Soap for Eczema

My DD has suddenly developed a form of eczema and is very upset about it. She suffers from a lot of allergies, especially asthma, which she has had since the age of 7. It had settled down a couple of years ago, but has been acting up again. Unfortunately, Bangalore is not one of the best places to live in for asthmatic people because of the high pollen in the air. We plan to put her through an allergy test to help us identify which allergens are causing this problem. In the meanwhile, I started searching desperately for a soap I could make for her which would help relieve some of her symptoms.

One of the things I found during the course of my research and reading a lot of blogs of people with similar problems was that oatmeal is very beneficial in cases of eczema. Apparently, it is due to the high protein content in oats. So, I decided to make her a plain & simple soap with just olive and coconut oil, and put in finely ground oats. Kept it clear of essential oils, though I was tempted to put in some Tea Tree oil for its anti-bacterial properties. Nor did I put any colour. It is currently curing. I can’t wait to see if it helps her. Shall post an update once she starts using it.

Can you see the specks of oatmeal?

Honey, Beer & Butter Soap

Based on the rave reviews of my previous batch of Beer & Honey Soap, I decided to make another batch with a few improvements……..I think. In any case, I have just 3 bars left of the previous batch and they could be on their way to Dubai soon as someone wants to pick them up as a Christmas gift for the family back there……….

This time, I added my recently procured Cocoa & Shea butters to add that extra luxury to the soap. I scented them with a mix of Orange and Cinnamon fragrance oils and a few drops of Fennel and Nutmeg essential oils. I had recently visited a micro brewery with my DDs. They had some real good home grown beers flavoured with different herbs like fennel, coriander, cardamom etc. That is where I got my inspiration from. I must say, the soap smells divine. I am sure a lot of the smells will grow milder as the soap cures. Will be interesting to note which smells last. Will keep you posted. Any guesses?

Fresh soap in mould

There is no colour added to this soap and for the life of me I cannot imagine where the this lovely rust colour came from. I wonder if it was the reaction of the FO with, probably, honey. I think it looks good. It definitely does not look anything like the beer & honey soap I made earlier.

This is also the first time I have had Soda Ash forming on my soap. I wonder why? The internet tells me that it could be because I did not cover my soap enough while it was in the mould. Soda Ash is basically your Sodium Hydroxide coming into contact with the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. It does not impact the soap in any way, except, aesthetically. I seem to quite like it, though. I think it adds flavour to the overall 'handmade' concept..... To avoid it, the best thing is to keep the soap suitably insulated when you pour it in the mould. I normally do it, but this time I did not since I wanted to avoid a ‘volcanic eruption’ considering the amount of honey there was in it.

Soda Ash on Soap

Cutting the soap was also difficult and it kept crumbling, as you can see below, especially on the sides. I think it was due to the high butter content in the soap. Between Cocoa & Shea butter, I had nearly 30% of butters in the soap. Plus 8% SF. Plus water discount. What did you expect? Anyway, it seemed to settle down after about 48 hours and I was able to cut some decent bars. Lesson learnt. Don’t try to put too much into one soap. 

Ok......am back

My dad passed away on the 27th. So, I was away in Chennai for nearly two weeks with my mom and my sister.

Am back and have been restless to make some soap. I am kind of getting obsessed with this whole soap making……and so have just made a new batch of soap. I have attempted Milk Soap this time. Many soapers have warned about the milk getting burnt because of the heat it creates in soap. The sugars in the milk are the problem. After a lot of research, I decided to use the Half and Half method to make this soap. I divided the total amount of liquid required into half water and half milk. I mixed the lye in the water and when the oils and the lye mixture reached light trace, I added the milk in a slow stream. The soap mixture immediately started to heat up. I had very little time to add my FOs and a bit of colour. It really thickened up and when I poured (put) it into the mould, it was the consistency of thick pudding. Also, despite my best efforts to keep the temperature down,  it gelled on me. Am a bit disappointed as I was hoping I would have an ivory coloured soap. Have to wait and see how it turns out.

Soap going thru gel stage

 Adding fragrance oils instead of essential oils is another first for me. Thankfully, there was no issue when I added the FOs. I have scented the soap with a mix of Melon and Berry FOs. It will be interesting to see how the smell holds up after the soap has hardened and cured.

Since I wanted a really moisturizing soap, have added a good amount of cocoa butter. 

