If you like honey oatmeal soap - preferred oat flake size?

[green soap]

Do you like whole oat flakes? partially ground? finely ground? or do you like a distribution in sizes? Do you like lots of them or sparsely dispersed?

Intending to scent it with oil infused cinnamon (spice all filtered out). Does this sound good to you?

Not that wild about HOM myself, but I have some requests. I have made it, just trying to perfect the recipe.

Thanks for any inputs!

 

[Sunny]

A lot of people like them ground really finely from what I have read.

But for my own bars, my favorite thing is to add the whole rolled oats at trace and just pulse them through a little bit with the stick blender before pouring. This is also the favorite of my MIL, FIL and the men who like my soap.
(The men always seem to be after the scratchiest possible soap, and while this method isn't SCRATCHY, it is a good size for exfoliating!)

I would say my favorite amount is a medium amount throughout the loaf, and just a little of the whole oats sprinkled on top (not plastered everywhere, just a bit so people know what they're looking at).

 

[IrishLass]

I'm one of those who likes things more on the less scratchy side, so my go-to oatmeal for my OMH honey soap is actually baby food oatmeal. This is the one I use:

http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/2392390017

I've tried other types of oats in my soap from whole to ground to oat flour, but none felt as gentle to me as the baby oatmeal.

I use 1 tbsp ppo, and I add it early on so it can recieve some stickblending action.

IrishLass

 

[Dragonkaz]

My customers tell me they prefer soaps with finely ground oatbran ... less abrasive.

I do offer a more scratchy soap ... orange poppy seed, with oatbran in it also.

 

[carolyntn]

I like using collodial oatmeal - no scratchiness at all. I stickblend into my oils, before lye. I make my goatmilk, oatmeal, and honey soaps unscented but I think a slight cinnamon smell would be delightful!

 

[green soap]

Thanks for the replies and keep them coming!

I love the idea of a few whole oat flakes on top, I have never done that. There is a lovely soap in the photos section of the forum showing an oatmeal soap this way.

Right now I have a distribution in sizes (I ground some fine, some medium and mixed it with some unground). For me it was too scratchy, but great as a hand soap. I did use 2 TBS ppo, so I will back down and use half that much. It would be very easy to grind it some more in my spice grinder. I will leave some whole for the top though.

I need to infuse the cinnamon today, so will make the soap tomorrow or the day after.

I also intend to make a calendula oatmeal soap at the same time. Also need to infuse some oil with the calendula I picked and dried. I call this one unscented, but the calendula flowers smell comes trough. The flake size preference will also help with that soap.

Thanks for telling me your preference and customer's preferences. It is obvious I cannot please everyone, I was just wondering what the majority of folks like before I make my next batch.

 

[Sunny]

I don't know about other peoples' experiences but for me the oatmeal has gotten softer when it gelled or when I did HP. And especially when I add it early in the cook for HP. When I have ungelled CP the oatmeal is firmer/scratchier.

I actually like the ungelled better, but I do think other people like it finer/softer.

 

[falldowngobump]

I use baby oatmeal flakes. I don't like buds of flowers (which turn black in cp soap) or chunks of stuff in my bath. I do use fine ground stuff sometimes. Just my preference.

 

[Maythorn]

I like oat flour or colloidal oatmeal the best. The flakes get a little rough as the bar shrinks from use I've found.

 

[Stinkydancer]

I use baby oatmeal as well and I love the look of whole oats on top. It seems to sell well.

 

[green soap]

Here is the honey oatmeal soap. I dissolved the honey in the lye water, but it heated and turned a caramel brown. The soap is tan, but I used cinnamon infused oil, which might also add to the color. I suppressed gel so it would not be too dark. The cinnamon infusion really comes across scent-wise.

The oat flakes drag across the face of the soaps and produce streaks, so I will grind everything smaller next time.


DSC01456 by rosetalleo, on Flickr

 

[Sunny]

you might be able to buff the surfaces with a bit of pantyhose or just wet a little and rub it smooth, if it is bothering you. looks super creamy, delicious and handmade to me, yum.

 

[green soap]

you might be able to buff the surfaces with a bit of pantyhose or just wet a little and rub it smooth, if it is bothering you. looks super creamy, delicious and handmade to me, yum.

Thanks Sunny. I do like the creaminess. I was successful suppressing gel in this one, not on the calendula oatmeal. I got gel rings, and in two different shades. The concentric rings in two stages of gel are fascinating. I posted those in the photo section.

 

[dcornett]

For my OMH and Lavender Oatmeal, I use the rolled oats and even though I don't mind a little "scratchy" I usually grind them to a powder in the bullet before adding them at trace.

 

[Francis]

Oh, I love how they turned out. Thanks for posting the nice photo. They look sow heartwarming and delicious. I love OMH soaps.

 

[dOttY]

The oat flakes drag across the face of the soaps and produce streaks, so I will grind everything smaller next time.

I find, when putting oats or similar on top of my log of soap, if I cut from side to side, rather than top to bottom, it doesn't drag across the face of the soap.
I put my log of soap on it's side in the cutter. Works great!

 

[dandelion]

I like the look of steel cut oats in my soap