Might get into this.

[Renraw9002]

Hello, all. I started seeing the dr. Squatch commercials online and as usual I thought "I could just make this myself... probably. " 1k websites and videos later I think I'm ready to shop for ingredients. I have questions which obviously led me here.

I'm a 31 year old Male and I have really sensitive skin. My wife and I have to use free and clear detergent otherwise I break out and even some free and clear detergents cause me to break out. I get dry skin, but perfumes and dyes in body wash cause me to break out as well. I've seen the melt and pour bases that seem crazy simple, but mixing lye and water with your ingredients is also do-able.

To keep it short I guess I'd like some advice on what I should use to keep my skin clear and moisturized. I know olive oil is supposed to be good at moisturizing, but I'd like what other oils and essential oils I should start with.

 

[lsg]

Soap does not moisturize the skin. You can make a milder soap that does not strip as much natural oils from the skin. My advice is to find a recipe for mild soap and a good moisturizing lotion recipe.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, Renraw! I love the Dr. Squatch commercials. They crack me up with laughter.

Ditto what lsg said- soap is a cleanser that strips away your skin's natural oils along with the dirt, but having said that, it's definitely doable to tailor your recipe to be very gentle/mild on the cleansing level to the point where you can either lessen or eliminate the need to use a moisturizing lotion afterward. Don't get me wrong- soap will always be cleansing -that's the nature of the beast- but you can definitely make it less cleansing/beastly. That is, afterall, one of the reasons why we all make our own.

I guess a good place to start is to take a look at the ingredients of the soap you are using now. Is your skin is happy with it? If so, it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a somewhat comparable recipe based on the oils/fats listed in the ingredients.

If you are using the Dr. Squatch brand soaps, they use the same oils that many of us that make our own soap use i.e., olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil and shea butter.....pretty standard stuff. But no matter what oils/fats you choose to use, the trick is going to be tailoring the oils in such a way that will make your particular skin happy, which will take a bit of trial and error on your part......something we all have to do when coming up with our favorite formulas. Everyone's skin is different in what makes it happy/not happy, so what works for one person may not work for someone else.

This is just me, but if you want to use the oils/fats that Dr. Squatch uses, I would start with something along the lines of the following basic recipe (which, for what it's worth, my own skin would consider to be a fairly mild soap), and then tweak from there .....making sure to fully cure your batches at least 4 to 6 weeks before using:

Olive oil 40%
Palm oil 30%
Coconut oil 20%
Shea butter 10%

Superfatted at 5%

Leave it unscented.

To make it even nicer, you can switch out the palm for lard if you are not averse to using animal fats.

Keep your batch sizes to 1lb of oils maximum until you hit upon the tweak that works for you. No sense making large batches if they don't make your skin happy.


IrishLass

 

[penelopejane]

Great advice from Irish lass and the others.
Just remember they essential oils may react with your skin just as badly as Fragrance oils.

Search on the forum for recipes and also look at soaping 101. They also have some great YouTube videos.

 

[Renraw9002]

I currently use Bath and Body Works cause my wife gets it for dirt cheap. I landed on a few different scents of theirs that either don't cause me to break out or it's only a little bit on my back.

I'll google what lard will do as I'm sure that's easy enough to find, but I tried googling superfat and if anything I'm more confused now about what it is, how to add it to a recipe, and what it's supposed to do.

I'll likely only ever make 1lb batches since I don't think even my wife will use anything I make so I'm sure even a 1lb batch will last me a good long time, but still good advice for sure. Thank you all very much. I'm sure I'll have many more questions to come.

 

[penelopejane]

When you mix lye and oil it saponifies. You can put the exact amount of lye to saponify the oil in a recipe = 0% superfat. But a lot of people prefer to give themselves a little leeway to ensure all the lye is used up in a recipe so they add a bit more oil (superfat).
Look at soapcalc and you see that the default amount is 5% but you can change it.

If you add too much superfat your soap will be a bit mushy or slimy. Depending on the oils you used soapers may use a different SF amount.

It used to be thought that if you add the superfat at trace that oil would be the superfat but this isn't the case. If you want to choose your superfat oils you can use HP soaping method and add the oils of your choice at the last minute.

 

[Arimara]

By the way, since you were using B&B products and a few of them did not set your skin off, I'd narrow down what scent family they are, if you can. If they were EO blend, that would help. This way, should you feel inclined to do so, you can scent your soap lightly with whatever you want that works with you.

On a side note, does adding vinegar to your rinse cycle help you any? In my case, it helps minimize the likelihood I'll have itchy skin within minutes of putting on freshly washed whatever.

 

[Renraw9002]

By the way, since you were using B&B products and a few of them did not set your skin off, I'd narrow down what scent family they are, if you can. If they were EO blend, that would help. This way, should you feel inclined to do so, you can scent your soap lightly with whatever you want that works with you.

