Tea Tree Soap

[Soapstars]

Good morning soapers,

I want to make a tea tree soap which I believe is good for greasy skin, acne etc.

My usual recipe is 40% olive, 25% Shea and coconut and 10% castor oil.

I also like to make 100% coconut oil soap with 50% coconut milk to water.

What recipe would you use and what super fat % to make a fabulous soap please?

Another thing - I have bought tea tree oil Australian and Mystic Moments the supplier have put an IFRA document on the website for it that doesn't specify how much I can use in soap. It just says 3% but it looks different to the usual IFRA statements that show category 9A relating to soapmaking etc. Anyone know about this please?

 

[SaltedFig]

Hi Soapstars,

3% is under the recommended topical amount for the Australian tea trees (there's more than one).

Tea tree is strong, so I would suggest you test a small batch first, as you may want to use even less.

 

[LilyJo]

Max amount if 3% based on safety assessments in the uk

 

[Soapstars]

Thanks for the replies. Anyone have any advice on the recipes I mentioned please?

 

[snappyllama]

For acne, I'd make something very gentle and not-striping for the skin. For the face, you don't want to take off too many oils which just encourages more sebum production. It's all about finding a balance. Some folks' skin just does not like homemade soap on the face. I used to do great with my pine tar bars, but lately they are too much. Now I use gentle cleansers.

25% CO (unless SFed to compensate) would be really stripping for my skin, but if you like - do what works for you!).

If I was making some for folks to try out...

Castile: 100% OO 5% SF sub water for coconut milk to add a little something special. It won't be bubbly, but it will help wash off impurities. Downside... this needs 6ish months minimum cure and will be better at a year

Bastile: 80% OO, 5 % Castor, 10% Shea and the rest in CO. You'll get some more bubbles and will be able to use/test a lot sooner. I'd give that one a couple of months.

For the body, I like salt bars... my go to recipe is 85% CO, 5% Castor and 10% Shea. 20% SF. 50% Salt added in. Full CM sub for water. Minimum 2 month cure, but they are better at 6 months.

There are lots of varieties of any of those recipes though

 

[Soapstars]

Great thanks for that help. I will try out a few alternatives.

 

[Soapstars]

Can anyone tell me how to work out a safe usage of 3% tea tree oil (Australia) along with some percentage of rosemary EO to make a good recipe please? I am just making a test soap of 100g coconut oil.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Can anyone tell me how to work out a safe usage of 3% tea tree oil (Australia) along with some percentage of rosemary EO to make a good recipe please? I am just making a test soap of 100g coconut oil.

We tend to use percentage of oil weight, so 100g of oils would mean 3g of tea tree oil.

Bramble Berry's fragrance calculator tells me that you can use up to 5g of rosemary (for a heavily scented soap), but that would likely overwhelm the tea tree. Personally, I have a light hand with rosemary, so I'd say 2g.

Normal fragrance is about half an ounce per pound, or about 14 grams per 450 grams. But EOs are strong, so that might very well be enough.

 

[Soapstars]

We tend to use percentage of oil weight, so 100g of oils would mean 3g of tea tree oil.

Thank you, that's really helpful information.

 

[Soapstars]

So does that mean I can use 5% combined (3% tea tree + 2% rosemary EO) safely in 100g bar please? Is that the maximum in 100g?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

The % is the maximum in any amount. 3% of 100 is 3, so it's 3 grams in 100 grams. 3% of 200 is 6, so it's 6 grams in 200 grams, and so on.

That's the reason for using % for those sorts of things, it always fits to your recipe

 

[MorpheusPA]

So does that mean I can use 5% combined (3% tea tree + 2% rosemary EO) safely in 100g bar please? Is that the maximum in 100g?

If I'm reading the question right? 5% isn't an absolute ceiling in terms of the fragrance amount you can add, but going any higher can start to change the bar hardness or other characteristics. I'd say I tend to have a light hand on fragrances, personally.

As you go higher, skin sensitivity becomes a real issue, though. If 3% tea tree is safe and 5% rosemary is safe (I have no idea what the ceiling is on rosemary), it still may not be the most pleasant thing for your skin if you use the maximum safe amounts of both.

 

[Soapstars]

I see, so a combined 3% of tea tree and rosemary is just fine then. So if I put 1.5g of each in the 100g bar - would you think that is a good balance? Sorry to keep asking questions. But thank you all for your patience.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...So if I put 1.5g of each in the 100g bar - would you think that is a good balance?..."

Everyone's nose is different, so it's hard to say. I'd put one drop of each on a strip of paper towel, let the scents blend for a bit, and see what your nose tells you. If you don't like it, then you have "wasted" only 2 drops of EO. Then try 2 drops of one and 1 drop of the other and test again. And so on until you get a blend you like.