Face Soap - any red flags on my recipe?

[traderbren]

Up until very recently, my husband was the one tinkering with soapmaking. I just started, and my first batch on my own was a salt bar. I'm looking to try out a face soap for myself. I read tons of threads, looked at bunches of other recipes, and decided to try to make a batch with OO, lard, CO, shea, and castor oil. I'm (hopefully) attaching the numbers I ran through soapcalc.

Are there any red flags I am missing? I am starting to get a bit on the older side where I need to worry about wrinkles and such, but not old enough that I don't still have to worry about blemishes.

I should add (since I already had to replace the first calc that had this note in it) that my fragrance is 3:1 lavender/lemongrass EOs, if that makes a difference.

Please be gentle with me! And thank you in advance for any input!

 

[Seawolfe]

I like it. There are those who are sensitive to coconut, and might think less would be better, and some would argue that swapping the lard and OO amounts would be better. But I say make that one! And see how you like it

 

[Susie]

I would suggest that you think about making a batch with no shea and that amount added to the lard, just to give yourself a good comparison batch. I don't find any benefit to adding cocoa or shea butters, but you will not know for yourself until you make both. Some people swear by their soaps with butters.

 

[dixiedragon]

I think it looks fine. With that percentage of olive oil trace might be a bit slow. Nothing wrong with that at all - just a heads up so you don't start to wonder if something is wrong.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would suggest that you think about making a batch with no shea and that amount added to the lard, just to give yourself a good comparison batch. I don't find any benefit to adding cocoa or shea butters, but you will not know for yourself until you make both. Some people swear by their soaps with butters.

I was also coming here to suggest this. I think that two identical batches would leave you hard pressed to say for certain which was which if you left out the Shea. Lard is certainly more cost effective.........

 

[traderbren]

I like it. There are those who are sensitive to coconut, and might think less would be better, and some would argue that swapping the lard and OO amounts would be better. But I say make that one! And see how you like it

Thank you. I'm not sure how sensitive I am to coconut oil, or if it will clog my pores, so I might have to drop it some. But that's what test batches are for, eh?

I would suggest that you think about making a batch with no shea and that amount added to the lard, just to give yourself a good comparison batch. I don't find any benefit to adding cocoa or shea butters, but you will not know for yourself until you make both. Some people swear by their soaps with butters.

Thank you for this idea!

I think it looks fine. With that percentage of olive oil trace might be a bit slow. Nothing wrong with that at all - just a heads up so you don't start to wonder if something is wrong.

I appreciate the heads up- I would definitely be in a panic if I thought I was doing something wrong!

I was also coming here to suggest this. I think that two identical batches would leave you hard pressed to say for certain which was which if you left out the Shea. Lard is certainly more cost effective.........

It's a brilliant idea. Thank you. I think I added the Shea only because I have some with no intended use. But I suppose my face soap shouldn't be a garbage disposal for unwanted ingredients...

 

[dixiedragon]

Not sure what else you have on hand, but if you want to use up shea you could make some whipped shea butter (nothing but shea and maybe some scent), lip balm, lotion, etc.

 

[ourwolfden]

I would recommend putting a little raw shea butter on your face and see how your skin reacts. A lot of people don’t have problems but it the shea content gets to high my face turns into one big pimple, but it doesn’t bother me anywhere else. Just my two cents.

 

[Obsidian]

I think it looks like a nice recipe as is though I would swap the lard and OO just because I like lard soap a lot more then OO soap. I like shea in soap ok though I don't find it a necessity for a good bar.

 

[traderbren]

Thank you all. I tweaked my recipe a bit for batch #1 and went 50% lard, 35% OO, 10% CO, and 5% castor oil. No Shea. I only have time for the one batch tonight, and ran out of lavender, so a second batch will have to wait, although if I like this one, I might just leave well enough alone.

 

[zolveria]

tallow and lard are wonderful for the skin... I have people who love my soaps

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

I think some people can find CO and Shea comedogenic. What about babassu instead of CO and mango instead of Shea? (Just thinking 'out loud')