OK, perhaps she doesn't realize how she sounds. It IS possible that your bar is drying to her. If you are using more than 25% coconut oil, it CAN be very drying.
This is me trying to be informational and generous of spirit - done now! Also, if she has hard water, the water itself can be irritating.
If you are superfatting at 6% or 7% and using an olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter recipe -- it should be absolutely, positively DELIGHTFUL. I've now made 6000 bars of soap (doing a festival next month) and I've given perhaps 250 bars of soap of various recipes that you've described for gifts. THE ONLY negative comments I've gotten were: one person said they were beautiful and doesn't want to hurt my feelings but really prefers liquid soap, the 2nd person prefers straight cut to crinkle cut soaps (but loves the silky moisturized feeling she gets from my soap).
Trust ALL of us when we say it probably is NOT your soap, but her preference to crumass . . . err... Caress "soap". Don't give her any more.
Jill