Teach Soap

How can you make a moisturizing bar of soap? Would using 100% coconut oil do this?

Thanks in advance,

Confused ginger

Coconut oil is great for your skin. However making a 100% soap from it will make your skin feel dry, only because it cleans so very well. You would need a superfat for it..but because the lye will take however much oil it needs, superfatting a 100% coconut soap would best be done as a rebatch HP and adding your superfat oils to that to give it that moisturizing effect.

Be aware that it will harden rather quickly...so the waiting time to cut it will be reduced. The first one I ever did, I waited almost 24 hrs and it was like cutting a brick.

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~Jani

I think the best thing to do is to read up on various oils and what they contribute to the soap. Coconut and palm are usually used to create a harder bar that has a lot of bubbles. Olive is exceptionally gentle, and when used by itself is Castile soap. It doesn't lather much and takes a long time to cure for the best bar. Different soapers like different traits in their soap, I like a hard, gentle bar. I generally use a recipe that's mostly olive with the balance being made up of coconut and palm for hardness and bubbles, castor for moisture and lather and other fine oils or butters for moisture.

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Logansama aka Belinda
Nor Cal

Thank you very much. Trying out soap is fun.

Technically, soap is not moisturizing. It cleans gently without stripping the skin. If you decide to make a 100% coconut oil soap, I would do a 20% superfat.

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

Cold process soap is more moisturizing than store-bought, because:
a) It is actually soap. Many store-bought soaps are actually detergents.
b) It is naturally rich in glycerin.

Cold process soap will not moisturize like lotion will.

Coconut oil is probably the LEAST moisturizing oil you can use! It is the best oil for CLEANSING soap.

My soap recipe that I and others find to be gentle is:

45% lard
20% coconut
25% olive oil
5% castor
5% sunflower

I use a 5-7% superfat. If you have very dry skin, you may want to lower the coconut oil (replace it with olive oil or lard), and/or raise the superfat.

thank you for all your help and information! it is greatly appreciated