Vacation for your skin

#lanolin #lanolinsoap #hotprocesssoap #handmadesoap

I'm almost a week late posting this blog entry, but I sure did have a wonderful Thanksgiving spending time with my family.  We hope you had a fun holiday, too!

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I'm always eager to try new things, especially if the result could be beneficial for someone I care about.  I have been reading about lanolin lately, and how protective and moisturizing it is for the skin.  I was so excited by what I read that I went ahead and ordered some so I could make a lanolin soap.

Kathy and I have close family members who have sensitive skin or eczema battles to fight, so we often think about them when we try out a new recipe.

As I planned for the lanolin soap, I watched YouTube videos,  and I read many blogs, skin care reports, and personal anecdotes and comments. I looked for anything referring to lanolin in the small soaping library that Kathy and I have started (just a half dozen books or so - but it's a shelf dedicated to soap making). When I looked through the books, I found several warnings about using lanolin with people who tend toward allergies.  Lanolin comes from sheep's wool, so if one is allergic to wool, he or she might react to lanolin.  Hmmm... The person I had in mind for this soap is very sensitive and highly allergic to several things.

I tend to have very sensitive skin, so I started with myself.  I rubbed the lanolin all over one hand (but not both so I could compare them) and waited.  After 20 minutes - nothing.  A couple of hours - still nothing.  So far so good, and I proceeded to work on a recipe.  In the meantime, I had the allergic family member rub some into her hand.  She did not react either, so I continued to tweak and plan my recipe.

I settled on a blend of oils that includes grapeseed, palm, palm kernal, coconut, castor, and olive oils. I did also include the lanolin, but I wanted to be sure that it would be the "superfat" part of my soap. If lanolin's properties are so protective, moisturizing, and helpful, I wanted to be sure that it would truly be an asset in our soap.  I didn't want to take a chance on its helpful qualities being broken down during saponification, so I decided to add the lanolin after the cook.  It makes sense to me, but am I nuts?

I ran my recipe through the lye calculator at soapcalc and set it for 0% superfat so my lye would completely bind with all of the oils in the recipe, then I figured out how much lanolin would create a 5% superfat.  

Lanolin does not smell fantastic, and it will not make your soap smell fantastic.  It doesn't stink in the way that other things do, but it doesn't add a good smell to the soap.  For many people, if it doesn't smell good, then they just won't use it, which leads to the next question: 

fragrance or not?

People who are sensitive and allergic often do much better with unscented soaps and detergents. While that is very true, I still decided to go ahead and scent this batch.  We had two bottles of one of my favorite fragrances, Coconut Lime Verbena.  This is typed after the Bath & Body Works scent according to fragrance buddy.

The recipe I developed isn't as large as the batches Kathy and I usually make, 

so I was hoping that 2 oz of FO would be enough.  However, because I knew that the 

lanolin has its own aroma, my daughter assisted in creating a fragrance blend that we liked 

just in case we needed more than 2 oz of FO for the soap.  

We settled on an FO called Bora Bora from +Rustic Escentuals.  They describe Bora Bora as a blending of "sweet pineapple, acai berry, mango zest, tart passion fruit, yuzu zest, green apple, orchid leaves, and musky nuances."  Let me tell you, it is a wonderful FO all on its own, but mixed with Coconut Lime Verbena, it is heaven.

Pictured above are the two skin nurturing additives for this 

lanolin soap - lanolin from +Natures Garden  and Vitamin E.

Above you can see the soap after 30 minutes of cooking in the crock on low.

Because I am impatient and wanted to be able to use the soap soon, I decided to do this soap using the hot process method.  As often happens when experimenting, I had to be ready for anything (and that's how I like it!).

Usually, hot process soap begins to look like mashed potatoes when it is done.  This soap never did!  It kept looking like it was still in the gel phase.  I used Ph test strips and zap tested several times, and kept second-guessing myself.  Because I had figured the lye at 0% superfat, I was really worried that I wouldn't properly let all of the lye process and cook out of the soap.  I ended up letting the soap cook for much longer than usual.  Much longer.

I finally decided that the soap was as done as it was going to get, so my daughter and I moved on with finishing the soap.  We were working on the Fruit Loop Soap the same day, so we left the Fruit Loop soap in its crock pot to stay warm until we could finish our lanolin soap.

First we added a tsp. of Vitamin E oil and mixed well.

Then we added the lanolin.  Here is where it got interesting!   

When I began mixing in the lanolin, the soap immediately began to look like 

the mashed potato stage that I was looking for!

 I guess the superfat is what helps to create the fluffy "mashed potato" soap batter.

The batter was so hot that it didn't take long for the 

lanolin to melt, and I mixed until it was completely and evenly incorporated.

There was a distinct lanolin smell to the soap, so we mixed in our 2 oz of Coconut Lime Verbena FO.  Oh MY GOODNESS!  I really love that scent.  I could still smell the lanolin, though.  My daughter didn't think it was as strong as I did, so maybe I just had it on my hands, but we decided to go ahead and add 1/2 oz of Bora Bora to the batter as well.  Ahhh...HEAVEN!

  

We next added a couple of colors.  While the soap was cooking we had mixed Enchanted Forest Green and Light Gold Mica in small amounts of safflower oil.  

When the FO's were completely mixed in, we created two small "wells" in the batter.  Into one we poured the green, and into the other we poured the gold.

We quickly did an in the pot swirl, gently folding and stirring to create a swirling green and gold design.

Finally we put the batter into a 10" silicone mold, and then put the left over batter into the butterfly and bumblebee silicone mold.  

The small mound that you see on top of the yellow mold is the leftover soap that 

we scraped from the sides of the crock pot.  My daughter 

has already been using it and she LOVES it.

After the soap cooled and hardened for 24 hours, Kathy sliced it into bars for us and emailed the pictures.  It looks just as great as we had envisioned it!

We will let it cure for a week and the Lanolin Vacation will be ready.