# Calamine lotion, can it be used in cp



## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

So really I have 2 questions but didn't want to bog the forum with 1 question after another, 1st one is easy for all you experts, 

1.)can I use one of the food hydrater to help cure my soap faster, or put a family in the closet I use to put my soap in, the idea of curing is to basically dry out the water correct? I know stupid question, however my father keeps pestering and telling me to put a fan in the closet bc it'll circulate air and dry out the bars faster, that I don't believe but I am curious about using a food hydrater though.

2.) Does anyone here have a very basic creamy based cp recipe that can be used with calamine lotion? Can calamine lotion be used in making cp soap? If you can you help me create a recipe, I want small bubbles but a creamy later, I want to be able to used for when you have a horrible rash like getting poison ivy, but all soaps are really harsh on the skin when u have a bad rash, I want this to be cleansing of the skin but not harsh and used with the calamine lotion so it leaves the dkin soothing, just it would if you used calamine lotion alone.

Thank you in advance for advice on both questions and anyone willing to create a recipe for me, lots of thanks and appreciation


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## Susie (Sep 30, 2016)

1.  No, dehydrating the soap will make it warp, and it will still require 4-6 weeks cure time, as there is much more going on than loss of moisture during that time.

2.  It won't work, I have tried it.  You can't use a high enough amount of calamine lotion in soap to have the effect of calamine lotion.  Soap is, after all, a wash off product.  You are better off just using calamine lotion after your shower.


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## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

Susie said:


> 1.  No, dehydrating the soap will make it warp, and it will still require 4-6 weeks cure time, as there is much more going on than loss of moisture during that time.
> 
> 2.  It won't work, I have tried it.  You can't use a high enough amount of calamine lotion in soap to have the effect of calamine lotion.  Soap is, after all, a wash off product.  You are better off just using calamine lotion after your shower.



OK thank you, appreciate the input


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## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

Susie said:


> 1.  No, dehydrating the soap will make it warp, and it will still require 4-6 weeks cure time, as there is much more going on than loss of moisture during that time.
> 
> 2.  It won't work, I have tried it.  You can't use a high enough amount of calamine lotion in soap to have the effect of calamine lotion.  Soap is, after all, a wash off product.  You are better off just using calamine lotion after your shower.



Will using oatmeal or oatmeal bath work inside the soap?


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## Arimara (Sep 30, 2016)

Desirae said:


> Will using oatmeal or oatmeal bath work inside the soap?



If you want a nice exfoliating factor, yes it would. If you're wanting to use it the way I'm suspecting, you could always make oat milk and use that as your liquid. I do feel that oatmeal is better used in actual bath water, where the skin will have a better chance of receiving the benefits of the oatmeal.


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## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

Arimara said:


> If you want a nice exfoliating factor, yes it would. If you're wanting to use it the way I'm suspecting, you could always make oat milk and use that as your liquid. I do feel that oatmeal is better used in actual bath water, where the skin will have a better chance of receiving the benefits of the oatmeal.



What is oat milk and how would I go about making that, and your suspicions are most likely right, lol


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## Arimara (Sep 30, 2016)

I haven't made it myself but you can make oat milk with at least oatmeal and water in a respective 1:2 ratio. There are plenty of recipes on youtube and online  and many of them will have you soak the oatmeal in the water for a set amount of time. You would then have to put the oatmeal/water mixture in a blender, blend it and then strain it a few times. I'm only giving a basic run down for this. If anyone has made this before, they'd give better advice.


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## dibbles (Sep 30, 2016)

I have made oat milk and used it in soap. I'm not sure it will give soap the properties you are looking for, but it was a nice soap. To make the oat milk this is essentially what I did:

Combine one cup steel cut or rolled oats in a bowl with enough warm water to cover. Let sit 12-24 hours. Drain and rinse. Put oats back in bowl and cover with water, mixing with hand, and drain two more times (or until slimy feel is gone). Put drained oats in blender with three cups water and blend on highest setting until oats are finely ground. Strain through a colander lined with cheese cloth. Chill.

You don't want to use quick cooking oats. I found several videos on youtube. Watch a few and find a process you like.


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## Susie (Sep 30, 2016)

Oat milk in soap will not yield the results that Aveeno in the bathwater will.  The issue is that soap is a wash off product.  You need something that will stay on the skin.  

