What are luffas?
Luffas are a beautiful vine that grows insanely! It will grow so big and so fast that you will fall in love with its beauty! Luffas are actually part of the cucumber, pumpkin, and squash family. They are edible when they are harvested very young and small, but if you let them grow you’ll find out their best use. At the end of the gardening season, luffas will be green and hanging from the vine. Unless you have a really long growing season, you will have to cut them from their vine and bring them inside to dry. You don’t want the frost to get to them, or they will die. Once you have left them in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place for a few months, you will have a dried luffa. It will be brown with crispy skin. Now your luffas are ready to be soaps!
How to Make DIY Easy Luffa Soaps
It’s so easy! So let’s get into it. Peel all the crispy skins off, and dump the seeds into a bowl. You’ll want to save those for replanting, or gifting to your friends and family. Next, you will want to soak your luffa sponges in warm bleach water. This isn’t necessary, but it does help to remove any stains or unwanted blemishes. After they have soaked for a couple of hours, lay them out to completely dry on a towel. Now it’s time to shape your luffas to your molds. We use regular soap molds, so we just cut the ends off to make them fit. If you have different shapes or designs, cut them to fit accordingly.
Next you will start melting your soap base. We get our soap base from Bulk Apothecary or amazon, depending on who has the cheaper price at the time. You can melt this soap base in a double boiler. As it’s melting, you can add colorant if you choose.
Melt and pour the soap base melting in a pot
Once everything has melted and been stirred together well, you can remove it from the heat and add your scents if you choose. We use about a teaspoon of pure essential oils per soap mold. Now you will pour the mixture into your soap molds, and that’s it! Let it sit for 24 hours, and then you’re ready to remove them from the molds and cut them as you please. Make sure you label with your scents so you don’t forget!
These make the perfect self-care exfoliant soap or the best gift for friends and family! People will be so impressed that you GREW and CREATED your own DIY easy luffa soap. We sell luffa soaps in our Etsy store for those that don’t have the space or time to grow and make them, and we love to hear how much they are loved by everyone! We always have them in our shower at home, and they are one of our favorite things to grow in our garden!
Let us know if you love luffa soaps, have ever grown or made them, or just love purchasing from our store. They are so fun and easy, but also so beautiful in the garden.
We love yall! Until the next one, <3
-Jenn
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