Help! My soap is drying me out!

[Trinbago27]

Hi All, I am a new soapmaker and still adjusting my formula. However, my soap does not leave my hands feeling nice at all (have not tried them on my body yet). I think my recipes are pretty balance, if not heavy on conditioning, but my hands still feel tight and are ashy...not cute. Here's one of my latest recipes:
Olive oil 55%
Coconut oil 10%
Crisco w/palm 10%
Castor oil 5%
Shea Butter 10%
Hemp oil 5%
Cocoa Butter 5%
SF 7% and 5% shea Butter at trace.

This is just the latest, I have tried many different formulas with different oils and amounts... What am I doing wrong?

 

[AliOop]

Soap in general does not moisturize or condition your skin, but it also should not leave them dry and ashy, unless you are washing too much. How long are you letting the bars cure before you use them?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

You shouldn‘t need 7% superfat plus 5% shea at trace (is that over and above the 10% in the recipe?) to get a mild soap with that recipe. Some find olive oil drying. I don’t, but I let my high olive oil soaps cure for at least a few months before I use them. I assume you are running your recipe through a lye calculator. If you want a double-check on the calculation, post the full recipe.

 

[ilonaliss]

Welcome to the forum

Aside from too short a curing time, some people find soaps with a high percentage of olive oil drying. You could try subbing rice bran oil for the olive to see how your skin likes it. Here's a modification of your formula that you could try (run through SoapCalc to check fatty acid profiles):

Rice bran oil 30% (I reduced the percentage from 55% to 30% because 55% RBO would negatively impact the shelf life of your soap)
Sweet almond oil 20%
Coconut oil 10%
Crisco w/palm 10% (I have never used this, but I assume it is similar to palm oil?)
Castor oil 5%
Shea Butter 10%
Hemp oil 5%
Cocoa Butter 10%
SF 3% (the formula is low on coconut oil, so you don't need a high superfat)

 

[cmzaha]

Do you have hard water? You may be feeling soap scum being left behind because you have hard water, which is why many of us choose to use chelators such as sodium Citrate, Edta, Citric Acid (adding in extra Lye to react the citric acid creating sodium citrate), or Sodium Gluconate. These all act as chelators which will help stop soap scum rings around the tub and stop soap scum on your skin.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Post your lye percentage and your curing time too - they may be the culprits.

 

[Trinbago27]

Firstly, thank you all for all your comments. I appreciate the help! I increased the super fat from my prior recipes because of the dryness, but my standard was 5%. I also had no idea that olive oil could be drying...all of my recipes except one have at least 40% olive oil. I am going to try Rice bran oil, lets see what happens. I don't think I have hard water here in DC. My lye concentration is 30%. I use more water since I am new and want to have a more fluid batter.

 

[Trinbago27]

oops curing! I only started making soap on Jan 1, so none of these soaps are done curing. I have 3 hot process soaps that will be done the end of this week. I am not using the soaps, but just testing lather etc on my hands..

 

[Zing]

oops curing! I only started making soap on Jan 1, so none of these soaps are done curing.

Mark February 12 on your calendar, and now step away from your soaps!! 4-6 weeks curing is the minimum. It is sooo hard to be patient even for experienced soapers. Hey, in the meantime, enter the world of lotion bars for near immediate gratification and it'll help your dry hands.

 

[Trinbago27]

you are so right Zing!

 

[cmzaha]

Firstly, thank you all for all your comments. I appreciate the help! I increased the super fat from my prior recipes because of the dryness, but my standard was 5%. I also had no idea that olive oil could be drying...all of my recipes except one have at least 40% olive oil. I am going to try Rice bran oil, lets see what happens. I don't think I have hard water here in DC. My lye concentration is 30%. I use more water since I am new and want to have a more fluid batter.

Your Lye concentration is fine, I use up to 30% for one of my recipes, depending on how many swirls I want because it is a fast mover. My best suggestion is make small batches of soap using different combinations of oils, the addition of lard, tallow and palm all contribute to a very nice soap. Be aware tallow lends some cleansing factor so you would want to lower your CO. Also try playing around with lower CO adding in sugar or Sorbitol (my choice) for upping lather.

Upping superfat is not necessarily the answer, all you are doing is washing with oil. I superfat at 2% and my soaps are not drying, it is the balance of fats you use and other factors such as cure, and additives to cut through the leftover soap scum on your skin as I mentioned in my last post. The other issue is high superfatting is the plumbing issue, old plumbing tends to dislike free oils in soap and the issue with soap scum also comes into play with plumbing issues. So again chelators are good to use. but this is for another thread.