Tallow Soaps

Tallow Soaps, are one of the most natural soaps, with only 2 ingredients, both of which you can make in your own backyard.

Tallow Soaps can be more complex too, blended with Olive, Coconut & Castor oils, you can feel a little more luxurious, and this is also a great way to transition to simple, natural soap alternatives.

Both of my soap recipes can both be used for hair and skin, and the tallow can be used for dishes and cleaning around the house, which is pretty cool.

I have a question that helps me keep my integrity, "how do I get this without electricity or petrol?"

Tallow & Lye

All you need is a fresh beef kill, hardwood fire and water. Gather your fat, render it in water over the fire, strain the liquid tallow off, and let the fire cool, then run some water through the ash from the fire, straining it in bundled straw to make the lye. Melt the tallow, add the lye and stir.

Tallow Soap

I have given a simple explanation of how this soap can be created without electricity or petrol. I have cooked over a fire, and I have made lye, which got to a pH of 13, which is pretty cool. Check out How to make lye.

But, we have the luxury of electricity and petrol, so these soaps are made, with awareness, in my home, using sodium hydroxide powder that I have shipped to me, this allows for maximum consistency in my very relaxed and natural way.

Natural products are those that have experienced the least amount of, or no, processing.

My tallow soaps are the most natural soaps, no essential oils, no infused olive or coconut oils, and yes they will smell a little beefy when you first start using them, more because you aren't used to .

Tallow, water, sodium hydroxide.

There is also Tallow Soaps, with added essential oils.

Essential Oils

A simple way to get a lovely aroma into the soaps. I have a few favourites so far.

• Rose Geranium & Oregano

• Lemon Ironbark and Eucaluptus Radiata

• Tea Tree

• Lemon Myrtle

These soaps are really great for body, hair and cleaning the house.

Herbal Infused Olive & Coconut Oils

Wild Marigold is a beautiful shampoo soap.

Wild Marigold infused oils come out a fabulous golden lime yellow oil with the sweet, joyful aroma of passionfruit.

I infuse Olive Oil and Coconut Oil with locally harvested plants, aromatics, herbal and medicinal choices that are local and seasonal.

Castor Oil is included, which is great for healthy cellular reproduction for hair follicles and skin.

I prefer infused herbal oils for the additional gentle healing properties they bring to the Life Cultured Tallow Skin Care range.

These gentle oils are full of the life force of the plant, and offer a freshness to the skin care range. They are hand processed each step of the way, picked, carried, dried, then into the luxurious nutribullet for some powdering.

Alcohol is part of the process, helping to break down the plant component for maximum extraction, as an example, for an infusion that is using 595gm of oil, I use 28gm alcohol.

Lavender Leaf infused oils make this soap, and it smells gently but divinely of lavender.

The scraps from making Herbal Infused Oils

I have added some of the discard from making the herbal infused oils.

Once I have strained the oil, I am left with an oily plant powder, so I have started adding this into some soap blends to give a little bit of exfoliation.

The alternatives are loofah, which I can grow, or salt, which I can buy, or coffee grounds, which I have a local cafe already lined up for.

Eucalyptus Tallow Soap, with ground dried Eucalyptus leaf.

I hope you enjoy the soaps, give yourself the time to remember how much your olfactory receptors love the messages carried by the natural world.

When we have been exposed to air fresheners, deoderants and some perfumes, the action of these stops our smell receptors, it doesn't change what we are smelling.

When we stop exposing ourselves to these products, we are probably going to notice aroma's more intensely than is natural. This is a pendulum effect, and it will settle.

Mugwort infused oils make this soap a relaxing experience which increases circulation and calms the nervous system.

Mugwort is cautioned in pregnant women due to causing uterine contractions, however where there is a caution, there is always a benefit when understood, and the relaxing effect on the nervous system, and increased circulation would help the mum and bub settle into each other nicely.

Do you want a clearer connection to your own intuition? To ensure you are reaching for exactly what your body needs in the moment, check out Maia Movement.

When we soften our muscular system, the messages from our innate intelligence are easily felt, and due to clean circulation through our tissues, pumped by our breath, our bacteria levels will be reaching for the cleanest, most nourishing foods, and repelled by the sugary deliciousness.

Your body never lies, but it can be overridden by the mind and all the information we have available to us is making that worse.

Again, how do you get that without electricity or petrol? This will give you the answer for what is most natural and best for you.