Soaps causing skin problem on hands

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QuietWorker

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Sorry in advance if this isn't the right place to post this.

I've recently been getting into cold processed soaps for use in the shower. I've used two brands: Dr. Bronner's and Dr. Squatch. Both are cold processed commercially produced soaps.

I used a bar of Squatch for a while and didn't notice any problems. I tried out Dr. Bronner's and then started to notice problems with my hands. About a day after using the soap in the shower, I would notice my hands looking like this:
qcEURTx.jpeg


I switched back to Squatch (although a different scent), and the problem is persisting.

I am not sure why this is happening. It is only affecting my hands, too. Does anyone have any ideas or advice? I was about to start making my own soaps, but now I'm not so sure. I don't want to switch to something like liquid body wash, but I fear I might have to if I can't overcome this issue.
 
Hi there!

Lye soap is always harsher to the skin than the rest of the store bought bars, and recipes are different and can vary in their effect on us. Maybe the skin on your fingers is sensitive to particular ingredients? At least one of the bars you got works well, so you can keep using it - but I can't say if you will get the same result from self-made soap or not, you will have to try and see for yourself if you're up to it. Usually, hand made cold process soap with basic ingredients is much better than commercial syndet bars, but yet again - every skin is different and what's good for me may not be the best choice for you. Personally, once I've started making soap I completely forgot about commercial stuff and use only my own soap bars. I wish to say that you should try making your own and that it will be much better, but I can't - plus I don't know anything about the brands you mentioned so I can't say if there's anything wrong with them or they're actually pretty good. Maybe someone else knows more about them. Try and see for yourself, ymmv. Sorry for not being able to help much with my 2 cents
 
Would you mind sharing the ingredients lists of the bars you used ? Maybe by comparing the one that didn't cause any issue to the two that don't work for you we could find one culprit ingredient ? And if so, you could find an other bar without the said ingredient, try it, and confirm or infirm the said ingredient culpability ;)
 
Sorry in advance if this isn't the right place to post this.

I've recently been getting into cold processed soaps for use in the shower. I've used two brands: Dr. Bronner's and Dr. Squatch. Both are cold processed commercially produced soaps.

I used a bar of Squatch for a while and didn't notice any problems. I tried out Dr. Bronner's and then started to notice problems with my hands. About a day after using the soap in the shower, I would notice my hands looking like this:
qcEURTx.jpeg


I switched back to Squatch (although a different scent), and the problem is persisting.

I am not sure why this is happening. It is only affecting my hands, too. Does anyone have any ideas or advice? I was about to start making my own soaps, but now I'm not so sure. I don't want to switch to something like liquid body wash, but I fear I might have to if I can't overcome this issue.
A lotion or body butter applied daily should help speed up the recovery of your hand. When I used commercial lotions, Aveeno was my go to.
 
My understanding was that one bar was the Dr. Bronner's brand, and one was Dr. Squatch; is that right?

For me, both of those formulas have way too much coconut oil (which is very drying in soap), and way too much scent (which can also irritate my skin). I recommend formulating a very gentle bar of handcrafted soap that is less likely to cause that kind of dryness. If you are open to using animal fats, try this:

60% lard
20% coconut oil
15% liquid oil of choice (olive, avocado, sweet almond, rice bran, high oleic sunflower)
5% castor oil
Set the lye concentration to 33% (be sure to change it from water as percent of oils!).
Set the superfat to 5%

For a vegan bar, you could try @KiwiMoose's vegan recipe that she has so kindly shared here. Scroll down to post #16 to see the recipe.

Whatever you make, you can start testing it around 72 hours after making. But it won't be as mild or bubbly until it has cured for about four weeks. I recommend making a 1-2lb batch to start - that's enough for four to five bars. If you aren't sure you want to invest in this hobby, use what you have around, or buy inexpensive things at a thrift store, dollar store, etc. Plastic food storage containers work wonderfully as beginner soap molds, for instance, as long as they have the #5 recycle symbol on the bottom. Cardboard boxes work equally well if you line them with a heavy plastic trash bag or some freezer paper.

Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask if we can help you along the way!
 
Since you didn't ask for help formulating your own recipes, I'm going to assume you're looking for advice on buying soap.

I will suggest that it is the formulation. As @AliOop mentioned, coconut oil makes a drying soap. If you are trying to avoid "detergents," look around for handmade bar soaps. You can often find them easily at a whole foods, FB marketplace, specialty shops, and this time of year at Farmers markets. Read the labels and ask (when at a market) questions. For some people, syndets or detergent based bars (like Dove, for example) are actually gentler for their skin. You do not have to get a liquid, there are plenty of bar options on the shelf at the store.

First, though, as @justsomeguy mentions, you should take care of healing your skin.

If you do decide to start making your own soap, we'll be here to help you along
 
You should TOTALLY make your own cold process soap!! It's night and day compared to store bought. Listen, I got into this as a creativity outlet. I was completely caught off guard by the dramatic improvement in the health of my and my family's skin. Previously I had spent a fortune on dermatologists and lotions and potions. It has been fantastic. And then I discovered lotion bars....

Please jump in, all the cool kids are doin' it!
 
I switched back to Squatch (although a different scent), and the problem is persisting.
Since both soaps are now causing a problem, @QuietWorker I see two possibilities:
  1. Your skin was sensitized by the soap.
  2. You have handled something that caused drying or an allergy.
Do your hands itch? Or are they simply peeling? Have you used cleaning products recently without wearing gloves? With sensitization, you can use a soap or lotion or cleaning product for ages, then out of the blue it causes a reaction.

Right now I am at the walk in clinic with my daughter, who first got a second degree sunburn and now, 12 days later, has an allergic/sensitization reaction to lotions applied for the sunburn. (Group home staff neglected sunscreen.)
 
Hi there!

Lye soap is always harsher to the skin than the rest of the store bought bars, and recipes are different and can vary in their effect on us. Maybe the skin on your fingers is sensitive to particular ingredients? At least one of the bars you got works well, so you can keep using it - but I can't say if you will get the same result from self-made soap or not, you will have to try and see for yourself if you're up to it. Usually, hand made cold process soap with basic ingredients is much better than commercial syndet bars, but yet again - every skin is different and what's good for me may not be the best choice for you. Personally, once I've started making soap I completely forgot about commercial stuff and use only my own soap bars. I wish to say that you should try making your own and that it will be much better, but I can't - plus I don't know anything about the brands you mentioned so I can't say if there's anything wrong with them or they're actually pretty good. Maybe someone else knows more about them. Try and see for yourself, ymmv. Sorry for not being able to help much with my 2 cents
Yeah, I think it's probably worth making a small batch of my own stuff to see if it happens with that, too.

Would you mind sharing the ingredients lists of the bars you used ? Maybe by comparing the one that didn't cause any issue to the two that don't work for you we could find one culprit ingredient ? And if so, you could find an other bar without the said ingredient, try it, and confirm or infirm the said ingredient culpability ;)
For the Dr. Bronner's, I used their unscented bar soap. The ingredients are: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Water, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Sea Salt, Citric Acid, Tocopherol.

As far as I know, this listing means that coconut oil was used in larger quantities than everything else. Interesting.

For the Dr. Squatch's soap, the one that didn't seem to irritate me was their Birchwood Breeze bar: Saponified Oils of (Olive, Sustainable Palm, Coconut), Shea Butter, Natural Fragrance, Birch Bark Powder, Pumice Powder, Niaouli Essential Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Kaolin Clay, Sea Salt.

The other bar that irritated me was their Wood Barrel Bourbon bar: Saponified Oils of (Olive, Sustainable Palm, Coconut), Shea Butter, Natural Fragrance, Jimmy Red Cornmeal, Brewer's Yeast, Sand, Annatto Powder, Kaolin Clay, Sea Salt, Iron Oxide (Colorant).

