questions about colloidal oatmeal

[Hazel]

kaelily -

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to look for it the next time I'm in Walmart.

 

[SkinLover]

Sorry to necro an old post, but I came across it and thought I'd add my two cents worth.

Colloidal oatmeal, the kind Aveeno and other companies make, is ground from oat groats - which are the whole oat, minus the outer shell, which in no way remotely resembles anything called 'porridge' or 'oats' in supermarkets. They look similar to grains of brown rice, but thinner.

Here in Australia, I buy organic oat groats from Santos Organic Foods online (http://www.santostrading.com.au) and grind them in my coffee grinder. It comes out a very fine, silky powder.

So much better - and fresher - than paying extraordinary prices for tiny quantities, for what's basically a very simple, inexpensive ingredient.

 

[Wandawump]

Is there any alternatives to oat flour? like just normal wheat flour? or corn flour?

 

[chicklet]

I don't think wheat flour would work in soap. If you're looking for something that adds exfoliation, you could use cornmeal (is that the same as corn flour?), but that would not provide the skin soothing benefits of oatmeal. The reason colloidal oatmeal is used instead of just oats is that the colloidal oatmeal stays suspended in the batter better and doesn't sink to the bottom. I should add a disclaimer that I do not have scientific evidence that oats in soap provide any skin soothing benefits, and neither do I know for sure if any benefits which might exist survive saponification . . . but I do know that my itchy skin feels much less itchy when I use my buttermilk oatmeal soap.

After reading skin lover's post above, I'm now off to research oat groats. I thought old fashioned rolled oats were the whole oat too, just they've been steamed and rolled to flatten them. For eating, I prefer steel cut oats - I don't even know what oat groats are. Yet.

 

[Birdie Wife]

Good question. I use local stoneground oatmeal and use it two ways. One is ground down for about 20 seconds in a coffee grinder so there's a mix of particle sizes and I use that with honey and cream and benzoin eo for a sort of porridge in a soap. The other uses finely ground oatmeal which I pass through a fine sieve and combine with orange and peppermint eo s with turmeric to colour which makes a lovely smooth bar.

Enjoying this discussion as I'm planning to use colloidal oatmeal in lots more recipes. I love it!

 

[Seifenblasen]

WSP has colloidal oatmeal if you are (like me), too lazy to grind your own. Besides, I prefer the really hard steel cut oats as food and it take a long time to grind them down with my hand-crank coffee grinder.

 

[Lindy]

I buy oat flour from my local organics store.... works a treat.

 

[Momonga]

From my understanding, colloidal oatmeal is super fine, absobs water, but doesn't sink. If used in a bath, colloidal oatmeal will make it milky.

Duh, it means "of or petaining to a colloid", and everyone knows that a colloid is "a substance made up of a system of particles with linear dimensions in the range of about 10 −7 to 5 × 10 −5 cm dispersed in a continuous gaseous, liquid, or solid medium whose properties depend on the large specific surface area." (dictionary.com) :mrgreen:

I have no idea what any of that means. I'll just buy the Aveeno.