm actually down to a tiny batch of white MP soap base so I'm going to go ahead and do them!
Thanks Erin & Anne!
Made these yesterday-- what a lovely idea! Going to gift them.
Thanks!
Thanks AM & Erin for this great tutorial. Very cute idea! I will definitely play with this one :)
those look great!
These are awesome! A great project to do with kids too :D
I'm getting back into my soapmaking - I only do it for home right now, but there's nothing stopping me from selling it, too! LOL Like I don't have enough to do right now.
Many thanks to Erin for sharing this scrumptious looking recipe, and to Anne-Marie for posting it! It's actually making me hungry... ;)
absolutely gorgeous.
Beautiful pictures, really makes you want to go and make them RIGHT NOW!!! Which I just may do, as soon as the littlies are in bed!! Thanks!!!!!
These look great. I've been making something similar for a few years and put them in clamshell containers. Mine melt when it gets too hot outside though, so I think I'll try Erin's recipe and see if does any better at outdoor shows.
Thanks so much to both of you for sharing this great recipe! I have some questions though...I tried making some of these today using BB's fresh cut grass and a combination of two BB mango scents (I think fresh mango and mango mango but I'd have to run downstairs to check).
I did freshcut grass first. It was really sugary and a little hard to pour but still pourable. I used olive oil since I didn't have any of the others on hand. This one has been sitting on the counter for hours and every time I try to take it out of the mold it falls apart and crumbles. I keep smushing it back in hoping there's still hope.
When I did the mango blend I was a tad short on olive oil so I just reached in the cabinet and came out with some canola oil and added half an ounce. This one was not nearly as sugary but it poured smoother, set up rather quickly and I was able to unmold and slice it just fine. The cubes are really smooth and I almost couldn't even feel the sugar until I used one.
So what went wrong with my freshcut grass? Will it ever get hard enough to cut? And are these supposed to be really sugary or more smooth like my mango ones? Thanks in advance!
Love this! Thanks for sharing. I made two mini batches using sunflower oil. I poured them in the six cavity clamshells. Perfect to unmold and breakaway one cube at time for each use. Two ounces of oil, two ounces of MP base and six ounces of sugar filled two clamshells.
Hi Crystal -
I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to write back yesterday. I was going to try and make the recipe and see how it turned out but haven't had time yet.
It sounds like the Fresh Cut grass got a bit more sugar than the Mango. Typically, when I can't keep them together, it's because there's not enough binding agent - in this case the oil/soap mixture.
You can remelt the whole thing and add some more melt and pour soap into there to (and probably more sugar because the sugar might melt in the microwave) OR just package the crumbles into jars and use it more like a traditional scrub. =)
Thanks for the photo compliments Kat! - and thank everyone for their wonderful posts!
Hi Crystal,
For the fresh cut grass, like Anne-Marie said, it sounds like there may have been too much sugar or not enough glycerine soap. Also, I have found that if the soap/oil is too hot it will cause this same effect. I am not sure why but it may have to do with the mixture separating after pour.
It won't set up but you can try as Anne-Marie suggested and add more soap. It will remelt but the sugar will start to dissolve so the scrub won't be as scrubby.
The temperature of the oil/soap mixture when you add the sugar will determine how easy it is to pour so you can always give the soap/oil an extra buzz in the microwave before adding the sugar to make it easier to pour. Like I said, I suspect that if soap/oil is too hot, like boiling, that it will result in a crumbly scrub.
I have tried many types of oils in different combinations and the resulting scrub consistency has always been the same, though I have not tried canola oil. The mango sound like it came out perfectly!
I hope this helps!
:)
Thanks so much for your responses! I actually tried the fresh cut grass in the shower today just as a scrub and I loved it. Now that the kids are in bed I'm going to attempt it again because I am in love with this scent. And this time I'll be doing it with grapeseed oil. Picked some up today. Thanks again!
What a nice idee!
and they've a lovely color
can i use goat's milk soap to make this scrub?
