Question about oils in soapmaking

[MiscellaneousSoaper12]

I've been lurking the threads around here and there's something that confuses me. Is there any point to using other oils, say almond oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil and the like, if soap only cleanses? Same for using milks and such in place of distilled water? These kinds of ingredients tend to be more expensive. If they don't do anything for the skin, why make the investment? Or is my understanding too simplistic?

 

[Zing]

I've asked tons of questions on this forum! Various oils have various properties that soapers like to combine in various combinations. For example, I add castor oil which boosts and sustains lather. I use palm and butters to add hardness. I use coconut for bubbles. There are many soapers -- including myself -- that do not use expensive oils in wash-off products. I save my jojoba and meadowfoam seed oil for lotion bars. Some soapers do add expensive ingredients for label appeal.
Check out this handy guide:

Free Beginner's Guide to Soapmaking: Common Soapmaking Oils - Soap Queen

This comprehensive guide includes a list of common soapmaking oils, their shelf lives, and instructions for how to add them to your next recipe.

www.soapqueen.com

 

[MiscellaneousSoaper12]

Thanks for your reply! I do want to get castor oil for bubble boosting, but I suppose my question was: do any of the vitamins or minerals that are in the oils you add to the soap stay on the skin? In other words, does soap nourish in any way at all?

I'll have to look into lotion bars!

 

[AliOop]

^^ what Zing said. The different oils do create different "feels" to the soap. A 100% CO soap will be have lots of bubbles and be extremely drying to the skin, unless it has high superfat. A 100% OO soap will take forever to cure, and the lather will have strings of slime (aka "oleic snot").

The awesome thing about designing different recipes is that you are bound to find one that makes your skin happier than another. My skin prefers high lard, low CO, very minimal OO, and goat milk. Powdered goat milk is not very expensive at all, but makes a difference that I can feel. Butters? I can take 'em or leave 'em, but will admit that a touch of shea adds a nice je-ne-sais-quoi to the lather. I'm just too cheap to use it much in soap because I like my recipe just as well without it. I can't use a lot of FOs because they give me headaches.

My husband has eczema and psoriasis. His skin does best with high lard, low CO, no butters, no OO, and some neem oil, with powdered goat milk and colloidal oats as additives.

One of my best friends dislikes high-lard soaps. Her skin loves 80% OO, 15% CO, and 5% castor oil, with goat milk and a very specific FO that makes her nose happy, too.

I could go on, but you get my drift. There is a balance between the one extreme of "soap is a wash-off product that just cleanses," and the other extreme where "skin problems can be cured with soap made from the correct blend of oils, herbs, eye of newt, and powdered rhinoceros horn."

Bottom line, different combinations of oils and additives will make very different soap. Whether you or your soap users care about those differences is a very personal thing. Have fun making small batches and exploring what recipe you like best!

 

[MiscellaneousSoaper12]

I've never paid much attention to how my commercial soap goes on my skin until now, so it's going to be quite a journey to discover what my skin likes at all. Thanks for your thorough reply!

 

[Zing]

I post this often but I got into soaping as a creative outlet. It was a pleasant surprise that my family's and my skin greatly benefitted. Previously I tried every lotion and potion, prescription, over-the-counter, etc. Now even Dove Sensitive feels harsh to me. So even if my soap washes off, I still believe it's healthier to use than commercial brands.
And I love evangelizing about lotion bars! Super easy, quick, no curing time and you can easily re-melt if you want to tweak the ratios. I do 1/3 each of beeswax, a butter, a soft/liquid oil -- plus 1% essential oil and vitamin E oil.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Is there any point to using other oils, say almond oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil and the like, if soap only cleanses?

Nope.
The same goes for pricey colorants & fancy swirls. Fragrance, on the other hand, deserves attention. Once you have a formula that performs time after time, $$ spent on finding a popular scent is worth the effort in the long run. Fragrance sells!

Same for using milks and such in place of distilled water?

Milks, especially goats milk, has a following and a reason to exist. Those who raise goats have a ready-made customer base of those who love it.

These kinds of ingredients tend to be more expensive. If they don't do anything for the skin, why make the investment? Or is my understanding too simplistic?

Not simplistic at all. Spot on, IMO (In My Opinion) and IME (In My Experience). Keep that in mind if you ever decide to sell.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

do any of the vitamins or minerals that are in the oils you add to the soap stay on the skin? In other words, does soap nourish in any way at all?

