My Signature Soap Recipe

My signature soap recipe has been a combination of olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, castor oil, sodium hydroxide (lye), and I've recently added sodium lactate. I picked each of these ingredients specifically for a soap targeted towards dry and sensitive skin. I also create all of my body soaps with a 5% super fat level.

Olive Oil:

Olive oil is made by making a paste with smashed olives and separating the oil from the mixture. Pure olive oil has a comedogenic rating of 2 when it's undiluted, this means that straight olive oil has a decent chance of causing blackheads when used by itself. That is why I dilute it with other oils. Olive oil has numerous skin benefits such as antioxidants, vitamin e, it's antibacterial, and it is very moisturizing. That is why I picked olive oil as a main ingredient in my soap.

Coconut Oil:

Coconut oil is made by pressing coconut meat and it has a comedogenic rating of 4 because it is very rich and moisturizing. Because of this, I don't use as much coconut oil compared to olive oil. Coconut oil is antibacterial and is commonly used to treat eczema due to its anti-inflammatory and healing properties.

Cocoa Butter:

Cocoa butter is the fat in cocoa bean pods. It has a chocolaty scent (which is killed during the saponification process) and has been used on the skin for many many years. cocoa butter has a high amount of fatty acids which helps the skin retain moisture and many people believe it can help fade scarring. Cocoa butter has a comedogenic rating of 4.

Castor Oil:

Castor oil is made by extracting oil from Ricinus communis seeds. It has a comedogenic rating of 1 and promotes hair and cell growth. Castor oil helps to soothe irritated skin, reduce puffiness, and makes a rich lather when used in soap.

Sodium Hydroxide:

Sodium hydroxide (commonly referred to as lye) is derived from brine water. It has a PH of 14 and is extremely dangerous before the saponification process. Saponification is the chemical process that changes the fats in oils and sodium hydroxide into soap. After the saponification process is complete there is no longer any lye in the soap so it is safe to use.

Sodium Lactate: Sodium lactate is made by fermenting plant sugars and I recently added it to my signature soap recipe because it speeds up the curing process in cold process soap and it makes the soap last longer.