How does this look???

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

My daughter is a nurse, and all the hand washing is making her skin very angry. She asked if I could make her a mild goat milk soap to try and see if this will help any. Being so new I wanted to get some options please. I do have a lot of different oils on hand if you think a different recipe would be better! I’m driving myself crazy looking at SoapCalc numbers, fatty acid profiles and properties!!! The end goal is a low cleansing and high conditioning.

2% super fat
60% lard
15% coconut oil
15% almond oil
5% shea butter
5% castor oil

 

[lsg]

One thing you might think about is using aloe in the recipe.

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

One thing you might think about is using aloe in the recipe.

I don’t have any, any other suggestions?

 

[MellonFriend]

I think your percentages look like a good place to start. Might want to get that coconut oil percentage down to more like 10%. Some people find coconut oil to be drying. I'd probably give that 5% to the shea butter. I'd also probably add sodium lactate to the recipe too for boosted soap hardness since frequent use can make some bars mushy. Not a necessary addition though.

 

[lsg]

Do you have any cucumbers? Cucumbers have skin soothing properties. I have pureed cucumbers and used the puree as part of the required liquid.

 

[dibbles]

I think your recipe looks fine, so these are only suggestions. I like avocado oil and would replace the sweet almond with that if you have it. You could take 5% away from the lard and add that to the shea butter, reduce the coconut oil by 5% and add that to the avocado oil.

I live in MN, and it is cold and very dry here in the winter. My son, who often doesn't wear gloves and doesn't use any kind of lotion had some pretty dry, red hands by February and asked if I had anything that would help. I gave him a lotion bar, some hand cream and some mango butter. He used the mango butter and it helped very quickly. His hands looked completely normal when I saw him a week or two later.

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

Do you have any cucumbers? Cucumbers have skin soothing properties. I have pureed cucumbers and used the puree as part of the required liquid.

I’m veggie free right now except for broccoli, squash and cauliflower, something tells me they aren’t good in soap lol

I think your recipe looks fine, so these are only suggestions. I like avocado oil and would replace the sweet almond with that if you have it. You could take 5% away from the lard and add that to the shea butter, reduce the coconut oil by 5% and add that to the avocado oil.

I live in MN, and it is cold and very dry here in the winter. My son, who often doesn't wear gloves and doesn't use any kind of lotion had some pretty dry, red hands by February and asked if I had anything that would help. I gave him a lotion bar, some hand cream and some mango butter. He used the mango butter and it helped very quickly. His hands looked completely normal when I saw him a week or two late

Thank you!!!!

 

[dibbles]

Thank you!!!!

Of course - I hope you find something that works for her.

 

[Bronxboyz]

My daughter is a nurse, and all the hand washing is making her skin very angry. She asked if I could make her a mild goat milk soap to try and see if this will help any. Being so new I wanted to get some options please. I do have a lot of different oils on hand if you think a different recipe would be better! I’m driving myself crazy looking at SoapCalc numbers, fatty acid profiles and properties!!! The end goal is a low cleansing and high conditioning.

2% super fat
60% lard
15% coconut oil
15% almond oil
5% shea butter
5% castor oil

Hi barefoot farm girl, I am hink you should adjust your percentages. I disagree with one person who said lower your coconut oil. I think you should raise it to at least 25 to 30 percent. Lower your lard percentage to maybe 20 percent. Almond oil is good. Raise your she's butter to 10 percent. Where is canola or olive oil? Raise your lye discount to 5 percent.

 

[Bronxboyz]

Hi barefoot farm girl, I am hink you should adjust your percentages. I disagree with one person who said lower your coconut oil. I think you should raise it to at least 25 to 30 percent. Lower your lard percentage to maybe 20 percent. Almond oil is good. Raise your she's butter to 10 percent. Where is canola or olive oil? Raise your lye discount to 5 percent.

And I forgot to say, don't worry about the soap calc numbers.

 

[AliOop]

I disagree with one person who said lower your coconut oil. I think you should raise it to at least 25 to 30 percent.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. As noted in the original post, this soap for someone who has to constantly wash her hands, which are already irritated. Coconut oil makes an extremely cleansing soap; it is definitely not gentle when used at 25-30%, especially if used frequently throughout the day. If I used a 30% CO soap on my hands or body even once, let alone repeatedly throughout the day, I'd be an itchy, scaly, miserable mess.

As a general rule, men do seem to be able to use a higher percentage of CO than women, so knowing your user is something to keep in mind when deciding how much CO to use in your recipe. Since this recipe will be for a female who needs to use it frequently throughout the day, keeping the CO below 20% is best.

It's true that lowering the coconut oil will make for less bubbles, but that is easily made up by adding some form of sugar, or using dual lye (or both).

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. As noted in the original post, this soap for someone who has to constantly wash her hands, which are already irritated. Coconut oil makes an extremely cleansing soap; it is definitely not gentle when used at 25-30%, especially if used frequently throughout the day. If I used a 30% CO soap on my hands or body even once, let alone repeatedly throughout the day, I'd be an itchy, scaly, miserable mess.

As a general rule, men do seem to be able to use a higher percentage of CO than women, so knowing your user is something to keep in mind when deciding how much CO to use in your recipe. Since this recipe will be for a female who needs to use it frequently throughout the day, keeping the CO below 20% is best.