I bought myself one of those chocolate moulds so that I can make sample sizes of my new soaps. Aren't they cute?

The colour of the samples indicate that I could have ivory coloured soaps after all. Can you notice the hint of blue in them? I tried to swirl in some colour as it was thickening up pretty quickly 

Update on Thyme soap

As promised, here is the soap less than 12 hours later. It is quite a neutral colour, the way I wanted it. The sad part is that it has lost the lovely green of the Thyme as well. But, it did get through the gel stage as is visible in the second pic. I love the speckled look. Cannot wait the 6 weeks for it to cure. 

For all those who are new to the process of soap-making, this is a cold-processed soap (CP). There is no cooking involved like in hot-process. Hence it needs at least 4-6 weeks to cure, by which time, the lye would have completely reacted with the oils, allowing the saponification to complete. Also, it will allow the excess water to evaporate, thereby leaving behind a hard, mild soap. 

Love the speckled look

Will post more pics after unmoulding...........

Another batch of soap

I promised to share my clay soaps with you today. But, I just whipped up a new batch of soap and want to share that first. A month ago, I had infused some olive oil with thyme and have been wanting to use it in soap. Thyme is said to have antibiotic and anti-bacterial properties. In fact, it is believed that Thymol, which is extracted from the oil of Thyme, was used as an antibiotic before Penicillin was invented. The Egyptians discovered that it helped in preserving mummies. 

Lotion Bar

Two days ago, I had attempted my second lotion bar and used a bit of  the thyme infused olive oil. I was surprised at how nice it smelt and decided to use it in soap.  It had developed a nice green colour. Though I filtered the oil, I left a little bit of the thyme as a mild exfoliant. It would also give the soap a nice speckled look. I decided to stick to a woody smell and scented it with Juniper Berry, Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang and some Vanilla. It smells very nice. Will need to see how it turns out once it has cured. 

At light trace. 

Kept the oils simple. Apart from the olive oil and coconut oil, I added palm oil (i know, i know...palm oil again) and Rice Bran oil. The reason for these oils was to try and keep the bar as white as possible, except for the thyme. I hope I have achieved it. Tomorrow will tell. I have superfatted it at 7% and hope it will be mild. I wanted to add a couple of teaspoons of Castor oil. But, as I was clicking the photographs, it came to thick trace pretty quick and so I had to pour it into the mould. It is also my first attempt at a water discount.

In the mould

Decided to leave the top simple instead of the usual swirls. Have covered it with towels and hope it reaches gel stage. I know a lot of soap makers do not like their soaps going through the gel stage in order to maintain the opacity, but I like my soaps going through the gel stage because they add a nice translucent look to the soap. I shall post photographs of the soap tomorrow after I have unmoulded it.

The smell of first rain......

Despite complaining about palm oil earlier, I decided to try it out again in this soap since I was superfatting it at 8%. Maybe it would not be as drying as I thought it to be. I must say the smell is absolutely divine. The combination of the Vetiver, Cedarwood and Petitgrain EOs gives it the smell of earth drenched with the first showers of monsoon. 

Vetiver, cedarwood & Petitgrain

This is the first batch that I have attempted without Olive oil. I like using Olive oil in my soap because of all its wonderful qualities. I have used Sunflower oil, Rice Bran oil, castor oil and of course, coconut oil. I substituted Olive oil with Rice Bran since it is very similar to olive oil in terms of its composition and also in what it contributes to soap. This was also my first attempt at doing the in-the-pot swirl. I must say, I am pretty happy with the results. The moisture that is visible on the soaps is due to the fact that we did have a bout of very heavy rains right after I made this batch. But they are all nice and dry now. Waiting to use it. Tomorrow I shall post about my two batches of soap using the clay that I ordered...........

Back home..

I must apologize for this long break from blogging. I had the most wonderful holiday in Mumbai and Pune. DDs were going to Pune for the NH7 music fest and we decided to go along. 

Gateway of India, Mumbai

Taj Hotel, Mumbai

Unfortunately, this put my soap making on hold and have had to quickly whip up some batches since I was quickly running out of the ones I have. I took my soaps as gifts for my friends and have got really good reviews from them. In fact, I have returned with some  Christmas orders. I finally recieved my supply of Shea & Cocoa butter and also my French red & green clay and that is what I used in my new batches of soaps.