Warming Lavender Soap

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toyah999

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Hi guys, I need your help please. I've made my first soap with Lavender EO and at 5wks cure it looks all good nothing unusual but when I wash with it, it gives off a warming feeling. It doesn't burn but feels like its heating up my skin a little. It has no apparent lye spots and I was wondering if that was normal of Lavender EO or if I've done something wrong. When I made it I burned myself while mixing it and it set up quickly so I was unsure how well I mixed it in but it looks fine. It's OLive oil, coconut oil, castor oil and Shea butter. Thanks everyone.
 
I'll second the thought that it might be an allergic reaction. I made a mud mask with kaolin clay, aloe powder and a few other innocuous ingredients and couldn't figure out what caused such a marked thermal reaction. Then I washed the mask off and my face was bright, bright pink. Aloe. I forgot that I'm allergic to the stuff. Big 'duh!' moment for me! My point being, yes indeedy, an allergic reaction can definitely make a product feel warm.
 
I forget exacts but it was 2.5kg batch. Used mostly olive oil, then coconut oil, castor oil and Shea butter at the lower end and 78g of lavender EO. I'm thinking I should get someone else to try it for me because I've never used lavender before so it is possible I'm having a slight reaction which never even accured to me, but I don't turn red or anything horrible but I guess I could just be sensitive to it.
 
So about 1500g of oils? That's a really big batch when trying anything new (like an EO). And 78g of an EO seems too high...yep, did the math roughly in my head and at 3% (recommended safe level of EOs in soap) you have almost double what you should have used safely. What made you settle on that level of EO?
 
Yes it was big and in hind site I wouldn't do that again but it was an old recipe with only the EO being new to me and I wasn't expecting anything to go wrong. I used bramble berry's fragrance calculator which has never steered me wrong yet cuz I'm not good with percentages. Does anyone else use that calculator for EOs?
 
I just found my notes on the batch I made. It was 1600g oils to 78g EO. The soap doesn't smell very strong and like I said I got that amount from the calculator. Was that too much EO?
 
Hmmm, you are right on the quantity of EO. I'd have to guess an allergy/sensitivity then. Do you have a willing victim to test a bar for you?

Are you selling your soap, by the way? Just curious because of the huge batches.
 
I'm wanting to sell some of my soaps because all my testers seem to love them but I always test them myself first. And as for big batches I've stopped making them so big in case things go wrong, unfortunately I'm one of those people who has to make mistakes first hand to learn by them sigh:(
 
Would it work if I chopped up my lavender soap in cubes to embed throughout a new batch of unscented soap (same recipe) so that I can mellow out how much EO I used. Say I put 3/4 lavender soap cubes to 1/4 fresh soap would that make my soap have a lower EO percentage so that it's safe to use or does it not work like that, thanks.
 
It might just be your sensitivity. Some lavenders are quite camphorous, which can be warming (think tiger balm). I'd ask a few trusted people to try it out first.

Edit to add: I always use brambleberrys calculator, for lavender a few times, and never had a problem.
 
I'll second the thought that it might be an allergic reaction. I made a mud mask with kaolin clay, aloe powder and a few other innocuous ingredients and couldn't figure out what caused such a marked thermal reaction. Then I washed the mask off and my face was bright, bright pink. Aloe. I forgot that I'm allergic to the stuff. Big 'duh!' moment for me! My point being, yes indeedy, an allergic reaction can definitely make a product feel warm.

Off topic but wow first time I've read of someone else allergic to aloe besides me! Every time I tell someone I'm allergic people don't believe me. Makes going to the spa impossible! Oddly enough I can use lavender EO and tea tree oil directly on my skin and be completely fine though drying.
 

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