# Gentle soap for toddlers?



## Fendigirl (May 17, 2020)

Good Day everyone,
Wondering  if I could get some guidance ?
I am  fairly new at soap making. ( cold pressed)
I want to make a gentle , safe soap for my 3 year old granddaughter. My anxiety level goes up when I think that I might
make a soap that is too harsh for little ones. I do check with ph strips, but have read that they are not 100% accurate 
Recipe: 
Olive oil 54.05%
Coconut oil 16.22%
Shea butter 10.81%
Castor oil 11.11%
Cacao butter 5.41%

will this recipe create a gentle soap? Any suggestions to improve this recipe would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance
for any suggestions


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## Todd Ziegler (May 17, 2020)

Fendigirl said:


> Good Day everyone,
> Wondering  if I could get some guidance ?
> I am  fairly new at soap making. ( cold pressed)
> I want to make a gentle , safe soap for my 3 year old granddaughter. My anxiety level goes up when I think that I might
> ...


First, trying to control the ph in CP soap is a fruitless endeavor. The ingredients to control ph are not really compatible with CP soap making. There are others who can explain the problem with worrying about ph better than I can.

The recipe is a good one and but with that much olive oil it will take a while to cure. 
IMO I would lower the coconut oil and castor oil by 3% each for a total of 6% and replace that 6% with sweet almond oil or another light oil. Coconut can dry the skin and if you are using it for a baby/toddler then you won't need that much cleansing power. 5-8% castor oil is really all you need, to much and it can be sticky. 

I'm sure others with more knowledge than me will chime in and give you some more advice. 

Have you put it through a soap calculator yet because your super fat can play a factor in how gentle it is. Also my suggestions are just my opinion and there will be others who have better opinions than me lol. Good luck.


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## Obsidian (May 17, 2020)

Are you willing to use lard? It makes a gentle soap that will cure much quicker then a high olive oil soap.
I agree, you need very little coconut if you want a very gentle soap.
I would try something like this

70% lard
15% olive
10% castor
5% coconut

PH strips are useless for lye soap. Soap naturally has a high PH, no way to get around that fact. 
Lye soap is also very painful if it gets in the eyes, more so then store bought stuff so keep that in mind when making soap for small children.


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## Fendigirl (May 17, 2020)

Thank you for the advise
recipe has 5% superfat
Guess I’ll throw out my ph strips was wondering why they always 
turned out at the same level/ colour for all the different batches of soaps that I have made.
I think I will try the lard recipe first, thank you
simple enough for me to handle


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## Anstarx (May 18, 2020)

This is just my opinion. I don't have kids but as someone who work with 2-5 yrs daily I don't think lye soap is not the best idea for a 3 yrs old in general.
As Obsidian said, lye soap can be painful if it got in to eyes accidentally. Younger kids also have more sensitive skin and their skin may not react well to lye soap as adult skin do. If you still want to use lye soap, make sure they are cured properly and maybe not use them too often.
I gave my baby niece (4 yrs old) my soaps as gift (she like the color and smell) but I told the parents to not use it daily, sticking with surfactant cleansers mostly and only use the soap to bathe no more than twice a week.


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## Arimara (May 18, 2020)

You really should have a good idea of your granddaughter's skin type before making a soap. I speak from experience with my daughter. Her skin rivaled my mother's as far as sensitivities go. Needless to day, I never used one of my CO-less soaps on my daughter because it was harsher than the soaps she currently uses. That said, personally, I feel toddlers should be bathed with surfactants that are more gentle than a handmade soap. As it stands, you recipe looks fine for an older child on up but the CO is too high for a small child and the cocoa butter is wasted at a mere 5%.


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## Ladka (May 19, 2020)

I keep the CO low when I make soap for my grandchildren (which is always the case in recent months). There was only one incident when a 2-yrs toddler got lather in his eyes and cried. The fats I use are tallow, lard, sunflower oil and sometimes minor quantities  of other light oils. SF between 3 % and 5 %.


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## shunt2011 (May 19, 2020)

I agree with the suggestions above on lowering your CO.  Lard makes a really gentle soap.  My grandchildren love my soap.  They are 6 & 7.  I didn't let them use soap until they were 4.  I recommended gentle cleansers for children.  The soap does burn in the eyes.


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## Saponificarian (May 19, 2020)

Just thought to share my experience with this.... My second child had terrible eczema and we used the mildest of the mild surfactant based wash trying to find one that would work, none did! This was what started my soaping journey.. She started using lye based soap from 6 months and she will be 4 years next month, you would not believe she ever had eczema. Combo of making her soap and creams myself worked.

Make the recipe without coconut and ask their parents to watch for any skin reaction. Some people react to Olive oil, for that reason alone, I will use another liquid oil.

