Teach Soap

This is a skin condition that 40% of people have, most don't know they have it! I do. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a soap additive that might help soothe it? It can get pretty itchy and dry. My dermatologist told me to use doak soak or dove. I don't like using either! I want to use my nice hand made wonderful soap. I asked my Dad (he has a specialty in dermatology) and he said that using my own soap was fine but to make sure it is moisturizing. Soooo... what could I use to make my soap extra moisturizing that can also help with itch?

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I would go with castille, about 8-9% superfat, infuse the olive oil in some calendula and add oatmeal water (not the oats themselves).

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I dont know if this helps but I made a cream for a friend with bad roseacea. She had itchy burning and cracking bright red skin on her face. The cream soothed it and reduced it by about 75%. It didnt go completely away, but is a vast improvement over what it was.

I put
Carrot oil, babassu, avacado, eve primrose, sweet almond, sunflower grapeseed oil, apricot kernel oil, hemp, rice bran oil, safflower, castor, vit E, glycerine and aloe water.
It helped alot. All the cracking and burning went away and her skin is smooth enough to wear makeup now. She said it was always very itchy and burning and its not anymore.

That being said, if it wasnt for the face, I would have added olive, cocoa, wheat germ, canola, flax, linseed .

All of the oils above in my cream and directly above are conditioning, except the rice bran, I just like it in face creams. I would skip the evening primrose and carrot oil because of the cost, and didnt list argan for the same reason if its going in a soap.

I have to agree with Soapbuddy on the olive oil and calendula and oatmeal. You want a rich calming soap. I had this when I was a teen ager and it persisted til I was in my 40's. I have since discovered that I have allergies to different fragrances. So you want a fragrance or EO that is known to have low allergic reactions. And also making your own laundry soap could help. Doctors used to order dreft or ivory flakes for sensitivities. Your homemade soap is just as gentle.

According to information on sites devoted to this condition, it is worse in dry conditions. I think I'd recommend:
1. Regular exfoliation to try to improve the release of the excess keratin that blocks the hair follicles.
2. Retin A creams are used to treat it (these are very expensive) - Shea butter has a lot of retinol in it, so should be able to achieve the same benefits at much reduced cost. So, I would begin by using shea as the main carrier, at a level of say 6% - but ONLY "class A unrefined" not that white pap that's had all the good stuff taken out.
3. Inflammation causes the redness so I'd tackle that by including 10% aloe vera extract, 5% calendula extract, and 2% centella asiatica in the water phase.
Probably I would include 0.5% vitamin E and 2% panthenol and 2% allantoin for their known benefits.
4. Jojoba oil has the ability to do good work in the hair follicles by dissolving hardened sebum, so I'd definitely want this along with the shea, probably used at say 3%.
5. Finally, I wouldn't want any waxes of any kind because of the pore-blocking problems these can cause. I'd use a combination of glycerol monostearate and polysorbate-20 as the emulsifier according to the HLB chart that can be found on Swifty's blog.

barquentine, Heather is talking about soap, not a leave on product.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks Barq, when I do lotions in the future I will definitely try that!

Right now the only leave ons I use are hydrocortisone 1% when it itches and antibiotic ointment if I get some ingrown hairs. I HATE the feeling of lotion on my skin for some reason! I had a spritz on oil years ago that worked super well, from Avon, but they stopped making it.

Thanks for the suggestions folks! I will have to make myself some bastille (will do castille but with 5% shea) with oatmeal and I will get myself some calendula! This will need a 6 month cure even with the shea, yes?

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Soap Queen has an AMAZING recipe on their site. It is called "Nourishing." I don't have keratosis pilaris, but I do have both eczema and psoriasis which is also very drying. This soap really works well. I put some ground up loofah which acts as an exfoliant. I've used oatmeal in it as well, but it caused an allergic reaction. This is by far my favorite recipe. I don't add any essential oils, fragrance oils, or colorants to keep the reactions to a minimum. Good luck!

My son also has this condition. What has worked for him is lactic acid, glycolic acid, and urea. The gentle exfoliating of these additives help to work the Keratin plugs away from the skin.

Heavy oils will only irritate the condition. All three can be purchased and added to soap.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I have the driest skin under the Florida sun and I've been using my friends salt soap for the last week. I haven't itched or felt dry. I don't have the recipe other than you match amount of oils to salt. It does have an astringent feeling if I just plucked or shaved but not overly so. I've use it on my face with no tight feeling

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

With the salt bars, since they're usually just 100% coconut oil, the trick is to do a 15-20% superfat on them since CO feels so drying after 20-30% for many people. I think I did 18% superfat and my usually dry hands feel great after using my salt bar.