Bits of stuff in soap

[KiwiMoose]

I can't remember who said ages ago, when i was asking about this, that they didn't like botanicals in their soap. (AMD? Shunty?) but after having now used a few of my earlier soaps with 'bits' in them - cinnamon and oatmeal (ground), lemon and rosemary (dried), lime and coconut (with finely desiccated coconut) I can conclude that I feel the same. The only exception might be the lime and coconut - the proviso being that if it is used solely as a hand soap it is good.
As they wear down they get bits sticking out of them that look horrible - rosemary (ground) went all brown and made the soap look like an alien. Not pleasant at all.
So I've tried, and learnt my lesson - no more 'bits' in my soap!

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

I like oatmeal, its not at scratchy and doesnt go brown, but i dont want every soap i use to have it. Same for coffee. The rest i better not try.

 

[SaltedFig]

There's a few of us who don't like bits in soap ... I'm one of them.

I've gone as far as to modify some of my soleseife recipes, just so the salt crystals don't regrow as the soap dries - I intensely dislike the slightly textured feeling this creates, even in hand soap.

(A few more months from now, KiwiMoose, and you'll be singing the praises of bevelled edges, and then it will be oval soaps and then it will be 3D river rock/stone shaped soaps ... and THEN you will be back in your element )

 

[earlene]

When I was new I thought, 'I love tea (I drink tea practically all day long) so of course I will love tea in soap!' So I used tea water as well as tea leaves (not from a tea bag, actual leaves from my tea ball, which I did dry again prior to adding to the soap.) It made lovely soap that was so abrasive, I relegated it to washing the soles of my feet only. I still have some of this soap and after 4 years curing/aging, let me tell you, the tea leaves are even more abrasive than they ever were when the soap was young. Now it's like using the roughest grade of sandpaper I could find. Actually it's maybe even rougher than the roughest grade of sandpaper I have ever seen. Suffice it to say, I have not made any more soap with tea leaves. Even the chamomile flowers in soap got so dry and scratchy after aging for a long time, that I am not tempted to create such an abrasive soap. My pumice soap is less abrasive.

 

[Dean]

My soaping teacher said don’t put anything in soap that can stuck in someone’s crevice.

 

[Terri E]

I like salt, oats and rice but that's about it, no botanicals

 

[Obsidian]

I use no additives in soap, I don't even like oatmeal. The one exception in a scrubby soap with very fine ground coffee that is used for hand washing in the kitchen. I know it going to be ugly and thats ok, it serves its purpose.

 

[shunt2011]

I don’t like stuff in my soap or on my soap. Exception, finely ground (almost powder) oatmeal. I also make a scrubby soap for hands with coffee and pumice.

 

[Jeboz]

......... 'don’t put anything in soap that can stuck in someone’s crevice.'

Makes sense when you put it that way

 

[KiwiMoose]

My soaping teacher said don’t put anything in soap that can stuck in someone’s crevice.

 

[cmzaha]

I am another that hates stuff in soaps other than oatmeal flour and salt. Also do not like anything of top including glitter. Most of my customers will not purchase a soap with glitter.

 

[Dawni]

My soaping teacher said don’t put anything in soap that can stuck in someone’s crevice.

This teacher of yours and me would have gotten along well.... Rofl

I don't like any bits like flower buds and big grains of salt in mine either. I like looking at them on Instagram but would never use them. When I used to still buy, I stayed away from those, except for this one really fragrant soap that had basil seeds that weren't so bad.

I've only used oatmeal once and it was finely ground. Same with my moringa (but this was homemade so it was still a bit too exfoliating). The only constant additive I use is my finely ground rice powder. As long as nothing sticks out the soap I'm fine.

 

[KiwiMoose]

This teacher of yours and me would have gotten along well.... Rofl

I don't like any bits like flower buds and big grains of salt in mine either. I like looking at them on Instagram but would never use them. When I used to still buy, I stayed away from those, except for this one really fragrant soap that had basil seeds that weren't so bad.

I've only used oatmeal once and it was finely ground. Same with my moringa (but this was homemade so it was still a bit too exfoliating). The only constant additive I use is my finely ground rice powder. As long as nothing sticks out the soap I'm fine.

Finely ground rice powder - can i just use rice flour? Sounds like it would be good - what quantity?

 

[Dawni]

I'm sure you could. I think rice flour IS finely ground rice powder lol I have two kinds here, one that's a little coarser..

I add it diluted with hot water to my HP but once or twice at trace for my soleseife and I usually eyeball it now lol but when I started I used measuring spoons anywhere between 1-2 tsp ppo.

 

[hungryhawaiian]

In general I’m not a fan of anything abrasive in soaps. It’s mostly because my OCD forces me to pick at them.

The other part is that I grew up in Hawaii, going to beaches all time, getting sand all up in places where it doesn’t belong. Try using bar soaps to wash your body and it finds a patch of sand which it then fuses to on a molecular level, becoming a bar of bubbly 80 grit sand paper. . . No thanks!

Hell, I don’t even like chocolate chips in my ice creams! But that’s a story for another day....

 

[SoaperForLife]

Being the grinch that I am, I can not stand soaps with dried flowers on top! It's not pretty and serves absolutely no purpose other than to float around in the water and get stuck in the drain. Colloidal oatmeal is okay in soap as is a few bits of orange or lemon peel. Corn meal makes for a good scrubby bar without being harsh like pumice. I once got a soap that had dried whole rosemary in it and that was one prickly son of a gun - smelled good tho!

 

[Dawni]

The other part is that I grew up in Hawaii, going to beaches all time, getting sand all up in places where it doesn’t belong. Try using bar soaps to wash your body and it finds a patch of sand which it then fuses to on a molecular level, becoming a bar of bubbly 80 grit sand paper

Try being female with those problems

 

[snappyllama]

I'm with y'all on the "please no stuff on the soap" bandwagon. My sister-in-law wanted lavender buds on her soap... within a week it looked like a hamster outhouse. Eww.

About the only botanical I will use are calendula petals within the soap since they stay yellow. I shred them up to more of a small dot than full-on petal size. I also like very small amounts of ground coffee when I go for a coffee-themed soap.

 

[Susie]

I will use cocoa and mica lines in soap, I will dust the top with micas or cocoa. Period. I don't like weird stuff or food chunks in my soap. I will use solseife, but don't like salt bars. Sorry, I was on the "no stuff in my soap" bandwagon from the start. Just makes no sense to put stuff in your soap that you then have to keep out of your drains.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Try being female with those problems

La, la la, la - not listening...