coffee grounds for mechanics soap

[hozhed]

Was thinking of making some more soap for my greasy handed friends. Have been using a lot of CO, and a bit of lemon EO. Somebody here said coffee grounds make a good abrasive in the soap. How much of the coffee grounds should I use per pound of soap? Also, do you think 50% CO,is too much for a hand soap? Thanks much., Steve

 

[LanaBanana]

I like to use 1 Tablespoon of coffee grounds per pound of oil. I prefer to use dry grounds, not wet grounds. Wet grounds end up having a halo around each ground in the finished soap which is just cosmetic, but I don't like the look; but dry grounds don't get that little halo-hard to explain.

 

[LittleCrazyWolf]

I also use 1 tbsp ppo. I use brewed coffee in place of liquid so I do use the wet grounds (and LanaBanana is right about the halo).

 

[DeeAnna]

I use 1% to 3% of fat weight as finely ground dry coffee. I grind it in my coffee grinder and put it through a wire mesh strainer to get the larger chunks out. I only use the fines.

I use a balanced soap recipe that lathers well. I don't want so much CO that it strips the oils off the skin and dries the skin out. So, yeah, 50% CO is way too much for me. Even the commercial greasy-dirty hand cleaners (Gojo in the USA comes to mind) don't strip the skin. But YMMV.

I actually like my emulsified sugar scrub (basically oils, emulsifier, and sugar) better for greasy dirt on the skin -- the oils act as a solvent for the grease, the sugar helps remove the ground in dirt, and the emulsifier lets the whole mess rinse cleanly off. The result is clean hands that aren't mummy dry.

 

[lsg]

I use pumice in my mechanics soap, also.