The reason I know this is that both my husband and I are allergic to poison ivy.  And our yard had quite the healthy crop of it at the beginning of last summer when I moved here.  We have fought the good fight, though, and have gotten it down mostly (if I go spray RoundUp poison ivy killer every two weeks like clockwork).  Needless to say, I have had lots of opportunity to try various possibilities in soap for efficacy on poison ivy rash.


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## Scooter (Sep 30, 2016)

Arimara said:


> I do feel that oatmeal is better used in actual bath water, where the skin will have a better chance of receiving the benefits of the oatmeal.



Thanks for this. One of my early soaps (just at six weeks curing time today) is very soft. It is 35% palm oil and 25% CO with 5% castor and the rest OO. It was made with beer that had been boiled down and then made into ice cubes (so it would not overheat with the lye.) Plus I put a quarter cup of oatmeal in (pulsed very fine, close to colloidal) and some lavender/tea tree EO mix.

It is *very* soft. Too soft. Also, *tons* of suds. I'm think the oatmeal may have softened it up too much, and seriously, the more I do this the more I'm wondering about putting a lot of additives into my soap. If it is washing off anyway, what's it worth. As long as it does not strip my skin dry I think I will be OK with just plain ole 3 oil or 4 oil soap. Also, beer with that much CO plus the castor is overkill on the suds for me.


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## penelopejane (Sep 30, 2016)

Susie is no doubt right about the effects of putting calamine lotion in soap. As ineffective as it might be putting calamine lotion in soap is possible. The Naples soap co in the US does it. Label appeal? 

If your soap is in a closed cupboard a fan would circulate the air and aid cure. It will will need 4-6 weeks. If your soap stays in a small closed cupboard with no air flow it may take longer than that. You will find the longer your soap cures the milder and harder it will be and the longer it will last in use.

I think people use oatmeal at about 1/2 tblsp ppo. Clay at 1 tsp pop makes a difference to a soap.

The Palm/CO/OO combo you used will make a very hard bar are 6 weeks without the additives so if it is soft there is something wrong.  I have found that at full water or even less that the addition of 1 or 2 teaspoons of extra water will make the soap very soft. I, now, always use water or extra oil for mixing colours and additives that is from the liquids the recipe requires.

If I were you I would try cutting the CO down to 10% and replacing it with Avocado, Almond or OO and see how you like it. CO can be very drying on the skin.

I am one of those people that believe that the skin (especially under a warm shower) can absorb products in soap. I can make myself sick using additives I am allergic to just in the shower. No one knows your skin, the best thing to do is experiment and see how things go for you. But following advice here will save heaps of time and effort.


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## Susie (Sep 30, 2016)

Scooter said:


> Thanks for this. One of my early soaps (just at six weeks curing time today) is very soft. It is 35% palm oil and 25% CO with 5% castor and the rest OO. It was made with beer that had been boiled down and then made into ice cubes (so it would not overheat with the lye.) Plus I put a quarter cup of oatmeal in (pulsed very fine, close to colloidal) and some lavender/tea tree EO mix.
> 
> It is *very* soft. Too soft. Also, *tons* of suds. *I'm think the oatmeal may have softened it up too much, and seriously, the more I do this the more I'm wondering about putting a lot of additives into my soap. If it is washing off anyway, what's it worth. As long as it does not strip my skin dry I think I will be OK with just plain ole 3 oil or 4 oil soap. *Also, beer with that much CO plus the castor is overkill on the suds for me.



Try the plain 3 or 4 oil soap against your loaded with additives soap and see what YOU think.  Your opinion is the only one that matters at this stage.

Desirae- I missed what you said about having the soaps in the closet.  You absolutely must have good air flow to get your soaps to dry.  They need to not be in a closet.  You need it in an open room with air flow.  I keep mine in a spare bedroom on top of the dresser and chest of drawers.  I have stored mine on top of the kitchen cabinets, and on a porch (with a screen basket around them.  Anywhere with good air flow will do.  Just keep away from kids and animals.