They latter two both seem to have basically the same oil bases.

A lotion or body butter applied daily should help speed up the recovery of your hand. When I used commercial lotions, Aveeno was my go to.
Right, I've done that but my hands have never needed any lotion before.

My understanding was that one bar was the Dr. Bronner's brand, and one was Dr. Squatch; is that right?

For me, both of those formulas have way too much coconut oil (which is very drying in soap), and way too much scent (which can also irritate my skin). I recommend formulating a very gentle bar of handcrafted soap that is less likely to cause that kind of dryness. If you are open to using animal fats, try this:

60% lard
20% coconut oil
15% liquid oil of choice (olive, avocado, sweet almond, rice bran, high oleic sunflower)
5% castor oil
Set the lye concentration to 33% (be sure to change it from water as percent of oils!).
Set the superfat to 5%

For a vegan bar, you could try @KiwiMoose's vegan recipe that she has so kindly shared here. Scroll down to post #16 to see the recipe.

Whatever you make, you can start testing it around 72 hours after making. But it won't be as mild or bubbly until it has cured for about four weeks. I recommend making a 1-2lb batch to start - that's enough for four to five bars. If you aren't sure you want to invest in this hobby, use what you have around, or buy inexpensive things at a thrift store, dollar store, etc. Plastic food storage containers work wonderfully as beginner soap molds, for instance, as long as they have the #5 recycle symbol on the bottom. Cardboard boxes work equally well if you line them with a heavy plastic trash bag or some freezer paper.

Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask if we can help you along the way!
Thank you very much for the recipe! I am not opposed to using animal fats in my soaps. However, I was hoping to do a recipe with a few less ingredients. Maybe I should remove coconut oil altogether if it is drying? I'm not sure. Do you have any recommendations for gentle and moisturizing soap that uses only 2 or 3 (at the max) oils?

Since you didn't ask for help formulating your own recipes, I'm going to assume you're looking for advice on buying soap.

I will suggest that it is the formulation. As @AliOop mentioned, coconut oil makes a drying soap. If you are trying to avoid "detergents," look around for handmade bar soaps. You can often find them easily at a whole foods, FB marketplace, specialty shops, and this time of year at Farmers markets. Read the labels and ask (when at a market) questions. For some people, syndets or detergent based bars (like Dove, for example) are actually gentler for their skin. You do not have to get a liquid, there are plenty of bar options on the shelf at the store.

First, though, as @justsomeguy mentions, you should take care of healing your skin.

If you do decide to start making your own soap, we'll be here to help you along
Thanks for the advice. I will check my local farmers markets. I have tried Dove soap before, but it's just not the same. I like the squeaky-clean feeling I get from "real" soaps!

You should TOTALLY make your own cold process soap!! It's night and day compared to store bought. Listen, I got into this as a creativity outlet. I was completely caught off guard by the dramatic improvement in the health of my and my family's skin. Previously I had spent a fortune on dermatologists and lotions and potions. It has been fantastic. And then I discovered lotion bars....

Please jump in, all the cool kids are doin' it!
What are lotion bars? Do you use them in or out of the shower?

That's it, you scared him away lol 🤣
Just been busy with work!

Since both soaps are now causing a problem, @QuietWorker I see two possibilities:
  1. Your skin was sensitized by the soap.
  2. You have handled something that caused drying or an allergy.
Do your hands itch? Or are they simply peeling? Have you used cleaning products recently without wearing gloves? With sensitization, you can use a soap or lotion or cleaning product for ages, then out of the blue it causes a reaction.

Right now I am at the walk in clinic with my daughter, who first got a second degree sunburn and now, 12 days later, has an allergic/sensitization reaction to lotions applied for the sunburn. (Group home staff neglected sunscreen.)
My hands do not itch and I've thought about what else I've touched. I know that some household chemicals or hand sanitizers can cause dryness like that, but I haven't been in contact with anything like that. It's also not really peeling, but more like flaking.

