Favorite Luxury Soap and why...

[Becky29]

Oils

Do you have to use cosmetic grade oils or will food grade work as well??

 

[AnnaMarie]

I love a lot of soap making oils for different reasons, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be sweet almond because it gives soap such a silky and luxurious lather!
Cheers!
Anna Marie

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Hi Becky! Welcome to SMF!

Food grade oils are perfectly fine to use. Many of us get our oils from the cooking isles.

And a tip--it's usually best to start a new thread of your own, rather than replying to a years' old thread. You get more responses to your question that way, rather than people responding to the starting post of the thread.

 

[lsg]

My aloe cream soap is one of my favorites.

 

[jules92207]

I am still quite a newbie myself but so far my favorite bar has sunflower, castor, cocoa butter, coconut, olive and shea... pretty decadent but feels wonderful.

I also love lard in my soaps but I do find I sometimes break out when using them so the above has yielded better results for me personally.

 

[Ellacho]

I like to use buttermilk instead of water. It's the most luxurious...to me.

 

[shunt2011]

I love OO, Avocado, CO, Palm, Shea and Castor with Silk and either Cream or Buttermilk.

 

[julieanne]

I think everyone is getting at the lather which is interpreted as luxurious. Most people, and definitely, I agree, equate a luxury soap with a rich, creamy lather. For that- Olive Oil is necessary. Too much OO and you get that "snot" someone else referred to. When snot is formed, the mind thinks, "ew gross!" So no luxury when too much of a good thing is added.

In general and as gathered by comments, as soapmakers and users, a luxury soap has these added characteristics we all try to achieve: hard, long-lasting, easily/quickly makes a rich, creamy lather that sits on the skin, traces slow, and dries quickly. OK- who has such a recipe??!! I'm still working on it and have had limited success!

Julie

 

[jules92207]

My "luxury" bar has more to do with how my skin feels after using it. When I use my bar I feel the least desire to have to add anything more to my skin. It just seems like the best balance for my skin so to me that feels the best on my skin.

 

[seven]

My "luxury" bar has more to do with how my skin feels after using it. When I use my bar I feel the least desire to have to add anything more to my skin. It just seems like the best balance for my skin so to me that feels the best on my skin.

^^
that!

seriously, just switching to handmade soap itself has already made lots of great improvements on my skin, i'm not joking. i'm not a lotion person at all, and my skin used to be really dry, up to the point where my legs were sometimes cracking and bleeding. my skin also used to be real cranky and sensitive, and was itchy all the time (the women in my family mostly have cranky skin, eczema, etc). now, i can go w/o a lotion safely and my skin continues to improve. i'm not gonna use a commercial soap ever again in my life

so yeah, i consider handmade soaps a luxury, coz i can see and feel the benefits on my skin. my fave is milk soaps. avocado is very moisturizing for me, but i don't use it daily as it's too much. i just use it when i need the extra oomph. i also love rice bran, and am considering switching permanently from oo to rbo.

 

[jules92207]

^^
that!

. i also love rice bran, and am considering switching permanently from oo to rbo.

This intrigues me... I know olive oil is pretty much standard but I am starting to think I don't like it much in my soaps... so rice bran oil can replace that well? I know I'm showing my newbie colors here but I had never thought to eliminate olive oil before. *Mind Blown*

 

[seven]

^^

yes, you can replace olive with rbo. both have similar fatty acids profiles.

 

[SoapMakingTommy]

All my soaps i make are unique, but if i had to pick one out for luxury soap it would be my clear glycerin soap.
It might not look like it at all. It might just looks like a regular bar of soap or something a little cooler, but i guarantee the lather from my clear glycerin soap is amazing. If i were to use my coffee cocoa its also pretty luxurious the smell is inspiring and leaves your skin feeling reenergized.
The clay soap i make is also luxurious since its got such wonderful detoxing characteristics. But to be honest it might just be a choice. I think all my soaps are luxurious, all have a time and place to be used and enjoyed at.

 

[Kleine Teufel]

I've been doing a bastille goat milk for eons, but I'm slowly transitioning over to a recipe with cocoa butter and silk. I love my bastille, but no matter how long it cures, it dissolves VERY quickly in the shower.

 

[Seawolfe]

Im in love with my salt bars. I think next on the list is the ones with clay.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I love RBO, shea butter, sweet almond and coconut milk. All my soap recipes have these oils. I recently tried avocado oil, it's very expensive but it's lovely in soap.

 

[Happysoap]

I know some people dont approve of animal fats but I looooove tallow in soaps. In combination with castor, sunflower, shea and grapeseed, tallow makes a wonderful sudsy hard bar of soap. And goat milk! Love the stuff!