Plum Nelly Handmade Soap

. It needs to stay in a well draining dish. Otherwise, it will get soft and not last nearly as long. I often use a milk in my soap. Most often I use goat's milk because I love this milk in soap myself, but sometimes I use heavy cream, soy milk, or coconut milk. All milk soaps are wonderful! To scent my soaps I use essential oils or fragrance oils or sometimes both. Essential oils come from plants, are natural, and the scent tends to fade away quicker. Fragrance oils are manufactured and last longer in soaps. The essential oils I use are lavender, spearmint, peppermint, orange, rosemary, and lemon. For fragrance oils I use the very best quality I can find, and all are fragrances I love myself. There is so much variety in fragrance oils! Some batches will have a little organic oatmeal, flax seed, poppy seed, or pumice for exfoliation. If it is there, the label will tell you. I make small batches of 18 bars, one batch at a time. Each batch cures for about six weeks before it is allowed to go to a new home. I wrap each bar in a little muslin bag to keep it fresh and happy. Can you tell I enjoy making soap?