On a side note, does adding vinegar to your rinse cycle help you any? In my case, it helps minimize the likelihood I'll have itchy skin within minutes of putting on freshly washed whatever.

My skin's not quite that sensitive. I've never gotten itchy skin from using dyes and perfumes right after putting on freshly washed stuff. I just break out in zits mostly on my back.... which then of course becomes itchy as heck.

Also now that you point it out I think it does help. We've been using vinegar in our washes for a few years now and I never really considered it was doing anything besides softening the clothes. Maybe it does help considering my breakouts are rare anymore.

When you mix lye and oil it saponifies. You can put the exact amount of lye to saponify the oil in a recipe = 0% superfat. But a lot of people prefer to give themselves a little leeway to ensure all the lye is used up in a recipe so they add a bit more oil (superfat).
Look at soapcalc and you see that the default amount is 5% but you can change it.

If you add too much superfat your soap will be a bit mushy or slimy. Depending on the oils you used soapers may use a different SF amount.

It used to be thought that if you add the superfat at trace that oil would be the superfat but this isn't the case. If you want to choose your superfat oils you can use HP soaping method and add the oils of your choice at the last minute.

ohhh so say if you have say 4 oils/fats in your recipe the calculator will automatically add 1.25% of each oil to = 5% extra oil essentially and whatever doesn't saponify becomes your superfat since lye will saponify whatever oil/fat is easiest first and just keep going until all the lye is gone.

 

[penelopejane]

ohhh so say if you have say 4 oils/fats in your recipe the calculator will automatically add 1.25% of each oil to = 5% extra oil essentially and whatever doesn't saponify becomes your superfat since lye will saponify whatever oil/fat is easiest first and just keep going until all the lye is gone.

Read the explanation for this by DeeAnna - our resident scientist - at post 12:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/sponification.52034/

 

[Renraw9002]

Read the explanation for this by DeeAnna - our resident scientist - at post 12:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/sponification.52034/

Oh ok. That's what I was trying to say essentially. She just worded it a lot more eloquently than I could lol.

 

[Renraw9002]

After a few more thousand videos, research, and playing around with making soap I think I'm ready to try something besides playing the game "Will this turn into soap?" I landed on trying this recipe and before I bought the ingredients I don't have I figured I'd ask if anyone thought this recipe would be unpleasant. I think it's a fairly easy recipe and probably the hardest thing will be the beeswax, but I'm sure I'm overlooking something.

 

[amd]

For your first soap batch, I would hold off on beeswax. It needs to be held above the melting temp to get properly incorporated into the soap. It's just one more thing to keep track of when you're learning a new process. I've never used beeswax, but I think I've read that it speeds up trace, so it might not be the best learning recipe when you're not sure what you're looking for.

I would also hold off on the argan oil - it's expensive, and would be a shame to waste it if your first batch fails. I think overall the recipe will be nice for personal use, but I would wait to try it until you've had a few batches under your belt and know the processes better. It will need a longer cure with 52% OO, I would probably let this one cure at least 8-10 weeks.

There is a thread in the beginners forum that has some really nice starting recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients. I teach a class that uses "grocery store" ingredients, and it makes a nice starting soap:
20% CO
40% OO
35% shortening or lard/tallow
5% castor

This makes an easy to work with soap batter, sets up in about 24 hours, cures in about 6 weeks, and has a stable shelf life of 14 months, which makes it great for a personal use soap.

 

[Renraw9002]

I've done a couple batches with just CO and OO just to get some practice and get a feel for things. I did 50/50 CO and OO in really small batches, let them sit a few days, and tried them just to see if I made garbage or soap. The first batch was kinda wonky cause I probably didn't stir long enough; the second was better. I think if anything I let the oil cool a bit too much. I mean it worked and all, but something felt weird about it; the third was definitely soap, lathered up fine and everything and definitely cleaned, but that CO dried the heck out of my hands.

Beeswax does indeed speed up trace and apparently it's prone to causing false traces. The jist of what I got with using beeswax was keep the oils above 150 to make sure it melts and mixes properly with the other oils and if you think it's becoming trace stir more cause it's probably a "haha just kidding" moment.

Good to know about the argan oil. If it's expensive I'll probably just eliminate it altogether cause I'm nothing if not frugal. I also don't really know what it's supposed to do because I just keep reading that it's supposed to be good for sensitive skin. Why it's good for sensitive skin I have no idea.

I went with 52% OO cause I think more than 25% CO will probably be unpleasant and I just use those two oils as the bulk oils to make everything = 100%.

Thanks for sharing that recipe. Lard/tallow or shortening are other things I'm not entirely sure what they're supposed to add to soap other than making the bar harder.