While Lard makes a great soap, I detest the old oil smell it gives off around the 7-9 months mark. I cure my soaps for a long time so Lard is never going to work for me. Tallow on the other hand, I have some going on 2 years that smell as great as the day they were made.

With all these info from everyone, just know your mileage will definitely vary


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## Arimara (May 19, 2020)

Saponificarian said:


> Just thought to share my experience with this.... My second child had terrible eczema and we used the mildest of the mild surfactant based wash trying to find one that would work, none did! This was what started my soaping journey.. She started using lye based soap from 6 months and she will be 4 years next month, you would not believe she ever had eczema. Combo of making her soap and creams myself worked.
> 
> Make the recipe without coconut and ask their parents to watch for any skin reaction. Some people react to Olive oil, for that reason alone, I will use another liquid oil.
> 
> ...



Wow, what lard have you been using? I know our countries are a bit different and all but I have used a year old lard soap and never got old oil from it. Just a little less pig than normal (I know I am weird but I always smell pig with lard soap to date and I still love them). Was it a particular brand of lard?


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## Saponificarian (May 19, 2020)

Arimara said:


> Wow, what lard have you been using? I know our countries are a bit different and all but I have used a year old lard soap and never got old oil from it. Just a little less pig than normal (I know I am weird but I always smell pig with lard soap to date and I still love them). Was it a particular brand of lard?



I tried Tenderflake which I believe is available in the US. I also tried Canadian Superstore brand as well. Old oil smell..... No dos though.


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## Arimara (May 19, 2020)

Saponificarian said:


> I tried Tenderflake which I believe is available in the US. I also tried Canadian Superstore brand as well. Old oil smell..... No dos though.


I only know Armour. Its all that I see where I live.


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## earlene (May 19, 2020)

Just like different people's skin react differently to soap made with certain oils, olfactory system's may also detect certain oils differently.


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## Garden Gives Me Joy (May 20, 2020)

If cleansing needs to be a priority for the child or children in question, is it possible to completely replace the coconut oil with a *gentler but comparably cleansing oil like palm kernel oil (PKO), at a lower percentage*?


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## Green Butterfly (May 20, 2020)

I would up the cacao butter because that contributes to a harder bar. I would also swap PKO for coconut oil and then switch the percentages with the olive oil giving me a recipe like this 

Palm Kernel Oil 54.05%
Olive oil 16.22%
Shea butter 10.81%
Cacao butter 11.52%
Castor oil 5%


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## shunt2011 (May 20, 2020)

Arimara said:


> Wow, what lard have you been using? I know our countries are a bit different and all but I have used a year old lard soap and never got old oil from it. Just a little less pig than normal (I know I am weird but I always smell pig with lard soap to date and I still love them). Was it a particular brand of lard?



I've never gotten that either.  I never noticed a piggy smell either when I could smell that is.   I get Butcher Boy (through our American Legion) or Soaper's Choice.   I've also used Armour brand.   

@Green Butterfly  PKO is a cleansing oil and 54.05% would strip the oils from just about everyone's skin.   Palm oil would be an alternative to high butters and a lot of Olive.


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## Fendigirl (May 20, 2020)

Thank you so much to everyone for your suggestions. I will definitely lower the CO or eliminate it.
I think I’ll also add lard. My granddaughter has no skin sensitivity but I  will tell mom to use the soap sparingly. My granddaughter has been pestering me to make her some soap! One final question please- when I run my recipe
though the soap calculator, my number for cleansing is 7 ( not in the 12-22 range) Is this bad or good or doesn’t matter? I’m thinking more for when I make soap for myself. Thank you . Take care and stay safe


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## Gaisy59 (May 20, 2020)

Saponificarian said:


> I tried Tenderflake which I believe is available in the US. I also tried Canadian Superstore brand as well. Old oil smell..... No dos though.



Hi just putting my two cents in but i get my lard from a butcher. It is pure lard. It has a little bit of piggy smell but overall i have had people take a sniff after cure and they cannot smell it at all. I am going to ask butcher if they have tallow so i can try that too.


