Question to ingredient gurus.. and introduction :)

hyenamarket · Mar 10, 2011

Hi.. I'm Heather.. I live in Phoenix, Az.. I work at Whole Foods... and I got a slight issue... it seems the more natural and "clean" a soap I use, it irritates the bejesus out of my skin. I'm familiar with natural products, I only use WF body care products which are clean and free of parabens and sulfates, etc..

The reason I ask is because we have some great local soap makers and while I love the great the great variety of scents and benefits of their soaps.. i cannot use them. When I do, it seems to strip all natural moisture out of my skin, leaving it uncomfortable "squeeky" clean, dry and slightly burning. It usually only happens with bar soap, but I've discovered Dr. Bronners liquid soap does this too. I normally use Alba or Weleda soap (which dries a little but not as much as the others). Sooo... I guess the bigger question would be... does anyone know which ingredients would cause this problem, so if I were to make my own soap products, I can avoid them? Or possibly what I can add to the mixture that is completely natural that would not cause this.. I just find it very odd and no one seems to understand what I'm talking about it.

Thanks!

carebear · Mar 10, 2011

You may be sensitive to coconut oil which is a favorite among soapers.
Also, Dr Bronners is extremely drying IME.

Also your skin may just be sensitive to the pH of real soap - some just is.

Commercial detergent based soaps have the luxury of being able to make a product with almost any pH.

Id say try some basic recipes edith a high super fat and see what happens.

soapbuddy · Mar 10, 2011

It could also be that the handmade soaps need a higher superfat.

AmyW · Mar 10, 2011

Stay away from all scents and colorings too...if you make your own, you can play with them once you find a recipe that is friendly for your skin. And welcome to the forum!

IrishLass · Mar 10, 2011

Hi Heather, and welcome to the forum!

From your description, my guess is that the problem might be coming from coconut oil. In its natural state coconut oil is very moisturizing, but when used in soap formulas made with either sodium or potassium hydroxide it converts into sodium or potassium cocoate, which makes for fantastic bubbly lather and is also very efficient at cleansing your skin of dirt...... but can also strip too much of your skin's natural body oils if care is not taken when formulating a soap recipe with it. If you look at Dr. Bronner's liquid soap ingredients, the first ingredient listed after water is coconut oil.

Many of us handmade soap makers (me included) use coconut oil as one of the main oils in our soap formulas, too (it makes for awesome bubbly lather as I mentioned), but most of us have become aware about coconut oil's uber cleansing powers in soap and so we are careful to tame it with superfatting our soaps, and/or balancing it with the addition of other more conditioning oils, or some of us just eliminate it altogether and use a less cleansing but lathering oil such as palm kernel oil.

It's quite possible to make a mild coconut oil soap (I find mine to be quite mild and pleasant), but the extent of how dry one will feel after using a soap made with coconut oil depends greatly on how the soap is formulated....... and also on a person's individual skin-type. My skin tends to dry out easily, so I always formulate mine to be on the lower end of the cleansing scale (at least low enough for me and most of the people who use my soap) and I also superfat my soap enough to counter-balance my soap's cleansing power without diminishing my lather too much. It's all a balancing act, but that's the beauty of making you own soap- you can tailor-make it just for you.

IrishLass