How to Make Homemade Organic Soap: A Hands-On Wellness Experience at ULUM Moab
There’s something deeply satisfying about making something with your hands, especially in a place as grounding as the Utah desert. At ULUM Moab, our complimentary soap-making workshop for guests invites you to slow down, engage your senses, and create something both beautiful and useful. Using organic ingredients, desert-inspired botanicals, and a nourishing goat’s milk base, this hands-on experience blends creativity with wellness in a way that feels both simple and restorative. Here’s what to expect during our homemade soap-making workshop and how to recreate the experience at home.
A Soap Making Workshop Rooted in Wellness
Sometimes wellness is found in the act of creating, using your hands, focusing your attention, and making something that you use every day.
During the workshop, you’ll learn the melt-and-pour soap-making technique. You will begin with a ready-made goat’s milk soap base, melt it down, and customize it with ingredients such as dried herbs, scented oils, and other botanicals. Because goat’s milk is naturally rich in glycerin, these soaps feel especially soft and nourishing on the skin. The result is a bar that feels personal, luxurious, and inspired by the desert around you.
For the most up-to-date schedule for our complimentary soap-making workshop, please visit the front desk. Guests should meet in the ULUM Moab lobby five minutes before the session.
Why the Melt-and-Pour Soap Making Technique
The melt-and-pour soap-making technique feels approachable because it takes away the more intimidating parts of traditional soap making. There’s no need to work with lye, and certainly no need to milk a goat. Instead, you get the pleasure of melting, mixing, scenting, and shaping your own soap in a way that feels easy, enjoyable, and genuinely rewarding. It’s perfect for beginners and makes for a fun activity for couples, families, or friends traveling together. It also creates a meaningful souvenir – something you can take home and use later, with its scent and texture bringing you back to your time in Moab.
What You Need for Melt-and-Pour Soap
At ULUM Moab, we provide everything you need for this soap-making workshop, from ingredients to expert guidance. If you would like to recreate the experience at home, here’s what you will need:
- 1 lb. goat’s milk melt-and-pour soap base
- 2 to 4 tablespoons of honey (optional)
- 1 tablespoon of a nourishing oil, such as jojoba or sweet almond oil (optional)
- Double boiler or microwave-safe bowl
- Silicone spatula
- Silicone soap mold or loaf mold
- If using a loaf mold, a straight knife, a wire cutter, or a bench scraper for clean, rustic cuts
- Soap colorant (optional)
A one-pound batch typically makes around 4-6 bars, making this an easy project to enjoy yourself or turn into a thoughtful gift for family and friends.
How to Make Homemade Soap with Goat’s Milk
- Cut the soap base into cubes.
Begin by cutting the goat’s milk soap base into small cubes if it is not already pre-cut. Smaller pieces melt more evenly, making the process easier. - Melt the soap base slowly.
Place the cubes in a heatproof bowl and melt them slowly, stirring often. If you’re using a microwave at home, heat the soap in 30- to 60-second intervals, stirring between each interval. If you prefer the stovetop, place the bowl over a saucepan with a small amount of simmering water to create a gentle double boiler. This method uses steam to melt the soap gradually and helps prevent overheating. The base should melt within 2 to 3 minutes. - Customize your soap.
Once fully melted, remove the soap from the heat. Stir in honey or a nourishing oil if you would like extra hydration. You can also add a touch of color if desired. - Pour into molds and add finishing touches.
Pour the liquid soap into your mold, then finish it with botanicals or exfoliating elements. At ULUM Moab, we love working with ingredients that feel connected to the desert. Sage, chamomile, aloe vera, mineral salt, and even coffee scrub can add texture, fragrance, and a sense of place. - Let the soap set.
Allow the soap to set for about 45 minutes to an hour at room temperature. If you’re short on time, you can place the molds in the refrigerator or freezer and have them ready much sooner. - Use, gift, and store.
Once firm, the bars are ready to use or gift. To help them last longer, store them in a tin or dry container when not in use.
Creativity and Wellness Go Together at ULUM Moab
This workshop is just one way to engage with the slower rhythm of life at ULUM. Guests can also enjoy complimentary tea blending, jewelry-making, and mocktology workshops, as well as guided sunset nature walks around the property. These experiences invite presence, whether that means noticing the textures, scents, and medicinal benefits of desert plants or simply taking in the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Almost without trying, they encourage you to put your phone away, slow down, and focus on wellbeing.
Restore With ULUM Moab Wellness Offerings
ULUM Moab makes it easy to shape your days around whatever kind of restoration you need most. You might begin with guided yoga framed by views of Looking Glass Rock. Later, you can soak in the hot and cool dipping pools and enjoy the benefits of contrast baths. A cosmic sound bath meditation offers another kind of reset, where you lie back and gaze up at pristine night skies filled with stars. For even deeper relaxation, book a massage in a restored historic settler’s cave, a setting that feels both grounded and unforgettable. Together, these offerings create a Utah wellness experience that feels immersive, refined, and rooted in the landscape.
Staying at ULUM Moab
At the end of each day, retreat to your safari-inspired Suite Tent, where a king-size bed, soft linens, a stylish indoor lounge area, and a private deck overlooking the desert create a stay that feels both refined and deeply connected to nature. Thoughtful details such as heated mattress pads, rain showers, in-tent coffee and tea, and Aesop bath products add comfort without diminishing that sense of immersion. At ULUM Moab, wellbeing, elevated accommodations, full-service dining, and access to some of the American Southwest’s most captivating landscapes come together with ease, allowing your days to unfold at a gentler pace – from yoga to hiking, from dipping pools to massage, from a soap-making workshop to stargazing beneath a wide desert sky. It’s not simply a place to escape, but a place to return to yourself.
