As a gardener, I spend a lot of time working outside. And since I don’t like to wear gloves, my hands can get really dirty. So I wind up washing them quite often, which is hard on my skin and tends to leave me with chapped and cracked hands and fingers. If this sounds familiar, I’m guessing I’m not the only one with this problem. Fortunately I have a solution: homemade hand soap that is tailor made for hard-working hands!
bars of Patchouli Citrus Hand Soap
This is our latest creation in hand soaps. The base recipe has lanolin for its emollient properties, and castor oil for its moisturizing qualities and its contribution to a fluffy, long-lasting lather. It features patchouli and a blend of citrus essential oils for a fresh, clean scent.
Patchouli Citrus Hand Soap in action
For this soap, super fine pumice and orange peel powder provide scrubbing action for dirty hands. Here we are using the pumice at a rate of 1 teaspoon per pound of oils. You can increase this for more scrubbing power, or use a bit less. The pumice and orange peel powder are available from soap supply stores and online merchants such as Bramble Berry, Wholesale Supplies Plus and Majestic Mountain Sage.
fine pumice and orange peel powder
We poured this batch into a round silicone mold that makes 5 oz bars. The one pound (oil weight) recipe filled 5 of the rounds.
silicone soap molds
Patchouli Citrus Hand Soap 
Print This Recipe
(A Happy Acres original)
Olive Oil – 166.5 grams (37%)
Coconut Oil – 135 grams (30%)
Palm Oil – 112.5 grams (25%)
Lanolin liquid wax – 13.5 grams (3%)
Castor Oil – 22.5 grams (5%)
Distilled Water – 171 grams
Lye – 62.5 grams (7% superfat)
The following ingredients are added at light trace:
1 tsp of powdered pumice
1/2 tsp orange peel powder
1 .5 tsp patchouli essential oil
1 tsp grapefruit essential oil
1 tsp lime essential oil
This recipe is for a 1 lb/450g batch (oil weight) of soap. We ran this recipe through a soap/lye calculator, and you should always run your recipes too before making them. This one at SoapCalc is our favorite.
NOTE: This soap is superfatted/discounted at 7%
Please refer to the cold process instructions here if you are new to making soap. Always take the proper safety precautions (we wear rubber gloves and goggles when mixing and making the soap). And for more recipes and information, check out my wife’s Soap Recipe page.
