Advice on my palm free vegan recipe -- trying to create a nice soap for my son's eczema/my dry skin

[afterglw]

Hello all!

I am a very new soapmaker -- I've only been soaping for about a year. My addiction started after I was gifted a soap for christmas 2018 from a local creator. It was everything my skin was screaming out for, but I couldn't afford to buy the soap consistently and thus my odyssey into trying to make my own soap began.

I have really dry "alligator" skin, and my son has eczema. I am open to using animal fats, and goats milk and the like but thought I would try to make a vegan soap with maybe coconut milk. Below is the recipe I've come up with. I have found that my skin doesn't appreciate CO at 30%, it's way too drying. I tried CO at 10% and that was a bit underwhelming with the bubbles, and I had DOS. I'm thinking the sweet spot for my might be 20% CO. I also have tried to overdo it on the superfat. I originally started at 5% and have now worked myself up to 8%. I keep getting DOS in my soap though, and I think the extra superfat with the large amount of soft oils is to blame. Anyway, here is what I've been shuffling around in my brainpan for the past week and as I'm waiting for my supplies to come in I thought I would see if anyone would be so kind as to tell me if my recipe is garbage, or if it looks okay, or if you would change anything.

Olive Oil: 40%
Coconut Oil: 20%
Shea Butter: 20%
Rice Bran Oil: 10%
Avocado Oil: 10%

These oils were listed in a recipe from a ebook as a great beginner bar that is suitable for all skin types but the original is as follows and the high CO % has me running scared, hence why I tried to alter it a bit. I also was trying to follow the 60% soft/40% hard guideline.

Original recipe:

Olive Oil - 34%
Coconut Oil - 34%
Shea Butter - 10%
Rice Bran Oil - 14%
Avocado Oil - 8%

I usually throw in castor oil at 5% somewhere... would you suggest this? If so, where would you make the sub?

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[Ladka]

Since you're open to using animal fats you may try a simple soap using lard and 10-15 % coconut oil. My skin is also dry and the 15 % lard soap is a bit drying so next time I'll make it 80 % lard, 10 % coconut oil and 10 % sunflower or some other oil. But mind you - lard does take loooong to trace.

 

[BattleGnome]

Do you have a label from the magical soap you were gifted? If the soap was labeled properly we might be able to help you reverse engineer a recipe or helap find a starting point for ideas


edit: addressing the DOS. How do you store your soap? Storing on metal racks/shelves or in direct sunlight can cause DOS. Using up old kitchen oils can also cause DOS. If you want to start another thread with your recipes maybe we can help you find the cause and prevent DOS in the future

 

[Rsapienza]

Hello all!

I am a very new soapmaker -- I've only been soaping for about a year. My addiction started after I was gifted a soap for christmas 2018 from a local creator. It was everything my skin was screaming out for, but I couldn't afford to buy the soap consistently and thus my odyssey into trying to make my own soap began.

I have really dry "alligator" skin, and my son has eczema. I am open to using animal fats, and goats milk and the like but thought I would try to make a vegan soap with maybe coconut milk. Below is the recipe I've come up with. I have found that my skin doesn't appreciate CO at 30%, it's way too drying. I tried CO at 10% and that was a bit underwhelming with the bubbles, and I had DOS. I'm thinking the sweet spot for my might be 20% CO. I also have tried to overdo it on the superfat. I originally started at 5% and have now worked myself up to 8%. I keep getting DOS in my soap though, and I think the extra superfat with the large amount of soft oils is to blame. Anyway, here is what I've been shuffling around in my brainpan for the past week and as I'm waiting for my supplies to come in I thought I would see if anyone would be so kind as to tell me if my recipe is garbage, or if it looks okay, or if you would change anything.

Olive Oil: 40%
Coconut Oil: 20%
Shea Butter: 20%
Rice Bran Oil: 10%
Avocado Oil: 10%

These oils were listed in a recipe from a ebook as a great beginner bar that is suitable for all skin types but the original is as follows and the high CO % has me running scared, hence why I tried to alter it a bit. I also was trying to follow the 60% soft/40% hard guideline.

Original recipe:

Olive Oil - 34%
Coconut Oil - 34%
Shea Butter - 10%
Rice Bran Oil - 14%
Avocado Oil - 8%

I usually throw in castor oil at 5% somewhere... would you suggest this? If so, where would you make the sub?

Thank you so much for the help!

My son has pretty bad eczema as well. I wouldn't put any CO in a soap for eczema skin. I'm sure some people do, but I don't. I would stay away from myristic and lauric for anyone with sensitive skin. You could increase the shea and maybe try using some soy wax. I know a few members here use it for their vegan soaps. Then you could get your castor in somewhere as well. You can always add sugar or honey for some bubbles. My son uses a bar that has a high lard content but if you're trying to make it vegan, that won't work. I also cure his forever.

 

[Ladka]

...a bar that has a high lard content but if you're trying to make it vegan, that won't work.

