facial soap

[islandbeauty]

Hey everyone, it's been awhile since I've been here. Anyway I am thinking of making myself a facial soap bar and was wondering at what number should the cleansing be for facial bars or does it even matter? I know cleansing is between 12-22, and I'm thinking maybe at 14 would be ok, for sensitive, normal skin. Well any help would be appreciated...

 

[mariflo]

I make a facial bar (for my personal usage) from 100% olive oil and whole milk as full amount of the liquid with a 5% superfat and the cleansing index is 0.
I also add kaolin clay and a wee bit of honey at trace.
This works very well for me. Now, it depends on what you are looking for in a facial soap.

 

[Mayren]

Ya some of the soapcalc #'s are kinda vauge and much debated over.
As you continue to make soap you will be able to gauge it's readout
vs the actual soap and kinda re-tweak your personal understanding
of their numbers and how it relates to your actual prefences in soap.

 

[Lindy]

With a facial soap you want your cleansing number extremely low so you aren't stripping the oils from the skin when washing it as this will only create problems because your skin will keep putting out more oils. It turns into a snowball effect.

 

[SudsyKat]

I've also been trying to make a facial soap, so far without good results. The soaps I've made have been great for the body, but a bit drying for the face. I'm interested in making a soap very high in olive oil, but I'm wondering if there's a way to avoid the "slimy" feeling I've heard about with castille soaps. Does adding clay help with that? Perhaps doing an 80% olive oil with some palm and castor mixed in for hardness and suds?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Lindy]

A good facial soap is not going to have the heavier cleansign oils like Coconut in it. A good recipe can include OO, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butte, apricot kernal, avocado, castor and other oils like that. Look for the high moisturing oils.

 

[SudsyKat]

Great - thanks for the tip, Lindy. I was wondering if butters (though I love them) might be more comedogenic (pore clogging, for those who may be wondering) than oils. Or are there certain oils that are more clogging than others?

 

[jadiebugs1]

I found what works best for MY face is my Salt Bar. Mostly Coconut Oil with a tad of shea and castor.... (salt = 80% of oil weight)

I find olive oil makes me breakout.

Everyone's face is different. No one facial bar works the same for every face.

 

[SudsyKat]

Wow, Jadebugs! Thanks for that. It's amazing how varied the opinions are on this. Guess I'll have to experiment some more. What I do know is that a recent batch made from the following formula was a bit drying on my face:

40% Olive Oil
25% Coconut Oil
25% Palm Oil
5% Avocado Oil
5% Shea Butter

I'll make a "mostly olive" bar just for the heck of it, to try it out (maybe with a bit of palm for hardness and a bit of castor and sugar for bubbles). I would like

I'll also try the salt bars I made 3 weeks ago (still have to wait at least another week!). Those were 100% coconut, though, unlike yours. And they were 80% salt (PPO), with an 18% superfat.

I'm going to post my earlier olive oil question (combating the slimy feeling) on a separate thread - maybe others will chime in.

 

[islandbeauty]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the helpful tips. What I am wanting to do is make two types of facial soaps one for sensitive, dry, combo, and mature skin and one for oily/acne skin. Will a cleansing index of 3 be ok for sensitive and dry skin? Now for oily skin what number should the cleansing index be at? I am thinking maybe 5 or 6?..

 

[dagmar88]

A good facial soap is not going to have the heavier cleansign oils like Coconut in it. A good recipe can include OO, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butte, apricot kernal, avocado, castor and other oils like that. Look for the high moisturing oils.

Then how come so many people love salt soap on their face? (80 to 100% coconut oil)
Of course, each soap would differer from skin type to skin type and not using babassu, palm kernal oil or coconut oil is IMO not a good general advise.
For me (oily skin and a lot of blemishes) olive oil soap just doesn't do it; I'm in need of a reasonably cleansing and well balanced recipe.

 

[Deda]

I made a batch of Carebears CO/CB soap with some silk amino acid. It's a super high CO and might be my favorite face soap.

Salt soap is great too, especially when my face feels a little greasy.

 

[paillo]

I made a batch of Carebears CO/CB soap with some silk amino acid. It's a super high CO and might be my favorite face soap.

Salt soap is great too, especially when my face feels a little greasy.

oooh, is carebear's recipe easy to find in recipes? (i'm too tired to hunt right now )

i lllooooveeee salt bars for my face! it's the only bar i've found i can use without breakouts. a rose clay one for more moisturizing, a green clay one for oiliness, and just eos. CO, a little shea, and a little castor.... ultra simple....

 

[judymoody]

I made an acne soap for my pre-teen daughter - it's the recipe on the Brambleberry Soap Teach website. It leaves my skin very soft but is slightly drying. But it cleared up her blemishes in a week. It has a lot of grapeseed oil in it which is astringent and tea tree oil as the main effective ingredients. Good luck!

 

[ChrissyB]

I love a salt bar for my face also.
Haven't used one for a while, going to go get on and put it in the shower now.

 

[Lindy]

To each their own. However if you do the research then you'll find that if you are using a highly cleansing anything on your face your skin creates extra oil to replenish what has been stripped away which causes you to use even more of the harsh cleanser and the cycle becomes a snowball. IF however you are using a highly superfatted CO bar then that is again a different ball of wax isn't it since CO unsaponified is one of the most moisturizing oils available - it changes it's stripes when saponified and becomes one of the most drying.

The best cleansers for the face are the ones that aren't soap, but rather oil-based because then you are cleaning your skin far more naturally. The only time I use soap is when my skin is acting up and then I use a pine tar, charcoal & lanolin soap.

