geared to sensitive skin
A little background........
I have the most sensitive skin on the planet. A lot of soaps that are supposed to be mild/moisturizing and formulated for sensitive skin (I am talking primarily commercial soaps here) make me feel like my skin is being boiled off.
I have been dealing my whole like with itchy skin also. I mean, sometimes I would have to get up in the middle of the night and apply Lanacane to my arms because of the itch. Everyday after my shower I had to spend time applying lotions to every inch of my body or face scratching my dry skin all day.
A fateful encounter with a natural bar of castile soap changed my life. After that bar I ordered 6 more bars of natural soaps in different formulations to see what felt good and worked for me. Some things worked better than others, but the bottom line is I am no longer scratching and I haven't applied lotion after a shower in several months.
Ever heard the phrase "physician, heal thyself?" I became interested in making my own soaps because I wanted to come up with soap recipes that were geared toward my special skin problems. I want to take the best of what I experienced and make it even better.
Since I began making soaps and talking about them to others (incessantly, I might add) I can't believe how many people I have met who have echoed my experiences with skin issues. (It almost makes me wonder how many of these problems have been caused in the first place by the commercial concoctions we trust to clean and care for our skin). I am soaping for them, and for my family, and for myself.
I am not too interested in the artisan stuff. There are folks out there much more creative and artistic than I who do an absolutely beautiful job with those soaps, and I appreciate their beauty as much as the next person. But my goal is to come up with the mildest and most moisturizing bars possible. Bars that will not irritate super-sensitive skin and that will sooth the itch. A nice lather and a delicious scent would just be icing on the cake. I know it's do-able because I experienced soaps with these qualities to varying degrees when I was conducting my own research .
I'll know if my soaps work the way I want them to because I am the perfect test subject, along with several friends and acquaintances who have similar skin problems who have agreed to test for me.
If I am successful in what I hope to create, this will be my niche. And if I only come up with one absolutely perfect bar that can give you silky, smooth, itch free skin, that would be enough for me.
Becky