Skin drying to much. Help

I'm trying to find a recipe that won't dry out my skin. I have used straight Dr. bronners baby soap. Then I made my own. Now I have dropped my CO oil. I even tried adding shea butter and caster oil. But still dries skin out faster in feet and private parts. So here is my last recipe. Any suggestions. Based on soap calc my cleansing is low. Does 100% olive oil clean?

20% CO
40% OO
40% PO
8% SUperFat

Thanks

100% olive oil absolutely cleans. On lye calculators, cleansing doesn't mean clean, it means how many extra oils it attracts.

I don't use po and have never used Dr. Bronners, so I can't help you much there. But, I'd replace some of the po with shea butter & castor oil (10% shea, 5% castor) if you have it on hand.
Also, how long are you letting your soaps cure before using them? Short cure times can result in a more drying effect.

I do a ph test and usually waiting 3-4 weeks. I do have castor and shea. The bar that has castor and shea has 25% co and still kinda drying.

Should I try 85% OO, 10% SB, 5% Castor Oil.

Where can I read what the cleansing means and why use coconut oil then?

This is on what cleansing means http://www.soapcalc.net/info/SoapQualities.asp

Coconut oil gives you the hardness & great lather. Here's a couple links on what properties different oils bring to soap
https://summerbeemeadow.com/content/properties-soapmaking-oils
http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/oils.html

Do you happen to have any palm kernel oil on hand? It also brings great lather & hardness, but isn't quite as harsh as coconut can sometimes be.

I see that your PO is relative high. I think you can reduce that. Generally, PO is use to stablise the soap and do not really have much of a benefit as an ingredient. Not sure if it will be drying to skin, but for sure it do not moisturise skin. maybe you can reduce that? I keep my PO to 20-25%

additional point to genny reply, coconut oil is use because it cleans very well, for a cloth washing bar, CO can go till 70% because it cleans very well. But it will also means that the oil could dry up skin.

I have just learned from all the soapies here that you can add sugar water to create bubbles. So maybe you can take out your CO and replace with that?

Oh yah. Not sure how true it is. But a soaping teacher once told me that it could be your previous soap bars contain certain formula that stays on your skin. your current soap bar is correcting the effect of the previous soap bar. Thus there will be dryness in the initial using of your current soap bar. But it should go away in maybe around 1 month.

I had the same problem.... i started using this recipe for my bath bars
58% Lard
26.7% OO
15.3% Castor
1 tbsp Cardamom pp of oil.
Its helped alot. Its everything but cleansing and it will still get you clean. I also replace the water with Goats milk. and the Cardamom helps sooth irritated skin.

Just a thought, but it may be the alkalinity of handmade soap that's bothering your skin and not a particular recipe. It could also be a slight sensitivity to one of your ingredients, like Coconut Oil or even Shea Butter. Try a Castille recipe (100% Olive Oil) with a 7% superfat and let it cure for 6 months (at least)...with less variables, it will be easier to determine the culprit of your dryness. In the meantime, try 50% Olive Oil/20% Coconut/20% Shea/10% Castor with a 8 - 10% Superfat (cured for 6 weeks) = Low Cleansing/High Conditioning. It won't be a very hard bar at first, but at least you can see how it goes for you.

My first suggestion, in addition to the ones you have already received, is to let your soap cure longer. I find 4 week old soap very harsh compared to 8+ weeks. My other suggestion would be to Hot Process it. It is ready faster than CP (but still benefits from a good cure), and I have read that cooked soap is actually milder than CP, although I have no idea if that is true.

You may want to double check your scale and your calculations for accuracy to make very sure you are in fact superfatting as high as you mean to be.

AlchemyandAshes said:

Just a thought, but it may be the alkalinity of handmade soap that's bothering your skin and not a particular recipe.

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I went back to find some information about pH in soaps, and found this thread http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/ph-issues-how-lower-27974/index2.html in which IrishLass shares some interesting information:

"From all I've read, it is my belief that mildness is not exclusively a pH-related issue. There are other factors at play, such as the types of oils that go into the mix. Some oils -such as coconut oil, PKO and babassu oil- are more highly cleansing in soap than other oils and can cause irritation depending on how much of them are used, and also upon the user's individual skin-type.

