Face bar recipe help

[efeoli]

Hello everyone!

I need help formulating a face soap.
I just started soap making due to my very sensitive skin. My face is very sensitive and acne prone, even though it is not dry it reacts badly to astringent agents or anything that will strip the natural oils.
I am just working cold process soap for the moment and have been looking into different oil and additives properties and so far I think a good combination maybe:

Additives:
Oatmeal
Honey
Sweet Almond Oil (for super fatting)

Oils:
Coconut oil (low percentage)
Canola oil
Olive oil
Shea Butter

I was also thinking about maybe adding Tea Tree Oil, Vitamin E Oil or Jojoba Oil.

What do you think? Any advice on proportions?

 

[eyeroll]

My face is also acne prone and I made a bar using some neem oil. So far I'm enjoying it - it leaves my face feeling clean but not tight, and I haven't had any breakouts since using it.

A lot of people complain about the smell, but I actually don't find it that offensive. It smells like onion-y food to me, but has mellowed a lot during the cure. It's definitely not anything I can't get past.

 

[Obsidian]

I wouldn't use canola, its prone to rancidity. Stick with olive, palm oil or lard, shea and a little castor. Personally, I've had good luck with salt bars on my sensitive acne prone skin.

 

[judymoody]

My teenage daughter alternates between a salt bar and a gentle acne soap which is a slightly modified version of the recipe on the teachsoap site. It has tea tree oil and lavender as well as grapeseed oil as one of the carrier oils. I use green tea as the liquid and add clay and colloidal oatmeal.

 

[Saswede]

Your recipe will work out fine, efeoli - but as Obsidian says, the shelf life may be an issue as canola is reported to be prone to DOS (although I haven't personally seen them, even after a year or more ....). If you want to switch out the canola, try replacing it with sweet almond oil, which is really good for sensitive skin. And you could consider using castor oil (up to 8% should be fine) rather than the CO.

I think that facial soaps should be high in OO, as it seems that you're planning, so give them a good, long cure.

For percentages, if you stick with your oils, I'd do something like the following:

CO 5-10% (if your skin is really sensitive, stick to the lower end of this range)
Canola (or sweet almond) 5-15%
OO 80-90%


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[efeoli]

Thank you very much for all of your advice, I will be doing my soap today, and will let you know how they turn out, also share the recipe. I live in Costa Rica, so finding a good variety of quality ingredients is sometimes a dead end bounty hunt and ordering them online is a big hassle due to importing regulations. So it will be a pretty basic recipe.
They are going to be high in OO (I'll take off the canola), so I might be posting the results in a couple of months.
Again, thanks a lot for your help, it's greatly appreciated

 

[roseb]

Welcome Efeoli! I have older, combo skin but still got acne. Well turns out all my skin was reactions to all the chemicals I was putting on it to try and help it. Once I started to use my own soap my skin cleared up and is great now. My recipe is very simple. 75% OO, 5% Castor, 10% CO and 15% shea. I add a little tea tree, vitamin e & jojoba after the cook (I do HP). That is what I use, but you are going to have to make small experimental batches and see what works for you. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[HorseCreek]

Can you get Avocado oil? It is wonderful in face soap.

 

[Neve]

My first batch was olive oil canola and coconut and my face loves it. All the breakouts stopped. Next time I will use avocado oil instead of canola. I didn't use any fragrance. I'd like a nice scent but I'm worried my skin would react.


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[efeoli]

Here is the recipe I used:
Olive Oil pomace 73%
Coconut Oil 10%
Shea Butter 7%
Beeswax 3%
Almond Oil, sweet 7%
I added coloidal oatmeal and honey at trace 1Tbs of each, also added oatmeal water.

They did trace quickly and the tops are very textured, I don't mind it since they are for personal use.

Even though I did not add any fragrance they are smelling quite well.

I'll let them cure, maybe try one in 4 months (since they are so high in OO).

 

[squyars]

My teenage daughter alternates between a salt bar and a gentle acne soap which is a slightly modified version of the recipe on the teachsoap site. It has tea tree oil and lavender as well as grapeseed oil as one of the carrier oils. I use green tea as the liquid and add clay and colloidal oatmeal.

Not a tea tree oil fan, but the rest sounds great. I made a carrot and honey bar that is almost done curing. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

 

[judymoody]

Here is the recipe I used:
Olive Oil pomace 73%
Coconut Oil 10%
Shea Butter 7%
Beeswax 3%
Almond Oil, sweet 7%
I added coloidal oatmeal and honey at trace 1Tbs of each, also added oatmeal water.

They did trace quickly and the tops are very textured, I don't mind it since they are for personal use.

Even though I did not add any fragrance they are smelling quite well.

I'll let them cure, maybe try one in 4 months (since they are so high in OO).

I like the texture - looks like homemade frosted cupcakes. I don't think you need to wait so long to try it. I'd give it a go after 8 weeks and see how you like it.

 

[Saswede]

I admire your resolve to wait 4 months! Not sure that I could do that ....!


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[efeoli]

I think I might try one before, just because they smell so great. But I know they will be better as they cure longer. Waiting is definitely the hardest part of soaping.


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