Making a Effective Butter

[kgeorge]

Currently, I am preparing to create my first butter for personal use. I am running into the issue of which oils and butters to pick! I am making this butter because I have psoriasis and my main thing is itching and moisture.

Just by typing in psoriasis I get so many different oils and a few specific butters.

How much is too much in terms of the number of butters and oils to use with each recipe to make sure each ingredient can actually be beneficial?

 

[IrishLass]

I make my body butter with 70% kokum butter and 30% meadowfoam seed oil. I don't know if it will help with your psoriasis or not (not everything works for everybody), but for what its worth, my mom swore by it for her diabetic skin ulcers. It was the only thing that helped her. She's had tried every kind of prescription before that to no avail. I was happy that it helped her so much, but like I said- it's good to keep in mind that not everything will work for everybody.

IrishLass

 

[cmzaha]

I have extreme itching with my eczema and find salt scrubs and salt bars help me tremendously. Not oil based scrubs, I make my salt scrub from my cream soap base. For me I am better keeping my eczema on the dryer side, unlike what all my doctors over the years would tell me. I make a butter for cancer patients using avocado, tucuma butter, argan, meadowfoam and tamanu oil infused with mallow root. Works wonderfully and makes a good lip balm with a little tweaking. My daughter is getting some psoriasis patches and it is helping her.

 

[new12soap]

I second what IrishLass said. No one ingredient or one formula will work for everyone, you may have to do a little trial and error.

My advice is Start Simple. 2 ingredients. You can go crazy with 10 different ingredients, but then how will you know what you like or what you don't? You can always add or change it later, but start simple so you can understand the effects of your oils.

 

[kgeorge]

Salt based soap? I will have look for some on etsy. Right now I am using Dove, because I have been trying to find the culprit to my itching besides it being nearly winter in DC! Thanks for the extra info on types of oils!

 

[Obsidian]

Dove is one of the worse soaps on the market, its choked full of nasty ingredients. Switching to a simple, mild handmade soap could possible be a great help to you. For body butter, I keep it simple, shea, avocado and maybe a bit of coconut.

 

[new12soap]

OMG please stop using Dove. Please. The thought that ANYONE in the world is using Dove makes my head hurt.

There are a lot of very fine soapmakers here that sell. Good handcrafted soap may go a long way toward easing your skin issues. It certainly wouldn't hurt!

 

[kgeorge]

Well, I usually use Black Soap, but with winter it is too harsh. Someone recommended Dove and I was hesitate (glaring at the 6 pack I purchased), but I wanted to try anything and the commercials can fool you! Luckily, my area has a lot of soap makers I can order from online or find at markets.

 

[navigator9]

With psoriasis in mind, when you purchase handmade soap, be sure it is fragrance free. A true castile is made with olive oil as the only fat. I would think that would be good for psoriasis.But at least something with few ingredients, and no additives like fragrance or color, I think would be best.....but I don't have psoriasis myself, so maybe some of you who do would have different advice? But definitely not Dove.....ugh. :roll: Good luck!

 

[goji_fries]

I have extreme itching with my eczema and find salt scrubs and salt bars help me tremendously. Not oil based scrubs, I make my salt scrub from my cream soap base. For me I am better keeping my eczema on the dryer side, unlike what all my doctors over the years would tell me. I make a butter for cancer patients using avocado, tucuma butter, argan, meadowfoam and tamanu oil infused with mallow root. Works wonderfully and makes a good lip balm with a little tweaking. My daughter is getting some psoriasis patches and it is helping her.

Is it ordinary mallow? (not marshmallow).. I'm growing mallow right now and this would be a plus. If it is, I know a place where you can buy a bunch of beneficial plants, where I got mine.

 

[Obsidian]

Pinr tar soap is supposed to be good for psoriasis. If you do buy handmade soap, I'd recommend finding one that has a lower amount of coconut (20% or so) so its not too harsh on your already irritated skin.

 

[cmzaha]

Is it ordinary mallow? (not marshmallow).. I'm growing mallow right now and this would be a plus. If it is, I know a place where you can buy a bunch of beneficial plants, where I got mine.

I use both mallow extract and marshmallow infused oil in my specialty balms. Here is a link for an article from Susan Barclay. She actually mentions that both marshmallow and mallow are good. I actually never read this article until recently, long after I had already been making this balm.

 

[girlishcharm2004]

One cream that I hear people raving about is 9 parts tallow to 1 part olive oil. Then, if you're daring, lavender and/or tea tree essential oils at 20 drops per 50 g. However, it may or may not be what you need. It is simple and (for some) very effective!