what oils ARE moisturizing?

[honor435]

what oils are good for sry skin? the shea didnt feel as nice as cocoa butter, is mango or avacado butter good? and how much in 30oz batch?

 

[kaseencook]

Olive oil and canola are really moisturising! and you can get them at the store
Although with canola you need at add an antioxidant rich substance to prevent DOS, like cinnamon, cocoa powder, oat flour, green/ceylon teas, ect....
My personal favorite is canola soap with oat, soy, and brown rice flour very creamy.

 

[IrishLass]

This is a hard question to answer because it really all comes down to personal preference, as you just found out in the fact that you liked cocoa butter more as opposed shea. I personally love mango butter in soaps and can really tell a difference when I use it over cocoa butter, but as I said, it all depends on each individual person and what their skin likes. For what it's worth, I use mango between 5% and 30% depending on the soap formula I'm using. As a general rule of thumb to most soapers (although there are always exceptions to the rule), a good usage amount for butters is usually between 5% - 10%.


HTH!
IrishLass

 

[Lindy]

There are as many answers to that as there are soapers.....each of us have our own preference....

 

[AshleyR]

I use cocoa butter and shea butter in a lot of my soaps. I find cocoa butter is more moisturizing in soaps, but I use unrefined, and I can always smell it.... so I use shea more.

I also prefer shea in lotions, lip balms, etc. as I find it a LOT less greasy than other oils and butters.

 

[MikeInPdx]

If you have really dry skin, you might want to forego the fancy oils and butters in the soap. Make a fairly conditioning recipe according to SoapCalc.....give it a fairly generous superfat, and then use your oils or butters to make a leave on cream, lotion, or body butter to use right after bathing. That would be the most effective.

 

[carebear]

soap isn't moisturizing - it's soap. some are less stripping than others though. any residual oil will be a help so make something stable with a hefty superfat...

or use lotion - lotion is moisturizing.

 

[Jeremy]

I agree with carebear, the ultimate would be a soap that cleans (strips) while moisturising (adds), chemically speaking the two don't meld. You have to give to get, so a little less stripping a little more moisturising, tit for tat. Really the gosl for all soapmakers.

 

[Jaaret]

soap isn't moisturizing - it's soap. some are less stripping than others though.

I agree - to a point. I always superfat my soaps by applying a 7-9% discount to the lye, and I can tell a big difference. Commercial soaps do strip the skin of it's natural protective oils. The superfatted soaps I make clean without stripping the skin. I think of it more as an exchange of oils: some (but not all) of my skin's oils are washed off but they are replaced, at least in part, by the extra oils and butters in my superfatted soaps.

I also get consistent feedback from the friends and family that I share my soaps with. They all say, "My hands aren't nearly as dry after using your soap."

I'm a big fan of castor oil, jojoba oil and any butter: cocoa, shea, sal, or illipe. I haven't tried mango butter yet but look forward to adding it to my next batch!

 

[kaseencook]

I have made the same observation as you Jaaret. I feel that the cheap store soap can leave your hands dry and stripped, but I do believe too that handmade soap (superfatted with oils) can leave an oil residue which can leave skin feeling less dry and stripped. Although soap helps remove soils and bacteria but trapping them in micelles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micelle) and then they are physically removed by running water, I don't think it is a total removal process, as our hands are not sterile after using soap, just a bit less gunky.

I think it is something that has to be thought of on a microscopic scale. The surface of the hand is rough, with crags, crevasses, and hairs as well lipid based cell membranes which would be more likely than water (the water you are washing with) to attract/hold oil molecules. I think additives to soaps can also be beneficial because they are infused into the oils which remain on the skin after washing.

Goats milk soap is an example of soap that has done wonderful things for people's skin, and I believe it is because some of the chemicals from the goats milk are left behind (to be absorbed) in the supper fatted oils.

For example of you were to dunk your hands in olive oil (I do this when cooking sometimes), and then go wash them with soap, it is very hard to get the oil off as it is much more attracted to your skin. I can usually never get it all off, but it makes my skin feel very nice and eventually soaks in and rubs off.

Similarly with washing oil off of plastic, as plastic is oil based and oils are more attracted at the plastic and very hard to wash off, even with detergent.

Just my two cents I think things look more straight forward on a macro level (soap=clean), but on a microscopic level are more complicated.

Have a good week!