Whether digging in the garden, cleaning out the chicken coop, or completing other dirty outside chores, your hardworking hands need a little TLC.
Use this easy gardener's soap recipe made with coffee and vanilla to get dirty hands clean without using harsh chemicals.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
What is Gardeners Soap?
Gardeners soap (or gardener's soap) is a bar of hard soap specially formulated for getting rid of garden dirt.
After working outdoors on various DIY garden projects, I usually find my hands need a really good scrub but also some really good moisture.
And as we move away from store-bought items to making our own, I'm learning more about soap making.
Since last year, the girls and I have been experimenting with melt-and-pour goat milk soaps using natural ingredients to create bar soap. We like knowing exactly what we are putting on our skin. We're experimenting with making homemade sunscreen, shampoo, and even natural toothpaste.
So when we decided to make our own soap, we developed this gardeners cold process soap recipe.
Coffee Soap Benefits
There are several benefits to using a bar of this gardener coffee soap after working in the garden.
First, you know exactly what you're putting on your skin when you make natural soap. Plus, the addition of coffee grinds gives a generous dose of gritty pumice to each gardener's soap bar.
We started to create this handmade soap with a basic recipe similar to our lavender grapefruit soap. Sometimes we like a smoother soap. But this one needed an ingredient with good scrubbing properties.
And we wanted a soap that would scrub and soothe our hands simultaneously. Now, we’ve added sugar to our soap in the past for a sugar scrub soap bar. But this time, I needed something, well, scrubbier.
I thought about adding poppy seeds, but we were short. But we added coffee grinds to come up with this coffee soap recipe for gardeners.
Depending on the herbs, oils, flowers, or other ingredients you add, homemade soaps can smell delicious.
Coffee in Soap
Coffee, of course, smells amazing. It's a great deodorizer and will act as a gentle exfoliant at the same time. So for best results, use coarse rather than fine grounds to maximize the scrubbing effect.
Cosmetic Beeswax
Beeswax helps harden your soap and helps create a protective layer on your skin. You can use any type you have on hand, but I find the pellets much easier to work with than grating from a block.
Use any oil you have on hand to help moisturize rather than dry out your skin the way many soaps can, you don’t have to run out and buy anything special. The same olive or coconut oil you use for cooking is perfect in this recipe.
And homemade soaps, along with DIY sunscreen jars are great for gift giving: Easter, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, or any other occasion.
This DIY gardeners hand soap also makes a lovely gift for gardeners. Tuck it into a gardening-themed basket or wrapped with a bit of brown paper or parchment paper and tie it up with twine.
Gardeners Soap Cold Process Recipe
When you’re ready for soapmaking, gather your supplies.
Supplies for the Coffee Melt and Pour Soap Recipe
Here is what you will need.
- 1 tablespoon fresh coarse coffee/grounds
- ½ to ¾ pound goats milk melt and pour soap base (this is an easy melt option for soap making)
- 1 tablespoon beeswax pellets
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, or any of the sweet almond oils
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Glass measuring cup with a spot
- Silicone molds
How to Make Gardeners Soap with Coffee
Making soap at home is easy and a fun, hands-on homeschool activity too.
Step-by-step instructions for making gardeners soap
Lay out the silicone mold and sprinkle a few coffee grounds into the bottom.
Cut up your goat's milk soap base into roughly 1”x1” pieces.
Place in a microwave-safe container with a spout for easy pouring.
Add oil and beeswax pellets.
Microwave for 1 minute, stir, then repeat in 30-second intervals until completely melted.
Remove from the microwave and stir in coffee and vanilla.
Carefully pour the soap mixture into your molds, but not quite full to the top.
Allow the soap to harden overnight. and carefully remove from the mold.
Store your extra soaps in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Tips
I find that a little over half a pound of the melt-and-pour goats milk soap makes three good-sized bars.
Here's a trick for deciding how much melt-and-pour soap base I need for various-sized molds.
I chop the pieces and put them into each spot I want to fill.
Then I'll add more pieces to fill the empty spots that the squared-off edges don't fill. True, it's not exact, but it helps me get a close estimate.
Sometimes I make big bars and sometimes small ones. So I must figure out how to make it work in any shape or size!
Use any of your favorite pure essential oils instead of vanilla extract. A lemongrass essential oil might be a good idea.
For unscented soap, leave out the vanilla.
We made this batch with almond oil but will experiment with macadamia oil next time.
Substitutions for coffee grinds
Note: we have NOT tried these yet, but the girls are keen to try them next time!
- chia seeds
- strawberry seeds
- black sesame seeds
FAQs
Can I use any tree nut oils to make this gardener's hand soap?
A reader asked if she could substitute shea butter or cocoa butter for the almond oil. Honestly, I don't know. We had a bad experience with a really stinky shea butter when we first started making cold process soaps.
Since then, we've found almond oil gives us the best results for our soap recipes. However, different oils have different properties.
We plan to try a recipe with castor oil, which is supposed to give a creamier finished product and a rich lather.
How to Make Gardeners Soap
This gardeners soap is an all natural hard soap bar for scrubbing garden dirt from your hands without harsh chemicals!
Materials
- 1 tablespoon fresh coarse coffee/grounds
- ½ to ¾ pound goats milk melt and pour soap base (about 1 ½ cups or 8 cubes)
- 1 tablespoon cosmetic beeswax pellets
- 1 teaspoon olive, coconut, or almond oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Tools
- silicone soap molds
- measuring cup
- measuring spoons
Instructions
- Lay out the silicone mold and sprinkle a few coffee grounds into the bottom.
- Cut up your goat's milk soap base into roughly 1”x1” pieces.
- Place in a microwave-safe container with a spout for easy pouring.
- Add oil and beeswax pellets.
- Microwave for 1 minute, stir, then repeat in 30-second intervals until completely melted.
- Remove from the microwave and stir in coffee and vanilla.
- Carefully pour the soap mixture into your molds, not quite full to the top.
- Allow soap to harden overnight.
- Carefully remove from the mold.
- Store your extra soaps in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
Pure Vanilla Extract -
Kicking Horse Coffee, Cliff Hanger Espresso -
Rectangle Silicone Soap Molds - Set of 2 for 12 Cavities - Mixed Patterns - Soap Making Supplies by the Silly Pops -
The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners: Do-It-Yourself Soaps Using All-Natural Herbs, Spices, and Essential Oils -
Goats Milk - 2 Lbs Melt and Pour Soap Base
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