So many questions!

[Shelley D]

Hello fellow soap makers
I have been making soap for about a year now and I have come to the conclusion that most of my issues may be the hard water in my area. Typically, I use various milks in my CP soap recipes, and on occasion distilled water. But after a shower my skin is still tight and itchy no matter how I tweak the recipes. I do have skin issues that have worsened since I moved to Florida about 5 years ago, and all my natural oil blends that have worked before (for topical use, replacing store bought lotions) just aren't enough to keep symptoms under control. That's when I figured my skin was finally rejecting store bought soaps and started making my own, but the symptoms persist. Then I came across articles mentioning hard water aggravating skin issues and well now I'm looking into altering my recipes to account for use in hard water.
I was thinking of making a soleseife soap (with salt water) or a salt soap (with salt added at trace), but then I found the information about additives like EDTA or citric acid ~ and well, now I don't know which way to go. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Should I try one of the salt soaps? Or jump straight to the other additives?

 

[AliOop]

Hi @Shelley D, and welcome to SMF! I am so sorry to hear about your skin issues, but know that you are in good company. That's why and how lots of us here started soaping.

A salt soap is a good idea, but they do require a pretty long cure (usually 6+ months). In the meantime, an inexpensive and more immediate fix would be to install one of these filters on your shower heads. It only takes a few minutes and doesn't require any special skills. This made a HUGE difference for us when we used to have hard water. Although we still had hard water at the sinks, at least we weren't covering our bodies in it daily during showers. Not only did our skin and scalps feel so much better, it also greatly reduced the amount of soap scum and mineral spots on our shower.

 

[Shelley D]

Hi @Shelley D, and welcome to SMF! I am so sorry to hear about your skin issues, but know that you are in good company. That's why and how lots of us here started soaping.

A salt soap is a good idea, but they do require a pretty long cure (usually 6+ months). In the meantime, an inexpensive and more immediate fix would be to install one of these filters on your shower heads. It only takes a few minutes and doesn't require any special skills. This made a HUGE difference for us when we used to have hard water. Although we still had hard water at the sinks, at least we weren't covering our bodies in it daily during showers. Not only did our skin and scalps feel so much better, it also greatly reduced the amount of soap scum and mineral spots on our shower.

I will definitely look into that! With so many options for filtering water, it's been hard to make a choice because I didn't want to waste money on things that don't work and living in an apartment limits the options, but I think we can swing a showerhead filter

 

[Shelley D]

Hi @Shelley D, and welcome to SMF! I am so sorry to hear about your skin issues, but know that you are in good company. That's why and how lots of us here started soaping.

A salt soap is a good idea, but they do require a pretty long cure (usually 6+ months). In the meantime, an inexpensive and more immediate fix would be to install one of these filters on your shower heads. It only takes a few minutes and doesn't require any special skills. This made a HUGE difference for us when we used to have hard water. Although we still had hard water at the sinks, at least we weren't covering our bodies in it daily during showers. Not only did our skin and scalps feel so much better, it also greatly reduced the amount of soap scum and mineral spots on our shower.