Dipping my toes into soapmaking..

[theoldehearth]

Hello everyone! Ok I never thought I'd do this but I'm going to give soapmaking a try and need some advice.

I'm just going to go the easy way of melt and pour but because there are so many variety of bases I'm confused which one to go with. This would be just for myself and my family but we all have sensitive skin and my daughter has mild eczema. Normally we use Jergens Mild soap but I'd like to be able to make our own soap because of cost and quality.

I'm looking at Nature's Garden melt and pour and they all sound good!

Shea Butter

Mango Butter

Hemp Oil

Honey

Coconut

Olive Oil

Goat's Milk

Soya Milk

What would you suggest to go with for dry sensitive skin. I don't want it to be too greasy either as I have a 't zone' complexion.

Thanks for all your help!!

[Jadryga]

For some reason, this thread is doing weird things like posting 3 times then making the posts disappear so I think I'm crazy... but anyway...

If your skin's real sensitive you might want to stay away from the sulfates. Maybe try SFIC bases? They're as "natural" as MP gets, and generally regarded as the cream of the MP crop, especially their shea butter and goat's milk bases. If you're worried about greasiness, try adding some clay! My friends have had great results with rhassoul.

How about... 1lb goat's milk base, 1oz extra oil, 1oz rhassoul clay, 1oz honey or agave nectar? Just tossing some ideas out, this isn't an established recipe

Either way, have fun!

[theoldehearth]

Thanks for the reply! Can you clarify SFIC bases for me? It's like a whole new language for me,lol!

[Jadryga]

I can't remember what SFIC stands for, but a simple search on "SFIC soap bases" should get you quite a few hits.

Most MP soap bases use sulfates (sodium laureth sulfate, etc) for added lather, so they're more like syndet (synthetic detergent) bars, so not quite considered SOAP soap. SFIC doesn't use any syndets so they're as close to "real" soap as MP gets.

Ingredients list for SFIC from http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/sfic.html :

Coconut Oil

Palm Oil

Castor Oil

Safflower Oil

Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin)

Purified Water

Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent)

Sorbitol (from berries, moisturizer)

Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier)

Soybean protein (conditioner)

Titanium Dioxide (mineral whitener used in opaque soaps)

Ingredients for Nature's Garden MP soap from website:

Coconut oil, sodium cocoate, sodium palmitate, sodium laurate, sodium stearate, glycerin, sodium laureth sulfate, propylene glycol, titanium dioxide, sorbitol, triethanolamine, water.

I just looked through the Brambleberry site and realized that the ingredient lists for their MP soaps are identical to SFIC's. I could've sworn they'd used syndet bars once upon a time, but I guess either I've got rusty memory or they've switched to SFIC

Anyhow, SIFC Corp has a very high minimum order quantity, so usually people buy them in bulk to resell. There are lots of small soap suppliers out there who supply SFIC bases.

There was an SFIC co-op that got canceled a month or two ago... was supposed to be taken up again by someone or the other, but never happened. Maybe you could try a few lbs from a retailer first, then keep an eye out for the co-op for later

There's lots of MP discussions here, so just browse through the Soapmaking section. You should learn a lot.

[DosGardenias23]

I use SFIC bases, and I buy them from Peaks - here's the link to the soap bases there: http://www.peakcandle.com/category/Melt-and-Pour-Soap-Bases.aspx

The oatmeal base and goats milk base are my favorites, but I've tried and like them all. You can add all sorts of things to the base - I love to add clays (like Jadryga mentioned), and I also usually add a little castor and/or shea oil. Exfoliants are also fun to experiment with, like ground luffa and ground pumice. Just be careful with quantities of additives, because it can kill the lather.