by Marie | Aug 30, 2014 | Essential Oils, , Very Crunchy | 28 comments
Bandits oil is a fantastic all-purpose essential oil blend to have around. It’s a powerful anti-bacterial/anti-viral/anti-fungal/anti-everything, it smells great, and it’s really quite inexpensive to whip up a thieving little bottle of your own. This simple bandits salve is a fantastic way to incorporate it into everyday life, and it’s just as easy to make as the oil blend itself.
I no longer recommend making this as it no longer lives up to my formulation standards and the essential oil blend has a very high potential to be irritating + damage the skin.
The base of the salve is super simple—plain, moisturizing olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) and vegan carnauba wax to thicken. Carnauba wax makes for a harder, shiny balm that smooths on in a nice, thin layer that’s not at all sticky. If you don’t have any on hand I’ve also provided measurements for using beeswax (USA / Canada) instead.
This salve will boost circulation and help prevent infections, but I don’t recommend putting it on open wounds. If you’ve got stinky feet, it’s just the thing. Do be careful not to go out in the sun after application, though—the lemon essential oil in the bandits blend makes this balm photo-sensitizing.
I no longer recommend making this as it no longer lives up to my formulation standards.
8g | 0.28oz carnauba wax (or 11g [0.38oz] beeswax (USA / Canada))
36g | 1.27oz olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
20 drops bandits essential oil blendMelt the carnauba wax and olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) together in a double boiler.
Once melted, remove from the heat and stir in the bandits oil blend.
Pour the mixture into a 60mL/2oz tin and let it set up. The carnauba wax will need three days to come to its full hardness, so if you find it’s a bit soft after it has set up on day one, remember it needs a few more days before starting to tinker 🙂
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Iryna B.on August 31, 2014 at 3:22 pm
Thank you so much for your posts, recipes, links and research you do!
I recently discovered your site and became hooked!
I am a beginner at soup maker. Only a few times I made a hard lotion bar and love it! Planning to make some lip balms or chap-sticks.
You are such an inspiration, Marie!Here is my adventure in CP soap making.
My first batch was good but plain (goat milk soap), my second batch got accelerated trace (fragrance oil) and became very fluffy fast – was trying to make look-alike Dial bar. My third batch of shampoo soap (I was afraid of seizing) I poured into mold at a light trace, after adding superfatting and essential oils. It’s been only 5 days of curing and I don’t quite like the smell….
Would you give me any advice on this?
And I also would love to know where you get your pretty brown-paper-like labels? I really like them.
Thank you,
IrynaReply
Marieon September 1, 2014 at 12:45 pm
Hi Iryna! Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me 🙂 Just 5 days of curing isn’t really enough to know much about the finished bar of soap. If you’ve used lard or tallow the scents of those can take the full cure time to tone down, and if you’re finding the bar smells too strongly for you, that scent will dissipate as the bar ages. If it’s just the flat out scent, though… well, it’ll mellow out, but if you hate the combination of essential oils now, you’ll likely hate them in three weeks as well. Sounds like gifting soap to me 😉
The labels are from Amazon!
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Iryna B.on September 1, 2014 at 6:54 pm
Thank you, Marie, for your kind response!
I’ll look up the labels on Amazon.
Good to know that 5 days is not enough for scent to develop or dissipate. 🙂
Today it smells a bit better, not as strong. I gave the bars a shave and tested for lather – very, very bubbly! The shape of bars a re a bit funny – long and short, cut a bit on the angle. Oh well, first timer, you know…
I’ll be glad to share my #3 soap with you – the best fluttery ever!
For sure! (btw – how could I make it happen?)
That’s what went into it –
* coconut oil 4oz, olive oil 4oz, almond oil 4oz, avocado oil 3oz, shea butter 2oz, castor oil 2oz
* apple cider vinegar 3oz, dist.water 4.60oz, lye 2.65oz, small ball of silk fibers
* herbs infused sunflower oil 0.4oz, rosemary powder and white clay – 1tsp each, yellow soap color 4 drops, gold mica – drizzled on the top, essential oil (lavender, eucalyptus, lime) 0.5ozReply
Marieon September 1, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Thanks, Iryna! Just a wee note on your recipe—I noticed that you used apple cider vinegar, but that’s something I would definitely avoid in the future. ACV is an acid, and as such it will react with the lye. This will result in a softer final bar that could go rancid easily as some lye will be consumed in the reaction with the vinegar and therefore not be available for turning the fat into soap. Basically, save the ACV rinse for something else so you know what’s going on in your soaping reaction 🙂
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Iryna B.on September 1, 2014 at 9:49 pm
Thank you! I had a slight suspicion that ACV would be a problem, but added it anyway. The soap was very soft and oily to the touch after 24 hrs in the mold. Will see how it looks after 4 weeks. I will have to give away most of it now, knowing that it is not going to last.
This mistake I will never make again!Reply
Marieon September 2, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Adding acid to soap is actually something a lot of people try (or ask about), I’m surprised there isn’t more out there advising against it 😛 Oh well, no harm done from the sounds of it 🙂
Iryna B.on September 2, 2014 at 11:17 pm
Thank you very much, Marie!