In Dr. Kevin Dunn's book Scientific Soapmaking (page 371), he brings attention to some reference reports from an 'irritability index' that list the irritability level of certain commercial soap bars. The least irritating soap in the tests was Johnson & Johnson's Baby Soap w/oatmeal. Any guesses as to the soap's pH? According to the index, it's 12.35. The most irritating soap in the tests was Camay Gala. It's pH? If you think it's higher, you would be wrong. It's pH is 10.36. Very interesting stuff."

So pH is not necessarily an indicator of skin irritation, but as you said it could be something specific to an oil.

Have you thought of adding a little lanolin?

new12soap said:

So pH is not necessarily an indicator of skin irritation, but as you said it could be something specific to an oil.

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pH is absolutely not the only factor in skin irritation, or even the main factor...I would suspect it's USUALLY sensitivity to an ingredient, but pH certainly plays a part in irritation of "sensitive bits", as the original post referred to, which is why many doctors advise their female patients to NOT use "soap", and especially soap with fragrance, on their nether regions. It may not bother some women, and for others, its a constant battle. That's why there are so many products on the market...everyone's different.
Can you point me in the direction of how "irritability factor" is determined? I also have Scientific Soapmaking, and referred to Page 371 where this is referenced, but can't find how that value is determined. I would be interested to see if fragrance was taken into account, as Zest and Camay Gala are loaded with fragrance. I'm sure it was to some degree, and I would not argue the findings of Dr. Dunn, as I am certainly no chemist or scientist. I'm just wondering how they attribute "irritability factors" to a variety of soaps with lots of variables.

Ccumato said:

I'm trying to find a recipe that won't dry out my skin. I have used straight Dr. bronners baby soap. Then I made my own. Now I have dropped my CO oil. I even tried adding shea butter and caster oil. But still dries skin out faster in feet and private parts. So here is my last recipe. Any suggestions. Based on soap calc my cleansing is low. Does 100% olive oil clean?

20% CO
40% OO
40% PO
8% SUperFat

Thanks

Click to expand...

It might not be the soap at all. It just could be winter as winter time our skin is alot dryer due to low humidity. I have problems in those area with winter since moving from FL. Also it could be the hardness of your water. Not only the shower water but the water you are using to make the soap.

Maybe your water is hard

Or you can do 100% OO soap (as some have already mentioned) or a 90% OO soap with 10% shea or 10% castor or something. with a high superfat (like 10%+)

Good luck.

There could be a number of things going on.

First, as was already mentioned, you may have a sensitivity or allergy to one or more of your soaping oils. I can use coconut oil up to about 20% and then my skin isn't happy, regardless of the SF I use.

Second, you should calibrate your scale. Also if you are measuring in ounces or 10th of ounces, try measuring in grams for greater accuracy. How large is your batch size? Smaller batches are more sensitive to measurement errors.

Third, I can't remember if you mentioned fragrance in your soap. You might try fragrance-free.

Fourth, you might want to raise your SF to 10 or even 12%. I know a soap maker who has very sensitive skin and she needs to SF at 12%. Her soap is the best I've ever used, better than my own, and it never gets DOS.

Finally, and this is probably sacrilege on a forum like this one. Some people have skin that does not tolerate CP soap well and they do better with a detergent-based bar which has a more neutral pH. I know a few people like this and they formulate their own cleansing bars with surfactants. If you have used CP soap from other soap makers that you tolerate well, then this is probably not the issue. But it is possible. Before giving up, I'd try a 100% olive oil soap and see how that works for you. It will have to cure a good long while but if pure Castille is what works for you, it would be worth it.

Hope this helps!

Have you tried adding your superfatting oil at trace, rather than in with the other oils? That's what I've always done.

Does anyone on here have a 100% Castile Olive Oil already cured?

Marilyna said:

Have you tried adding your superfatting oil at trace, rather than in with the other oils? That's what I've always done.

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Unless you're making hot process, it honestly doesn't matter when you add the superfatting oil. At trace and later, the lye is still active so it will saponify whichever oils that it gets a hold of.

Good to know. thanks!

judymoody said:

Fourth, you might want to raise your SF to 10 or even 12%. I know a soap maker who has very sensitive skin and she needs to SF at 12%. Her soap is the best I've ever used, better than my own, and it never gets DOS.

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If I superfatted at 12%, a high olive oil soap: like 80% OO, 15% CO, 5% Castor would it still harden? Or, when superfatting this high do I have to have more solid butters, like shea in it? I've read that too much shea can be drying, is this true, or does this drying effect only occur on 100% shea butter soaps?