Lavender Soap

My first career, fresh out of college, was owning a retail store.
Intermezzo* was a hip, little joint that catered to 20-somethings with a sales strategy of everything you've never needed.

Lavender Fields ~ Mona, Utah

The first year, I spent my days putzing around the bath department, concocting soaps and lotions with essential plant oils, and waiting for a customer to walk in.
Then something terrible happened. We were voted Twin Cities Best Gift Shop and became a roaring success.
Suddenly, I had employees to deal with and department managers to scold. When my banker said I should sell franchises, I decided to sell the damn place instead.
I learned two valuable life lessons:

1. Success is hardly ever what it's cracked up to be.
2. How to make soap.

You don't really need to grow lavender in order to make soap. It's just that there are over 300 varieties of Lavender in the world and every one of them looks breathtaking in your yard.
The fragrance of English Lavender (Lavendula Angustifolia) is sweeter than their hybrid cousins, the Lavandins. This essential oil is wonderful for aromatherapy and perfume.
Growing Lavender
Choose a garden spot with good drainage and plenty of sun. Once established it is a hardy, drought tolerant perennial - perfect for rock gardens. But, it doesn't start out that way. Use a liquid fertilizer when you water transplants. It helps them adjust to new surroundings.

Work the soil well. It should be so loose you can dig it with your hands. Two inches of sand mulch will moderate soil temperature, reflecting heat and light up toward the plant.
Hot temperatures create more fragrant blooms. Severe pruning in early spring (to 2/3 of its size, leaving 2 inches of green above woody stems) stimulates new growth. Remove blossoms in the fall. Dried lavender makes lovely bouquets.

Lavender Oatmeal Soap
Oatmeal is a natural humectant, wonderful for dry skin. Lavender has a delightful, relaxing fragrance. This soap makes a rich, creamy lather and lasts forever. Makes about 45 bars.
Create a lavender infusion by pouring hot water over 1 cup lavender flowers for about 10 minutes. Set aside. Drain excess water before adding to soap.
Soap Ingredients
128 fl oz palm oil
25 fl oz coconut oil
25.5 fl oz lye
17.25 fl oz water
100ml lavender essential oil
Organic rolled oats – oats will provide texture to your soap. (Begin with one cup, use your own judgment.)

1. Melt palm and coconut oils to 113 degrees
2. Add lye and water
3. Stir until trace*
4. Add essential oil, lavender flowers and oats at trace
5. Pour into mold
6. Allow to set for about 3 days after pouring
7. Pop from molds and slice into bars

* There are hundreds of great websites that can provide more detailed instructions. Click here to visit the Cole Brothers.
* No changes to ingredients, or process, when making soap at high altitude. (Soap might take a little longer to cure.)
* The intermezzo, in the 18th century, was an interlude performed between scenes of an opera, providing comic relief.
** 'To trace' means well-mixed with no streaks of remaining oil.