A sample of
My Gift is off to @akseattle (No THC CBD in that one)
And @Lidia is awaiting the KOH bar.
Any suggestions how to do the reviews? both recipe's have threads. Can I rename a thread I started? Suggestions please
I tested Squidstings My Gift soap beginning on January 6 and every day for a total of 8 days.
I’m following @LidiaG’s categories for feedback, with a few skipped
Location : Seattle, WA
Water used: Seattle's city water which is apparently hard water
Current Weather: Winter
Temperature outside: 42 F- 50F (at early evening)
Humidity outside: Didn’t check humidity, but it has rained on and off
Temperature inside the house: 70 F
Humidity inside the house: (Don't know. Probably really dry since heat is on a fair amount)
Smell of soap when opening it's packaging:
Very strong scent when I opened the baggie.
A medicinal quality I associate with a castille soap like Dr. Bronner's. This isn't a scent/ fragrance I would chase after.
Looks:
Soap is a tannish grey, slightly translucent look
Feels nice and hard in my hand.
Looks like a nice quality, natural type soap.
By about day 4, I noticed it looked more tannish yellow, than tannish grey. Still a slightly translucent look (which I liked.)
Using soap:
Lathers easily in my hands when my hands are wet.
Small, tight suds that stay.
Soap rinses well enough. I do not feel residue.
I continued to smell the soaps scent during my shower, so scent is pretty enduring.
On the first 2 days, I felt the slightest stinging in my nostrils when I used it on my face. Felt this on day 7 as well.
Bubbles: 8
Very easily suds-up when I rolled in my wet hands. Not big bubbles but small creamy suds.
I rolled the soap a couple times in a wet exfoliating cloth and the cloth easily suds-up. Even when exposed to a good amount of water, the exfoliating cloth continued to have tight creamy suds. The last couple days, suds weren’t as plentiful. I assume because the bar is now just a smaller, thin piece.
Feel of bar on my hands while soap is being used: 8
Smooth and creamy.
Overall feel on hands after using the test soap: Hands felt fine right after but within a couple hours, hands felt super dry and itchy. I don’t attribute this to a deficiency in the soap, but more to the extremely dry indoor air due to heat being on all day long. I had to put lotion on my hands (Cetaphil- ECZEMA Restoraderm Soothing Moisturizer- for dry itchy irritated eczema prone skin.) I don't have Eczema. I bought this lotion because it was on sale and I have super dry skin.
Overall feel of soap on my face after using the test soap:
For the first couple days, my face felt dry and tight 5 minutes or so after getting out of the shower. I resisted putting on lotion and within a couple hours, I forgot that my skin had felt tight and dry. I didn’t use any moisturizer on my face at all for 8 days (a true record for me). On day 8, I felt a little dryness and tightening after 5 minutes or so, but either I adjusted or the dryness went away. Because my face felt fine.
Overall feel on body after using the test soap: I did not use body lotion for 7 days. I usually slather my arms, legs and feet with lotion on a daily basis due to dryness. On day 8, I put lotion on my feet from the ankles down because my skin felt uncomfortable and dry. So, either I adjusted or this soap did a good job of not stripping oils from my skin.
In summary:
Would I buy this soap? I wouldn’t buy this soap because I didn’t care for the scent- just not my cup of tea. But, I would like to get Syd’s recipe!! The soap was hard enough, reasonable longevity, and a good feel.
