# facial soap for oily skin



## yumie (Feb 1, 2013)

Hi, everyone.
I would really like to know which oil I should use for oily skin people. I live in Japan, and many of us have dry skin. So I used to make sesame oil or olive oil base soap. However, my friends in Taiwan said my soap doesn't clean oil enough... I've never thought about making soap for oily skin people, so I need an advice(any kind of advice is appreciated. not only about main oil), please.

Here is my recipe for dry Japanese people
sesame oil 44.4%
palm oil 27.8%
coconut oil 27.8%
additive:gum syrup
Super Fat/Discount 10%

Thank you!


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## Genny (Feb 1, 2013)

I would increase your coconut oil.  Coconut oil is very good at cleansing oil from skin.


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## dyclement05 (Feb 1, 2013)

Adding some Activated Charcoal might help. It has oil absorbing properties.


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## yumie (Feb 1, 2013)

Hi, Genny

Thank you for an advice.  If I increase coconut oil, how far can I go??  I mean what% do you recommend??  I cannot just make 100% coconut oil soap, right?

Yumie


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## yumie (Feb 1, 2013)

Hi, Dyana

Activated Carcoal!  I've never seen+used that.  I'll look for that, and try.  Thank you!!!

Yumie


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## Trxflyer (Feb 2, 2013)

You could also use clays.  I haven't used them because our skin is dry, but there are a lot of postings and users on this forum who do use clays.


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## Lindy (Feb 2, 2013)

Drop your Superfat to 6%...


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## yumie (Feb 3, 2013)

Hi, TRXFLYER,

Clay...  I'll try to send them the one I made with clay.  I really hope they would like it.  Thank you for  your advice.

Yumie


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## yumie (Feb 3, 2013)

Hi, Lindy

If I drop superfat to that low level, do I have to wait longer before I start to use??  I usually let my soaps dry for a month...

Yumie


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## andoy (Feb 3, 2013)

I have oily skin. I always thought it was a curse, but it means my skin has more protection and better moisturised. The down side was I suffered badly from acne. So used all sorts, but found the best thing was to leave well alone and stop trying to strip all the oils off my skin. I found it was counter productive and made the problem worse. 

So I would say there isn't really much difference except you need milder soap with less super fattening than other soaps.

For spot prone skin, some antiseptic additives; witch hazel, tea tree (but not too much) and even some essential oils like lavender & rosemary can help. Clays may also help, but not much experience of them personally.


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## yumie (Feb 4, 2013)

Hi, andoy

mmm...  I think you are right.  Trying to cleanse all oil from the skin may not be good, but my Taiwanese friends are not used to that.  So far, I'm having hard time convincing them to use my original soap for dry skin people.  I guess I should try harder.

Antiseptic additives, I never thought about using them, even essential oils.(I always use fragrance oils)  I'll give it a try, and see how it differ.  Thank you for your help and advice with real experience!!!

Yumie


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## andoy (Feb 4, 2013)

My father has Eurasian heritage (which includes Filipino & Chinese), while my mother is British. My mother, like most Northern Europeans had drier skin and my father had very oily skin. The natural oils on the skin protect it with a barrier. Drying out the skin with soaps/detergents/alcohol exposes it to bacteria which can get into the pores or damaged skin. The oil the skin secrets then provides a medium for bacteria to grow.

One of my friends suggested to stop washing my face altogether. I dismissed this suggestion for years, but then tried it. That was when my spots disappeared (that was in my mid thirties). Obviously it's not practical stop washing face, but it's important not to over wash and strip it of oils. What seems to happen is that the more I tried to remove the oils in my skin, the more oil it seemed to produce (to compensate)


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## andoy (Feb 4, 2013)

oh yeah, superfat of 10% is way too much for oily skin, drop it down to at least 5% or even 3%


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## Desert Karen (Feb 4, 2013)

andoy said:


> I have oily skin. I always thought it was a curse, but it means my skin has more protection and better moisturised. The down side was I suffered badly from acne. So used all sorts, but found the best thing was to leave well alone and stop trying to strip all the oils off my skin. I found it was counter productive and made the problem worse.
> 
> So I would say there isn't really much difference except you need milder soap with less super fattening than other soaps.
> 
> For spot prone skin, some antiseptic additives; witch hazel, tea tree (but not too much) and even some essential oils like lavender & rosemary can help. Clays may also help, but not much experience of them personally.



