A couple of recent posts really got me thinking about about soapcalc cleansing and conditioning numbers. I tend to keep the cleansing number between 13 and 17 for most of my recipes. As a result my conditioning number always ends up in the low 50s. That seems to make my skin happy while still satisfying my inner lather freak.
Anyhoo, what I can't seem to wrap my brain around is how differently people's skin reacts to coconut vs PKO vs babassu. All three increase cleansing and bubbles while reducing the conditioning properties. All three seem to have a similar fatty acid profile as well.
This is what's really blowing my mind. Another soaper friend recently shared some bars that contain a high % of babassu oil, like 50%! My first thought was "holy crap that's some really expensive soap" and second was "this stuff is gonna dry me out big time". Normally soap with more than 15-20% coconut oil makes me dry and itchy after one shower. I've been using my friend's soap for the past 3 days and so far it hasn't been an issue.
So here's my million $ question and hopefully some of you big, brained chemistry geeks can help me figure out the answer. Why am I so sensitive to soap with more than 20% CO but can use a 50% babassu soap no problem? I know babassu is considered a 'luxury' oil but still. I've used 10% fractionated CO and never had issues with it . . . same with PKO at 20-25%. I'm not convinced it's a coconut sensitivity because I can use soap with coconut milk no problem . . . same for ingesting coconut. What do you guys think?
Anyhoo, what I can't seem to wrap my brain around is how differently people's skin reacts to coconut vs PKO vs babassu. All three increase cleansing and bubbles while reducing the conditioning properties. All three seem to have a similar fatty acid profile as well.
This is what's really blowing my mind. Another soaper friend recently shared some bars that contain a high % of babassu oil, like 50%! My first thought was "holy crap that's some really expensive soap" and second was "this stuff is gonna dry me out big time". Normally soap with more than 15-20% coconut oil makes me dry and itchy after one shower. I've been using my friend's soap for the past 3 days and so far it hasn't been an issue.
So here's my million $ question and hopefully some of you big, brained chemistry geeks can help me figure out the answer. Why am I so sensitive to soap with more than 20% CO but can use a 50% babassu soap no problem? I know babassu is considered a 'luxury' oil but still. I've used 10% fractionated CO and never had issues with it . . . same with PKO at 20-25%. I'm not convinced it's a coconut sensitivity because I can use soap with coconut milk no problem . . . same for ingesting coconut. What do you guys think?