SF% for Mechanic's soap

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pure&simple

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I've read old posts on this forum on making Mechanic's soaps with turpentine. Why is the SF% at 0? Isn't it to drying on the skin?
 
I would guess that mechanic's soap needs as much cleaning power as possible.

If it's too drying, apply a lotion afterwards.
 
I made a soap for the mechanic in my family. I superfatted at 5%.
 
If it were me, I'd up the CO% and keep the superfat higher. You need to clean the skin, not leave it feeling stripped and dry.
 
I made a soap with about 15% superfat (lye discount) and gave some to my brother and he phoned me to tell me that the soap had cleaned all of the grease from his hands. :wink: I think it had about 40% coconut oil in it (the balance was soft oils) and I remember that it had black clay and Rosemary EO.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

It's interesting how different people SF this soap.

The reason why I ask this questions is that I actually made mechanic's soap once with 0%SF, not really knowing why except that the recipe stated it. I gave it to a colleague's husband to use, but she tried it herself and claimed that it cured the eczema on her hands! :shock: In less than 2 weeks!

The soap had turpentine in it. I was really at a shocked when she told me this because I thought a soap with 0% SF and turpentine would dry the heck out of your skin.
 
Eczema and dry skin isn't the same business. Eczema damages skin, and it's due to a known or unknown cause. If you remove the cause, the skin will heal even if it's dry :)
 

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