Do you have a recipe that includes witch hazel? I don't have clay in stock, but I do have witch hazel, tea tree, lavender and rosemary. Personally I don't want to add sesame oil to my soap. Just a personal preference.


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## andoy (Feb 4, 2013)

you get witch hazel in liquid form. I haven't used it in solid bars (just in my liquid soaps), but I have seen bars with it in. I would guess you add it at trace to your soap and subtract an element of water, but you don't need a lot of it to be effective. I wouldn't add it to the lye solution in case it reacts. I suspect it will accelerate trace.


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## Genny (Feb 4, 2013)

andoy said:


> I suspect it will accelerate trace.



It will, due to the alcohol content.

You could always make a witch hazel infusion using the herb.


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## yumie (Feb 4, 2013)

Hi, andoy

People around me in Japan do not have problem with pores, but my Taiwanese friends do!  And I was asked to make soaps to cure (mmmmm... "cure" is not the right word I want to use, but I don't know the exact word...  sorry my English is not good enough.) their pores.  I've been thinking if I make good soap for oily skin, it would help preventing pores.  Now I know how to tell them!  Thank you.

Superfat of 3%!!!!!  That's so low!  I'll try to make tiny batch, and let them try.

Again, I really really really appreciate your nice advice.
Yumie


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## yumie (Feb 4, 2013)

Hi,　Desert Karen

You don't want to add sesame oil to your soap because it smells, right?  In Japan, there is clear-white non-smell sesame oil with all good characteristics of sesame oil, called "Taihaku sesame oil".  Adding this oil makes rich+fluffy bubble, and it works well for dry skin.  

For your reference...
http://www.gomaabura.jp/english/index.html

Yumie


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## hoegarden (Feb 5, 2013)

yumie said:


> Hi, andoy
> 
> mmm... I think you are right. Trying to cleanse all oil from the skin may not be good, but my Taiwanese friends are not used to that. So far, I'm having hard time convincing them to use my original soap for dry skin people. I guess I should try harder.
> 
> ...


 
I am kind of surprise your friends are not using your soap. I thought soaping is now coming up in Taiwan. I got my supplies there when I went on trip last year.

Anyway, personally I do not think increasing the coconut oil is good although it cleans oil very well, it will strip your skin of all the oils. In fact i think you should drop the CO slightly. Maybe to 25%. Striping oil on the face too much will cause the face to over produce oil when in need to replenish the facial oil. 

I think adding the active charcoal or bamboo powder will be a better idea.


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## andoy (Feb 5, 2013)

yumie said:


> Hi, andoy
> 
> People around me in Japan do not have problem with pores, but my Taiwanese friends do!  And I was asked to make soaps to cure (mmmmm... "cure" is not the right word I want to use, but I don't know the exact word...  sorry my English is not good enough.) their pores.  I've been thinking if I make good soap for oily skin, it would help preventing pores.  Now I know how to tell them!  Thank you.
> 
> ...



Your English is better than my Japanese, that's for sure! :lolno:

I know quite a few Japanese with oily skin, though it's more common with people with darker skin types. I presume you mean  "clean or unblock their pores"... there is a limit to what a soap can do. Soaps don't cure skin conditions, they can help some symptoms like dryness or have antiseptic properties. I suspect your customers further south are really complaining that your bars too oily for them at 10% superfat. I only tend to superfat at 5% for all my bars.

Try making a soap specifically for oily skin. In addition to reducing superfat; You could also drop coconut oil down to 20% and add something like castor oil. Castor oil creates a lovely luxurious lather (think lots of small thick foam) that is kinder to the skin. One of my favourite soaps is transparent bar high in castor oil. You can also replace sesame oil for Pomace (grade of olive oil)... it has strong scent but if you are using lavender EO or tea tree it is not noticable and it creates a reasonably solid bar (even on it's own as single oil bar). I don't think olive oil is as close as sesame seed oil (i.e. think it has larger structure).

hoegarden, I've never heard of bamboo powder. That sounds like a fun additive. I gotta try to find that over here!


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## yumie (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi, hoegarden

Really???  There are a lots of soap ingredients selling in Taiwan???   I'm planning to visit my friends with lots of my soaps soon, so I will look for unique things!  Do you have any store information by any chance??

Drop coconut oil% sounds reasonable.  I will try.  Thank you.

After I've got an advice of adding activated charcoal, I actually made an experiment of adding bamboo charcoal powder.   I hope it works.

