Teach Soap

When I made my soap a few weeks ago, I had bought some BB walnut shells to put in it. I've used walnut shell liquid soap before and liked it a lot. I only bought 2 oz and when I found a calculator somewhere, it said to put 2 oz in a 2lb batch. I didn't want to use the the whole thing so I did half (which was about a tablespoon). I was then staring at my bf's coffee can and decided to toss some of that in there too (same thing, a tablespoon, yes I know I should have weighed it)

Now I have soap with walnut shells and coffee in it! It's a little scratchy on the body though, I don't feel it as much on the hands (when I first tried it I didn't think it was gritty enough for deep hand cleaning until I got past the outer edge).

Which is more scratchy, the coffee or the walnut shells? The walnut shells felt super super fine and the coffee is pretty fine too.

I think I will love it to get mountain bike dirt off but it may be a bit too much for every day body use.

Thanks!

If to much of any exfoliant is used it will be scratchy. I like coffee grounds in minimal amounts for body soap as coffee can be pretty scratchy. 1oz of walnut shells is a lot in a 2lb batch of soap. I use exfoliants at a rate of 1tbsp per pound of soap. Next time start with a smaller amount and see if you like it then.

Two people have asked me for ever-scrubbier soap--my husband and a close friend. Coffee, oatmeal, ground loofah--not enough for them. I bought pumice. I'll try it out after the holidays.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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I've never used ground walnut shells. However, I find coffee scratchy unless it's finely ground like espresso.

Thanks for the responses. It looks like finely ground coffee to me. What do I know, I don't drink the stuff!

Tonibabcock, did you mean tablespoons? Because that's what I used. 2lbs of soap and 1 oz of the walnut shells was one tablespoon. I used tablespoon 2 as coffee.

Maybe it's just scratchy coffee

Coffee can be scratchy - the last batch I made with it I only use on my hands. I don't really measure additives like coffee grounds, poppy seeds, cornmeal, oatmeal, etc. I just eyeball it. Now for powdered lemon peel and bamboo powder, those I measure because they're more difficult to see in the soap and I don't want too much.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I've used ground walnut shell before and didn't really notice it. But I was using it alongside shredded loofa though...

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

The walnut shell felt so fine in the bag that I didn't think I'd feel it much either.