Gentle Facial Bar Soap Recipes

[Luckyone80]

Do any of these look like decent recipes for a facial bar? I have a friend that says she only uses Ivory on her face to keep from breaking out. So I thought a baby soap or bastile would be a good fit?

 

[Dorymae]

Ivory soap is , tallow,coconut oil, and palm kernel oil. Other ingredients are Epsom salt and table salt, and sodium silicate ( water glass ). Of course fragrance is also added.

I'm not sure if you want to reproduce ivory or just want a good soap.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Your first recipe looks like it's flirting with DOS from the high levels of grapeseed oil and RBO.

I like the second recipe, but would find it a bit drying myself. Personally, I'm not tolerant of much more than 15% coconut unless the superfat percentage is really high.

I really like the third recipe. Olive is one of my favorite oils--not only for facial soap, but body as well. But I have a dry hide.

 

[Luckyone80]

Your first recipe looks like it's flirting with DOS from the high levels of grapeseed oil and RBO.

I like the second recipe, but would find it a bit drying myself. Personally, I'm not tolerant of much more than 15% coconut unless the superfat percentage is really high.

I really like the third recipe. Olive is one of my favorite oils--not only for facial soap, but body as well. But I have a dry hide.

I like the 3rd recipe too. I found the 1st one on a web site and thought that was a lot of oils.

Ivory soap is , tallow,coconut oil, and palm kernel oil. Other ingredients are Epsom salt and table salt, and sodium silicate ( water glass ). Of course fragrance is also added.

I'm not sure if you want to reproduce ivory or just want a good soap.

I do somewhat want to reproduce Ivory but I have never worked with tallow before and don't want to mess with having to render it myself. If I can find it ready to use like lard then I would try it. I would also have to buy PKO. Is the Sodium Silicate necessary?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

If you only want to get near to ivory, then just use CO (pko and CO are fairly interchangeable) and leave the glass alone. In the US I think tallow can be found in some shops.

 

[Dorymae]

It is probably not necessary, although it will make a harder bar. I'm not sure where you are but if there is a smart and final near you they sell tallow. The bad news is it is 50lbs, the good news is it costs $34.

 

[Obsidian]

I like #3 the best too, its gentle but still cleansing and doesn't have all the DOS prone oils. It is a somewhat soft recipe though, if you can use lard or palm, you could drop the OO down to say 40% and make it with the lard/palm.

 

[Luckyone80]

Oh and I forgot I want to use goat's milk in the recipe too, she isn't allergic to it and I thought it would add extra conditioning/creaminess.

 

[Luckyone80]

It is a somewhat soft recipe though, if you can use lard or palm, you could drop the OO down to say 40% and make it with the lard/palm.

I like that idea, thanks!

 

[Luckyone80]

How about this.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Me likey. The bar will be gentle, but still have some cleansing power. It's durable, and reasonably hard. Lather will be nice, more on the creamy than the bubbly side, but still bubbly enough to be totally fine.

 

[DeeAnna]

A good rule of thumb is to keep linoleic + linolenic less than 15% to reduce the chances of DOS. Recipe #1 isn't the best for that reason; also it will take forever to harden up with that much liquid oil in it. If you do make this recipe, use a higher lye solution concentration to kick start the saponification. Recipe #2 is high cleansing -- it wouldn't be my pick for a facial bar. Recipe #3 is my pick of the litter -- mild, decent lather, decent longevity.

edit -- I like #4 even better. Nice bump in the lather quality, very good longevity, nice hardness. What's not to like about this one?

 

[Obsidian]

Looks like a good soap to me, its something I would use on my picky skin.

 

[MorpheusPA]

If your goal is a recipe this small, you can probably pick up lard (or tallow can be used as a substitute, but re-run the recipe as the lye amounts will change) at your local grocery store. You may have to ask, but they should have it.

If it's a popular recipe, then pick up the larger lard amounts.

 

[cmzaha]

I would go with #4 as first choice, #3 second choice. I love lard and/or tallow in soap

 

[Luckyone80]

Excellent, thank you guys for all the comments and suggestions. I'm going with #4 and using GM as the liquid, I think it will be superb!

 

[MorpheusPA]

Excellent, thank you guys for all the comments and suggestions. I'm going with #4 and using GM as the liquid, I think it will be superb!

I think you--and your friend--will be very happy with it.

 

[Dahila]

I like 4 then 3. Lately instead of shea butter I started to use 5% or more of cacao butter, it makes a harder bar and it is really creamy and gentle. It feels kind of the same like lard. I use the lard tallow OO, CO and castor lately with low percentage of CO for facial bar and it is very good. ) Good luck with your facial bar

 

[seven]

i dont use coconut oil for my facial soaps, but that's just me (coz i cant stand saponified coconut on my face except salt bars). my facial soaps are usually olive and tallow based, with some avocado, castor, and shea thrown in.

 

[suzhartman]

I'd love to know how numbers 3 and 4 turned out. Pictures would be great too.