Yumie


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## yumie (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi, andoy

Yes...  They really don't like the fact that my soaps leaves a lots of oil.  I made an experiment of low superfat (5%).  I'll see what they say about that soap.

I'll try both 20% and 25% of coconut oil tomorrow.

Castor oil.  I've tried to replace 3% of sesame oil before, and I didn't see any differences...  So I decided not to use it any more...  But since you recommend, I'll try 20% coconut oil+7or8% of caster oil tomorrow.

Pomace... I don't like to use olive oil too much because it takes soooooooooooooo long, but maybe I'll buy that oil+try in the future...

I think hoegarden is mentioning bamboo charcoal powder, not bamboo powder.  I hope you can find it there.

Yumie


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## hoegarden (Feb 5, 2013)

yumie said:


> Hi, hoegarden
> 
> Really??? There are a lots of soap ingredients selling in Taiwan??? I'm planning to visit my friends with lots of my soaps soon, so I will look for unique things! Do you have any store information by any chance??
> 
> ...


 
Hi Yumie, yes. there is a local brand that went famous and selling overseas. i got various soaping books from soapers in taiwan as well.

which part of taiwan will you be going? I have some suppliers that I found online previously. I only been to the one in TaiChung to get my supplies. The address will be in chinese though. Let me know if you are interested and I can share it with you. I have information on other areas, perhaps you have to see which one is nearer to where you visiting.

http://sese.tw/ - This is the supplier that I bought from. They have a big range. (not sure if you understand)


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## hoegarden (Feb 5, 2013)

yumie said:


> I think hoegarden is mentioning bamboo charcoal powder, not bamboo powder. I hope you can find it there.
> 
> Yumie


 
Yeap. I meant bamboo charcoal powder here.

But there is bamboo powder for soaping. But for exfoliating purposes. It is very fine and gentle to skin. A nice additives in soap too. But hard to find in my area and shipping is expensive (the powder price is quite okay, but shipping~~ :cry:. )


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## yumie (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi, hoegarden

I'll go to Taipei for 10days.  I think I have enough time to travel around, I can even go to TaiChung to pick up things.  My friend said that they will take me around and help me translating.  So please tell me the address!  Chinese writing is better than Pinyin.  Thank you , thank you, thank you!!!

Yumie


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## hoegarden (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi Yumie,

For Taipei, these are the places that sells everything from soaping to beauty care DIY:

1) *城乙化工原料有限公司* 版權所有2012 .
103 台北市天水路39號 Tel：(02)25596118 Fax：(02)25593110 
http://www.meru.com.tw/

2)*第一化工*地址
天水路43號

一樓化粧品門市​
http://www.firstchem.com.tw/x/html/modules/tinyd0/rewrite/tc_150.html

3)*福昇儀器有限公司 FU-SANG BEAUTY LTD*.
地址:台北市長安西路276號　電話02)2558-1334, 2555-6615　傳真02)2558-9322
http://www.fsdiy.com.tw/

For TaiChung, the shop will be:
1) 順億化工原料有限公司　地址：台中市北屯區文心路4段343號 
電話：04-22454169　傳真：04-22437372
http://sese.tw/

If you are going further down to the south, you can try this shop too:
1) 101台灣皂料館
台灣手工皂材料館 高雄市三民區臥龍路27號
http://www.101soap.com/

I think the shops in taichung give better pricing. Keep the links and it will be helpful.


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## hoegarden (Feb 5, 2013)

Errrrrrrr.. I didn't put the smiley...


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## yumie (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi, hoegarden

WOW!!!  You've been very helpful.  Thank you.
Actually, I'm surprised with the price.  They are soooooooooo cheap compared to Japan!!!  I'll probably buy a lot when I go there...

Yumie


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## Genny (Feb 5, 2013)

hoegarden said:


> Errrrrrrr.. I didn't put the smiley...



Yeah, forums automatically do that.


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## z00100 (Feb 5, 2013)

Add some clays, they are great at oil absorbency.


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## yumie (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi, z00100

Thank you for your advice.  There are so many different type of clays, and I can't choose...  Are they all the same with just different colour???  I should find forum talking about clays now^^

Yumie


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## z00100 (Feb 7, 2013)

yumie said:


> Hi, z00100
> 
> Thank you for your advice.  There are so many different type of clays, and I can't choose...  Are they all the same with just different colour???  I should find forum talking about clays now^^
> 
> Yumie




Check out this site:

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/adding_clay_to_soap.html

I use French Green in some of my soaps and it works great for oily skin.


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