Need help in making the ULTIMATE BAR SOAP

[Scoop80205]

Hi, my name is Brian Nemeth from Denver, Colorado. I'm totally new to this idea of making my own soaps. That's because no matter what soap I buy, it does wash away body odor, but it doesn't do the job of relieving pesky itching. I end up using either in-shower body lotion or after-shower lotion to stop this ant-in-the-pants legs feeling. That's why I need help in finding the right ingredients (and measuring them) to make the ultimate bar of soap

When it comes to cleansing myself, I emphasize the importance of acquiring a specific set of ingredients for making soap that effectively eliminate impurities present in shower water. These impurities, including VOCs, chlorine, hard water, and chloramine, need to be addressed, particularly in instances where access to a shower-head equipped with water filtration is unavailable. Scenarios like visiting gyms, hotels, or any location outside my home exemplify the need for such measures.

Another aspect of my cleansing routine involves incorporating additional soap making ingredients, which serve as natural exfoliators and hydrators. These ingredients aid in relieving troublesome itchiness while I cleanse my body. My research has enlightened me regarding the efficacy of colloidal oatmeal, coarse epsom salt, and baking soda in combating itchiness. However, I wonder what would happen if I were to combine them together. Furthermore, the inclusion of calming oils such as almond and coconut oil adds a soothing touch.

Altogether, I seek guidance on soap-making ingredients that fulfill the following criteria:
- Eliminating impurities found in shower water
- Providing extra texture to alleviate persistent itching (such as oatmeal, coarse epsom salt, and baking soda)
- Calming the skin through the use of appropriate oils (eliminate the need of lotion, even in-shower lotion)
- Eliminating body odor and imparting a pleasant scent throughout the day

 

[AliOop]

You don't want to use Epsom salt in soap - it draws too much water from the air and will make your soap a goopy mess. I don't like baking soda in soap; it reacts with the oils in a way that alters the final soap consistency, too.

Finally, coconut oil in its raw form may feel soothing to your skin, but when it is converted by the lye into sodium cocoate (soap), it becomes very cleansing, which means that it will strip away your natural skin oils. So most soapmakers with sensitive skin keep the amount of coconut oil in their soap fairly low. Our dear @Zing is a bit of an outlier on this one, but men do seem to have a higher tolerance for the more cleansing soaps, so do with that as you see fit.

Well, enough about what NOT to use. Based on what you are trying to achieve, I'd recommend a high-lard recipe. Lard soaps are very gentle on the skin, and if you add a good chelator, that will help the soap work better in hard water. Maybe try something like this:

60% lard
20% coconut oil
20% olive oil

3% super fat
33% lye concentration

Dissolve the following in the water before you add the NaOH:
-colloidal oats at 2% total oil weight
-goat milk powder (or both) at 2% total oil weight
- sodium citrate at 1% total oil weight

Good luck, and let us know how your first batch goes!

 

[Scoop80205]

So, when it comes to providing extra grit to relieving itch as I wash, now I know epson salt and baking soda are out. Besides colloidal oats, what other natural scrubbing ingredients do you recommend, so I can scratch the itch as I wash without the need for bacteria-laced body scrubber?

And what about activated charcoal? Heard that it aids in filtering out impurities in shower water AND it helps open pores.

 

[AliOop]

Lots of folks do love charcoal in their soap. You can certainly give it a try, but go easy... you can end up with grey lather and some staining on your towels.

To add some exfoliation, you could use finely-ground oats instead of colloidal oats. Other popular soap exfoliants are poppy seeds and ground loofah. For serious scrubbing (think, Mechanic Soap), fine pumice or finely-ground coffee.

 

[Scoop80205]

Serious scrubbing without the need for body scrubber or loofah

1. Colloidal oats
2. poppy seed
3. ground loofah
4. coarse fine pumice or finely-ground coffee

Is it possible to combine together those listed ingredients?

 

[AliOop]

Serious scrubbing without the need for body scrubber or loofah

1. Colloidal oats
2. poppy seed
3. ground loofah
4. coarse fine pumice or finely-ground coffee

Is it possible to combine together those listed ingredients?

Yes, but true colloidal oats are not scrubby - they dissolve into the water.