 

[amd]

I did 50/50 CO and OO in really small batches, let them sit a few days, and tried them just to see if I made garbage or soap. ... I mean it worked and all, but something felt weird about it; the third was definitely soap, lathered up fine and everything and definitely cleaned, but that CO dried the heck out of my hands.

For a 50/50 soap like that, it will become a nice soap if 1) you give it a slightly higher superfat - like 12-15% and 2) a good long cure, maybe 9 months. Olive oil needs a longer cure to become a nice soap, and CO needs longer to become milder. The combination of the two [time and superfat] will make the soap less cleansing, at just a few days the OO hasn't had time to properly become soap so it's not offsetting the harshness of the large amount of CO.

Lard/tallow or shortening are other things I'm not entirely sure what they're supposed to add to soap other than making the bar harder.

They'll affect the lather and cleansing of the soap as well. Lard is a bit more gentle, tallow is more cleansing compared to lard, both add lather stability. It will depend on which shortening you use, most shortenings are a combination of palm/soy or tallow/soy. Palm will also add lather stability. All three will make a harder bar, as well as add to the usage life of the soap. My personal experience is that animal fats are better at making a long lasting bar than palm - at least I can tell the difference by how long a bar lives in my shower. Usually one that goes quickly will be a vegan soap (that I've bought from someone else).

 

[penelopejane]

After a few more thousand videos, research, and playing around with making soap I think I'm ready to try something besides playing the game "Will this turn into soap?" I landed on trying this recipe and before I bought the ingredients I don't have I figured I'd ask if anyone thought this recipe would be unpleasant. I think it's a fairly easy recipe and probably the hardest thing will be the beeswax, but I'm sure I'm overlooking something.

If I was going to use this recipe I’d replace the beeswax and Argan oil with avocado oil or sweet almond oil.

Beeswax is a pain to use at 2 or 3% at 8% it’s going to be a nightmare. You don’t have to soap that hot. Melt the beeswax separately. Then heat the other oils to about 110*F. Mix a bit of the heated oils into the beeswax stirring then add it into all the oils and FO and SB. Then add the lye and water at 110*F and SB until light trace. Don’t go just to emulsion but watch it really carefully because it will speed up just sitting there so go slowly with the SBing and handstir in between. You probably won’t be able to do multi colours or swirls or anything with 8%.

 

[Renraw9002]

For a 50/50 soap like that, it will become a nice soap if 1) you give it a slightly higher superfat - like 12-15% and 2) a good long cure, maybe 9 months. Olive oil needs a longer cure to become a nice soap, and CO needs longer to become milder. The combination of the two [time and superfat] will make the soap less cleansing, at just a few days the OO hasn't had time to properly become soap so it's not offsetting the harshness of the large amount of CO.

This cure time thing is odd. I often see people saying let it sit for a month or two like yourself and then others say maybe a few days is all you need. It's good to know though that adding time will actually do anything besides allowing the bar to become harder which is more or less all I've read that adding time will do. I'll likely throw out these first couple batches since I didn't really superfat at all, maybe 5% at most and likely not even that, and they were meant merely for practice.

They'll affect the lather and cleansing of the soap as well. Lard is a bit more gentle, tallow is more cleansing compared to lard, both add lather stability. It will depend on which shortening you use, most shortenings are a combination of palm/soy or tallow/soy. Palm will also add lather stability. All three will make a harder bar, as well as add to the usage life of the soap. My personal experience is that animal fats are better at making a long lasting bar than palm - at least I can tell the difference by how long a bar lives in my shower. Usually one that goes quickly will be a vegan soap (that I've bought from someone else).

I'll probably try lard or palm/soy combo shortening since CO seems to be an effective cleanser by itself. Adding life to a bar of soap was a concern of mine cause I didn't think a homemade bar of soap could survive long in a shower.

If I was going to use this recipe I’d replace the beeswax and Argan oil with avocado oil or sweet almond oil.

Beeswax is a pain to use at 2 or 3% at 8% it’s going to be a nightmare. You don’t have to soap that hot. Melt the beeswax separately. Then heat the other oils to about 110*F. Mix a bit of the heated oils into the beeswax stirring then add it into all the oils and FO and SB. Then add the lye and water at 110*F and SB until light trace. Don’t go just to emulsion but watch it really carefully because it will speed up just sitting there so go slowly with the SBing and handstir in between. You probably won’t be able to do multi colours or swirls or anything with 8%.

What does SB mean? I think I get it through context, but I'm not sure. I like your idea of using avocado or almond instead of argan since avocado has more vitamins in it and almond is supposedly gentle on skin, at least from my brief googling of what all three will do. Also heating up the beeswax on its own seems like a no-brainer and I feel silly for not thinking of it.