She wrote she's open to using animal fats, and goats milk and the like.

 

[Rsapienza]

She wrote she's open to using animal fats, and goats milk and the like.

Yes I saw that, but she also said she was looking to make a vegan bar.

 

[szaza]

Well.. every skin is different, so I'm afraid it's really up to you to experiment..

I agree with @BattleGnome on trying to get a label and reverse-engineer a recipe. That's probably going to be the fastest way of finding a recipe that's similar enough.

I can also tell you what my skin likes and dislikes, but yours might be very different. Lately my skin has been very dry (we've been having dry weather and even after some rain, the air is just really really dry..) the only soaps that don't dry my hands out at the moment are a 100% CO bar with 20% superfat (this surprised me greatly) and a 1.5year old bar with beeswax. I like beeswax in soap and find it brings some mildness (and hardness/longevity) to the soap, but it can be a scary ingredient for some, as you need to soap relatively warm. A nice veggie (not vegan) recipe with beeswax is 22% CO, 20% Shea, 3% BW, 55% soft oils. (You can do 22% shea/20% co if you want it to be a bit milder)

I also noticed that my skin doesn't like olive oil too much. RBO seems to be softer on my skin (but it has more linoleic/linolenic acids, which can cause rancidity in high amounts, so check this in the calc when you're using a high amount of RBO).

Hope this helps.. I know it's not a clear cut answer, but I'm afraid there isn't really one. Everyone is different and the perfect bar of soap will be different for everyone.

 

[cmzaha]

Hello all!

I am a very new soapmaker -- I've only been soaping for about a year. My addiction started after I was gifted a soap for christmas 2018 from a local creator. It was everything my skin was screaming out for, but I couldn't afford to buy the soap consistently and thus my odyssey into trying to make my own soap began.

I have really dry "alligator" skin, and my son has eczema. I am open to using animal fats, and goats milk and the like but thought I would try to make a vegan soap with maybe coconut milk. Below is the recipe I've come up with. I have found that my skin doesn't appreciate CO at 30%, it's way too drying. I tried CO at 10% and that was a bit underwhelming with the bubbles, and I had DOS. I'm thinking the sweet spot for my might be 20% CO. I also have tried to overdo it on the superfat. I originally started at 5% and have now worked myself up to 8%. I keep getting DOS in my soap though, and I think the extra superfat with the large amount of soft oils is to blame. Anyway, here is what I've been shuffling around in my brainpan for the past week and as I'm waiting for my supplies to come in I thought I would see if anyone would be so kind as to tell me if my recipe is garbage, or if it looks okay, or if you would change anything.

Olive Oil: 40%
Coconut Oil: 20%
Shea Butter: 20%
Rice Bran Oil: 10%
Avocado Oil: 10%

These oils were listed in a recipe from a ebook as a great beginner bar that is suitable for all skin types but the original is as follows and the high CO % has me running scared, hence why I tried to alter it a bit. I also was trying to follow the 60% soft/40% hard guideline.

Original recipe:

Olive Oil - 34%
Coconut Oil - 34%
Shea Butter - 10%
Rice Bran Oil - 14%
Avocado Oil - 8%

I usually throw in castor oil at 5% somewhere... would you suggest this? If so, where would you make the sub?

Thank you so much for the help!

If you are trying to make soap for sensitive skin I agree with
Rsapienza, and would leave out most of the CO if not all of it. Believe me, she knows what she is talking about when it comes to eczema and so do I. Lard is a very good basically low allergenic oil to start with in a high percentage. Adding in some Almond Oil, Avocado Oil, 20% or below HO Canola, or HO Sunflower would be nice with some Castor Oil. Adding sugar or even better Sorbitol will help with lather. Gentle is the key for sensitive skin not bubbles. If you were to leave out the CO you could add in some tallow it has a small percentage of myristic and lauric but nowhere near what CO contains.

 

[KiwiMoose]

How about:
Olive Oil: 40%
Coconut Oil: 15%
Shea Butter: 20%
Rice Bran Oil: 10%
Avocado Oil: 10%
Castor Oil 5%
A simple change - but it could work.

 

[afterglw]

Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions -- I was able to find the ingredient label for the soap that worked great for my skin. Maybe it's the goat's milk? I didn't even think about trying to reverse engineer that one, that was a fabulous idea.

Olive, Coconut, and Palm oils
Goat Milk, Alaskan Spring Water, Lye, Shea Butter, Naturally Occurring glycerin
Vanilla Bean Seeds , Essential Oils

I'm assuming it goes by largest amount first? Do you think I should keep soaping at 7% super fat or bring that back down to 5%?

I really appreciate all the help, I definitely have some new batches to try and see if I can make something that will make our skin happy

 

[KiwiMoose]

The higher the superfat the more residual oils it will leave behind on your skin - so it will feel more gentle. However, the higher the superfat, the more likely it will cause DOS and also soap scum in the shower and drainage problems. People use a range of SF on here, with ( I think) the average being about 5%.