Just like everything else if you are wanting to create something for a specific purpose then you need to take your formulation from the needs rather than simply re-purposing something you already make. This applies not only to facial soap, but also shampoos and shaving soaps. They're not recycled body soaps that you add an ingredient to and call it "whatever use" soap.

Here's some reading on facial cleansing needs:

http://dermatology.about.com/od/cleansingyourskin/a/facial_cleanser.htm

http://www.suite101.com/content/facial-cleansers-for-oily-skin-a270704

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/products/face-soap.htm

Cheers

 

[islandbeauty]

I made an acne soap for my pre-teen daughter - it's the recipe on the Brambleberry Soap Teach website. It leaves my skin very soft but is slightly drying. But it cleared up her blemishes in a week. It has a lot of grapeseed oil in it which is astringent and tea tree oil as the main effective ingredients. Good luck!

Thanks for the tip, going to look it up now.

 

[islandbeauty]

To each their own. However if you do the research then you'll find that if you are using a highly cleansing anything on your face your skin creates extra oil to replenish what has been stripped away which causes you to use even more of the harsh cleanser and the cycle becomes a snowball. IF however you are using a highly superfatted CO bar then that is again a different ball of wax isn't it since CO unsaponified is one of the most moisturizing oils available - it changes it's stripes when saponified and becomes one of the most drying.

The best cleansers for the face are the ones that aren't soap, but rather oil-based because then you are cleaning your skin far more naturally. The only time I use soap is when my skin is acting up and then I use a pine tar, charcoal & lanolin soap.

Just like everything else if you are wanting to create something for a specific purpose then you need to take your formulation from the needs rather than simply re-purposing something you already make. This applies not only to facial soap, but also shampoos and shaving soaps. They're not recycled body soaps that you add an ingredient to and call it "whatever use" soap.

Here's some reading on facial cleansing needs:

http://dermatology.about.com/od/cleansingyourskin/a/facial_cleanser.htm

http://www.suite101.com/content/facial-cleansers-for-oily-skin-a270704

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/products/face-soap.htm

Cheers

Thanks for this, going to read up on the links you provided here..

 

[dagmar88]

To each their own.

Exactly, that's why I'm not pro general statements such as these.
Never said I would go for something highly cleansing; but I would include palm kernal oil, coconut oil or babassu.
Of course you'd up the superfat when using higher amounts.
It all comes done to personal preference and skintype, so I'd recommand to anyone to start experimenting to find out what works for you.
My facial soaps are mild enough not to cause any problems.

With a facial soap you want your cleansing number extremely low so you aren't stripping the oils from the skin when washing it as this will only create problems because your skin will keep putting out more oils. It turns into a snowball effect.

However if you do the research then you'll find that if you are using a highly cleansing anything on your face your skin creates extra oil to replenish what has been stripped away which causes you to use even more of the harsh cleanser and the cycle becomes a snowball. IF however you are using a highly superfatted CO bar then that is again a different ball of wax isn't it since CO unsaponified is one of the most moisturizing oils available - it changes it's stripes when saponified and becomes one of the most drying.

The best cleansers for the face are the ones that aren't soap, but rather oil-based because then you are cleaning your skin far more naturally. The only time I use soap is when my skin is acting up and then I use a pine tar, charcoal & lanolin soap.

Just like everything else if you are wanting to create something for a specific purpose then you need to take your formulation from the needs rather than simply re-purposing something you already make. This applies not only to facial soap, but also shampoos and shaving soaps. They're not recycled body soaps that you add an ingredient to and call it "whatever use" soap.

Here's some reading on facial cleansing needs:

http://dermatology.about.com/od/cleansingyourskin/a/facial_cleanser.htm

http://www.suite101.com/content/facial-cleansers-for-oily-skin-a270704

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/products/face-soap.htm
Cheers

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-ca ... e-soap.htm
This article is about commercially available soap, like Irish Spring, Ivory, Lux. To me the whole anti-soap thing is nothing more than marketing from dove and other soap-free cleansers.
Sure you don't want this on your face, or anywhere really :?

Sodium Tallowate, Aqua, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Helianthus Annuus, Parfum, Sorbitol, Prunus Persica, Sine Adipe Lac, Lactic Acid, Bisabolol, Tallow Acid, Palm Kernel Acid, Propylene Glycol, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Trideceth-9, Pentylene Glycol , Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Etidronic Acid, Sodium Sulfate, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Coumarin, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, CI 14700, CI 15510, CI 77891

It bugs me that most of the product from the second link do not have an inci online.
Found a couple; and although I'd rather use a soap free product like this instead of irish spring, it's ingredients do not appeal to me.


Aqua, Cetyl Alcohol, PPG-15 Stearyl Ether, Salicylic Acid, Polysorbate 60, Steareth-21, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Xanthum Gum, Menthol, Parfum, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Lyral, Limonene, Linalool

I do have experience with creating my own surfactants, such as body/face wash; IMO you could make something much milder and parfume on the face is a no go to me.
Especially the cinnamal and limonene make me break out seriously; not the first couple of uses, but after a week or so.

Still I'd rather use my combo of oil cleansing method and handmade soap, although I realise that doesn't work for everyone.
http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

 

[xraygrl]

The recipe for a facial soap will differ depending on ones skin type. Like mentioned before grapeseed is great for oily skin, while avocado and olive not so much. but one thing is agreed, too much of the cleansing oils in a facial soap is not good either. It's all about balance, and really has nothing to do with the numbers in soap calc. You just have to do your research and know your oils.

Oh, and I love the OCM too, but don't do that method exclusively because I use my facial soap too. I am 45 (at least for a couple more weeks) and people always say I look very young so using my soap on my face for about 13 yrs now hasn't hurt me in the least.