Facial Bar

[cmzaha]

Just curious how many of you actually use soap for washing your face. I ask this because I have never used anything other than water or when I was in my teens some Cetaphil waterless Lotion type for cleaning my face and I used shortening to remove eye makeup. Call me weird... I do use a salt scrub now with very little oil to stop my eczema flareups when I cannot stop itching. Salt works great for the itchys. My Grandma never used soap on her face and had beautiful skin when she passed in her 80's. She used only Ponds Cream on her face.

Next question is, what properties do you like your facial bar to have? I do have a couple of facial bars, and am considering adding in an Argan oil with low percentage of Palm Kernel or Babassu with some Carrot infused Sunflower bar. What do you think? It is hard when I do not test on myself. I have one daughter that only uses salt scrubs in a cream soap base and one that cannot use anything other than syndet bars and charcoal masks

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I generally use any soap that I am using for my body - my skin is pretty easy going really.

 

[navigator9]

You're not so weird, I have a cousin and a friend who never use soap on their faces. Unlike them, I've always used soap. I find my basic bar, better than any commercial facial bar I've ever used, but now I use the recipe my testers chose in a blind test for a face soap. The ingredient they all seemed to love was avocado oil.

 

[jules92207]

I have a similar history, lots of facial soaps were too hard on me as I was allergic to most detergents. As the doctor always told me, the stuff that makes it bubble is what I am allergic to so cetaphyl was always a go to for me.

I've been using Genny's shampoo bar on my face for the last few months and its working great, I am formulating my own facial bar right now and I plan on using quite a bit of avocado oil like above ^^.

 

[Susie]

I have always used just soap on my face. Whatever I use on my body goes on my face. I have an olive complexion that is very even toned and clear of blemishes. I rarely wear makeup, and when I do, it is just mascara and colored lip balm. The only time my face breaks out is when I put foundation, powder, blush, and/or eye shadow on. And I have tried every major brand of makeup out there.

 

[Seawolfe]

I can and do use all my soaps on my face. I work in a grubby environment and have oily skin in the summer, so its all good. When I'm especially grubby I like the salt bars.

But I've noticed that of all the soap scraps I keep by the sink, the one I pick up and enjoy most often on my face is this red and black bar. As you an see from the ingredients list the oils aren't really anything special except for maybe the shea butter. I am convinced that the activated charcoal and Moroccan red clay are what make it so fabu - it leaves my face feeling clean and smooth, without any dryness.

Edit to add: You might notice that in my nubliness I used too much charcoal in that recipe - it does leave a bit of black on white washcloths that rinses out - so do your own calcs for charcoal and clay!

View attachment Charcoal & red clay soap 2.7 lbs.pdf

 

[pamielynn]

I use my soap on my face. I mostly use the neem oil bar.

 

[Bex1982]

I use my soap too. I have combination skin with acne flare-ups.
In the summer my skin is pretty oily so I use my activated coal soap, and sometimes add some ground apricot kernal in my palm and mix it with the soap to make a scrub. I alternate with a shea butter bar because charcoal can be a little drying, and I use an aloe face cream, especially on my crows feet.
In the winter I use mostly the she butter bar and the charcoal only when I get acne.
I use my honey bar in the shower, especially when my skin is dry because i get eczema also. When I workout I use the black coal one because i get all sweaty.

Seawolfe: my recipe is a lot like yours for the black coal soap. But I don't use clay, that sounds like a nice addition though. I also add all my powders to my oils and not water.

 

[shunt2011]

I've created a couple facial soaps that I love but my favorite is still my Salt Bars.

 

[Obsidian]

I use soap at least once a day on my face. Was using salt bars and still do in the shower but when washing at the sink, I use a soap with a lower cleansing number and high avocado oil. I did use genny's shampoo bars for awhile but they didn't seem to clean quite enough.
I don't like a lot of additives in a face soap. No charcoal or clay, both dry me out. Oatmeal water is good but ground oatmeal scratches my skin.

 

[Candybee]

I am lucky I can use any of my soaps to wash my face. But the ones I tend to use the most and that make my face feel clean and soft are:

1) summer face soap: a simple bastile, 80% calendula infused olive oil; 10% CO; 5% sweet almond, 5% castor;
2) year round breakout or problem skin: my lard soap: 45% olive oil, 25% CO, 25% lard, 5% castor
3) dry winter weather and year round: my version of Lindy's shampoo/facial bar. For Lindy's bar I switched out soybean oil for grapeseed thou. Also, her recipe includes avocado oil in it.

 

[cmzaha]

I make an Avocado soap, charcoal soap and neem soap, so think I will add an Argan to the line. For charcoal soaps I tell my customers not to use a $20 white wash cloth. It usually gets a chuckle but they understand the message. :smile: Charcoal soaps seem to be big in our area right now. I have gone so many years without soap on my face I cannot even bring myself to try it and I am sure it would be fine without all the detergents

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I guess everyone is different and have to try and find out what works best for them.
I have combination skin, with oily t-zone and cheeks that go to extreme of getting excema kind of rash every now and then. I've used commercial face washes e.g neutrogena, etc, but while they cleaned well, they dried out my skin so much, even the oily part of my face.
When I started making soap, I've tried normal soap that we used on the body (with CO) but it was also to harsh, my face would brake into red blotches. I've tried to make special soap bars, with CO included again and they were too harsh so I came to conclusion that CO is the culprit. I made another batch with just OO, lard and castor oil, I think I got cleansing value of 1. I made a small batch and was brave enough to use 0% SF as I didn't want any extra oils to clog up pores. I did use a little bit of GM (I do 50/50 method with milks) so there is a little bit of free oils in soap, but not as much. I didn't use any fragrance, since my face reacts to it, I use special brand of moisturiser that has no fragrance. I have to say, it's the best facial cleaner I ever had. I use it twice a day, and while it cleans oily part of my face really well it's so gentle on the rest. It also smells so nice, can't beat the unscented soap smell.
Other family members just use normal body bars on their face, their skin is not fussy, no one complained so far.

 

[Donna]

For years I used the CP soap I made for body soap on my face. I figured since I used (what I considered to be)really good quality oils, it would be fine..and it was.
Recently I made something similar to CandyBee's Summer face soap. I tweaked a recipe I found in the book, Soap Crafting by Anne-Marie Faiola
I'm a little older and my skin is dry. I believe I can tell the difference. Nothing that rocks my world, but enough that I'm going to continue to use it.