Teach Soap

I have EXTREMELY dry skin and have been on a mission to find a soap that doesn't make me feel like my skin had been shrink wrapped.
I was buying pet food at the feed store and they had a small bar of "Grandma's Lye Soap", I asked the guy that worked there if he'd used it, he said yes and it made his beard not flake, so I decided to give it a try.
I liked it fine. The only ingredients she had on the label were lard and lye. There was no scent added and it smelled pretty funky.
I realized that at $4/bar that it would be advantageous to consider making my own.
I ordered a melt and pour kit from Amazon that came with 2lb clear glycerine, a little solo cup of Coco butter, 2 bottles fragrance and 3 bottles dye.
I cubed up 1/2 of the glycerine, added the Coco butter and an equal amount of shea butter I already had. I poured it into some glad ware containers, let it harden and headed off to the shower. I guess I put too much butters in it, cuz it didn't lather at all. So next day I cubed and melted just enuf glycerine to make 1 bar, poured it, let it harden and hit the shower. It lathered ok and skin felt ok. So next day, I cut 1 each of the super buttered bars and the plain bar in 1/2, cubed, melted, poured, hardened and hit the shower. It lathered good and after drying off, my skin felt AWESOME.
After doing some research on the Internet, tho, I found that some of the MP soaps aren't so good for u, and u don't always know what you're getting, ingredients wise.
I've been considering making some HP, or CPOP from scratch, and doing my research have found from these posts, that some of the recipes still make people's skin feel "shrink wrapped". I'd thought about adding more oils, which I discovered is called superfatting, but then read about DOS.
I stumbled across this website http://www.mdpub.com/soap/index.html and the guy says he adds Rosemary Oleoresin Extract and it prevents the DOS in a superfatted soap. Had anyone here heard about this? Also, what purpose does the beeswax in his recipe serve?
I know this is lengthy, but I'm trying to learn and would like to make a successful first batch if I attempt one; one that will turn out ok and won't dry out skin, my or anyone I gift it to.
Thank any and all of u for any and all help on this.

Welcome!
I superfat my cold process soaps about 7-8%. I don't add any rosemary oleoresin extract. I use fresh oils and I feel there is no need to add it. I would start reading this part of the forum. Lots of good info here, including this sticky. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3800

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

Thanx, Irena, for your prompt reply. I'll check it out.

There is a chemist & soapmaker, Kevin Dunn, who has done research on DOS and has found that a higher superfat isn't necessarily the cause of DOS by itself.
I do some pretty high superfats, my regular superfat is 8-10%. For my mostly coconut soaps, I superfat at 30% and have gone as high as 35%.
The only time I've ever had DOS is when my soap didn't have proper air circulation while they were curing.

Sometimes that "shrink wrapped" feeling when using handmade soap comes from the minerals in a person's water if they have hard water. The detergents in most store bought soaps can cut through those minerals, whereas soap can not and actually bonds with them, creating a substance that does not dissolve in water. Soap scum. Soap scum can leave your skin feeling tight and itchy.

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Genny

Have you looked at Soap Queen TV? That (and a couple of books) are how I learned to make CP. And as a fellow sufferer of dry skin, I have to say that it's great to make your own. You'll never buy it again!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

Genny, thanks for your reply. No, I think the shrink wrap feeling is from the sls or whatever other detergents are in regular soap, cuz I don't feel it with the MP soap, and I didn't feel it with the lye soap.
I live in Florida and we do have hard water here. I tried one of those purifiers for my shower, but it cut the supply of water back so much that I had no pressure. Which is bad for shower but HORRIBLE for rising my super thick mop aka my hair. I would LOVE to find one that would purify without cutting back pressure.
Have u ever done the 35% super fat with HP?
I'd love to try a batch of super fat HP so I could try it without having to wait 6 weeks to see how it works.

Lesli, thanks for your reply. I don't have Internet at home so I hafta download videos at Hot spots then watch them at home. I just downloaded some yesterday which I'm gonna view today. I'm anxious to get started, but I wanna do enuf research so I can have a successful 1st batch.

Have any of u tried purchasing anything from Bulk Apocathecary? Are they reliable and is their customer service good? Their prices seem to be very reasonable and the customer ratings are high.

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Genny

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Genny

Could someone tell me the purpose of bees wax in soap making?

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

Thanks Irena. I was looking all over the Internet for the answer.

It's ironic, u stated in the sticky u sent me to, that we should never use Pyrex glass measuring cups to measure lye, and the soap Queen uses one in all 4 of her you tube videos. Lol

Genny, u said: I do some pretty high superfats, my regular superfat is 8-10%. For my mostly coconut soaps, I superfat at 30% and have gone as high as 35%.

I tried bramble Berry, mms, soap Guild and soap calc, to figure your superfat % and none of the calculators go over 10% . How do u calculate higher?

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Anna Rose @-}--
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