Finely ground oats (which are not colloidal) will be scrubby - and much less expensive, since you can grind them up yourself in a spice grinder, coffee grinder, etc.

Also, I wouldn't recommend coarse pumice for soap. It's pretty rough on the skin. I'd stick with fine or extra fine - it will definitely exfoliate! Same with coffee. Our mechanic who uses my mechanic soap says that fine pumice and fine coffee grounds are just enough to take off grease without making his skin too rough. You want to polish the skin, not sand it, right?

 

[Scoop80205]

so ground loofah, pumice (fine or extra fine), finely-ground oats, and fine coffee grounds combined together? To act as a extra gritty natural scrubber to relieve the itch as I wash?

And what about ingredients to remove impurities from shower water as I wash? After hitting the gym, or traveling anywhere, there's no access to a water filtration shower head.

 

[AliOop]

Personally, I'd start with just the finely-ground oats, and see what you think before adding anything more. Besides physical exfoliation, oats have itch-soothing properties for most people (although our @cmzaha is an exception to that general rule).

In the recipe I provided above, the sodium citrate is a chelator that helps to combat the hard water. It binds up metals that can tend to create soap scum (and itchiness). I'm not aware of anything you can add to the soap to remove things like chlorine, etc.

 

[Scoop80205]

Just saw this just now from CleanO2 website - Click Here

Not just sodium citrate acting as a chelator...

I also found out about spearmint essential oil, activated charcoal and Vitamin C solution helping neutralizing chlorine

Can I add those ingredients along with sodium citrate? and what do all those ingredients do to regular shower water to ensure itch-free skin?

 

[Savage Daughter]

Oatmeal is awesome in soap, as are goats milk & coconut milk. Very soothing to the skin, especially when combined with the finely ground oats.

I work with a lot of plants for the purpose of personal medicine, skin care products, hair care, soaps & so on. I've been doing this for multiple decades.

I have found that a plant which relieves itching really well after the skin has been stripped by cleansers, detergent bars (called 'soap' on corporate labels) & dodgy water is calendula infused oil. I normally infuse into olive oil. There are many others, but I'm keeping this as simple as possible.

This oil infusion can be a bit greasy for whole body use, however. Some people like getting oiled up after a shower. Me, not so much. Liquid oil also leaks from bottles, so not the best choice for carrying around.

If you're not a fan of getting oiled up, you can infuse calendula petals into mango butter, which is a plant butter that's somewhat less oily than something like olive oil. You can carry a small container of calendula infused butter with you with no issues of leaking as it will be solid.

Fill a glass jar which has a lid 1/3 of the way with calendula petals. Fill the rest of the jar with mango butter, which will be solid. Put the lid on. A good type of jar for this is a quart or less canning jar.

Get a pot which is nearly as high or AS high as your jar, place a dishtowel in the bottom, fill with water. The towel prevents the jar from shattering when in contact with the metal pot. Place your closed jar into the water-filled pot. The water should reach the level of the materials you put into the glass jar & not go over the lid.

Put the pot on low heat & keep it at low heat for a couple of hours. As the water evaporates, top it up with HOT water as cold water can cause the hot glass jar to break at that stage.

Once you've infused this for a couple of hours, shut off the heat & leave the jar in the pot until everything cools to room temperature. The butter in the jar will re-solidify but may change a bit in texture. That's fine.

Scoop some out into a smaller glass jar that's a convenient size for you. Refill it from the larger glass jar as needed. You can carry this with you to the gym, wherever necessary, and use as you like.

 

[Scoop80205]

Oatmeal is awesome in soap, as are goats milk & coconut milk. Very soothing to the skin, especially when combined with the finely ground oats.

I work with a lot of plants for the purpose of personal medicine, skin care products, hair care, soaps & so on. I've been doing this for multiple decades.

I have found that a plant which relieves itching really well after the skin has been stripped by cleansers, detergent bars (called 'soap' on corporate labels) & dodgy water is calendula infused oil. I normally infuse into olive oil. There are many others, but I'm keeping this as simple as possible.