I still have sooooo much to learn about soap.
Oh yes, I am so glad that the soap #3 set and didn’t turn into disaster!
I’ve seen some soaps being made with red wine. I guess it shouldn’t be very acidic wine. Or people dilute it? Curious to try! 🙂
I drizzled gold mica (in oil) on the top and used toothpick to make some pretty swirls. I actually wanted to have raised 3D swirls, but my batter was too loose. It worked at the end!Marieon September 5, 2014 at 6:24 pm
I’ve seen wine soaps and made beer soap before, and the added acidity of the beer didn’t harm the soap or its shelf life—it’s still trucking along over a year later in my cool & dry aging room. ACV is quite a bit more acidic than beer, but since you diluted it, you may be ok in the end. I suppose I just don’t understand adding acid to CP soap simply for the sake of adding acid—why not just use less lye?
I will have to try mica/oil drizzling, that is so beautiful!
Iryna B.on September 6, 2014 at 4:00 pm
O! I love your citrus beer soap!
Thank you for showing it.I watched many videos on Youtube (check out Soap101 and Soap Queen TV) and liked the mica swirls on top and inside the the bars of soap. The gold mica was my first try. Pretty cool!
Once, I purchased shampoo bar soap. It was coffee flavored, pretty brown with gold swirls of mica in the soap. Turned to be a very good soap!
Oh, I am not sure why I added ACV to my soap. I didn’t even count it in. And at the last moment I suddenly grabbed the ACV bottle….
Several days ago I checked it on PH level – it is neutral already.Marieon September 19, 2014 at 11:01 pm
I love the sounds of that coffee soap! I haven’t made a coffee soap in ages—I did one as one of my first soaps and ended up putting so many coffee grounds in it that it was brutally scrubby haha.
Iryna B.on September 7, 2014 at 12:10 am
I just watched video on Merlot soap. I think you would find it inspirational! I did. 🙂
Here it is – http://youtu.be/NcAVvMR4ohEMarieon September 19, 2014 at 11:00 pm
Very cool, thanks for sharing! I’ll definitely be making some soap this weekend 🙂
Iryna B.on September 19, 2014 at 11:05 pm
was happy to contribute!
Marieon September 19, 2014 at 11:07 pm
🙂
Iryna B.on September 19, 2014 at 11:09 pm
Marie, that coffee shampoo bar didn’t have any coffee grounds, just the color and the smell. Unfortunately, I wasn’t into soap before, so, I didn’t even ask for ingredients…. 🙁
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Marieon September 19, 2014 at 11:18 pm
I think my next coffee soap will just have a wee sprinkling of the grounds on top for looks 😛 And isn’t it frustrating when you can remember something you loved from days gone by, but know nothing of the ingredients?! I definitely have a few of those. Sigh.
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Iryna B.on September 19, 2014 at 11:30 pm
Totally agree!
I do love a cup of coffee in the morning, I make it Turkish style.
I cannot wait for your new coffee creation!
:-)12936Marieon September 19, 2014 at 11:30 pm
😀
Iryna B.on September 1, 2014 at 6:57 pm
I will pm you on Facebook!
Reply
Marieon September 1, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Perfect! You can also upload images to Imgur for free and share the link with me 🙂
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Iryna B.on September 1, 2014 at 10:06 pm
It does look rather pretty. Keep my fingers crosses for it to cure and behave well. Hope this link works – https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t31.0-8/10626253_725381060842874_2414813906452970647_o.jpg
if not, there is my FB post –
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=725381064176207&set=pcb.725381230842857&type=1&theaterReply
Marieon September 2, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Wow, that is so beautiful! Did you paint the top of it? Stunning!
Brandyon April 21, 2015 at 10:21 am
My balms keep hardening up gritty. What am I doing wrong? Why does this happen?
Thank you for your helpReply
Marieon June 9, 2015 at 7:12 pm
Check out the FAQ for some links on this 🙂
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estheron October 24, 2015 at 6:56 am
hi there, awesome blog, stealing some recipes to try out, and this one is gona be the first, as soon as my essential oils come in; question though; in which cases to use the bandit salve? some examples?
thank you so much!!
EsReply
Marieon October 28, 2015 at 7:48 am
Hi Esther! Here’s some ideas: an aromatherapy balm to fight illness and to generally boost the immune system, apply to the soles of the feet (this is supposed to help “internally”—I’ve heard from readers that EO balms on the feet can be great for coughs), first aid applications where the skin isn’t broken, and simply moisturizing and softening the skin. Enjoy and thanks for DIYing with me!
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Colleeon July 12, 2016 at 1:30 pm
Hi, Marie: I don’t know where to ask this, so I apologize if I’m in the wrong section. When you have time, [yeah, right!] can you make an insect repellent? I am swarmed with mosquitoes, blackflies, deerflies, and other blood sucking nasties. The little buggers are attracted to me, but I am not returning the love. I hate DEET, I’ve tried tea tree oil, peppermint, Bounce sheets, etc. and nothing works. Just wondering … Thanks from Central Ontario!!
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Marieon July 18, 2016 at 2:07 pm
I already made one! 🙂
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