# (newbie Quest) Help! My first M&P leaves my skin really



## HomeBrew (Apr 19, 2011)

*(newbie Quest) Help! My first M&P leaves my skin really *

Hi all, I am newbie in soap making and really need some advice. I tried my first M&P with clear based soap last night. I melted about 200 gram of Clear Based Soap, added about 5 ml honey, and 2 ml Lavender Essential Oil and 2 drop of liquid food coloring. It smell wonderful but when I tried the soap on my skin, it leaves very dry that my palm started to have soft cracked    :cry: 

What happened to my Soap? Did I add too much EO? or was it the coloring that ruin everything?


----------



## soapbuddy (Apr 19, 2011)

I would leave the EO out for now and add a small amount of butter like shea or mango. See if that works any better for you.


----------



## pops1 (Apr 19, 2011)

All bases are not created equal and if you are using an inferior base that will go a long way to solving the problem of drying to the skin.


----------



## nc.marula (Apr 19, 2011)

Where did you get your base from? and what are the ingredients?


----------



## Catmehndi (Apr 19, 2011)

It seems to me there's a lot of EO for 200gr of soap....
You can try adding the butters or a carrier oil with good moisturizing properties. No more than 1Tbsp per pound of soap. It's much easier to make larger batches than trying to split that tablespoon to match the small quantity of base.


----------



## Soaplady22 (Apr 19, 2011)

The quality of your base is key. I put in 2 tsp. cocoa butter in 8 oz. soap base and it turned out great!

That's just a little over the 1Tbsp. recommended for a pound of base. I left it unscented so there is no oil from the FO. Anyway, the lather stayed fine and it feels pretty good on my skin. Maybe you could remelt and try that??


----------



## HomeBrew (Apr 20, 2011)

soapbuddy said:
			
		

> I would leave the EO out for now and add a small amount of butter like shea or mango. See if that works any better for you.




Thanks soapbuddy, I actually has added shea butter I forgot to mention. 2 tsp.. but it still dry on my skin..  




			
				pops1 said:
			
		

> All bases are not created equal and if you are using an inferior base that will go a long way to solving the problem of drying to the skin.



That came into my thought too... I shall ask the ingredient to my supplier.. thanks




			
				nc.marula said:
			
		

> Where did you get your base from? and what are the ingredients?



I got it as a sample from a distributor here in Jakarta. They supplies small and big cosmetic companies in Indonesia. As far as I knew, they imported it from UK from one of the manufacturer there (am I allowed to mention a brand here?) I am still trying to request the ingredient to the marketing dept. 



			
				Catmehndi said:
			
		

> It seems to me there's a lot of EO for 200gr of soap....
> You can try adding the butters or a carrier oil with good moisturizing properties. No more than 1Tbsp per pound of soap. It's much easier to make larger batches than trying to split that tablespoon to match the small quantity of base.



actually, I did add a little bit of shea butter there. Around 2 tsp. doesn't really help, does it? 




			
				Soaplady22 said:
			
		

> The quality of your base is key. I put in 2 tsp. cocoa butter in 8 oz. soap base and it turned out great!
> 
> That's just a little over the 1Tbsp. recommended for a pound of base. I left it unscented so there is no oil from the FO. Anyway, the lather stayed fine and it feels pretty good on my skin. Maybe you could remelt and try that??



I am going to try another batch since I called the supplier with my problem. they are really nice and promised me to give another sample.. I will post an update here if it turns out great.. or not.. 

the thing going on here in my town is, there are no soapmaking supplies around where I can buy small amount of anything. I requested a sample of clear base soap and they give away samples in 200 gr, but if I want to purchase larger amount, at least I have to buy in 25 kg..     expensive hobby, huh.. 

So, your advices are really help and I am so happy to find this forum. Thanks folks!


----------



## Catmehndi (Apr 20, 2011)

soap bases are made by chemists who figured out how all the ingredients can blend and bond together to give us a final product. Every time we add anything new, the chemistry will undoubtedly be changed so that's why we need to be careful as to what we add and how much we add - otherwise, you might end up with 'Frankensoap'....:shock: 

If we can add 1Tbsp per pound, then 2tsp for 200g seems excessive. If your bar of soap still held up, then perhaps it's OK. Remember to test, take notes, test again, wait, take more notes and on and on....until you have a product that you like and that will stand the test of time.


----------

