Soap made with 6% superfat & its still drying facial skin

[Cuncimokus]

Hi everyone,

I made the popular shampoo bar for my face with 6% superfat. I did use a soap calculator. When I wash my face with it, I cannot feel any oil leftover that could moisturise my skin...

Should I try 7% superfat or give up washing my face with soap...

I'd really love to use it on my face, so I wouldn't need to buy face cleansers, but I can see the diference when use it - I get large pores, and a dehydrated look, even after I use oils to moisturise my skin....

I'd love to read your opinions!

Thank you very kindly!

Recipe is as follows for a 530g batch:

Avocado oil : 180g
Castor oil : 50g
Sunflower oil : 200g
Shea butter : 50g
Coconut oil : 50g
NaOH : 68.53 g
Distilled water : 175g

 

[lenarenee]

You could reduce the coconut oil or omit it completely, depending on how drying it is.

Increasing sf is not helpful imho.

Some people can't use true soap on their face due to the pH.

Sorry for such short answers. Been on a hiking adventure to find native bees with our little one and am completely zonked.

 

[Cuncimokus]

Hi lenarenee,

Thank you for answer. I give it another go with less coconut oil or no coconut at all. But how will it be cleansing with no coconut oil? - sorry for the silly question... Have a great time with your baby - hiking is so much fun!

 

[BattleGnome]

Water and friction is what gets you clean, soap's purpose is to make the dirt slippery to be washed off by the water. The "cleansing" number on a soap calculator is a misnomer. Cleansing numbers tend to represent how well a soap strips the oils from your skin. An example would be to check the numbers for 100% olive oil. Nearly all the numbers are considered "bad" but some how 100% olive oils have been popular for centuries.

In just about all of my soaps I aim for numbers to be less than the minimum suggested unless I'm making a salt bar or other specialty soap. This works for me and my skin, you may find you like something different. I also don't use soap on my face, again it's just what works for me. I just plain water and a toner (orange blossom hydrosol).

Tl;dr play with the calc numbers using the oils you have on hand. You don't "need" any cleansing number for a good soap but keep that number on the lower end for sensitive skin like your face

 

[IrishLass]

Ditto what BattleGnome said about the 'cleansing' numbers on soap calculators. They don't tell the whole truth, and should be taken with a grain or two of salt.....or maybe even three or four. The fact of the matter is that all soaps cleanse, even those with a cleansing number of zero, but they just won't be as harsh about it as those with a higher cleansing number.

It sounds like you made a tweak of Genny's shampoo bar recipe? I love that recipe- at least my own tweak of it, that is. I keep everything the same as what she wrote, but instead of soybean oil, I use high oleic safflower oil. And instead of using it as a shampoo for my hair, I use it as my go-to gentle body bar (superfatted @ 7%). I've also made it for a friend as a facial bar, and it has since usurped the position that my 100% olive oil Castile used to hold as my favorite gentle body-soap. I highly encourage you to try making it without the coconut oil. It truly doesn't need it, if you ask me.

Like BattleGnome, I also don't use any soap on my face at all- just water and a terry wash-cloth- but for what it's worth, I tried my tweak of Genny's shampoo bars on my face because I had to test it before I gifted any to my friend, and it felt fine (did not dry my face out). Granted I didn't use it on my face but twice, but the fact that it didn't dry my face out after the first or second wash is a testimony to it's gentleness (soap and my face normally don't get along very well, not even with syndets).


IrishLass

 

[Cuncimokus]

Thank you so much BattleGnome !!

 

[Cuncimokus]

Hi IrishLass,

Yes It was a tweak of Genny's shampoo bar recipe Yes, I kept everything the same except the olive oil, I used sunflower oil.
I feel some hope here now that maybe I could still use soap on my face some day without it causing me dryness.
I will be leaving coconut oil out completely in my next batch of soap. Thanks heaps!

 

[lionprincess00]

Some people complain they just do not tolerate co. They have had better results with pko flakes or babassu. Maybe you can try it out after experimenting with no co.

 

[shunt2011]

I too love Genny's Shampoo bar but not for my hair. I actually do use it on my face and I subbed the soybean with Camelina last time as I had a bit left to use up. I SF'd it at 7% as well and my face likes it so far.

 

[dixiedragon]

Also, don't scrub your face. Wash with your hands or a very soft washcloth in gentle circles.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...When I wash my face with it, I cannot feel any oil leftover that could moisturise my skin..."

You should never feel leftover oil on your face after using soap. If you did, the soap would be awful stuff! A gentle soap should leave your skin feeling pleasantly clean and refreshed, but not greasy or lotion-y and not tight or overly dry. Follow up with a moisturizer if your skin needs soothing and protection.

Some people cannot use soap on their face, as others have also pointed out, but I'd eliminate the coconut oil from the recipe if you want to try again. Coconut oil has fatty acids in it that can irritate sensitive skin if made into soap.

 

[TeresaT]

How long did you cure the soap? I've read all of the posts and didn't see any mention of the cure time. If you are using a just made or even a six week old soap, put it on a shelf and come back to it in three months. The same bar of soap that dried your face out may be your best friend in three or six months.

 

[Steve85569]

Very low cleansing value and a minimum 6 week cure.
Like a cleansing value of 8 or less. You may need to use a hardening agent in the soap. ( sodium acetate, salt. SL)

 

[Seawolfe]

All soap does is clean, and it will clean with a cleansing number of zero. Which is one reason why my well cured 100% OO castiles are my favorite for my face.

 

[IrishLass]

Hi IrishLass,

Yes It was a tweak of Genny's shampoo bar recipe Yes, I kept everything the same except the olive oil, I used sunflower oil.
I

Hmmm... if you kept everything else the same, I'm now wondering if Genny has another shampoo bar recipe posted on the forum that I don't know about- one with coconut? I ask because the formula of hers that I use doesn't contain any coconut oil. The recipe I use is this one , only I sub HO safflower for the soybean (equal proportions).


IrishLass

 

[Dahila]

I can not use soap every day, I use only once of twice a week my activated charcoal soap the rest of week I use my surfacants based face wash. No everyone will respond well to soap. Soap tends to dry skin a bit, as long as you smear the moisturizer on it should be ok

 

[Brynhilde]

I have quite sensitive skin. A combination of olive oil and lard does the trick for me. 5% superfat.

 

[Cuncimokus]

I will trying out babassou & pko flakes in the near future lionprincess00 ! ☺

 

[Cuncimokus]

Thank you everyone for your replies to my thread! I have learnt new things again! Thanks alot! xxx

 

[SheLion]

I made an activated charcoal face soap that I'm really happy with. The recipe is:

Olive oil 60%
Coconut oil 10%
Shea butter 20%
Castor oil 10%
Superfat is hard to say as my lye was old. Probably around 5%

For a 30 oz batch (oil weight), I added 2 tbsp of activated charcoal.

It's 9 weeks old right now but I've been using for about 3 weeks already. I tend to have dry skin and this leaves my face feeling clean but not tight. I also don't dry my face bone dry before applying moisturizer, I just blot it to get the big drips of water, and that helps considerably.