Help newbie with mature dry skin

[Belindasuds]

After weighing up cost and availability of ingredients I've been toying around on the calculator with RBO, Canola, OO, shea butter, soy wax, 5% castor and possibly lard (which I really prefer not to use but its cheap here (and a few people have recommended it). I was just wondering what you use for cleansing with the ingredients you mentioned above considering you soap palm-free? I prefer not to use PKO or CO but am thinking of adding around 10% CO to add some cleansing.

I do use Coconut Oil. It's all about balance. Not sure why you prefer not to use coconut oil, but if it's because you have concerns around how cleansing it is, keep in mind a recipe is balance out with the percentage you use, other oils/butters included, superfatting (if needed for higher quantities of coconut oil) and other natural additives. Adding sugar, or things that contain sugar like honey, syrup, milk or juice can be used to increase lather/bubbles.

 

[KiwiMoose]

The linoleic and linolenic combined comes out 15-16 max and if I use lard it was going to be experimenting minus the soy wax. I'm learning towards your suggestions KiwiMoose but am a little concerned of the hardness of wax and CO combined given the soap I mentioned is quite soft. Canola is much cheaper for me than OO, though I'm aware shelf life is not as long and Soy wax is considerably cheaper than CO, so I'm looking at about 20% soy and 10% CO. I haven't used soap in years. Instead I've used Dermaveen shower and bath oil and Aveeno body wash. The soap I mentioned feels quite oily to me so I don't feel I need so much of these products, if any. It is CP soap and the link where I purchased it on ebay is HANDMADE NATURAL SOAP ~ Dragons Incense ~ 100GRAMS ~ | eBay
I have attached a picture and as you can see its quite bubbly, sometimes feels a bit slimy but that doesn't bother me.

OK - don't forget to try RBO - I'm assuming that's cheap over there too? I can get it for about $4 litre at the supermarket here on special. The recipe on your Dragon's Blood soap says it contains vegetable oil which could possibly be palm oil, as it often goes unnamed in products due to the bad rap it gets. I don't use any palm in mine at all for that reason. The RBO and OO helps to keep the palmitic acid up in my recipes.
Don't forget to look at your superfat - if your current soap feels a bit 'slimy' then it could be either the high oleic content ( if they've used high oleic sunflower oil) OR it could be they have a high superfat. A higher superfat will leave a film of oil on your hands after washing which helps contribute to the 'moisturising' feeling. I tend to soap with 5% superfat, some others prefer up to 8% (which it sounds like you might too). Then men who use my soap always say it feels 'greasy' like you can't rise it off properly. The women who use it say it feels 'soft' and non-drying. I think there's a gender difference in superfat percentages!

 

[penelopejane]

I'm in WA where there's little variety and little competition for supermarkets so nothing comes cheaply, no New Directions here, we just have Coles, Woolworths and the smaller Aldi and Foodland and they all sell the same products at similar prices. At the moment I'm just wanting to make something for myself.

Aussie Soaps are near you maybe you can pick up more cheaply than paying postage (might be cheaper to buy from America though so DYOR).
They are expensive though so check New Directions, Heirloom body care and Welcome to the Essential Oils and Soap shop
This link is still relevant:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/melbourne-victoria-australia-soapers.57467

 

[TheaMay]

OK - don't forget to try RBO - I'm assuming that's cheap over there too? I can get it for about $4 litre at the supermarket here on special. The recipe on your Dragon's Blood soap says it contains vegetable oil which could possibly be palm oil, as it often goes unnamed in products due to the bad rap it gets. I don't use any palm in mine at all for that reason. The RBO and OO helps to keep the palmitic acid up in my recipes.
Don't forget to look at your superfat - if your current soap feels a bit 'slimy' then it could be either the high oleic content ( if they've used high oleic sunflower oil) OR it could be they have a high superfat. A higher superfat will leave a film of oil on your hands after washing which helps contribute to the 'moisturising' feeling. I tend to soap with 5% superfat, some others prefer up to 8% (which it sounds like you might too). Then men who use my soap always say it feels 'greasy' like you can't rise it off properly. The women who use it say it feels 'soft' and non-drying. I think there's a gender difference in superfat percentages!

OK - don't forget to try RBO - I'm assuming that's cheap over there too? I can get it for about $4 litre at the supermarket here on special. The recipe on your Dragon's Blood soap says it contains vegetable oil which could possibly be palm oil, as it often goes unnamed in products due to the bad rap it gets. I don't use any palm in mine at all for that reason. The RBO and OO helps to keep the palmitic acid up in my recipes.
Don't forget to look at your superfat - if your current soap feels a bit 'slimy' then it could be either the high oleic content ( if they've used high oleic sunflower oil) OR it could be they have a high superfat. A higher superfat will leave a film of oil on your hands after washing which helps contribute to the 'moisturising' feeling. I tend to soap with 5% superfat, some others prefer up to 8% (which it sounds like you might too). Then men who use my soap always say it feels 'greasy' like you can't rise it off properly. The women who use it say it feels 'soft' and non-drying. I think there's a gender difference in superfat percentages!

Yes RBO is around $3.00 litre here and canola is cheap too. Seems like I might need to play around a bit. I thought maybe the vegetable was canola as that is what's commonly referred to here as vegetable, but it does make sense that it could be palm which was my initial thought too. I was going to try superfat at 5% but will keep in mind I may need to go up. Would around 30% be good palmitric? I read that anything above tends to trace very fast.

Aussie Soaps are near you maybe you can pick up more cheaply than paying postage (might be cheaper to buy from America though so DYOR).
They are expensive though so check New Directions, Heirloom body care and Welcome to the Essential Oils and Soap shop
This link is still relevant:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/melbourne-victoria-australia-soapers.57467

Yes they are down the road from me but are not having pick ups at the moment. Problem is everyone is at half stock atm so your shopping here and there online and shipping adds at up and you have to wait weeks for delivery, but I will check out the ones you mentioned, thank you

I do use Coconut Oil. It's all about balance. Not sure why you prefer not to use coconut oil, but if it's because you have concerns around how cleansing it is, keep in mind a recipe is balance out with the percentage you use, other oils/butters included, superfatting (if needed for higher quantities of coconut oil) and other natural additives. Adding sugar, or things that contain sugar like honey, syrup, milk or juice can be used to increase lather/bubbles.

I will use some CO, I was only concerned about the combination of soy wax with CO as suggested as I thought it may be quite hard in comparison to the soap I am trying to replicate

 

[KiwiMoose]

Yes RBO is around $3.00 litre here and canola is cheap too. Seems like I might need to play around a bit. I thought maybe the vegetable was canola as that is what's commonly referred to here as vegetable, but it does make sense that it could be palm which was my initial thought too. I was going to try superfat at 5% but will keep in mind I may need to go up. Would around 30% be good palmitric? I read that anything above tends to trace very fast.

In the soap calculator my palmitic is usually only around 12-13, because i don't use palm and that is the maximum I can get with the oils I am using.. My stearic is usually quite high though due to the soy wax - usually 23 ish.

 

[penelopejane]

Yes RBO is around $3.00 litre here and canola is cheap too. Seems like I might need to play around a bit. I thought maybe the vegetable was canola as that is what's commonly referred to here as vegetable, but it does make sense that it could be palm which was my initial thought too. I was going to try superfat at 5% but will keep in mind I may need to go up. Would around 30% be good palmitric? I read that anything above tends to trace very fast.

If you are going to use Canola or for any soap I wouldn't go about SF of 5%. Canola has a reputation for DOS. I use a much lower superfat. Test it and see what your skin likes.