New to soap making...Iodine and INS numbers!

[bizarrebunny]

Hi, soap making noob here. I have very sensitive, eczema prone skin and I'm currently stuck using a hair and body wash made for children with sensitive skin. I've started researching soap making as I'd quite like having something a bit more 'grown-up' to use. So far I've come up with a list of oils and butters that sound like they would be good for my skin, however, when I put them in a lye calculator the Iodine and Ins numbers come outside the recommended range.

Coconut Milk

Mango butter 25%
Cocoa Butter 15%
Shea butter 15%
Peach kernel oil 20%
Rice bran oil 20%
Hemp oil 5%

Iodine 74
Ins 119

How much notice should I be taking of these numbers? Will the soap be too soft to work at all or does it mean it will just take longer to cure?

Thanks in advance!

 

[shunt2011]

The recipe as written will not be much for lather. It will get you clean. Also, oils and butters that are good in their natural state will change in soap as they become salts.

So, with that being said if your not opposed to using Lard or Palm both male a very nice gentle soap. Adding a butter and some rice bran with a bit of coconut and castor or bubbles would be a gentle soap. 5-10% coconut.

Too much butters will totally cut lather. 40% Lard or Palm, 10% CO, 35% Rice Bran, 10% Butter and 5% Castor. Or leave the castor out and add that to the Rice Bran.

 

[penelopejane]

I know a lot of eczema sufferers who have had success with pure olive oil soap (not pomace or refined oil oil). Fragrance free. It takes a long cure 9-12 months before it doesn’t get mushy.

You will have to test your own skin because everyone is different. You could try the recipe shunt suggested with OO instead of the palm or lard as your base and one of the butters you have listed. Personally, I wouldn’t use any Coconut oil for skin with eczema as it can be drying (not what you want).
The recipe you have listed isn’t very balanced.

 

[Richard Perrine]

I have been soaping for a month and a half and almost completely ignored these numbers. I created a formulation that works for me and my clients enjoy the soaps I make. It turns out that my soaps fall at the higher end of the INS, but below in the Iodine. I have had numerous other formulations that were outside of both the INS and iodine with good results, so not much worth to me.