underarms sticky?

[Soapman Ryan]

My current formula soap bar is:
olive 39%
lard 28%
coconut 15%
shea butter 12%
castor 6%
superfat 6%
water percent 33%
goat milk was used instead of water

The soap bar is nice and moisturizing, but after I was the deodorant off my underarms at night my underarms feel sticky after I dry off?

Any suggestions on how I can fix my recipe, or even make a separate soap recipe just for underarms? Before making soap, I was using Lever2000, which worked fine.
Thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[Obsidian]

You might need a bar that is a bit more cleansing to break up the deodorant residue. I personally like coffee bars with grinds for my underarms, its a easy way to get a good scrub there. I made my cleansing number 15 which would be way to drying for the rest of my skin.

 

[savonierre]

try upping the CO to 20 or 25%

 

[Saswede]

I agree with savonnierre - especially if your water is hard, a higher proportion of CO could do the trick!


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[Robert]

What are the ingredients of the deodorant? How much are you using, and is it doing anything noticeable to your clothes?

Also, might you for some reason be using hotter water with your soap than you did with Lever 2000? Or taking longer showers or baths?

 

[Soapman Ryan]

What are the ingredients of the deodorant? How much are you using, and is it doing anything noticeable to your clothes?

Also, might you for some reason be using hotter water with your soap than you did with Lever 2000? Or taking longer showers or baths?

No, nothing has changed, nor nothing noticeable on my clothes. Deodorant brand AXE. I went back to the Lever2000 brand until my new batch cures with 20% coconut oil.

 

[lizflowers42]

Please, put down the Lever2000 and purchase from a local soapmaker! Your pits will thank you

 

[Robert]

No, nothing has changed, nor nothing noticeable on my clothes. Deodorant brand AXE. I went back to the Lever2000 brand until my new batch cures with 20% coconut oil.

Could you give us the ingredients of the Axe? Does it include an antiperspirant? If it contains Al, and you're using an excess of it, it could be coagulating material from the goat's milk.

I rather doubt that increasing the grease cutting ability of the soap is going to counteract a feeling of stickiness you're getting after drying off. The fact that it's occurring under both arms pretty well rules out something like purulence.

Lever 2000 does contain some isethionate-based surfactant, but I don't think it has enough of it to act sufficiently as a lime soap dispersant, so I don't think the stickiness you're feeling is from lime soap. Plus, the fact that you don't notice it in other folded areas of your skin is a clue that something specific to your axillae is going on. The likeliest thing I can think of is some rxn between the soap and the deodorant.

 

[Soapman Ryan]

Yes, it contains an Anti-Perspirant, it's Apollo Axe Anti-Perspirant and Deodorant Stick.
- So it sounds as an underarm soap shouldn't contain milk. Maybe it would be better to make it with just water.

 

[Robert]

Yes, it contains an Anti-Perspirant, it's Apollo Axe Anti-Perspirant and Deodorant Stick.

Please transcribe here the ingredients from the label.

So it sounds as an underarm soap shouldn't contain milk. Maybe it would be better to make it with just water.

Maybe, but we don't know that yet. Let's not jump to a conclusion, but investigate further.

First of all, can you confirm that you're not experiencing similar stickiness on other parts of your skin that are shaped similarly to armpits--for instance, the front side of your elbows, where you can bend to make a fold, or the similar bends between your thighs and your torso?

Just as a shot, try rubbing some goat milk and that Apollo stick together and feeling what the combination is like.

 

[Lindy]

Robert you are doing it again, giving out advice on making a soap that you know nothing about.

There is no reason not to use milk in a soap for your underarms. I agree with upping your coconut oil to make a soap that is a bit more cleansing to break through the antiperspirant barrier....

 

[Robert]

Robert you are doing it again, giving out advice on making a soap that you know nothing about.

And I suppose you have a lot of knowledge of people whose armpits get sticky after washing & drying.

At least I'm trying to help the guy by investigating this scientifically, rather than just offering guesses that more coconut soap will break thru an antiperspirant barrier that you think is causing stickiness. If there were some "antiperspirant barrier" that needed to be cleaned away, and that's causing stickiness, why wouldn't he be complaining of stickiness just after he applies it, rather than just after he dries off after washing?

Making batches of soap takes time. Why go to that trouble when there's the possibility of finding out more quickly what the likely problem is? Have you ever tried modeling a problem? That way when he next makes soap, he has a basis for it that makes it less likely he'll be wasting his time.

 

[Lindy]

Robert I'm sorry, I don't know you, but it gets rather tiring to see someone who is not a soapmaker advising soapmakers on how to do anything. You don't know the difference between Sodium Cocoate and a synthetic surfactant that is based on coconut oil.

 

[hellogorgeous]

FYI - my hubby had the same problem and I upped the coconut oil content in soap to make it more cleansing and problem fixed.


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[Robert]

FYI - my hubby had the same problem and I upped the coconut oil content in soap to make it more cleansing and problem fixed.

Did it also have goat milk, or any milk? Was he using antiperspirant and experiencing the problem only under his arms, and with the same timing this guy is experiencing?

 

[Obsidian]

My hubby uses Axe and a lot of it. He also uses my goats milk soap with no issues. I make him soap that is more cleansing then mine (around 17) since he is a millwright and frequently comes home covered in oil/hydraulic fluid.

 

[hellogorgeous]

Did it also have goat milk, or any milk? Was he using antiperspirant and experiencing the problem only under his arms, and with the same timing this guy is experiencing?

No milk, just water. And yes just sticky under the arms. He just needed something more cleansing. Simple as that.


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[Robert]

No milk, just water. And yes just sticky under the arms. He just needed something more cleansing. Simple as that.

But I mean, was he specifically developing the sticky feeling just after washing & drying off? And did he also use antiperspirant or not?

The interesting thing with Ryan is that he's going thru the day not feeling sticky, and then he washes & dries his armpits, and suddenly they're sticky, which seems like odd timing. Usually you'd think they'd be less sticky after washing than before, or at least no more sticky, even if he used no soap at all.

 

[Lindy]

He is feeling sticky because the soap he is using is not cleansing enough to remove the antiperspirant not from the goat milk in the soap. By increasing the cleansing value, increasing the coconut oil, he will find that the problem will likely be solved.

 

[cmzaha]

Please, put down the Lever2000 and purchase from a local soapmaker! Your pits will thank you

Handmade soap is not always the answer for everyone. As much as I love my handmade soap, been selling soaps for 5 yrs, I cannot use handmade soap on all my body parts underarms being one. Please do not tell me to change my recipe, I make great soap but just does not work everywhere for me. I keep a bar of dial for some areas. It actually took one of my customers questioning me on the same subject that got me thinking and testing. She still buys handmade soaps but does the same as I do. Last week I had a customer that had purchased soap from another soapmaker and had a similiar problem. She asked me if it could bother some areas and I told it her it certainly could. Whether it be the fo or eo or simply the soap not all works for everyone. She did buy a soap...I forgot to mention even my unfragranced uncolored soap bothers my sensitive areas and these are completely aged soaps. I even feel like a traitor when I use my :evil: dial bar. But one has to do what one has to do