Oatmeal

[artemis]

Due to a recent case of chicken pox in our house, I have some aveeno oatmeal on hand. I added some to soap for the first time. It's not ready yet for a real trial yet, so I don't really know how it is.

How does oatmeal affect the way the soap feels or behaves? Do you notice a difference when you add oatmeal, or is it all label appeal?

 

[shunt2011]

I find that it adds a bit of mild/gentle exfoliation. Not sure if you get any of the skin soothing benefits as if you were to add it to the bath but I sell tons of OMH soap due to the fragrance and the oatmeal (finely ground almost powder).

 

[toxikon]

I've only used colloidal oatmeal and it was very easy to work with. It's hard to say if there's a noticeable effect in the soap, it was a nice creamy bar but I could easily just chalk that up to the high lard content.

 

[navigator9]

In a blind test that I read about, oatmeal was one of the ingredients that people reacted positively to, not knowing what it was, but they preferred the soap with it, over the one without. So whatever it does, people seem to like it.

 

[IrishLass]

I like what oatmeal does in my soap, although I cannot exactly describe what it does or why I like it. It just feels different from my soaps made without it and feels rather nice on my skin. I guess the absolute best I can do in the way of description is that it feels like it lends some sort of (pleasant) oomphy dimension to my lather. For what it's worth, I use organic flaked baby oats in mine.


IrishLass

 

[Saranac]

I don't use ground oatmeal in bars as I don't care for bars with "bumpy stuff" in them, but I do like to soak oats in water overnight and then carefully decant the "clear-ish" water to dissolve KOH for liquid soap. It adds to the lather (at least that formula lathers better than my LS without oat water). Once I decide on an OMH fragrance I'm going to try bars with the oat water.

 

[artemis]

I don't use ground oatmeal in bars as I don't care for bars with "bumpy stuff" in them

This oatmeal is not bumpy. It is powdery, so I don't think I'm going to find any bumps unless it wasn't as well-mixed as I thought.

but I do like to soak oats in water overnight and then carefully decant the "clear-ish" water to dissolve KOH for liquid soap. It adds to the lather (at least that formula lathers better than my LS without oat water). Once I decide on an OMH fragrance I'm going to try bars with the oat water.

I tried to oat water, too. It was messy to strain, but it behaved well for soaping (better than the things I had read suggested). I guess there was a difference? Maybe? I don't think the difference was great enough for me to want to to do it for every batch, though. I'm curious to see how this one with oatmeal compares to the oat milk one.

 

[cmzaha]

I use strained oat water in several soap and add in oat flour to the soap batter. Oat flour is very fine and not scratchy in soap. But I do make one popular soap that I use whole oats in

 

[Saranac]

I tried to oat water, too. It was messy to strain,

I don't use hot water so it's not gummy.

The morning before I plan to make soap, I put rolled oats in a mason jar and fill it up with room temperature water (about 1 oz per pound of water). I leave it on the counter for a few hours before moving it to the fridge. When I think about it, I'll give it a shake throughout the day, but it settles overnight. By the next morning, I just slowly decant the water off and filter it through a reusable mesh coffee filter (just to catch and floaters). There tends to be a (barely) noticeable sliminess, but it goes through the filter just fine.

 

[cheri_j]

How much oatmeal do you add per PPO?

 

[SoapAddict415]

IrishLass said it perfectly! I can't describe exactly what the Aveeno oats do to make my soap different, I just know that the first time I tried it, my skin loved it!

 

[SimplySudzy]

I grind Steel cut oatmeal to one of my soaps as an exfoliate.
I agree "I like what oatmeal does in my soap" I think it makes it a bit silky.
I use a honey almond scent in it and it is one of my better sellers.

 

[SoapAddict415]

I grind Steel cut oatmeal to one of my soaps as an exfoliate.
I agree "I like what oatmeal does in my soap" I think it makes it a bit silky.
I use a honey almond scent in it and it is one of my better sellers.

Ooooh! A honey almond scented oatmeal soap sounds so nice! I'm adding that to make "soaps I wanna make" list!

 

[SoapEh]

How does oatmeal affect the way the soap feels or behaves? Do you notice a difference when you add oatmeal, or is it all label appeal?

I like using colloidal oatmeal (which, TMK, is just oatmeal ground to an extremely fine powder) in my soaps. It seems to 'round out' the lather and make it feel richer, without heaviness or oiliness.

I have also tried grinding my own oats as finely as my little blender attachment will allow. This makes a powder with bits of varying sizes, from dust to small flecks, so it gives some exfoliation and an interesting look to the soap.

I don't think oats just add label appeal, I think there's a genuine difference between a bar with oatmeal and one without (whether it's powdered, finely ground, oat water, or even larger pieces of oats). The only way you're really going to know if you like the feel is to try it, but I'm guessing you won't be disappointed.