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## Quilter99755 (May 20, 2020)

when I run my recipe
though the soap calculator, my number for cleansing is 7 ( not in the 12-22 range) Is this bad or good or doesn’t matter? I’m thinking more for when I make soap for myself. Thank you . Take care and stay safe
[/QUOTE]
Soap cleans. I use a lot of lard in my recipes...am still trying to find the perfect soap! LOL But lately all of the recipes have a Cleansing number between 7-11. They clean but do not strip the oils from my skin nor leave me itchy or feeling dry.  Most days I don't even bother with lotion except on my hands with get washed often. I don't pay much attention to the Cleansing number. I pay more attention to creamy lather, conditioning and longevity. My first bars were the classic OO 50%, CO 25% PO 25%, then reduced the CO because my skin was always itchy and upped the OO.  No matter how long I let it cure...some well over a year, I always itched. By that time I discovered this site and found a lot of people do not like OO.  With lots of reading I've switched to mainly lard with RBO for my soft oils, and a little butters of some kind (shea, cocoa and mango all feel the same to me).  I don't itch any longer, love the lather and I'm not needing to make soap every time I turn around, which I was when using the CO. So far, I don't smell the piggy or old oil smell and use the Morrell brand straight from the grocery store. I did one batch from tallow which I rendered myself...and I thought it was a tad more drying.  You may be surprised at lard soap. I know I was and will never go back to using OO. But that's for my skin...each of us is different in our skins and definitely what we smell.


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## atiz (May 20, 2020)

I have made soap before with 0 cleansing value and it still cleansed (I used it as a face soap). 7 should be plenty enough.


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## earlene (May 20, 2020)

I would NOT increase or even focus on replacing the cleansing value of soap intended for small children.  That cleansing number is associated with stripping the skin of their natural oils, and that is undesirable in small children.  You can get clean using soap with a zero cleansing number.  Long before we had access to such a variety of specialty soaps, detergents & syndets, physicians used to recommend Castile soap for babies and people with tender skin because of its gentleness when washing.  In spite of having a zero cleansing number, Castile soap still gets you clean.

And so will a soap made with other oils with low cleansing numbers, such as RBO, Safflower, Sunflower, Avocado, Soy (Oil or Wax), Cocoa Butter, Almond Oil, Canola, Castor, and the list goes on.


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## David James (May 20, 2020)

*I agree with everyone that says:

"Cleansing level can stay very low for children."*

You absolutely do not need to strip away all of the oils on their bodies, and even soaps with a zero % cleansing level as shown by SoapCalc are still excellent skin cleansers. Castille Soap (100% olive oil) is one of those 0% ones, btw. Adding a tiny bit of Coconut Oil can get you a bump in cleansing if needed, but not really needed. 

Right now, I am making tons of handwashing soaps with super-low cleansing and super-high conditioning values for people that need to wash their hands a grillion times per day. (note to future time travellers: [whispers] "Coronavirus / CoVid-19 / SARS-CoV-2")

*"Don't try to manage the pH of CP soap." *

It is a worthy goal, and some baby soaps (pH 5.5 or so) and all "No More Tears" types of shampoos have adjusted pH levels -- they match the pH of a human eyeball (around ph 7.1)  But this just can't be done with CP. No matter how much acid you add, you need to add more lye or else all you are doing is extra superfat. Your pH test strips are useful to make sure that you didn't forget to add a whole oil, or missed a decimal place. If your strips are always the same, you are very likely doing it right.

This is also the reason that every CP shampoo bar is going to be considered too alkaline and require a diluted acid rinse (usually Apple Cider Vinegar diluted to about 2-3% acidity) afterwards. ( I said "considered" - please, no hate mail.) You can also do a diluted acid skin rinse. Human skin really needs to be slightly acidic to maintain protection from microbes.


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## Garden Gives Me Joy (May 21, 2020)

This recipe is based on Obsidian's recipe idea above. 

I have never actually used lard and tend to use the more readily available palm oil shortening (which I enter as 'Crisco new w palm' in soapcalc) as a substitute. Besides, I like that it is even more conditioning than lard. 

I used *PKO instead of CO* because it is gentler but comparably cleansing. However, as others have said, *even '0' cleansing scores gently clean also. So maybe the PKO can be reduced*. Despite the apparently low hardness score, this bar will be hard and fast curing.

I like that the oleic and linoleic acids are balanced. Am I correct in assuming the linoleic acid will help to keep away '*baby acne*'. Also, at the same time, the oleic acid, along with a high conditioning score is sufficiently conditioning to also keep '*baby eczema*' at bay. 

I figure that keeping the *bubbles* low like this is good for preventing soap in a child's eyes? (I know that if I were doing this to wash my own face, I'd add sugar to increase bubbles but won't bother in this case).


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## Anstarx (May 21, 2020)

For bubbles, I have a recipe that has a 10 in bubbly, so lower than yours. The lather was slimey at first but after a 4 month cure it was getting actual decent bubbles. Not big fluffy ones but still bubbles.
Besides, I don't know how you wash a kid but I'd lather up and put the lather on skin instead of just smack the soap onto the skin. So the bubbles in eyes problem is more of how you wash them instead of problem with the soap.
I'd suggest just avoid skin around eyes when washing


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