What are your favorite additives to put in soap?

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Thank you so very much!!!

everyone does it differently, I found everything on google when I started, all info is on internet
I was asking because I’ve been reading a ton on the internet and, as I said, I find conflicting information. Therefore I came to the forum to gather some advice from people that I respect as seasoned & experienced soapers as I thought that’s what the newbie threads are for. My mistake and I apologize if I stepped on toes.
 
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I love milks in my soap and use a lot of coconut and goat milk. Other additives I use are honey, oatmeal, SL, charcoal, clays, pumice, purees, beer, aloe juice, silk. I have one recipe I use lanolin and glycerin.
 
All of my soap is 100% goat milk, but that's just because I have my own goats and that's my reason for making soap. I've never made a soap with water so no idea how or if it feels differently.

I'm a sucker for an unscented uncoloured oatmeal milk and honey bar ... Probably my favourite. I actually use oat bran as the oatmeal bit.

For scrubby soaps I love ground pumice.

I do rather like activated charcoal too.
 
I was asking because I’ve been reading a ton on the internet and, as I said, I find conflicting information. Therefore I came to the forum to gather some advice from people that I respect as seasoned & experienced soapers as I thought that’s what the newbie threads are for. My mistake and I apologize if I stepped on toes.
http://millersoap.com/ this is really good site , another is on youtube 'soaping 101" :)
 
I recently tried corn silk, although I haven't tested the soap yet.

I started using silk (dissolved in the lye water) a few months ago, but again, haven't been using it long enough yet to be definitive about the results.

I have been using ROE & EDTA for a couple of years at least and can say without a doubt that soap scum is reduced and I don't see DOS in my soaps hardly ever.

Sometimes I have used SL, but don't really see any long-term benefit, only use it now and then when I think of it so I can use up the bottle.

I have used salt and sugar more often than most other types of additives. Salt to harden the bar. Sugar to enhance bubbles. But with a longer cure, most of my soaps don't seem to need either, so have cut back on that habit, too.

When newer to soapmaking, I used Aloe Juice for my lye solution in many batches of soap, but stopped using it mostly because it was just a hassle having to refrigerate or put into cubes in the freezer.

I have used honey, beeswax (I like beeswax), lanolin (I also like lanolin), maple syrup (too much can make soap spongy), agave syrup, colloidal oatmeal (with a long cure this gets scratchy to my skin), dried tea leaves (only for foot soap though, due to scratchiness), and various other things.

I liked trying out different purees like papaya, carrots, tomatoes, etc. And I've experimented with other botanicals as well, spinach, parsley, other herbs and spices, too. Some for color, some just to see what would happen. But none have become a favorite that I use a lot in soap. Most were more of a novelty than anything else.

Now and then I still use different milks in soap, but don't really see such a great benefit, so it's not really a favorite for me. I like to drink buttermilk, but sometimes when I have it, I'll toss some into a soap for the heck of it. Sometimes I'll think, 'why not open a can of goat's milk?' (I still have maybe 3 cans in the cupboard) and use that until it's gone. But I don't really feel a huge benefit from milks, so not a favorite. But it makes nice gifts as many people do like the idea of goat milk soap.

The one additive that I really felt made a difference in the soap (and I do admit, this might be my own personal prejudice) was roses-infused oils. I gather the rose petals from my rose bushes every season and dry them for potpourri. But I also infuse some of them in oil and use the infused oil in a small batches of soap. Besides nice label appeal, for me I do think the soap feels different to my skin, even if maybe it's all in my head. Although I do have to say that I did once use one of the soaps without forethought and while using said to myself, 'This feels like my rose-infused oils soap', so maybe it is more than in my head and maybe it is more than a nice label appeal.
 
I use a standard dry mix of oat flour, rice flour, coconut milk, kaolin clay and goat milk. I incorporate one scoop (2 tablespoons) per pound of oil into all of my soap but a couple. I also use fresh aloe gel and local organic goat milk for my liquid in most of my soap. I do add sodium lactate and sometimes silk to my lye mixture.
No sugar, no salt instead xylitol and citric acid. I find it makes a nice bubbly soap with reduced soap scum.
I add a lot of lanolin, my favorite, cocoa butter and raw shea butter as well :)
My favorite soap to make is Aleppo but I also love a plain oat & rice bar w/o any fragrance.
 
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I use Aloe Vera juice in place of water, I also add in coconut milk, goat milk powder, Kaolin clay (used for "slip" and also to anchor the fragrance), Colloidal oatmeal, sea salt, sugar, and Tussah silk to every batch of soap that I make. Occasionally, I will add in Jojoba beads or poppy seeds to give some exfoliation. I just found tapioca pearls at an Asian market, so I am going to also try them in a batch for exfoliation, as I was told that they do not expand much at all when placed in liquid. I also will occasionally put a coarser sea salt on top for a nice appearance.
 
Please has anyone used allantoin powder in soaps before? Someone has asked me to make a soap with it and I'm not sure what quantity to use. Someone please help. Thanks
 
Please has anyone used allantoin powder in soaps before? Someone has asked me to make a soap with it and I'm not sure what quantity to use. Someone please help. Thanks
I suggest you start a new thread with a descriptive title like "allantoin quantity?"
 
Please has anyone used allantoin powder in soaps before? Someone has asked me to make a soap with it and I'm not sure what quantity to use. Someone please help. Thanks

I use allantoin in all of my lotion at 1%. It is found in the comfrey plant and is a great healer for skin. I would use it at 1-2% of oils for soap. I blend it into the water phase of my lotion but for soap I would dissolve it into a small amount of very warm water and add it after emulsification.
 
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