Curiosity drove me to experiment with neem oil as a special additive in my latest batch of soap. I haven't used neem oil before, but it is reputed to be very beneficial to the skin--as are many oils. It is also reputed to be quite stinky. Now the word stinky caught my interest. I had to try some! Although it's obtained from pressed seeds of the neem tree, neem oil could be mistaken for a petrochemical. It's dark brown and thick, like used motor oil, and smells like it, too--with a sulphurous undertone of petroleum jelly on steroids. I added neem oil at 5% of total oils, to a tried and true soap recipe. Even at that dilution, it gives a strong smell and very bitter taste to the blended oils. (It is not to be ingested, nor used full strength.) Combining the mixture with lye water causes a hot chemical reaction. This heating results in the newly made, still-liquid soap smelling like a combination of diesel exhaust, and cheap noodle flavouring. Lovely! Now what does one do with hydrocarbon/sulphur-smelling soap? Aha! Make mini-volcano shapes, like sulphuric fumaroles. Sprinkle sulphur-yellow soap fragments around the "vents". Then add soap fragments like hardened lava, to the body of the soap. Celebrate the authenticity of the neem oil stink, and name it "Brimstone Soap". I've used this creation. It's functional soap. It doesn't leave its smell behind. I don't have any skin conditions that need to be soothed, so I cannot speak to its efficacy at soothing. But I invite you, dear reader, to be courageous, and try this soap, yourself, if only to say that you have. Available on the Products page. #neemoilsoap #brimstonesoap
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AuthorThe 13th Fairy is the voice behind the muse. Regan is the voice behind the 13th Fairy. Archives
March 2021
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