CP Nutmeg Butter: Suggested usage %

[MadScientist]

Hello SMF!

I was wondering if anyone had info on Nutmeg butter usage and caveats in CP soap. I'm a research junky and have scoured the internet, but the information available is scant. Even SMF has remarkably little to say.

I've read that ingesting it can be dangerous, but nothing about dermal usage. I'm looking for links and discussion on the topic as well as recommended percentages, etc. I will pop popcorn as I read tales of personal experience as well.

I want to substitute out some of the cleansing oil (mainly babassu) in my recipes and I was wondering what to expect. From various sources, I've read that lauric acid can be irritating while myristic acid may not be as irritating. This of course is extrapolation as it's been never been directly stated anywhere. Is this true?

Thank you all for your time!

 

[atiz]

Hm, I've never heard of nutmeg butter before, but (based on the soapmakingfriend calculator) it has a really interesting fatty acid profile. Sorry I can't help, but let us know how your experiments go! (As a first round I would probably try to use it at 5-10% and see what happens....)

 

[MadScientist]

I'm going to give it a shot. I finally found a study excerpt on Google Scholar that addresses irritation in relation to Sodium Laurate and Sodium Myristate:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02545635

(4) sodium laurate-sodium myristate binary mixtures tend to be much less irritant to skin than can be predicted from their respective irritant powers.

Granted, I don't have access to the full study but it's definitely something I can experiment with. Apparently they are less irritating together than they are separate.

I may actually shoot for a 1:1 lauric to myristic acid ratio. Whatever the percentage turns out to be in relation to the Babassu, I will let everyone know.

I just received the nutmeg butter in the mail and it smells spectacular. I applied some to the back of my hands to see if it irritated me at all. I will say that it feels a little drying, but I'm not breaking out in hives. Always a good thing. I will keep this thread updated throughout the remainder of this batch.