I hope your daughter gets better soon!!!

@QuietWorker those two soaps are not representative of what we make as cold processed soap makers. Please don't let them put you off.
We are all here to help when you dive in.
Thanks!
 
I can not use most commercially produced soaps, but from Dr Bronner's line I am able to tolerate their Baby Castile soap just fine. It lacks any essential oils (culprit that can cause a reaction, for me most of them just cause skin burning sensation) and perhaps it's milder and less alkaline than their other soaps.

The only other soaps I found I could tolerate and liked was Dead Sea Minerals brand Dead Sea Mud soap/very gentle soap without any fragrance additives (at least used to be), genuine rustic Aleppo soap from Syria which has small amount of laurel oil and unscented, and truly all-natural pine tar soap/forgot the brand. Pine tar soap can help with skin issues.
 
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Dr. Bronner's soaps are some of the harshest soaps I've even used, along with Ivory soap. Makes me sad because I love the scents.
No joke about the harshness of that soap, I got a bottle of liquid one earlier but ended up using it all as a...dish and laundry soap, even though it's not cheap. Skin wasn't very happy. I used solid bar Baby Castile later though and it felt very gentle on skin, ended up using it for a while. They say that Dr Bronner's bars are more moisturizing than liquid one and even Baby castile liquid one being too harsh for babies.
 
I"ve tried just about every type of commercial soap there is on the market...along with most of the lotions because they all dried out my skin and no combination seemed to work. Then a friend gifted me a bar of her own soap and that started my journey into both hot and cold process soaps. I started with her recipes and stumbled along until I found this forum. It was then that I learned about curing properly, all about the properties of oils and their fatty acids; and was brave enough to try out recipes of my own or from others here.
I found as I age my skin changes its needs and I have had to change my go-to recipes as well. Good advice from @AliOop of small batches and that way you can tweak the recipe as you find where your skin feels good. But I can almost guarantee that you will notice the difference in your skin with the first batch. You can then start your journey into what your skin likes and will tolerate. Welcome to this forum.
 
Commercial soap bars are hit and miss. Dove feels good on my skin, if I wasn't making my own soap I would probably keep using Dove. Then again, every skin is different - and for some lye soap is too harsh in general.

It's all trial and error in small batches - otherwise you will end up with too much soap (if you make it as a hobby, but I know some people will argue that there's no such thing as "too much soap" lol)
 
I have the same problem, especially in winter. I’m still trying to figure out all the causes, but anything with too much coconut or palm oil does that to my hands, independent of the fragrance. Young soaps are also a typical culprit. I had one soap that systematically dried out my hands like that after only a 5 months cure, and now another 5 months later it doesn’t give me any trouble whatsoever.

Commercial soaps that I’ve found didn’t cause this problem were African black soaps.

In the mean time, I recommend applying a hand lotion immediately after washing your hands, every time. There are some fast-absorbing ones like Neutrogena if you don’t want anything frou-frou, and Rituals hand balms if you definitely want something frou-frou. These are what I find in Europe, not sure about the US.
 
I have the same problem, especially in winter. I’m still trying to figure out all the causes, but anything with too much coconut or palm oil does that to my hands, independent of the fragrance. Young soaps are also a typical culprit. I had one soap that systematically dried out my hands like that after only a 5 months cure, and now another 5 months later it doesn’t give me any trouble whatsoever.

Commercial soaps that I’ve found didn’t cause this problem were African black soaps.

In the mean time, I recommend applying a hand lotion immediately after washing your hands, every time. There are some fast-absorbing ones like Neutrogena if you don’t want anything frou-frou, and Rituals hand balms if you definitely want something frou-frou. These are what I find in Europe, not sure about the US.

It's a pitty you have to wait so much to use a soap normally, but yeah - it makes a huge difference with lye soap. That's the reason I don't make castile
 

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