Freakish Lizard skin - need your help!!

[SoapyGal]

Hi fellow soapers

I have some troubles, & need your help.

I will start by saying that I've had trouble with soap my whole life. It always dries out my skin, really bad, whether it be body soap, facial soap, super extra gentle & moisturizing soap -- whatever -- it always leaves me dry. The one exception is Caress brand... but they use mineral oil, & I've learned that's not the healthiest for your skin.

So, one of the reasons for starting to make my own soap has been to finally part ways with this problem of soap drying out my skin so bad.... or so I thought....

I've made 5 batches so far. All but one had coconut oil under 25% in them, so they wouldn't bother me. But they bothered me. Mind you, the same soap works fine for my daughter & husband. No troubles for them at all, & they *love* the soap.

So then I read someplace that it could be that I just have a sensitivity to coconut oil. Make a soap without it, problem solved.

Right?

Wrong. :cry:

I made a batch of 100% olive oil soap, superfatted it at 10% on the advice of a friend, in a crockpot HP batch. It came out lovely. Smells wonderful. I didn't use any color, nor did I use any scent, on the same advice of said friend. Just pure olive oil. I adore how this soap smells.

Anyway.... I used it the last 2 days on my face & body. It made my face very dry, and my hands very dry. The rest of my body isn't as dry as other soap makes me feel, but I can still feel that "dry" feeling, like I need to slather on a bunch of lotion. Several hours later, the feeling isn't so bad, though.

What gives?!

Do I have some sort of reptilian alien gene in me that causes this? Have any of you heard of anything so wierd??!

I'm very frustrated. This has almost taken all the fun out of making soap. I don't have enough experience to be able to troubleshoot.

Maybe I should just go back to using Caress brand soap, & forget the whole thing.

I was thinking that maybe I should rebatch that Castile batch I just made.... maybe superfat it even more, say with Jojoba, or maybe add goat's milk to it?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Guest]

Some skin cannot tolerate the alkali in handmade soaps. Ever. Period. It's not your fault. You may always have to use store bought detergent based soaps for this reason.

A few Q's though - how long are you curing? The longer the cure - the gentler the soap no matter what ingredients you've used. With skin like yours I wouldn't try it before the 3 month mark. Even then it may be too much for you.

Do you make an unscented, uncolored bar? It is often the scent and color that people can't tolerate.

Have you tried M & P soaps? They may be better for you.

 

[Chay]

Anyway.... I used it the last 2 days on my face & body. It made my face very dry, and my hands very dry. The rest of my body isn't as dry as other soap makes me feel, but I can still feel that "dry" feeling, like I need to slather on a bunch of lotion. Several hours later, the feeling isn't so bad, though.

What gives?!

Don't give up on soap making yet. You have unique skin that is going to require a bit of research and some experimenting.
The reason you feel dried out for a couple of hours is because you are washing off what is called your "acid mantle" (acid mantle is the thin layer of sweat and oil that covers your body, protecting it from environmental factors and bacteria) It takes the body a couple of hours to re-coat itself.
I would recommend researching and then experimenting with cleansing your face with oil. The concept is: oil attracts oil. Applying oil to your face will lift the oil and debris off of your skin to be wiped away with a warm wash cloth, leaving the acid mantle in place. I would definately do some research but I would probably start with an OO mixed with a touch of castor. For your body you may want to try a liquid soap that is HIGHLY superfatted. While your skin is still damp from the shower apply your moisturizer. Preferable one you make yourself with no irritants.

 

[Guest]

Never give up SOAPING! Even if you can't use it yourself - you can still make it for others.

As I said - get rid of the colorants and fragrance first and go from there. CURE CURE CURE!

 

[Soapmaker Man]

SoapyGal, PM me your address and I'll send you a bar of my GM soap that I use 20% PKO and 7% Coconut oil to try. I take a 6% lye discount. The GM lowers the pH of the soap. It has aloe vera juice in it also to help skin issues. I have a bar that is unscented and has no colourants in it.

Paul :wink:

 

[Barb]

i make a concoction of olive oil and castor for washing my face. it is better if you apply it to your face and then do a steam facial, but hey who has the time.

you may need a soap that has a high percentage of lineolic acids in it rather then the oleic ( 100 percent olive oil ). some skin types and mature skin prefer the more conditioning you get with oils like high lineolic safflower, or sunflower, evening primrose, even soybean. if you use palm oil it also may bother you ( i would sub lard in it's place but that's me ).