This oil infusion can be a bit greasy for whole body use, however. Some people like getting oiled up after a shower. Me, not so much. Liquid oil also leaks from bottles, so not the best choice for carrying around.

If you're not a fan of getting oiled up, you can infuse calendula petals into mango butter, which is a plant butter that's somewhat less oily than something like olive oil. You can carry a small container of calendula infused butter with you with no issues of leaking as it will be solid.

Fill a glass jar which has a lid 1/3 of the way with calendula petals. Fill the rest of the jar with mango butter, which will be solid. Put the lid on. A good type of jar for this is a quart or less canning jar.

Get a pot which is nearly as high or AS high as your jar, place a dishtowel in the bottom, fill with water. The towel prevents the jar from shattering when in contact with the metal pot. Place your closed jar into the water-filled pot. The water should reach the level of the materials you put into the glass jar & not go over the lid.

Put the pot on low heat & keep it at low heat for a couple of hours. As the water evaporates, top it up with HOT water as cold water can cause the hot glass jar to break at that stage.

Once you've infused this for a couple of hours, shut off the heat & leave the jar in the pot until everything cools to room temperature. The butter in the jar will re-solidify but may change a bit in texture. That's fine.

Scoop some out into a smaller glass jar that's a convenient size for you. Refill it from the larger glass jar as needed. You can carry this with you to the gym, wherever necessary, and use as you like.

Can I incorporate calendula infused oil into making bars of soap? If so, how?

And can I combine that oil with finely-ground oats?

 

[Savage Daughter]

Can I incorporate calendula infused oil into making bars of soap? If so, how?

And can I combine that oil with finely-ground oats?

Absolutely. Yes & yes

I forgot to mention that you might choose to strain the calendula petals from the liquified mango butter, sorry about that, before it re-solidifies. Wait for it to cool to a temperature that your hands can handle. Then put the liquified butter back in that jar you used for infusing, put the jar back into the hot water in the pot & allow to cool to room temp with the lid put back on.

If using in soap, just remember that calendula infused olive oil is NOT the same as calendula infused mango butter. Olive oil & mango butter have different saponification values. Check your soap recipe using a lye calculator to get the correct lye to water ratio, whether using the olive oil or mango butter. Either can be used for your soap.

You can also superfat your soap using the calendula infused oil, making your soap even gentler on your skin. I'd recommend starting with around 5% before going any higher. There is a space for that in online lye calculators. Look for the heading which says SUPERFAT %.

Follow the same instructions for infusing olive oil with calendula petals, allowing it to cool to room temperature in the hot pot of water (which will also cool, obviously). You don't need to strain the petals out in this case.

I like to leave my calendula in my olive oil for at least 4 weeks in a cool place to continue infusing before using it, but it's up to you. The longer the petals stay in there, the stronger the infusion, the more benefit your skin will receive.

 

[Scoop80205]

Now, what ingredient should I use to

1. add some extra lather and
2. eliminate body odor to stay fresh all day?

 

[Savage Daughter]

Now, what ingredient should I use to

1. add some extra lather and
2. eliminate body odor to stay fresh all day?

You're new to this I assume, so I hesitate to mention this, but both sugar & honey add beautiful lather without drying out the skin. Be aware that this can cause your soap batter to get hotter in your mold than without honey.

Honey can be blended into your oils directly. Stick blend them in thoroughly before adding your lye water to your oils.

Sugar can be dissolved in your distilled water before adding your lye.

If you have hard water, I have found sea salt added to my lye water increases lather as well, and hardens my bars more quickly.

Just add the sea salt to your distilled water, dissolve completely, before adding your lye.

Sage essential oil is amazing for stink busting in any product, soap included.

You'd have to figure out the proportions of these ingredients based on your total oil weight for your batch.

I'm sure other forum members have suggestions as well

 

[Scoop80205]

You're new to this I assume, so I hesitate to mention this, but both sugar & honey add beautiful lather without drying out the skin. Be aware that this can cause your soap batter to get hotter in your mold than without honey.

Honey can be blended into your oils directly. Stick blend them in thoroughly before adding your lye water to your oils.

Sugar can be dissolved in your distilled water before adding your lye.

If you have hard water, I have found sea salt added to my lye water increases lather as well, and hardens my bars more quickly.

