Loofah Soaps

Whether you spell it loofah, or louffa, or loufa, or loofa, (or Pam’s special spelling..loffa ;~) ), it is really fun stuff to work with. It is actually a plant, kind of like zucchini, that is harvested and then dried. It is wonderful to use in place of a pouf, but it is also fun to use in soap. I thought today I’d share some techniques and ideas for this great product.

Loofah Soap~Technique #1

You will need :
1 10 inch loofah
1 11-12 inch PVC pipe
approximately 1 ½ lbs of melt and pour soap
A spray bottle full of water
Approximately 1 ½ tsp fragrance or essential oil (optional)
liquid color (optional)

Melt your soap base. While it’s melting, spritz your loofah with water until it’s damp. (this helps the soap to absorb more evenly into the loofah.) You can just dunk it in some water, wring it out and wait for it to dry a bit, but this way was much simpler for me. Slide the loofah into your pvc pipe and seal one end with an end cap or fasten some plastic wrap around it. Add color and fragrance to your melted soap and then pour it into the pipe. Tap the pipe gently on a hard surface to take care of any air bubbles. After it sets, take it out of the pipe and slice.

Loofah Soap Technique #2
This method is good when you need lots of individual soaps in different fragrances/colors. I do this when I’m teaching a class. That way, each person can make just one soap or make more than one in different colors/fragrances without having to make a ton of them.

You will need :
a loofah
melt and pour soap
A spray bottle full of water
fragrance or essential oil (optional)
liquid color (optional)
A shallow dish( like a jelly roll pan). It should be a little larger than the length of your loofah.
Some small disposable plastic plates

Melt a small amount of CLEAR soap and pour it into your shallow dish. Spritz your loofah with water until damp. Take the loofah and roll it in the soap, so that it completely coats it. Set it on some wax paper to dry.
After it has dried and set, cut into slices. Melt some more CLEAR soap and pour a small layer onto each plastic plate. Take the loofah pieces and set one of the cut ends into the layer of soap while it is still soft. (One loofah per plate)This will seal your soap on one end. (I tried just wrapping some plastic wrap around the end instead, but it didn’t work.) Melt some more soap, color and fragrance it and fill the loofah. It works best if you pour it in after the soap is cool enough to form a light skin on the top.