# Adding oatmeal to CP soap



## trishwosere (Sep 15, 2011)

I'd like to try making a soap with oatmeal added aswell as my honey. 
I need a little clarification from one of you soapmasters as to what exactly is oatmeal please.-Living in the U.K we have different names for things so where I need to add a tablespoon of oatmeal PPO can I use porridge oats, and I'll run it through my grinder to make it smooth, please? I know I'm not to use instant oats...yukky mess or so I believe lol
Many thanks for any help


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## AmyW (Sep 15, 2011)

I use oat flour. It's perfect because if you add it with the oils it dissolves and can be used just to add the good oatmeal stuff for your skin, or you can add it at trace and get a good scrubby bar without being "ouch".

Looking it up online, it looks like porridge oats are the same as rolled oats here, so you can grind them up and use them the same as I mentioned...not sure you could get them as fine, someone else might know that!


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## IrishLass (Sep 15, 2011)

I found this on the net:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/porridge-vs-oatmeal.html

From reading it, it seems to me like grinding or pulverizing up some porridge oats would do just fine. 

I myself like to use baby oatmeal in my oatmeal soaps (less scratchy to my skin). This is the particular brand of baby oats that I use: http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/2392390017


IrishLass


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## LauraHoosier (Sep 15, 2011)

I grind my oats in a food processor then dumped it into my coffee bean grinder to get the powder commonly called "colloidal oatmeal".  Works like a charm.   Good luck!   Oh and be ready for the honey to make things heat up if you don't already know.


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## falldowngobump (Sep 16, 2011)

I use baby oatmeal flakes, I find it in the babyfood cereal section.  I get the oatmeal goodness with no nubby scratchy or having to grind anything up.


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## MsSharLee (Sep 16, 2011)

Not to hijack the topic but what are the benefits of the oatmeal in a soap bar?


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## JackiK (Sep 16, 2011)

MsSharLee said:
			
		

> Not to hijack the topic but what are the benefits of the oatmeal in a soap bar?



As with Aveeno (sp?), it is soothing to the skin.  It can also serve as an exfoliate, depending on how finely you crush them.


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## MsSharLee (Sep 16, 2011)

JackiK said:
			
		

> MsSharLee said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Aaaahhh Yes Aveeno, I didn't think of that.  Thanks for answering my question!


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## carebear (Sep 16, 2011)

I find oatmeal in soap drying.  Go figure.


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## trishwosere (Sep 16, 2011)

Many thanks for all your replies...much appreciated


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## Guywithsoap? (Sep 17, 2011)

This might be obvious, but I have never used oatmeal soap. Or any soap with "things" in it. Coffee grinds, processed oats, etc...

Doesn't this material get all over the tub/shower. I have never used it but I imagine it is quite messy?

I must be thinking about the consistency in the wrong way?


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## tryanything (Sep 17, 2011)

Guywithsoap? said:
			
		

> This might be obvious, but I have never used oatmeal soap. Or any soap with "things" in it. Coffee grinds, processed oats, etc...
> 
> Doesn't this material get all over the tub/shower. I have never used it but I imagine it is quite messy?
> 
> I must be thinking about the consistency in the wrong way?



I made a soap recently with tea and ground lavendar buds.  There wasn't any mess or residue in the tub, but I would occassionally notice the bits on the washcloth.  A qucik rinse under the shower would get them off for the next user.


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## IrishLass (Sep 17, 2011)

Guywithsoap? said:
			
		

> This might be obvious, but I have never used oatmeal soap. Or any soap with "things" in it. Coffee grinds, processed oats, etc...
> 
> Doesn't this material get all over the tub/shower. I have never used it but I imagine it is quite messy?
> 
> I must be thinking about the consistency in the wrong way?




It depends what the additive is. I use baby oatmeal in my oatmeal soap which is so finely flaked that it's invisible in the shower. And I use finely ground coffee grounds or pumice for a kitchen scrubby hand soap, which has worked well for me at the kitchen sink (haven't ever used in the shower/tub). Those are the only 'potential messy' additives I choose to limit myself to because they don't cause any messy issues with me like some other additives (I'm not a big fan of seeing chunky bits of stuff going down my drain).

I was just talking to my sis yesterday and she was telling me that she ran out of my soap, and so in a pinch she ran down to the corner store and bought a bar of soap that looked 'natural' with rosemary leaves in it. Her hubby used it and it left a bunch of dark bits all over the floor of her shower/tub and made it look like he had shaved all his hair off in the shower and didn't clean up after himself.   She wasn't too happy about that.


IrishLass


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## Dahila (Feb 10, 2014)

I want to add it,  thanks guys for info


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## boyago (Feb 10, 2014)

Guywithsoap? said:


> This might be obvious, but I have never used oatmeal soap. Or any soap with "things" in it. Coffee grinds, processed oats, etc...
> 
> Doesn't this material get all over the tub/shower. I have never used it but I imagine it is quite messy?
> 
> I must be thinking about the consistency in the wrong way?



IME I grind the oatmeal fine enough to flow down the drain with the soap suds.  I've used coffee grids for my kitchen soap and expressed that is for the kitchen as it will leave grinds than need to be rinsed. This is true all over your body as well so I try to express that it is in deed a hand soap.  I also one was given a soap the emphasized how natural it was.  It was rosemary and lavender, full of rosemary and lavender sticks that scratched like all get out when you bathed with it and you'd have to lather up with a different soap to get the sticks off.  Being on the Robin Williams side of the hairyness scale this was pretty obnoxious.  After doing motor work I have also taken soap with allot of pumice in it into the shower and it sheds the pumice and you have to rinse the tub.


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## djk17 (Feb 11, 2014)

I use oats three ways:
a) in a tea filter in my distilled water so the starch makes for a silky bubbly lather, and/or,
b) ground finely in my coffee grinder to add light speckles in the soap and the sugars from the carbohydrates (sugars) add bubbles, and/or:
c) lightly ground so the flakes are visible in the soap and give a lightly scrubby feel -and attractive  flecks. 

I can discern even greater silkiness and bubbles when the soap is a year or more old.


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## MzMolly65 (Feb 11, 2014)

I soaked my old fashion oatmeal (porridge oats) in water until very soft, then I stick blended it and poured it quickly before it settled out again.  I used 1 cup of oats to 4 cups of water.  It makes the soap trace quick and the bars are soft for a long time (mine are still curing) but wow does it feel nice on my skin!  

I'm an alligator baby and I've always put oatmeal in a sock and let it float around the bath tub to soothe itchy skin.  This soap does exactly that, without having to rinse the tub after!  YAY!


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Feb 13, 2014)

So if I am planning on a GMOH soap, I could soak the O in some GM before straining it off, cooling the GM ready for the lye and adding the O with the H at trace?


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## shunt2011 (Feb 13, 2014)

Yes, you could soak them in the milk and then strain and add the oatmeal at trace.   I generally just grind it almost to a powder and add it to my oils and let them sit for a bit then add my lye mixture to it and blend it some more.  It's always worked for me and has never caused any issues.  OMH is one of my best sellers.  I also sprinkle some fine ground oats on top but not big enough to cause an issue in the tub.


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