I get a lot of small cuts and scrapes from riding my motorcycle, woodworking, and just general life things. I liked that beeswax helps hold in moisture which I definitely need with my dry skin and I was hoping it would assist with healing small cuts and scrapes. Plus I like the smell of beeswax. I don't really plan on using any FO since I work in pharmaceutical production and you can't be overly scenty.

 

[Arimara]

There is a thread in the beginners forum that has some really nice starting recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients. I teach a class that uses "grocery store" ingredients, and it makes a nice starting soap:
20% CO
40% OO
35% shortening or lard/tallow
5% castor

This makes an easy to work with soap batter, sets up in about 24 hours, cures in about 6 weeks, and has a stable shelf life of 14 months, which makes it great for a personal use soap.

I have made soap with the GV shortening from Walmart. It is a bit waxy for my liking if I use more than 30% but it's a good basic soap all around.

 

[penelopejane]

This cure time thing is odd. I often see people saying let it sit for a month or two like yourself and then others say maybe a few days is all you need. It's good to know though that adding time will actually do anything besides allowing the bar to become harder which is more or less all I've read that adding time will do. I'll likely throw out these first couple batches since I didn't really superfat at all, maybe 5% at most and likely not even that, and they were meant merely for practice.

I'll probably try lard or palm/soy combo shortening since CO seems to be an effective cleanser by itself. Adding life to a bar of soap was a concern of mine cause I didn't think a homemade bar of soap could survive long in a shower.

What does SB mean? I think I get it through context, but I'm not sure. I like your idea of using avocado or almond instead of argan since avocado has more vitamins in it and almond is supposedly gentle on skin, at least from my brief googling of what all three will do. Also heating up the beeswax on its own seems like a no-brainer and I feel silly for not thinking of it.

I get a lot of small cuts and scrapes from riding my motorcycle, woodworking, and just general life things. I liked that beeswax helps hold in moisture which I definitely need with my dry skin and I was hoping it would assist with healing small cuts and scrapes. Plus I like the smell of beeswax. I don't really plan on using any FO since I work in pharmaceutical production and you can't be overly scenty.

SB = stickblend.
High OO soaps only get better over time.
I use < 2% SF.
Use salt to harden any soap. 1tsp ppo (per pound of oils) sea salt is best NOT Himalayan or Dead Sea.
Try honey in your soap instead of beeswax. 1 tsp ppo. Your soap will have a much nicer feel and will be bubbly and Manuka honey might help with infections and healing.

People want to/used to believe that Hot Process soap meant that it didn’t need to cure. This has been shown to be incorrect.

Curing soap over time changes the molecular structure of the soap. Try a soap you’ve made at 2 weeks then once a month and you’ll be amazed at the difference. High OO soaps are especially good examples of this because OO gradually changes from a fairly soft, harsh, non bubbly bar to a very mild, hard, abundant lather bar at 9-12 months and continues to get better after 2 years.

It is amazing the difference time makes to all handmade soap.

I don’t throw out soap unless it’s a complete disaster. A lot of guys like high CO soap as it gets them clean. I don’t like high SF soaps, but that’s just me. No one can tell if a weird soap might not just be the perfect soap for your skin. Wait for a year and see.

 

[Renraw9002]

SB = stickblend.

Thank you. I kinda thought it meant blending of some kind, but couldn't figure out what.

High OO soaps only get better over time.
I use < 2% SF.
Use salt to harden any soap. 1tsp ppo (per pound of oils) sea salt is best NOT Himalayan or Dead Sea.
Try honey in your soap instead of beeswax. 1 tsp ppo. Your soap will have a much nicer feel and will be bubbly and Manuka honey might help with infections and healing.

People want to/used to believe that Hot Process soap meant that it didn’t need to cure. This has been shown to be incorrect.

Curing soap over time changes the molecular structure of the soap. Try a soap you’ve made at 2 weeks then once a month and you’ll be amazed at the difference. High OO soaps are especially good examples of this because OO gradually changes from a fairly soft, harsh, non bubbly bar to a very mild, hard, abundant lather bar at 9-12 months and continues to get better after 2 years.

It is amazing the difference time makes to all handmade soap.

I don’t throw out soap unless it’s a complete disaster. A lot of guys like high CO soap as it gets them clean. I don’t like high SF soaps, but that’s just me. No one can tell if a weird soap might not just be the perfect soap for your skin. Wait for a year and see.

Guess I'll save these beginner soaps for a rainy day to see if they're any good months from now. I did play around a bit more on the calculator after the tips here. Let me know what you think of this recipe.

Guess now's as good a time as any to ask this by the way. Where on earth do people buy the oils and butters? I mean lye, distilled water, CO, and OO are easy enough to come by, but where would you go for pure shea butter or pure avocado oil?

 

[Martha]

I get avocado, olive oil and coconut oil at Costco. The shea and cocoa butters I get from a local shop in Brooklyn that has a lot of natural bath and beauty products and ingredients.