Just add the sea salt to your distilled water, dissolve completely, before adding your lye.

Sage essential oil is amazing for stink busting in any product, soap included.

You'd have to figure out the proportions of these ingredients based on your total oil weight for your batch.

I'm sure other forum members have suggestions as well

Yep, new to this soap making game, as I said in the introductory post. After years of buying "commercial" soap that doesn't stop the itch after I get out of the shower, and seeing there's no access to water filtration system when I'm out and about, It's time I made soap that gives me (a) hydrated, itch-free skin, (b) clean an refreshed feeling that last all day, no matter what shower i'm under

 

[KiwiMoose]

This is a good article (as are many of Kenna's) you may wish to read: What Fatty Acid Profiles in Soapmaking Are the Most Popular?.
My recommendation is just to make some soap with NO additives first. This will allow you to compare commercial soap with handmade. You might find just that will be enough to solve some of your issues. In this manner you can create a base recipe - from which you can create a 'scrubby' bar, or a 'creamy' bar, or other variations.
Once you are happy that the base recipe soap performs in a way that is to your liking, you can then tweak it with additives one at a time to see how you like them. If you add too many things at once you will never know which one is making a difference.
I use aloe vera juice as water replacment to add to my lather.
Another option for scrub is ground orange peel. I use poppy seeds sparingly in my hand soap and I like it - but not sure that I would want them in my body soap. They are pretty scratchy.

 

[Scoop80205]

This is a good article (as are many of Kenna's) you may wish to read: What Fatty Acid Profiles in Soapmaking Are the Most Popular?.
My recommendation is just to make some soap with NO additives first. This will allow you to compare commercial soap with handmade. You might find just that will be enough to solve some of your issues. In this manner you can create a base recipe - from which you can create a 'scrubby' bar, or a 'creamy' bar, or other variations.
Once you are happy that the base recipe soap performs in a way that is to your liking, you can then tweak it with additives one at a time to see how you like them. If you add too many things at once you will never know which one is making a difference.
I use aloe vera juice as water replacment to add to my lather.
Another option for scrub is ground orange peel. I use poppy seeds sparingly in my hand soap and I like it - but not sure that I would want them in my body soap. They are pretty scratchy.

Aloe vera juice to replace distilled water?

 

[Scoop80205]

@AliOop mentioned using sodium citrate at 1% total oil weight.

@QuasiQuadrant also mentioned using sea salt to the lye water (as in mineral dead sea salt for bathing, I assume)

Soapmaking friend suggested adding citric acid at with the liquid (1% of oils)

When dealing with dodgy water (unfiltered shower water) those ingredients in the lye solution can help remove those impurities as I wash. Is all that true?

 

[artemis]

I think we need to slow down for a minute.

1. Since you have never made soap before, I really think you need to start by making a small batch (like, a pound of soap). You can use the recipe that @AliOop provided above. If you need help putting it through a lye calculator, let us know. Just plain simple handmade soap might be all you need. And, you don't even know if you like making soap.

2. All soap cleans, but no soap can counter the fact that you are still rinsing it all off with the water that you are concerned about.

3. No soap is going to moisturize you. You may want to look into learning how to make lotion, too. Some people just need a lotion. In the winter time, it doesn't matter which soap I use, I will always need to use lotion.

4. As a mother, I have to go into Mom Mode and say, "don't scratch"! Please do not go in for super extra scratchy ingredients yet. You can damage your skin. Stick with just one for now and see what you think (I like cornmeal).

 

[Zing]

Hi, Brian, and welcome! My recommendation to new soapers is to make a recipe without colorants, scents, and exfoliants. It's a process with several steps.

I was motivated to make soap purely as a creative outlet. I was pleasantly surprised to see a dramatic change in my skin's health! I spent decades itching and applying a prescription several times per day -- now it's per year. My wife and kids noticed it too -- we were a rashy family and now we're not.

I also make lotion bars. For decades my fingertips would crack and bleed in the winter and I literally resorted to SuperGlue. Now my fingers stay healthy all the dry winter long.

Keep us posted. @AliOop is a master so just go with her recipe and tweak from there.