The following soap recipe is wonderful for men who spend a great deal of time working outside, as it has a tendency to repel bugs and smells rather “manly”. However, it’s also wonderful for all outdoor enthusiasts that love the natural smell of fresh plants, but prefer to avoid nasty biting insects!
This super simple melt and pour soap recipe is loaded with natural exfoliants to help scrub clean even the most stubborn dirt from the garden but also offers a natural repellent to help keep pests at bay.
Citronella essential oil offers a slightly fruity, citrus-like fresh aroma that is known to repel biting insects such as mosquitoes, black flies and chiggers.
Eucalyptus essential oil is antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial. It’s extremely soothing to the skin and highly effective in treating minor cuts, wounds, insect bites and more. We’ve added it to our gardeners’ dream soap to help combat infections that are caused by tears, pokes or jabs in the skin that frequently occurs while gardening.
Pennyroyal is a perennial herb related to the mint family. It’s well known for its ability to repel ticks, fleas, chiggers, and other biting insects as well as kill germs.
You’ll Need
- 1 cup grated Castile soap
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 10 drops citronella essential oil
- 5 drops eucalyptus essential oil
- 1 T. dried, crushed pennyroyal leaves
- 1 Tbs Stone Ground Corn Grits
Dissolve the grated soap in 1/2 c. warm water, add in the remaining ingredients. Whip the soap mix until it doubles in volume. (We purchased a used electric mixer at a yard sale for $1 to make soap and lotion recipes).
Spoon the mixture into preformed molds, working as quickly as possible, or hand mold into round balls (and ice cream scoop works great!).
Pennyroyal leaf can be purchased at most health food stores that offer bulk herbs, such as trader joes, whole foods, and local health food shops.
Although this contains a VERY minute amount of the herb, This soap should NOT be used by pregnant women due to the Pennyroyal herb as it can cause uterine contractions.
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / paulgrecaud
I’ll have to check my local health food store (Hi, fiesta nutrition center!) to see if they have any pennyroyal leaves because my fave myo shop(‘sup organic-creations.com!) doesn’t currently carry that. if, for instance, fiesta doesn’t have it, are there any alternatives to pennyroyal that i could use, like helichrysum or lavender?
this sounds like a great stocking stuffer for all my guys…..
Do you have to include the pennyroyal leaves?
yes, in order for it to work properly at repelling insects, this is required ingredient.
Anything to avoid bug spray, now to locate pennyroyal.
My soap didnt harden. Any idea why this could be please? Turned into more a foam cream then harden soap.
The soap must be completely WHIPPED before putting them into molds. This can also happen if you have hard or soft water. Try using distilled or bottled water next time.