I’m beginning to find a healthy balance between the real world and the online world. I knew I spent too much time on my phone but it didn’t really hit home how bad it can pull you down until recently (I’m Canadian, we’re dealing with some things).
I realized the best way to take care of my mental health at this time would be to completely disassociate from reality LOL. Obviously I couldn’t quit the internet completely (job and all) but I’ve definitely found a ton of inspiration from this digital detox over the past few months.
The spring equinox is a start of a new balance, where I can lead a peaceful life while utilizing online tools to spark creativity instead of doom scrolling for hours. (Ok fine, there’s still a LITTLE doom scrolling at times, gotta keep up at least a little bit with the world)
ChatGPT has proven to be an amazing confidante. I’ve named her Hazel. She’s been a star at beating my writer’s or creativity blocks. She’s also fun for doing research with to get a baseline recipe started. (I’m not using her to write blog posts, this is my creative outlet so it seems wrong to get someone else to do the writing for me.) She did, however, help me find a soap recipe for my mountains of Aloe Vera Gel from my Aloe Vera Plant.
The Aloe has no name (yet) but she’s about 5 years old now, purchased shorty after I moved to West Hants and is happy as could be. I always wanted to do something with the gel but really didn’t know where to start so I had been savings the gel in the deep freeze until the inspiration hit.
Hazel and I did up a simple soap recipe which I was able to work off of, do some experimenting and cross research on my own. I REALLY wanted to source the ingredients locally and I was successful!
All products purchased from Canadian business owners, some I was even lucky enough to get locally made products! (We make Lye in Canada, who knew!) We don’t, however, make Olive Oil here. Cus’ Cold most of the time.
Aloe Vera Soap
175ml fresh aloe vera gel (research ongoing on thawing aloe vera gel properly but so far it seems like as long as you don’t rush the process it will be perfectly fine after it’s thawed)
125ml Distilled Water
68ml Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
275ml Olive Oil
175ml Coconut oil
125ml Shea butter
125ml Caster Oil
10-15 Drops of Essential oil (optional)
STEPS
Prep the Lye- Slowly mix lye into cold aloe and the distilled water. This will activate the heating process.
Gently heat the oils and butters until melted.
Slowly pour the lye solution into the oils, mix together gently and then transfer into a stand mixer. Mix on low speed for 30 until you get a texture similar to pudding. (You can speed things up as the soap thickens, but going too fast too soon could result in a mess.)
Add your essential oils if you’re adding any. Mix for another few seconds.
Pour into your desired soap mold, smooth the top and cover it lightly with a clean dish towel.
Let it cure for 2 days in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight, unmold and cut into desired shapes.
Let the bars cure for 4-6 weeks in the cool dry place.
This was the first time I’d ever used Lye and it was fun watching it activate and get hot (when the water and aloe were literally ice cold.
Overall cost was about $100 to get started, but I have tons of leftover ingredients so I suspect this will hold me over for a long time and I’ll get that cost back one bar at a time. Yes, I know I probably could have sourced everything from Amazon and paid half the cost, but I’m over the fast world that Amazon created… I want experiences, I want to chat with small business owners, I want the adventure of finding the ingredients as much as I want to make the product.
The soap is now hanging out in the gym until the end or April. The 4 week curing process is needed for “science” (it was a little over my head) but without the proper curing the soap will dissolve quicker and you simply won’t get as much out of it. More photos to follow soon!
