Has anyone made soap with fresh bananas before?

[cinta]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here (signed up to the forum last night, love it!) and I've been making CP soap for about a year now. I'm hooked! Anyway, yesterday I decided to get a bit creative, and made some soap with fresh banana in it. To 3 TBSP of the mashed banana I added 2 TBSP of fresh natural yoghurt, 2 TBSP of desiccated coconut & 2 tsp of fresh lemon zest. I added the banana mixture at trace. This morning I unmoulded & cut the soap, and so far it looks quite good - the banana fibres went quite dark, but I think it gives it a nice, natural, rustic look. It looks & smells just like banana bread!

Has anyone else made soap with fresh banana before? I'm just wondering how it will go while curing over the next few weeks. I'm really hoping the fresh ingredients don't end up going off!

I'll try to upload some pic of the soap (just sighned up @ photobucket, too, and I have no idea how to use it!), hopefully I can figure it out.

(The oils I used were olive, coconut, castor, cocoa butter & shea butter. Made about 1kg of soap)

bummer, looks like I now have to figure out how to resize the pics! Sorry! (Sorry about the shocking spelling, too. )

 

[Sunny]

I like big pictures! I can actually see it!

It LOOKS like banana bread! tasty! I can't wait to see how it turns out after it's totally cured. Please let us know!

 

[jenn624]

I just tried this about 2 weeks ago. I made a 4lb batch and mushed up a whole banana (about 3oz worth) and threw it in at trace. I also swapped out half my water for 2% milk. I cannot wait to try mine!

 

[Pepper]

Cinta, I love the look of those. I've wondered about banana soaps, too. I made carrot soap recently - processed grated carrot until almost liquid, and used it as part of the water allowance. It's looking great, haven't used it yet.

 

[Moiby]

These look fabulous!
Very much like banana cake.
Yum!

 

[cinta]

I just tried this about 2 weeks ago. I made a 4lb batch and mushed up a whole banana (about 3oz worth) and threw it in at trace. I also swapped out half my water for 2% milk. I cannot wait to try mine!

How are yours looking so far, jenn624? Is the banana holding up okay?

Cinta, I love the look of those. I've wondered about banana soaps, too. I made carrot soap recently - processed grated carrot until almost liquid, and used it as part of the water allowance. It's looking great, haven't used it yet.

Thanks! I've been meaning too try carrot soaps, I was going to buy a juicer, but I might give the food processor a whirl

Thanks so much for the comments, guys! I'll keep an eye on the soaps as they cure, and let you know if they work out okay/don't work out too well

 

[blue hill]

I love bananas. How does it smell??

 

[jenn624]

How are yours looking so far, jenn624? Is the banana holding up okay?

so far so good!! still smells just like fresh baked banana nut bread :wink: yummy

 

[sbp]

You soaps look great!
I have not tried bananas, yet 8) But I have soaped with other fruits and veggies, and substituted the veggie/fruit for water.... in my experience, if you puree your fruit or veggie, you shouldn't have any problems with spoilage etc.
I'd be interested to hear if the banana scent stays thru curing......
Susan

 

[Bubbles Galore]

You're making me hungry. Looks great. :wink:

 

[cinta]

Thanks guys!

The soaps smell very subtly of banana, I'm hoping the scent doesn't fade! I know they're only a few days old, but so far they are still looking fine.

 

[orangeblossom]

So it's a year later.
I'm wondering how it smelled after a couple of months of curing.

Do you remember?
Anyone who have used fresh banana in their soap?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Cinta hasn't been back since Feb 2010 so I guess we'll never know. Not that any of us here can afford to soap with bananas at the moment. I saw them for $12 a kilo today. This is due to floods, cyclones etc.

 

[Relle]

I haven't tried banana before because I have to save all my ripe nanas for my bunny biscuits I make for Ellie the rabbit or she would be very unhappy.
Love the pics, let us know how they go.

Relle.

 

[Relle]

WOW, Jenny $12 kg, I thought they were dear at $7kg here. I bought 2 tomatoes last night that cost me 90c each. :shock:

Got to save my nanas in the freezer for Ellies bunny biscuits or I'm in trouble.

Relle.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Relle: $12 a kilo at my rip-off local supermarket but I got them for $5 a kilo today at the green grocers. I buy them for my guinea pigs because like your Ellie, they love nanas and cry for them.

 

[Relle]

I put Ellies in biscuits, but the pigs do like them from time to time.. Its funny when they whistle for food. Gotta keep our piggies happy.

Relle.

 

[foresthome]

fruit and veggies in soap

I have been very curious about putting banana, carrots, and cucumber in soap. I was hoping to see the results, but oh well. If anyone has results from using these I would love to hear about them.

 

[Pepper]

foresthome, I have made soap with blended raw carrot - see my post further up. It was about 12 months ago, maybe more. I had a problem with DOS, but I think that was because I used more canola oil than is sensible! I haven't tried carrots again, but I really think it would have been OK but for the canola.

 

[cinta]

Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I've missed all these posts!

I havn't made any soap for about a year now - when I last made a batch I was a few months pregnant with bub #4, and the smells made me feel really ill so I abandoned my hobby for a while :cry: Anyway, bub is 5 months old now, and sleeps beautifully at night so I'm going to get back into my soapmaking again, perfect way to spend the evening once all the kids are in bed!

The banana soap turned out perfect - all of the ingredients held up well and nothing went rancid. The soap's appearance remained as it is in the pics, however the scent did fade quite quickly. None the less, it was a beautiful soap which was so creamy, and the fine shredded coconut was gently exfoliating. I'll dig out my recipe in a minute & post it here for those who would like to try it.

Thanks again for all your interest, and your patience!!

My Banana Soap Recipe


500g olive oil
200g coconut oil
170g shea butter
100g cocoa butter
30g castor oil

300ml demineralised water
135g sodium hydroxide (superfatted at 6%)

1 small banana, just ripe
1tbsp natural yoghurt
2tsp fresh lemon zest

I mashed the banana with a fork and mixed it with the yoghurt and lemon zest, then added this mixture at trace.

I use the MMS Lye Calculator:

http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

Enjoy!

oops, forgot to add, I also added about 1tbsp of fine desiccated coconut to the banana mixture.