How much oatmeal in M&P?

[Tizimarezie]

I made my first goats milk bar of M&P soap the other day....my 2nd bar was M&P shea butter. These are fabulous! Now I want to PLAY!!!

How much oatmeal would I add to the goats milk M&P base? And then do I need to add anything else to balance the ingredients?

Do I need a blender to grind up the oatmeal? And then do I soak it in water?...if so, for how long?

I've only been able to find eeensie-weensie bits and pieces on this when doing a search.

TIA

[CareBear]

Tizi - a quick search on Oatmeal got me this thread with some great expert advice. You can find more I'm sure.

http://candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42064&highlight=oatmeal

Have fun! (I'm playing with MP myself tonight, in lieu of sleeping...)

[Tizimarezie]

Thanks, CareBear :-)

[prairieannie]

I made my first goats milk bar of M&P soap the other day....my 2nd bar was M&P shea butter. These are fabulous! Now I want to PLAY!!!

How much oatmeal would I add to the goats milk M&P base? And then do I need to add anything else to balance the ingredients?

Do I need a blender to grind up the oatmeal? And then do I soak it in water?...if so, for how long?

I've only been able to find eeensie-weensie bits and pieces on this when doing a search.

TIA

I use a little electric food chopper to grind up my oatmeal for soap. I don't soak it at all.. I do used soaked coffee grounds when I use those, but not the oatmeal. With MP soap, you have to know that the oatmeal is going to fall to the bottom of the mold automatically. IT doesn't suspend on it's own unless you buy a suspension base, but I've never used one of those that was very good quality. So... in order to get your oatmeal to suspend, you don't stir it in until the bar has already started to cool pretty well. Then you stir.. and stir and stir. And if it looks like the oatmeal is going to settle on the bottom (top) of the bar, stir it up some more lol. As the base cools, it will suspend what you put in it. I have made a bar and let the oats settle on purpose so that one side of the bar would be exfoliating, and the rest not. IT's really up to you.. but it's nice to have the oats suspend in the bar too I think. It really depends on how big of a batch you are making as to how much oatmeal you use. I make 4 pound batches now, and use about a half cup of oatmeal, but I don't like an overly scrubby bar. You could use 1/4 pp if you wanted it good and scrubby.. and just go from there.

It's fun isn't it? I love soap!

[Candybee]

I make a 3 lb loaf soap and use 2 tbs of oatmeal. I first tried with more but found the oatmeal was a bit too scratchy. You want a nice exfoliating effect that doesn't irratate. I also find that using whole rolled oats is better than the instant which gets mushy. You can add up to 2 tbs of honey per lb but I use one heaping tbs per lb as more tends to make the soap a little less sudsy. That's if you want a honey, oatmeal, and goat's milk soap.

BTW-- you can add bran to your M&P to add texture.

I ended up getting a couple of M&P recipe books to help me with experimenting with adding different things. Its been a lot of fun and I probably wouldn't have tried all the different things I have if it weren't for them. Its amazing what you can do with M&P.

[CareBear]

oh oh oh look what I just found: http://www.candletech.com/archivedforum/.1396.html

[Tizimarezie]

Thanks for all the great responses and awesome link, CareBear!!

[Candybee]

oh oh oh look what I just found: http://www.candletech.com/archivedforum/.1396.html

Great link! Thanks! It has the cocoa powder and olive oil additives info I have been looking for.

[CareBear]

gotta love the archives and the search function! LOL!

[crazycacti]

i use oat flour in lieu of real oatmeal-is basically same thing-just already ground! so you have it on hand for all of your cooking-unless you are one of those white flour eaters

and for soap

mmm

eat oat cookies while bathing........................................