Teach Soap

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- Mickey!

Anytime there is a chance that water will be introduced to your product, you will need a preservative. It doesn't matter whether its salt or sugar. As far as toxicity and cancer, you will have to decide that for yourself. Preservative are used in very small amounts. The tests that they did on rats used a much higher %; something one would never encounter in every day use.

You can use just about any sugar or salt, except dead sea salt. That has moisture in it and will clump or turn into rocks over time.

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

Why not try a sugar scrub based on foaming bath butter? This is the tutorial on Soap Queen I've tried it and it's quick and oh so simple to make. I used coarse Turbinado sugar with a very tiny amount of gold mica and oatmeal milk and honey FO, looks and smells amazing and doesn't leave the shower slippery.

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Jackie


Beautifully Handcrafted Soap

Thank you both.
I understand what you are saying about the preservatives. It's just that my family is very breast cancer aware and I myself have captained a team for the Susan G. Komen walk for 3 years. So even if it's not a realistic risk it's probably better to avoid the stigma of paraben based preservatives if at all possible.

I saw that tutorial and it looks like the foaming bath butter is no longer available from BB. Is that something I can make myself or can I use something else? I've done some more reading about adding emulsifiers to sugar scrubs. Is there one that works better than others to keep things blended and maybe reduce the oily feeling of the scrub?

Also any favorite recipes? I might try a sugar/coffee scrub. My family is full of coffee junkies.

Thanks again.

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- Mickey!

I made this one the other day and it was fabulous! Easy to make too. I used it on my legs after I shaved and they stayed soft for 2 days! I need to order more Shea Butter....

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Haven

Oh... one more question...
Do I need to add an anti-oxidant in addition to a preservative?

I would like to blend olive oil with hemp, or borage, or some other oils that maybe don't have the longest shelp life.

If so what would you use? I don't have any ROE or GSE but I can order some. I have some vitamin E oil but it's the kind that's blended with soybean and other oils like you buy in the drugstore.

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- Mickey!

From my own experiments--only in sugar scrubs--here are some thoughts:

* Optiphen might work for you as an alternative preservative. I haven't used it, but the idea of people putting wet hands in the scrub and making germ-slurry scares me, especially as bathtubs are supposed to be the dirtiest part of our house!

* I experimented with plain white, brown, and raw sugar, and with mixes of the above. I also experimented with ratios of sugar(s) to oil. You might stir together, say, a spoonful of sugar and a spoonful of oils and evaluate the mixture and then go from there before you mix a bigger batch. Some people like a very wet scrub, and others a drier one.

* I didn't personally have a lot of luck with plain brown sugar; it seemed to be too soft, and it's such a strong (though lovely) smell that I wasn't able to get what I was looking for when mixing in essential oils or fragrance. If you're looking for something sweeter, though, it might be great for you. One discovery: brown sugar+oil+white grapefruit essential oil smells like fruitcake!

* I had better luck with mixtures of white and raw sugar, even though I wanted a gentler sort of scrub. It works, though, because you can use sugar scrub before or after shaving and not have that stinging feeling that you get with salt!

* I found that adding a small amount of polysorbate 20 helped the scrubs wash off and helped cut down on tub slipperiness--but I'd still recommend a safety warning on the label. You never know.

* And without the poly 20, I found that jojoba beads and other extra scrubby bits tended to cling to the skin and be very hard to wash off, especially if I used a heavier oil like olive or jojoba. You might have to experiment a little with any extra exfoliants in combination with your oils.

* I've had good luck with lots of kinds of oils, but as they're going to washed off, I tend to use those that are skin-friendly but less expensive. E and ROE are musts for me, and because people will likely put the jar in a warm, wet place (the side of the tub), I think one or the other is a very good idea if you're using oils with a short shelf life.

* And mostly, I've found scrubs to be pretty forgiving--if you mix it up and it's not right, you can add more oils or sugar to suit your taste.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

OK so here's what I'm thinking so far...
Understand that this is just a starting point and I'll need to play with amounts for desired consistency.
Base:
25% White sugar
25% Brown sugar
50% Blend of base oils... Still working out which ones and amounts. I'm considering some combination of Sweet Almond, Jojoba, RBO, Olive, Castor, Sunflower.
If someone has food allergies to nuts should I avoid the sweet almond or any others?

Additives:
Tocopherol (Do I need this if I use oils listed above like RBO that contain high amounts of Vitamin E?)
Vanilla Extract for scent (Is this skin safe in small amounts?)
Finely ground coffee... I know from soapmaking to use very sparingly.
Liquid Germall Plus
Polysorbate 20 (or other emulsifier?)

I like the idea of a foaming scrub but I'm not sure what to use, so an emulsified scrub sounds good too.

Any thoughts on any of this?

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- Mickey!

I would leave the castor and olive out. They're too heavy for scrubs. What you have listed is not emulsified. You could add a little liquid soap to it so it doesn't separate out as much. Otherwise, you will need to stir this each and every time.

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

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- Mickey!

For a thicker creamier consistency, you would be better off using e-wax.

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

Frpm my experience I wouldn't do 50/50 white to brown sugar. The brown not only has a distinct smell, but also darkens the misture making it diffucult to color. i still include brown in my sugar scrubs, but I use much more white. Just my 2 cents.

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- Mickey!

So if you use dead sea salts in your salt scrubs it gets hard? How long does that take? I gave some out as gifts and sold two (to immediate family) that just had grapeseed oil, dead sea salts, and almond FO. Does it take a while before that hardness happens? Everyone has been raving over them so, thankfully no problems yet. Hmm, maybe they will use them all up before it goes bad?

Also, so do you just make sure it says "sea salt" minus the "dead"? What about the Brazilian sea salt BB sells? I am still starting out and don't want to have too many ingredients that will raise my cost at this point, but I've just had another order for the salt scrub--do I change it up?

Dead Sea Salt has more moisture than other salts. That's why it gets hard over time. It dries out. The only time I tried it, the salt was hard within a couple of weeks.

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