 

[SoapyGal]

Anyway.... I used it the last 2 days on my face & body. It made my face very dry, and my hands very dry. The rest of my body isn't as dry as other soap makes me feel, but I can still feel that "dry" feeling, like I need to slather on a bunch of lotion. Several hours later, the feeling isn't so bad, though.

What gives?!

Don't give up on soap making yet. You have unique skin that is going to require a bit of research and some experimenting.
The reason you feel dried out for a couple of hours is because you are washing off what is called your "acid mantle" (acid mantle is the thin layer of sweat and oil that covers your body, protecting it from environmental factors and bacteria) It takes the body a couple of hours to re-coat itself.
I would recommend researching and then experimenting with cleansing your face with oil. The concept is: oil attracts oil. Applying oil to your face will lift the oil and debris off of your skin to be wiped away with a warm wash cloth, leaving the acid mantle in place. I would definately do some research but I would probably start with an OO mixed with a touch of castor. For your body you may want to try a liquid soap that is HIGHLY superfatted. While your skin is still damp from the shower apply your moisturizer. Preferable one you make yourself with no irritants.

Shay ~ I actually do use the OCM -- or, the "Oil Cleansing Method" -- on my face. I use olive oil. It's the only thing that doesn't bother my face. I wanted to experiement with a castile bar to see if it would work.

Barb wrote: "i make a concoction of olive oil and castor for washing my face. it is better if you apply it to your face and then do a steam facial, but hey who has the time."

I have tried using a little bit of castor added to the olive oil when I'm doing the OCM deal, but found it was too drying for me. I read someplace that castor is sometimes drying to people. I guess I'm one of them, so I use only olive oil for it.

As far as using extra conditioning oils, I have to be really careful, because I also suffer from cystic acne, and clogged pores are a big deal when they happen. I have horrible scarring on my face as a result of this. Disfiguring, actually. So -- I have the worst of both worlds Oh well.

 

[mandolyn]

My skin used to be just like you describe. It was scarey how dry & flaky it got. I was using tons of lotions & none of them worked.

When I first started soaping, another soaper said that if I stuck with using my own soap for at least a month, my skin would eventually return to a naturally balanced ph, & the dryness would go away.

I took that with a gigantimous grain of salt!

I continued to use my own soap, though. At the same time I was bathing in colloidal oatmeal/milk baths & using my own salve, & whipped shea butter. I began to use EO scented sweet almond oil to cleanse my face daily & did a once a week non-soap scrub & once a week mask with extremely gentle clays. I still do that routine for my face.

After about 2 months my skin had totally changed!! Now, I use salve or shea butter on my hands after I wash them only, & on my arms once a day. I still don't use any soap on my face, but only have to moisturize around my eyes & lips & neck area. I do that morning & night as maintenance.

The rest of my body just doesn't need any moisturizer any more.

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate is the detergent in store bought soap. Do a search on it & read the MSDS on it. It's scarey!!! Store bought soaps are not any different than the detergent you do your dishes in. No wonder our skin is parched from it!!!!

 

[Guest]

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate is the detergent in store bought soap. Do a search on it & read the MSDS on it. It's scarey!!! Store bought soaps are not any different than the detergent you do your dishes in. No wonder our skin is parched from it!!!!

I used to have a dry skin problem, presumably due to my increasing years. I started making my own soap just for fun but naturally I began to have huge quantities of home made soap and no reason to use store bought. After about a month I woke up one day and realized that my "dry skin problem" hadn't been a problem but rather was a symptom, of being poisoned by the crap in store bought soap! The dry skin had gone away! Today I'd describe my skin type as normal with no complaints or symptoms. Just to make the comparison fair, my skin problems were very modest compared to what I've heard described by others. So anyway my hobby turned into a good way to avoid skin damage caused by store bought soap.

 

[mandolyn]

...presumably due to my increasing years. I started making my own soap just for fun but naturally I began to have huge quantities of home made soap and no reason to use store bought. After about a month I woke up one day and realized that my "dry skin problem" hadn't been a problem but rather was a symptom, of being poisoned by the crap in store bought soap! The dry skin had gone away! Today I'd describe my skin type as normal with no complaints or symptoms../.

Same here. I was soooooooo relieved when I realized I wasn't just a drying out old prune!