Make Your Own Melt-and-Pour Loofah Soaps

A fun and easy recipe for making your own colorful, fragrant loofah soap.

You won’t believe how easy it is make your own soaps—when you get expert guidance that is. We were lucky enough to have DIY queen, Anne-Marie Faiola, share this recipe for revitalization with us. Inspired by her love of crafting suds and sundries, Anne-Marie founded Handmade Beauty Box, a DIY subscription service that caters to do-it-yourselfers by delivering quality beauty and spa projects monthly to your door.

Follow Anne-Marie’s recipe to make these loofah soaps in about 30 minutes. Loofah, a natural exfoliant, is folded into this cleansing bar to buff away dead skin cells and soothe flaky and patchy skin. Formulated with a reviving garden fragrance oil, these vibrant soaps polish skin while locking in moisture. You can find melt-and-pour soap color blocks and soap-making supplies at most craft stores or online at brambleberry.com.

Here’s what you need:

• 2 lbs Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base
• 1 Electric Bubble Gum Color Block
• 1 Tangerine Wow Color Block
• 1 oz Sunny Herb Garden Fragrance Oil
• 2 oz spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
• 8 soap molds with lids
• 2 microwave-safe bowls
• 1 loofah
• 1 dropper
• Spoons
• Scissors
• Paper towels

Here’s what you do:

First prep your loofah. Cut the dry loofah sponge into eight even pieces by cutting once vertically then cutting each half into four pieces. Next, add the loofah sponge pieces to water to reconstitute and remove seeds as needed. Towel-dry each loofah piece to remove excess water. Set aside.

Make sure you have all your supplies and then follow these steps.

1. Cut the soap base into 1-inch cubes and divide equally into the two bowls.

2. Melt the first container of soap in the microwave on 30 second bursts, stirring in between bursts with a spoon, until the soap is fully melted.

3. Slice off a sliver of the Tangerine Wow color block and mix a small amount into the first container of melted soap until you achieve a bright orange hue. What you see is what you get with these colorants so add more if you want a brighter color.

4. Add four droppers full of fragrance oil to the melted orange soap base and stir until the fragrance oil is fully distributed (about 12 ml).

5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 using the Electric Bubble Gum color block and your second bowl of soap.

6. Place one loofah sponge in each rectangle mold. Don’t worry if the loofah sponges are still damp. Trim the sponges if needed. Ideally, you want both containers of soap around the same temperature when you pour. If you have a thermometer, the magic temperature is about 130° Fahrenheit. If you don’t have a thermometer, no problem. Let the soap cool down until it thickens and gets a “skin” on top. The soap should not be hot. If the soap cooled down too much, just pop it back in the microwave on 30 second bursts. Heat as needed.

7. The color fusion technique is all about the pour. Pour the pink soap into four molds only filling up the molds half way. Next, pour the orange soap on top of the pink soap to fill the mold all the way to the top. Repeat this step for the remaining four soap molds, pouring the orange soap first and the pink soap second. Spritz all of the soaps with rubbing alcohol to eliminate bubbles.

8. Let the soaps harden for at least 12 hours before unmolding. The soap is ready to use right away or add the raffia and labels (download here) to the soap mold and give them away as gifts. Your friends and family will love you!

For ingredients, or to have your own own DIY beauty projects delivered right to your door, visit handmadebeautybox.com.