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## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

Thank you everyone for you help, from the sounds of it I might go ahead and just skip this idea with it being a wash off product, I was rather hoping that even though it goes into soap that it would leave behind some soothing properties on the skin, so looks like I'll be sticking with the calamine lotion itself, my backyard has 2 trees with poison ivy growing all over it as well as about 4 feet of my fence, we chop it down every year and the stuff just grows right back, we can't get rid of it we've tried probably every product on the shelf at lowes and home depot, needless to say I get attacked by it when we cut it out and off the fence, it's flowing between the slates and just end up all itchy, so I thought I had a good idea but sounds likes it wasn't. Thank you all


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## Arimara (Sep 30, 2016)

Desirae said:


> Thank you everyone for you help, from the sounds of it I might go ahead and just skip this idea with it being a wash off product, I was rather hoping that even though it goes into soap that it would leave behind some soothing properties on the skin, so looks like I'll be sticking with the calamine lotion itself, my backyard has 2 trees with poison ivy growing all over it as well as about 4 feet of my fence, we chop it down every year and the stuff just grows right back, we can't get rid of it we've tried probably every product on the shelf at lowes and home depot, needless to say I get attacked by it when we cut it out and off the fence, it's flowing between the slates and just end up all itchy, so I thought I had a good idea but sounds likes it wasn't. Thank you all



No, it was a good idea. It's just that for those rashes, you really want the product to stay on your skin and soap won't really lend you the best of what calamine and oatmeal can give your skin.

If you want, you could always try the oat milk, add some honey (personal label appeal) and if not opposed, add Oat, Milk & Honey FO to the soap. You could infuse a small amount of olive oil with chamomile and use that in your soap. Contrary to my wording sometimes, I'm actually of a similar mind as Penelope when it comes to soaps- some additives and benefits after cure.


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## Susie (Sep 30, 2016)

Desirae said:


> Thank you everyone for you help, from the sounds of it I might go ahead and just skip this idea with it being a wash off product, I was rather hoping that even though it goes into soap that it would leave behind some soothing properties on the skin, so looks like I'll be sticking with the calamine lotion itself, my backyard has 2 trees with poison ivy growing all over it as well as about 4 feet of my fence, we chop it down every year and the stuff just grows right back, we can't get rid of it we've tried probably every product on the shelf at lowes and home depot, needless to say I get attacked by it when we cut it out and off the fence, it's flowing between the slates and just end up all itchy, so I thought I had a good idea but sounds likes it wasn't. Thank you all



That is exactly why I wanted to make it into soap, also.  

And I really do have to spray every two weeks with RoundUp Poison Ivy spray.  As long as I do not skip a week, the poison ivy stays under control.  Even missing one week during the middle of winter here is asking for trouble.  I have it on my Google calendar so I won't forget it.


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## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

Arimara said:


> No, it was a good idea. It's just that for those rashes, you really want the product to stay on your skin and soap won't really lend you the best of what calamine and oatmeal can give your skin.
> 
> If you want, you could always try the oat milk, add some honey (personal label appeal) and if not opposed, add Oat, Milk & Honey FO to the soap. You could infuse a small amount of olive oil with chamomile and use that in your soap. Contrary to my wording sometimes, I'm actually of a similar mind as Penelope when it comes to soaps- some additives and benefits after cure.



Thanks, I think I'll try the chamomile since it sounds 100x easier to do as opposed to the oatmeal milk, if the chamomile doesn't work then I'll give that a try.


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## Desirae (Sep 30, 2016)

Susie said:


> That is exactly why I wanted to make it into soap, also.
> 
> And I really do have to spray every two weeks with RoundUp Poison Ivy spray.  As long as I do not skip a week, the poison ivy stays under control.  Even missing one week during the middle of winter here is asking for trouble.  I have it on my Google calendar so I won't forget it.



Generally it's summer time when it grows like a weed, winter we don't have to worry about it so much


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## cmzaha (Sep 30, 2016)

I have never had oatmeal cause a soap to soften. I am guessing your water amount and the trace you reached. I make a neat oatmeal by cooking down the oats in lots of water then strain it will smooshing it through a strainer. Makes a very oaty water, but as mentioned above it really does not replace Aveeno Bath. Not everyone can use Aveeno I leaned that when I was little, and mom had to take me to the hospital. I can eat oats just not bathe in oats.


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## Susie (Sep 30, 2016)

Actually, taking a bath in Aveeno during my worst poison ivy experience ever (eyes and nose swollen almost shut, lips three times their normal size, in my lungs...from being around burning poison ivy) convinced me at 8 that I was a dedicated shower person.  Ewww....


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## Dahila (Sep 30, 2016)

I make my milk soaps with oatmeal and today I got to try my GM and oatmeal.  8 weeks it is so awesome ) Gm was kind of sticky for the weeks, coconut milk and oatmeal is awesome too, but think buttermilk and Goatmilk is the best.  I add colloidal oatmeal or fine grind oats to my oils and SB like crazy ) then add lye


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