Other additives for pine tar soap?

[seven]

Was wondering if any of you who did pt soap ever threw in other additives to it, things that are supposed to be good for the skin, like oatmeal, honey, or goats milk?

Do you think it's doable or would it be overkill?

I just got my pt and going to make some soap with it tomorrow. it is for my grandma. her eczema is in a bad state at the moment, and i really want to help any way i can. i've checked with her skin doctor, and she said it's okay to let her try pt soap, so i'm pretty excited about it.

 

[paillo]

I use split liquid, half distilled water in the lye mix, goat milk at emulsion. I too would love to hear ideas for nice additives.

 

[Obsidian]

Some oatmeal water might be a good additive. I don't think I'd use anything scratchy like ground oatmeal, it might be too much for irritated skin. I'm not sure about using honey, if I remember pine tar heats up quite a lot on its own.

Save some sanity, use disposable cups and a popsicle stick with your pine tar. That stuff is near impossible to clean off dishes.

 

[seven]

so gm is a possibility. good thought about the scratchiness of oatmeal there, so perhaps oat flour? i cannot get my hands on colloidal oatmeal, so oat flour and fine oatmeal are the 2nd best so far that i currently have. might try the oat flour coz it's suppose to soothe the skin, and she's gonna need it (her skin is cracking dry it's unbeliavable).

scratch honey coz of heat issues. another good thought. and yes, i'll be using dispo cups. had some pt on the sink by accident the other day and it was brutal to clean it, lol. my mom's gonna be pissed if i messed up her sink.

any other ideas for additives?

 

[Obsidian]

Maybe some calendula or chamomile infused OO? Coconut milk is another good additive if you didn't want to use animal milk, I like it a lot more then GM or buttermilk.

 

[savonierre]

I have used aloe vera juice or heavy cream in some of my pine tar soaps.

 

[seven]

i've no problems with animal milk. ah yes, aloe is supposed to be soothing too. after much thought, think i'm gonna go with gm and oat flour for this batch. thanks for the ideas guys..

 

[paillo]

The oat flour, in my experience, thickens things up a bit, so you might want to up your liquid a bit too.

 

[seven]

^^
thanks for the heads up. i'm gonna go with full water with this one.

 

[DeeAnna]

Hey, guys, the point of pine tar soap as a medicine is all about the pine tar. If you start including other additives, you might well be reducing the benefits of the PT. I can't prove that, of course, but that's my opinion.

If I were to make PT soap to specifically help with skin disorders, I would be focusing on the PT as the star of the show. I would choose a recipe that makes a mild soap to avoid stripping skin of its natural oils, use a moderate superfat to minimize the chance of my superfat oils causing irritation, and use plenty of PT. I would advise the user to gently work up a good lather and let it stay on the skin for 30-60 seconds; rinse thoroughly with warm, not hot, water; and pat dry without a lot of rubbing. If an emollient is needed, use it after the PT wash, not during.

Obviously, YMMV, but I wanted to share my thoughts on other additives when using this type of soap for medical purposes. Ditto for other types of medical soaps such as sulfur soap.

 

[paillo]

Good insights, as always, DeeAnna. I make mine with 20 percent PT, haven't tried higher. Really like the advice on HOW to wash with it, in addition to how to make it.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I have to agree with DeeAnna. Mainly because she is almost always right!

But in my mind a PT soap is really a utility soap, it has a specific function, rather than being a choice of fancy.

 

[seven]

finally did it the plain jane way. what deanna said made sense, and so i let the pt to be the star of the show. i contemplated a bit about adding some scent to it. a couple of these bars are gonna go to a friend's son, who is 5. and i was afraid the boy would be turned off by the smell of pt. at the end, i left it unscented and just be done with it. i couldn't find any eo that goes along with the pine smell, so yeah, unscented it is..

 

[DeeAnna]

I didn't mean to rain on anyone's parade, and I do apologize if I did.

My husband loves the scent of pine tar. I suspect it reminds him of camping and roughing it when he was a Boy Scout. Give it a month or so and the smell mellows some -- that will help!

 

[seven]

i don't mind the smell too, but i ain't too sure about lil kids. that said, i am quite glad i did my 1st pt batch plain jane since it is my 1st time. was expecting a lightning speed trace, but it didn't happen. 2-3 mins by spatula perhaps. i made mine this afternoon, and now it is already cut and nicely curing on the rack. the speed reminds me of a full coconut soap and salt bars.

for my 2nd pt batch, i think i'm gonna replace the water with aloe vera and add some fine ground oatmeal.

 

[Lin]

I agree with keeping things simple also for the nature of eczema. Too many additives and if there's a reaction going on you don't know to what. I also feel the simplicity just helps the skin, not dealing with too many things at once. When my eczema was so bad I used the most simple basic soaps and straight coconut oil to moisturize. Once my skin had healed I started branching out into other skin friendly ingredients to improve my baseline, and there are a lot of things that I can use now that would have been too much for my skin when it was really bad.

 

[seven]

does anyone know the minimum amount of pt needed for it be efficient? i did quite a bit of googling and found mixed results. some said 20% minimum is needed, and some swear that 7% is enough for them. i'm a lil confused now...

 

[DeeAnna]

I honestly don't think there is any real answer to your question.

In 1990, the US FDA banned pine tar for use in products intended to treat boils, dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis, or psoriasis, and for use as an expectorant. So there is some question whether pine tar actually works as a medicine -- the research is inadequate on its safety and effectiveness. That said, there is a lot of history of pine tar use and many anecdotal stories about its effectiveness. And the supposed FDA ban hasn't stopped Packers Pine Tar Soap and Grandpas Pine Tar soap from touting the benefits of pine tar for skin and scalp issues. YMMV!

I too have seen anything from 2% to over 20%, with a number of makers being vague about the % in their products. The commonly sold Grandpa's pine tar soap doesn't disclose any ingredients, but from the pale brown-sugar color, I don't think the PT % is very high in this soap -- I'd guess 5% or so -- with plenty of glowing testimonials.

Soap with 10% PT can be on the edge of being a little soft, in my experience, but totally do-able with a bit of care when designing the recipe and unmolding the soap. I have read of people trying 20% or so, with variable results -- the soap at that % can be very soft. Rather than struggle with a soft, sticky soap, I might give some thought about adding a PT lotion or salve in addition to a soap with a moderate % of PT.

Assuming there is some benefit to pine tar soap, the best % for effectiveness depends on the person's expectations, the severity or mildness of the problem they have, the response of their body to the active ingredients, and the way the soap is used (lather rinsed off right away vs. lather left on the skin for a bit, etc). I think you'll just have to experiment and see.

 

[Pepsi Girl]

finally did it the plain jane way. what deanna said made sense, and so i let the pt to be the star of the show. i contemplated a bit about adding some scent to it. a couple of these bars are gonna go to a friend's son, who is 5. and i was afraid the boy would be turned off by the smell of pt. at the end, i left it unscented and just be done with it. i couldn't find any eo that goes along with the pine smell, so yeah, unscented it is..

I make PT soap for my grand niece's ages 3 and 5. They like the smell and the results!

 

[Dennis]

I luuuuuuv my pt soap with frankincense and myrrh fo. Mysterious far far eastern sometimes soaping assistant, lovely wife, mother of my children, haaaaaaaates my pt soap.
It feels good, it smells great and I have no idea if it's any good for anything else. :wave: