There are only three essential ingredients required to create luxurious, soothing soaps: water, olive oil and caustic soda. Olive oil, the most beneficial oil for your health, is the primary ingredient. In cosmetics, it has been used since ancient times because of its virtues for glowing hair and skin. Rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins, it has the added benefit of being available virtually everywhere.

A number of wonderful extra ingredients customize and create a personal soap: beeswax, cocoa butter, clay, kaolin, seaweed, goat milk, egg yolks, and others. Some ingredients give the soap hardness (beeswax), softness (honey) or more foam (cocoa butter) for greater cleansing ability.

Because using soap is such a sensory experience, a comprehensive section covers essential oils that create the air of perpetual breeze of that good soaps possess. With this information, you can create the perfect scent. The recipes feature essential oils of the highest purity that are added to the soap right before it is placed in molds.

Easy step-by-step preparation techniques produce luxurious soaps such as:

• Sandalwood Soap, Kiwi Soap, Chocolate Soap, Wheat Germ Soap, Green Tea Soap, Cedar Soap, Echinacea Soap, Lavender Soap, Marshmallow Soap, Lemon Soap, Rose Hip Soap, Marigold Soap, Coconut Soap, Vanilla Soap, Seaweed Soap, Oat Soap, Clay Soap, Mung Bean Soap, After Eight Soap, Beach Sand Soap

This fascinating history of soap and its ingredients with therapeutic recommendations is informative and fun to read. The comprehensive recipes with preparation, utensil and ingredient tips guide the reader to create better-than-store-bought quality soaps at home.