Teach Soap

Hi everyone,

I've just got a question and I am hoping someone will be able to answer it for me.

I have suffered atopic dermatitis since being pregnant with my second daughter. I had a severe allergic reaction to something, and it resulted in chemical burn on my hands and eczema flare ups. My eczema flare up's have been ok lately, my hands are recovering, but just recently one of my fingers has cracked open with a welt after using goats milk melt and pour soap.

Are there any cold process soap recipe's that will actually be OK for me to use while my hands are like this? Or should I be steering clear of soap all together? It's such a shame getting to make these beautiful soaps, and then not being able to use them

Regards
Stacey

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

My mother has suffered from ezcema all her life. I made her a plain soap containing: olive, coconut, palm and castor oil, no essential oil or fragrance oil or color. She really likes it. I also gave some to a friend that is recovering from breast cancer (her skin is very sensitive now due to the radiation) and she loves it too. She says it's the best soap she has used.

I make a Honey Oatmeal with olive, coconut, palm, castor, sweet almond, Apricot Kernal, Cocoa Butter, and Shea Butter. Add a TBSP of Honey per pound and some ground (finely) oatmeal. No scent or color. My daughter has had eczema since she was a baby and it cleared up nicely when she started using this soap. HTH.

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Haven

I would make a small batch of only olive oil soap. If that agrees with your skin, then make more small batches, each with another oil; ie: Olive+Coconut, Olive+Palm Kernel, Olive+palm etc... That was if your skin reacts, you will know which oil is the culprit.

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

Thanks everyone, I will jot these down and give them a go

Soapbuddy: So if I react with the olive only soap then there's really nothing I can use? I get these soap free bars from the pharmacy that I can use, but they're so expensive.

When you buy a soap bar from the supermarket, are you reacting to the colours, detergents and fragrance? not the glycerine?

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

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

I've thrown out the packet, but here is an ingredient list for a similar bar:
Sodium lauryl sulfate, cetearyl alcohol, disodium cocamido mea-sulfosuccinate, starch, peg-8, cocamidopropyl betaine, stearic acid, aqua (water), dimethicone, petrolatum, lactic acid, methylparaben.

the other bar says it has added vitamin E, Chamomile, and jojoba, and described it as an "emollient" bar or something.

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

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

eeek... that would explain why my hands have never gotten better whilst using "soap free" washes and bars i guess. the melt and pour goats milk base also has sodium lauryl sulfate aswell.

hmm, my first batch of soap i think is almost cured, its got no scent or colour, so i might give one of those a try, and toss out the bars i have sitting on the bathroom sink.

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

When my mother was having radiation treatments for cancer the dr. office told me to stop useing soap on her beacuse it would iritate the area where she was having treatment. I told them we'll use home made goats milk soap- unscented. They rolled their eyes at that. We also used aloe gel on her twice a day. She did not get burned from the radiation ( her skin did darked a little) . I've seen bad burns from radiation treatments and was hoping to avoid it. Mom lost her battle with cancer 2 years ago . But Id recomend this kind of soap for any sick person or baby.

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

I started my soap making journey with melt and pour soap. I loved the way it took color and Fos and poped right out of the mold for me. But it's more like soap crafting not soap making from scratch. Also it had SLS and other stuff in it that I was trying to get away from in my life. All my mothers folks died of cancer. So Im not trying to be a control freak but Cp is really the only way to ensure whats in your soap.

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

Just so you know, not all melt and pour has SLS in it. I do both cp and m&p and both are just lovely.

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Haven

Im sure your MP is lovely........But I think of it as soap crafting ( or soap artisrty) since it's not made from scratch. Now don't everyone jump on me at once............................... Take a number.