Both Argan oil and Shea Butter are wonderful additions to your skincare regime and the perfect combination for cold processed soap, This is a simple formulation for just that. If you are new to soap making please read this guide before you start. If you are a seasoned soap maker, then you know what to do.

I recently come across a suppliers formula that utilised cationic quar in a simple anionic soap containing sodium palmitate prill (95%). This soap was simply combined and moulded using an extruder. As is the nature of these soaps, the pH is normally about pH 9.5-10 so I was curious to see what would happen if I made a cold processed soap and introduced cationic guar to it. Cationic quar is a conditioning agent that has a pH of around 9 and needs to lowered to an acidic pH in order to be ‘active’ or give substance to hair and skin. The supplier formula seemed to go against the norm and as such I was intrigued. My effort is more an experiment than anything else, just to see what happened.

I made this soap a year ago and tested it, it is a very hard bar with a nice foam. It is very much non drying in my opinion.

I have given amounts for all of the ingredients including the sodium hydroxide however you may also want to run the amounts through a lye calculator independently to double check. I used a natural fragrance blend from Candle Shack in the UK. You can replace this with another essential oil or fragrance blend of your choosing.

Method

1. Weigh out your butters and melt until they are liquid and add the argan oil

2. Weigh out your water and sodium hydroxide (lye) separately

3. Weigh out your clay and set aside

4. Weigh out the glycerin and add the cationic quar to it, stir and set aside

5. Weigh out your fragrance and set aside

6. Very carefully pour the lye into the water and stir until dissolved

7. When both the water phase and they oil phase are tepid in temperature add the water/lye to the oil

8. With a stick blender, blend until it reaches trace

9. Add your additives in order (clay, glycerin blend and fragrance) in order

10. Mix until all blended and smooth and pour into moulds

11. leave to set for 24 hours and then unmould and leave to cure for 4-6 weeks.