Before we get into how to make shower jellies, let me ask if you even know what shower jellies are?
I might have been living under a rock, because I only recently discovered them – both the purchased and DIY shower jellies.
Your kids will think these are the coolest, if they are anything like mine! It makes bath time a little more exciting.
Shower jellies are exactly what they sound like: a gelatin like soap! Think jello jigglers that you don’t eat.
You take one of these and lather up your body to get clean instead of using a bar of soap or body wash. How fun is that?!
These would make a great DIY project for your kids (or their birthday party) and would also be a great homemade gift idea. They are affordable and easy as well.
One word of caution.
The temperature of your house does matter! If your house is warm (like mine is during the summer months), don’t leave these on the counter – they will melt. Store in the fridge for a longer shelf life and to keep the shape. Just grab one out before you head to the shower. Another option would be to increase the gelatin content slightly to help them stay firm longer.
Be sure your kids know these are not edible! They look like food so it’s going to be tempting for them to pop them into their mouths. Yuck!
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How to Make Shower Jellies:
SHOWER JELLY INGREDIENTS:
- Water
- Gelatin
- Honey
- Liquid castile soap or body wash
- Essential oils, optional
- Colorant, optional
- Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and water, optional
- Molds. Plastic or silicone. Silicone molds will be easier to remove.
All simple ingredients you probably already have around your house.
Castile Soap: Dr. Bronner’s is a popular liquid castile soap brand – I prefer the unscented. My other favorite place to purchase the soap is from Vitacost. I buy their GloBaby Liquid Castile Soap. (It’s also great for making your own foaming hand soap!)
Essential Oils: My go to place for essential oils is Plant Therapy. (Using my referral link will get your $10 off of your $25 purchase!) They have fabulous customer service, are affordable, have free shipping, and promote safe usage! I love that they make it easy to find essential oils that are safe for kids. Of course you can also find them on Amazon, but I prefer ordering directly from the site.
Gelatin: You can buy Knox unscented gelatin from your local grocery store or from Amazon. My bag I ordered from Azure Standard (a great resource for all your bulk, healthy food needs). Use my referral link and receive a $25 credit after placing a $100 order.
Molds: There are countless molds you can choose from. Select based on gender and age of who you are making them for. Green dinosaur jellies would be fun for a boy. Hearts or flowers for a girl. Amazon has a ton of silicone molds to choose from. Another options would be to use silicone muffin liners and make flat disks to use.
This is after the gelatin as been dissolved in the hot water and the liquid soap has been added. Notice all the bubbles. Scrape off what you can and just set aside in the measuring cup. I put the bubbles in a mold for our own use at the end, since I didn’t want to waste.
SHOWER JELLY INSTRUCTIONS:
Here we will start getting into how to make shower jellies! The fun part.
- Heat your water to almost boiling.
- Add the gelatin and stir until completely dissolved.
- Add in the liquid castile soap or body wash and stir.
- Add and stir the honey and essential oils and colorant, if you are using.
- Scrape off what bubbles you can and remove from the pan.
- Pour into molds.
- They bubbles will remain on the shower jellies. If that bothers you, spray the rubbing alcohol over the top of the jellies.
- Refrigerate several hours (or longer) until set completely.
- Remove from molds. I gently pull the gelatin away from around the entire edge of the mold and then gently pull it up and it will release without any problems. If you jelly is stuck to the mold, briefly set it in hot water to loosen the gelatin. Be sure not to heat too long or the shower jelly will melt.
- Store in the refrigerator.
- Use as soap in the shower or bath.
Here’s the mixture in molds. I also used silicone muffin liners to make larger flat ones. Notice the bubbles, I sprayed the tops of these with rubbing alcohol after they set a couple minutes.
You can make these whatever size you want, but my preference is to make them in “single use” sizes – you don’t have to worry about the excess melting in the shower or being dropped and washed away. For single use, you will want your mold to hold between 1 and 2 tablespoons of the mixture.
- ¾ cup water
- 4½ teaspoons unflavored gelatin (2 7g packages) See notes for amount
- ½ liquid castile soap or bath gel
- 1 teaspoons honey
- 10-15 drops of a safe essential oil, optional
- colorant, optional
- spray bottle of rubbing alcohol/water mixture, optional
- molds
- Heat water to boiling. Turn off heat and whisk in the gelatin until dissolved.
- Add the liquid soap and stir.
- Add the honey and essential oil and colorant, if using. Stir.
- Scrape off as much of the foam/bubbles as you can and set to the side.
- Pour (or using a tablespoon measuring spoon) mixture into the molds.
- If the small bubbles on the top of the molds bother you, spray with the alcohol mixture.
- Put in the refrigerator at least 2 hours (or overnight), until set completely.
- Carefully remove from molds and store in the refrigerator.
- Use in the shower as you would soap or body gel.
See post for extra details on products and tips.