This is where choosing ingredients to formulate a bar to treat a specific "skin issue" comes into play. It's not about "nourishing" the skin but how the bar works to aliieviate the issue or how it makes the skin feel after cleansing. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I've never paid much attention to how my commercial soap goes on my skin until now, so it's going to be quite a journey to discover what my skin likes at all.

If you've never made soap before, try lard to practice your technique. It's readily available and inexpensive. Use the magnifying glass icon (upper right corner of this page) to Search "lard". I am one of the many "Lardinators" on SMF. We love it!

After a few small successful batches, try the Basic Trinity of Oils starter formula. Once made, you can tweak to your heart's content. NOTE: The most popular all-natural handmade soaps, in the store or bought on line, list "Olive, Palm & Coconut" -- the 3 legs of the trinity -- as their ingredients.

Once you are comfortable with the process (CP or HP), give a Castile Soap a go. Olive Oil soaps for sensitive skin like Savon de Marseilles and Allepo, as well as others, are popular worldwide.

HAPPY SOAPING!

 

[MiscellaneousSoaper12]

Thanks for all your help!

I've made two batches so far, I hope to post them on here once I can take decent pictures LOL. As I mentioned in my introduction post, I started out with a cold process soap course, so I used the recipe that was given to us there. I plugged it into SoapCalc:

62% Olive Oil
15% Coconut Oil
23% Shea Butter

31% lye concentration (originally it used 29% but I decided to increase it slightly after some reading online)
5% superfat

The bars turned out pretty good in my opinion! They're still curing and I'm dying to use them.

Palm oil is hard to get in my country, comes at about a dollar an ounce where I'm able to find it. The shea butter is about the same price though lol. Might be worth it. Lard is also harder to find where I live. Needless to say, I'm excited to move to the US with my SO when the time comes.

The place where I took the course is also a soapmaking store, and they were promoting their own luxury oils for the soapmaking. It's what prompted this question to begin with.

 

[TheGecko]

I've been lurking the threads around here and there's something that confuses me. Is there any point to using other oils, say almond oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil and the like, if soap only cleanses? Same for using milks and such in place of distilled water? These kinds of ingredients tend to be more expensive. If they don't do anything for the skin, why make the investment? Or is my understanding too simplistic?

Not simplistic...it takes time, and there is always something new to learn.

Yes and no. Using expensive oils/butters is a waste of money unless you are going for 'label appeal' because the majority of 'benefits' are destroyed by the caustic nature of Sodium Hydroxide/Potassium and the saponification process which breaks down those oils/butters into fatty acids and glycerin. Additionally, soap is a wash on/rinse off product that is only on the skin for a very short time...five, maybe ten minutes. It would be like putting on hand lotion and then washing it off. However, it's those very fatty acids that contribute to the 'soap qualities' that we strive for. It should also be noted, that with some exceptions...like Castor Oil...using an oil or butter at less than 10% isn't always worth it.

Sometimes the water replacement is for label appeal (IMHO)...like when using a vegetable puree. It's pretty cool to make a Pumpkin Pie Soap with pumpkin puree, but it doesn't 'add' anything to the soap. Using coffee/tea or fruit juices or beer or bourbon also doesn't add anything and in fact, can be a bit problematic given the sugar content of juices and alcohol. Milks (goat milk, buttermilk, coconut milk/cream, heavy cream, yoghurt, etc) are different because of the sugar and fat content and there is a huge following for Goat Milk Soap (it's the reason why I got into soap making). There is a gal I know that she pretty much only uses goat milk or aloe vera juice. I've never used the latter so I don't know, but I know that there are folks who love it too.

As to cost...it depends. If you have goats and cows, then it's fairly low cost. You can also purchase powdered milks and you can also make your own 'milks' like almond, coconut and oat. I was getting my goat milk from a local source for around $5.00 a gallon...not as cheap as distilled water but folks don't mind paying a little more. I haven't used coffee or tea, but neither is very expensive. Alcohol can add to the cost but 1) you generally don't do a full water replacement and 2) you're not going to waste expensive alcohol unless you are going for label appeal and you can pass it on.

I make my Regular Soap with Olive, Palm, Coconut and Castor Oils, and Cocoa and Shea Butters. Now I can make a nice bar of soap with just the oils and it would certainly be cheaper, but I really like what Cocoa and Shea Butter brings to the table and so I use them. It isn't always about cost because if it were, commercial soap is much, much cheaper.