It's true that lowering the coconut oil will make for less bubbles, but that is easily made up by adding some form of sugar, or using dual lye (or both).

@AliOop I was thinking about adding some sugar, how much should I add? I’m making a small batch, 10 oz of oils

 

[melinda48]

@AliOop I was thinking about adding some sugar, how much should I add? I’m making a small batch, 10 oz of oils

I use powdered sugar at 1 tsp PPO and it works great!

 

[melinda48]

My daughter is a nurse, and all the hand washing is making her skin very angry. She asked if I could make her a mild goat milk soap to try and see if this will help any. Being so new I wanted to get some options please. I do have a lot of different oils on hand if you think a different recipe would be better! I’m driving myself crazy looking at SoapCalc numbers, fatty acid profiles and properties!!! The end goal is a low cleansing and high conditioning.

2% super fat
60% lard
15% coconut oil
15% almond oil
5% shea butter
5% castor oil

A suggestion in addition to recipe options: your daughter may already know this but if not, she should use cold water to wash her hands. I worked for a dermatologist and stressed that cold water works every bit as well as hot for handwashing. It also helps cut down on irritation from washing frequency. His hands were smooth and nice and he washed between patients all day every day.

 

[Bronxboyz]

@AliOop I was thinking about adding some sugar, how much should I add? I’m making a small batch, 10 oz of oils

Hi Barefoot Farm girl, good morning . I don't think soap will help take the dryness away, if your daughter is always washing her hands at work. But maybe making a body butter could help? Or if you want to make a soap without coconut oil, how about Castile soap? Make an olive oil soap. I hope this helps.

 

[AliOop]

@Barefoot Farm Girl You mentioned goat milk in your first post. The sugars from that will help a bit with lather. However, I’d still add a bit more. Anywhere from 1 tsp to 1 T per pound of oils should be fine. Just be sure to dissolve it in some water before adding any NaOH.

 

[Bronxboyz]

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. As noted in the original post, this soap for someone who has to constantly wash her hands, which are already irritated. Coconut oil makes an extremely cleansing soap; it is definitely not gentle when used at 25-30%, especially if used frequently throughout the day. If I used a 30% CO soap on my hands or body even once, let alone repeatedly throughout the day, I'd be an itchy, scaly, miserable mess.

As a general rule, men do seem to be able to use a higher percentage of CO than women, so knowing your user is something to keep in mind when deciding how much CO to use in your recipe. Since this recipe will be for a female who needs to use it frequently throughout the day, keeping the CO below 20% is best.

It's true that lowering the coconut oil will make for less bubbles, but that is easily made up by adding some form of sugar, or using dual lye (or both).

You're right sorry I didn't read the initial post correctly. I like the dual Lye idea.

 

[Momma Hoot]

I think that the recipe you have above is good start for someone who is experiencing sore and itchy skin from frequent hand washing. The numbers show that it should be gentle soap with a low cleansing number (which you want in this case), and the conditioning number is good too. You can play around with the soap calculator and it can drive you crazy (I know, as I've been there and do it too - ) However, this recipe is one that I would consider a good start for what you are looking for, for your friend. I agree with the other comments, that Aloe Vera juice would be a nice addition to this recipe, however if you don't have that on hand, and as you mentioned, adding the goat milk (or coconut milk powder) will help add a bit of conditioning. The one thing that I would add (besides AVJ & goat/coconut milk) to the recipe if I was making it for myself, is that I would also add colloidal oatmeal. My skin is sensitive and I do notice a difference if I leave it out. I add approx. 2 teaspoons per pound.

 

[AliensrReal]

I work in the hospital and clinic and have a friend who does too. He loves my 25% shea butter recipe. This recipe looks great too! I use coconut oil at 15% and last winter was the first winter he didn’t have cracked hands. I use a super fat of 3%. The other oils I used were avocado oil, apricot kernel oil, castor oil and palm oil.

 

[Shelley D]

I do agree with lowering the coconut oil, especially since her skin is already dry and irritated. I have found that my healthy skin can tolerate it slightly better than my irritated skin (due to skin sensitivity rashes), but once my skin is irritated it's best to avoid anything that is overly dry/cleansing. Any soap recipe will cleanse her skin so trust your initial instinct, low cleansing/high conditioning. That's what I have been doing and yes, I get more of a creamy lather than a bubbly one but I'd rather have a soapy lotion that doesn't irritate my skin.
I also found that my irritated skin didn't care for goat's milk as much as I hoped it would and it likes oat milk better, just another option to consider.
One other thing ~ and this may sound weird at first, but give it a try ~ gift her a tin with some plain shea butter in it, maybe a 2 oz tin to try first. She can rub it on straight after washing, just a small amount, to help restore some moisture. If she doesn't care for the feel of it while at work, suggest she coat her hands at bedtime. Whenever I make soap I love smearing shea butter over my hands and arms ~ it feels so silky smooth and my dry skin just soaks it in. It only takes a little bit, and after hand washing, it should spread easily and she can pat off any excess with a paper towel.
She will appreciate any bit of relief you can offer and natural will be best for sure!