Loofah Soap - So Ingenious!

As some of you know I have been dabbling in soap making.  I saw a YouTube video of how to make Loofah Soap, so I thought "Why not give it a try?"  So I did the loofah in the Pringles can thing and it was not exactly the way I wanted it to go.  

This weekend I tried it again with what is called "Melt & Pour" soap.  It is exactly as advertised.  You melt it in the microwave and pour it into molds, but in my case it was PVC pipe. Take a look at the pictures below.

Here are my PVC tubes filled with the loofahs and soap.  I do have end caps on the bottom of the tubes, but I wanted to make sure they were sealed tight, so I duck taped them.  The red thing on the right is a mold I used for the leftover soap.

Here is a top view of the tube.  I didn't want to make them too full and you can clearly see the loofah here.  The little "ice" looking pieces are the soap that did not melt completely.  Darn things!  I didn't see them in the mix.

Another view of the top of the tubes.  The green soap is Grapefruit fragrance and the blue is "Sea of Love."  It's a nice light fragrance.  You can see a little bit of my LOVE Scrabble Tile soap on the rack too.

Here a tube is upside down.  I have taken the duck tape off and have pried open the end cap.  I had to use a flat head screwdriver because of the suction on that end.  By the way, before I added the loofahs & poured the soap in the mold I sprayed it down with butter spray.  I hoped this would make it slide out of the mold.  I read somewhere on the internet that it would work and then I could take a regular veggie can (unopened) and push up from the bottom to get the soap out.  The can fits inside the tube with no problem.

When I opened it up I could see the spray butter, and also the darn barcode label that was on the end cap.  So once I cut them into bars, the soap ends will be used at home.

It worked!  Out of the tubes they came.  I didn't have the strength to do it, but my muscle-bound husband was up to the task.  I had to use 2 loofahs per tube, and each tube was in 2 batches.  That's why there is a little color difference.  I used some green & blue pigment powder to color the soap and it will not stain the skin or washcloth.  I made sure of that!

You can really see the color difference here.  I think next time, I'll use less color.  With it being as dark as it is, you can't see the loofahs that well.

A closeup.  By the way, the little 'crumbs' you see on the towel below the soap is actually lavender buds from other soap I made.  I've just been too lazy to clean it up.

The soap slices.  It makes a really nice pattern doesn't it?

Another view and you can see the 2 pieces that were at the top of the tubes.

Looks like I had an air pocket in one piece.

I have wrapped the soap in plastic food wrap.  My mom had a big roll left over from when she had the bar (at which I was once the head burger flipper) so I used that for the wrapping.  It worked out great!  It took me forever to design the label for these because I am so anal about things.  I swear it took me as long to do the label as it did to melt and pour the soap. I'm happy with the results though.

Glamour shot

Another glamour shot

I wanted to get this soap made in time for my show coming up next month  It should give me an indication of whether the soap is worth making.  If it is I plan to make more.  I'll be pricing them at $6.00 each or 4 for $20.00.