A quest regarding additives

I'm beginning a quest to determine what potential benefits we end up with in the finished bar when using food additives. Many of you may have achieved this quest and have since been knighted. Congratulations to you! But this humble student must press on in search of the truth. And so I humbly beseech you who are of great wisdom, what are your thoughts on benefits from these common-place ingredients:
Beer
Goats milk
Coconut milk
Honey
Yogurt
Whole egg or egg yolk
Coffee
Tea infusion, decoction or dry
Banana
Avocado
Pumpkin
Carrot

Wish I had the time to just make each one and then make combinations of them and then take like 50 showers and maybe a bath or 10 to test them all out. Of course we will have taken copious amounts of notes over the course of the experiment and as a result of this detailed and highly scientific experiential quest, will have gained much knowledge regarding said additives whereupon I would, very eloquently, express the pros and cons of each delectable bar to the consumer who will undoubtedly want to know what the quantitative percentage of banana to egg yolk will do for his dear mother-in-laws fragile skin, and do we happen to have it in a lilac fragrance?
Sooooo we brave few are prepared, let the quest begin! Cue bold questing music now

I am by no means a knighted expert but I lend what I found. I love goats milk soap for the creamy goodness it felt on my skin. However, this held true when I bought the beautiful soap from the soapmaking goat lady.Unfortunately my DH will not accept goats as a new alternative to my always needing a dog, even if it doesn't pee on truck tires! They climb themroblem: I do like whole powdered goats milk in a milk bath product though.
Now Buttermilk and Greek Yogurt are by far my favorite dairies to use as they give me what my skin is looking for. I love the way coffee removes smells from my skin and refreshes my nose into a new fresh scent zone.
From the different additives with the different recipes they produce different results, for different skin and different individuals. This is what I have found on my quest. I think we are all on a quest that can take years.. As there are rules to follow, there are that many to be broken and find new AHAA moments. Love those. I love another good reason to make another batch of soap and lock myself away into my reasearch station (tub).
May you have good luck, friends and fortune on your quest!

The music swells and then recedes...

This is an interesting question and one I've vaguely wondered about every now and again. I'm not an expert at soapmaking like some of the other members and I might be wrong about this but I think very little skin "benefits" are left after being exposed to the Lye Monster. I'm not saying all but I'm sure most are nullified by the caustic nature of lye plus the exothermic reaction. I've read there are some substances which are converted to another form by sodium hydroxide but I can't think what these are right now. I'll have to find the info again. An oil which is high in unsaponifiables may have more of a skin benefit if the vitamin content survives high heat. For example, several vitamins are relatively heat stable so there is a chance there would still be some retained after saponification. Unfortunately, some vitamins are destroyed by alkali substances so I don't know how well they'd hold up after exposure to lye. Of course, you could make your batches by hot process and use specific oils for the superfat. Someone who is more experienced may be able to give an answer.

As for your list, I haven't used them all but I'll give my opinion of ones I've used. Please remember this is subjective - I'm basing this on my recipes made with and without these additives.

Increases bubbles - coconut milk, beer, honey (I also use wine and sugar to boost bubbles.)

Creaminess - pumpkin, also buttermilk (my skin loves it for some reason) does so I think yogurt would increase the creaminess. I've never made soap with yogurt but I did receive one in a swap and it was creamy. BTW, I've found the sugars in buttermilk also improved the lather for 100% olive.

Coffee - I've only used the grounds and I think they're too scratchy. However, my nephew likes my "mechanic" soaps for removing resin and grease off his hands.

Tea - I haven't noticed a difference but I do like the speckled appearance from the leaves.

Goat milk - I haven't used except for the powder. However, my sister gave me some GM soap and it's another one my skin loves. I prefer it as a facial soap over what I specifically made as a facial soap.

You forgot about aloe vera. I love using the juice in place of water because I think it makes an amazing improvement in the lather. But I normally use 19%-25% coconut in my recipes. Someone who uses a higher CO percentage may not see an appreciable difference. This also goes for the beer, wine, honey, etc.

I feel I'm forgetting something so I'll post back if I remember it.

Love, love beer in my soaps. I think it adds bigger bubbles. And GM and buttermilk here, too.

I am also in the camp that doesn't believe many "benefits" survive the lye monster - but some of these additives DO leave a better "feel", such as the milk, aloe juice, clay, beer. The miracle properties of certain oils or botanical extracts - I don't know..... People buy my dead sea mud bars for their faces, but I think they'd be better off just asking me for some raw mud

pamielynn mentioned a good point. Some of these do produce a silkier feel to the lather. I don't use tussah silk when I use milk or clay.

Excellent responses! Thank you for your time on this one.
I didn't know you could use aloe so I'll add that to the list of "must try"s. I just got some tussah silk, so looking forward to playing with that.

Ugh! So many new things so little time!!! Good thing my DH isn't too picky about what the house looks like

I participated in a swap some time ago in which each participant used the same base recipe but each used a different additive or liquid. All kinds of milks, beer, tea, coffee, aloe, yogurt, rosin, sodium lactate, sugar, honey, etc., etc.

We traded blind samples and used them both in a handwashing and a shower test.

Interestingly, we got vastly different reactions from the participants. The most important variable seemed to be what kind of water each person had.

Short answer - anything that contains sugars will increase your bubblage somewhat.

I used coconut milk (both powdered and liquid) and it depressed lather because it effectively doubled the superfat from 8% (our control recipe) to 16%.

judymoody said:

Short answer - anything that contains sugars will increase your bubblage somewhat.

I used coconut milk (both powdered and liquid) and it depressed lather because it effectively doubled the superfat from 8% (our control recipe) to 16%.

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So when I use coconut milk (just bought some canned stuff the other day) should I calculate any superfat in my recipe?

You'll have to ask Judy what recipe she used since the CM depressed the lather. I've only used it in soap with a high percentage of coconut or 100% coconut so I always use a high superfat. Since Judy said it depressed lather, perhaps it wasn't contributing to the lather in my recipes. I just know they bubbled like crazy which may have only been from the CO. I do use a lower superfat for recipes which have cream or buttermilk in them.

AKjulz said:

So when I use coconut milk (just bought some canned stuff the other day) should I calculate any superfat in my recipe?

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I do. I calculate the number of grams of fat in the amount of cocount milk I'm using and then subtract that from my coconut oil.

A lot of people don't bother, though.

I really like egg yolk in my soap, makes a thicker creamy lather.

Obsidian, we have chickens and currently LOTS of eggs and I really want to try soaping with them. Hoping to get around to making a shampoo bar with yolks and a nettle decoction tomorrow.

Obsidian said:

I really like egg yolk in my soap, makes a thicker creamy lather.

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How much egg yolk do you add?

I use one yolk PPO. I smoosh mine through a sieve to separate out the membrane thats around the yolk. Egg in shampoo bars is the best.

Thanx!! I'll also this.

Bumping an older thread...

What about powdered egg yolk? Would that work?

Also, can regular 100% silk fiber/cloth be used or will it only work with tussah silk?

I too, love pumpkin, carrots, goatsmilk, and buttermilk. And coconut milk.

grayceworks said:

Bumping an older thread...


Also, can regular 100% silk fiber/cloth be used or will it only work with tussah silk?

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yes. if you have silk cloth, scarves, or whatever that is 100% silk, you can use it. i myself is using mulberry silk fiber cos my supplier didn't have tussah at that time. it worked fine.