Yes, you can use goat milk soap as long as it is a glycerin soap base. Note if you are using it for colored scrubs they will come out pastel due to the off white color of goat milk soap base.
Any glycerin soap base will work! :)
Im wondering why you HAVE to use glycerin base.....Why not any soap base?
Because of the way glycerin melts?
Thanks:)
Caty L,
Good question! Yes, you do have to use glycerin soap base because of how it melts and the solid consistency when at room temp. You need that property to make the scrubs stick together.
I don't think one would not be able to melt CP for rebatch to the right consistency without adding water which might also dissolve the sugar a bit and make for a mushy scrub that would also have a cure time.
:)
hmm how would you label these?
For labeling, if you are talking about the ingredients, the main ingredient is glycerin soap so you would list that with all of the ingredients of the glycerin soap in parentheses behind it, and then list all of your other ingredients in descending order.
It is just like on food labels.
Does that clarify or was there another labeling question?
Thanks!
can i just use the same color and scent that i use for my M&P soaps? can i use mica?
can i just use the same color and scent that i use for my M&P soaps? can i use mica?
Yes, you can use regular mica in the recipe. Just mix it in with the melted soap base and stir well.
are these ok to ship, since there might be some moisture? also, how should i package them to ship?
They're fine to ship but package in a bail jar or mason jar. They need a hard shipping case =)
Oh humminahummina... this will be tried, and soon! Any thoughts on using salt instead? I have 5 pounds of fine sea salt that could be put to use...
Hi tartchef!
I have not tried a larger grain. The fine grain sea salt might give the same binding action with the proportions of glycerin soap and salt that the recipe calls for. I would say try a small batch and if it does not work just increase the proportion of glycerin soap in small increments until it all sticks together!
You may want to convert to grams for this and you can just multiply the ounces by 28.35 to get the gram weights.
Have fun and let us know how it turns out!
would using oxides and ultramarines be ok for coloring these? i could have sworn i read somewhere that they would make sugar scrubs (?) have a stinky sulphur smell to them...is this true? wouldn't want that :)
I have used the Merlot Sparkle Mica that Brambleberry carries and have not had a problem. It contains mica and iron oxides - I have not tried ultramarines yet.
Thanks so much, Erin! I know sea salt can be problematic in making bar soap, hence my trepidation... but I will experiment this weekend & report back :)
I have kind of a silly question...Your instructions say that these will "stay fresh for three months". What happens after the three months? Do they start to break down or seperate? Or will they just loose some of their scent?
I made a batch of these for myself last night and just LOVE them! Especially since there is no oil slick on my shower floor after! Thank you oh so much!!
Hi Anonymous! :)
Not a silly question at all!
They do not break down and the color scent stays if stored in a cool, dark, dry place in proper air tight packaging. I say three months because this recipe does not contain an antioxidant or preservative for the oils. The shelf life is dependent on the shelf life of the oil you use.
Thanks so much! I'll research the shelf life of my sweet almond oil.
I can't thank you enough for this recipe. As a mom I wash my hands often during the day. I am not only going to use these in the shower twice a week but also keeping a cube by the sink. I think that using it on my hands once a day or every other day will really help with the water damage. It has already made my hands look much younger! Plus it is much faster than lotion! I think that these cubes are going to be a real life saver come winter! Thank you again!
I am so happy that you are getting good use out of the scrubs and thank you for the lovely words!
I love them for my hands too! I also do a once over on my feet every day and I have seen a wonderful improvement in the dryness on my feet.
If you don't have the scrubs around you can also just take one Tablespoon of fine white sugar, mix it with some lemon juice and olive oil to form a paste, and use that as a hand scrub in a pinch! The lemon helps to even out skin tone!
happy scrubbing!
Anne-Marie/Erin
I haven't made the scrubs as of yet - but regarding preservative - how much would you incorporate into the recipe - 1%?
I'm actually thinking of the perfect color and fragrance for this now :)
thanks!
Thanks for the tweet on this...I somehow missed this post. Just may give it a try this weekend.
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