Erno Lazlo soap

[beckster51]

I saw an article yesterday about Marilyn Monroe's customized skin care regimen from Erno Lazlo. Just as a curiosity, I read it, and it appeared to include soap. They still make this soap, so I have copied the ingredient list and would like your input. It does not include lye as an ingredient, but it does not look like a syndet bar either. It also includes insect repellent! So, put your little chemistry hats on and give me your opinion about this recipe. (I'm looking at you, DeeAnna. A 100 gram bar of this soap costs$38!! But it seems people still swear by it. Whatcha think?

Ingredients:
Sodium Palmate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Water (Aqua/Eau), Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Parfum (Fragrance), Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Ethyl Macadamiate, Sulfated Castor Oil, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Evernia Prunastri (Oakmoss) Extract, Benzyl Benzoate, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77289 (Chromium Hydroxide Green).

 

[BattleGnome]

Adding -ate after an oil usually means it has been saponified. Sodium palmate = palm oil + NaOH.

I‘m not sure about some of the other ingredients in the middle of the list but a palm based soap looks to be the base.

 

[beckster51]

Yes, that's what I thought. The benzyl benzoate is an insecticide, but I am wondering if this is intended for dermodex mites. If you are wondering why I am interested in this ingredient, I have had a moderately bad case of perioral dermatitis that is sometimes related to dermodex mites, among a million other things. Appreciate your response, BattleGnome!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Not DeeAnna, but I was curious. According to wikipedia, benzyl benzoate is also used as a dye carrier and perfume fixative and has a sweet balsamic odor. According to Paula's Choice, ethyl macadamiate is "the ester of ethyl alcohol mixed with fatty acids from macadamia nut oil to create an emollient. On skin, ethyl macadamiate softens and conditions skin." It sounds like nice soap, but possibly a milled soap with additives, not CP.

 

[atiz]

Agree with Mobjack Bay. The soap part looks pretty simple; palm + palm kernel oil + (possibly) salt + EDTA (apparently the safflower is not saponified but added as an additive?). Then, at some point, the extracts are added (ethyl macadamiate, sulfated castor oil -- no idea what this is --, oakmoss extract, and the benzyl benzoate). The rest is just colorants.
I'm not sure if milled soap can take on so many additives, or how that precisely works. But probably not something doable at home...

 

[Primrose]

I am definitely not a chemist. But it seems like most mass produced commercial soaps are either tallow based or palm plus palm kernel. I suspect the price and fame is based on the celebrity endorsement and marketing rather that it actually being that magical a soap

 

[beckster51]

I don't think it is magical, just curious about it and wondering if it was something that any of you had experienced. and what you knew about the ingredients. I am always picking products up and trying to figure out what they are and how they are made. A good dermatologist will tell you that nothing is particularly magical, except maybe retinols.