Newbie - hate that squeaky clean feeling!

[D.Deitz]

Hello, I've just made my first batch of soap. I am wondering if that 'squeaky clean' feeling I get is normal? I am worried that I may be stripping the natural oils on my skin. Any ideas on how to adjust my ratios to get a more conditioning bar? Up the SF? I've attached a pic of the recipe I made. I should also note that it is fully cured - 8 weeks so far. Thanks for your help!

 

[Ruthie]

If you just made it, it probably needs to cure. Your recipe is a bit higher than I would use in Castor and Shea, but not unreasonable.

 

[D.Deitz]

Thanks for your reply. . It has been cured for over 8 weeks now. So I'm not sure what the problem is.

 

[Kay]

I'm very new to all this, but, have you tried licking it? Does it 'zap' you? Just for fun I put your recipe in soapcal, and it all looks good to me, except they seem to recommend a little more water for that amount of lye. I'm sure someone else with more knowledge will come in here, but I'll be giving your thread a bump at any rate. Good luck!

 

[pamielynn]

Try swapping your olive and shea percents.

 

[ocean_soul]

I ran your recipe through SoapCalc and your cleansing number seems to be on the upper end of things. You could try lowering the amount of Coconut oil you use next time and increase your Olive oil percentage...or you could increase your super fat. You also seem to be using a lot of hard butters in this recipe, 45%. I'm no expert on what's the best ratio for using butters in soap but I think 30% is enough. Maybe. *shrugs*

 

[D.Deitz]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the great advice. I am making another batch today so I will def try what has been suggested. Kay - no zap, but I'm not sure how apparent the zap would be.

 

[soap_bubbles]

You would know if you had gotten zapped! It is like licking a battery--quite a jolt!

 

[Ann Marie]

I would lower your shea by a lot and up the olive oil, you may even want to simplify it by taking out an oil or too, or just reducing the castor and shea for example. Good luck with your new batch!!!

 

[new12soap]

Your recipe looks fine and your cure time is good. What kind of water do you have? Since handmade soap does not have rinsing agents in it, it can create more "soap scum" than commercial soap, especially in hard water. That can lead to a squeaky feeling. The question is how does your skin feel the next day? Do you still feel drier than usual? Or is it just the squeakiness that happens when you first wash? If your skin feels fine the rest of the time then I would say relax and give yourself time to get used to the different shower feel, if you are feeling like your skin is actually getting more stripped or dried out then I would say start tweaking your formula.

 

[hoegarden]

I would think that it could be due to the butter and you may wish to lower your coconut oil slightly, maybe to 20%. But I would think 45% for butter could be a bit high. Reason is that sometimes too much of a goodness may cause adverse effect instead. Butter is really good in soap, but it still depends on your skin. I use only 10% of butter in my soap and it works really fine for me.

On top of that, maybe you can use oat water to replace water when mixing your lye. I feel that oat water do help the soap to feel abit silkier.

 

[new12soap]

Oh, dear, sorry but I just rechecked your recipe. Did you use fractionated coconut oil in your recipe? Or did you enter that by mistake? That is a VERY important difference. If your coconut oil is a clear liquid (and always a liquid, never gets solid) then it is fractionated. If is is the kind from the grocery store or health food store and comes in any kind of a jar and is even semi-solid, you did NOT use fractionated.

If you used regular coconut oil (76) and entered fractionated into your lye calculator, your soap is lye heavy and will feel harsh. You do not have a 6% superfat in it at all!

 

[VanessaP]

I agree with new12soap - if you used Fractionated Coconut Oil, if it is put in the fridge and stays liquid, its FCO. If you put it in the fridge and it turns solid, its regular coconut oil. If you used FCO in the calculator but used the regular coconut oil, your soap is lye heavy which is quite possibly why your soap feels so harsh even after 8 weeks.

 

[Lotus]

I'm curious to know what kind of coconut oil you used, OP!!! : )

Marking.

 

[pamielynn]

Good catch, New12Soap

 

[D.Deitz]

Hey guys, i def used fractionated coconut oil. Was a great theory though! I made another batch and switched my SB and OO ratio's and raised my SF to 7%. Hope it does the trick. If not, I will try lowering my butter ratio's. Thanks for all the great suggestions, they are much appreciated!