Friday, July 12, 2013

Experimenting with a Facial Soap

I ran out of my usual store-bought face wash and instead of buying more, I decided to try making a facial soap. First, let me say that my skin is super fussy when it comes to facial cleansers; when I find something that works, I tend to stick with it for a long while. So, I haven’t really been too keen to try making a facial soap before now, but I’m willing to step out on a limb and try something new.

I decided to hot process this facial soap, for a couple of reasons. First, because I needed it to be ready quicker than the usual 4-6 week cure time (I still like to let my HP bars sit a minimum of 2 weeks). Secondly, I wanted to use essential oils and I prefer to use EOs in hot process soaps because I don’t need to use as much of them, and also because I was thinking that the properties of the essential oils might come through better if they were added after saponification. Here it is straight out of the mold:
I opted to keep my ingredients very simple and gentle, using only olive oil and kaolin clay. I was looking for a more foamy and creamy lather rather than big bubbles, as I prefer a more lotion-y coverage while washing my face. I used oat milk and aloe vera juice for the liquid. I also added chamomile extract, tea tree (astringent), lavender (soothing) and peppermint (refreshing) essential oils:

I’ve only been using this facial soap for a week now, but so far I love it! Usually after washing my face, my skin feels dry and tight, and I need to apply moisturizer right away. I didn’t notice any dryness or tightness at all after using this soap, which was a pleasant surprise.


There are so many great ingredients you could add for a facial soap, I had a really hard time forcing myself to keep it simple. Next time I might try infusing the oo with chamomile or calendula, or subbing some of the oat milk for yogurt, or trying a different e.o. blend... 

Do you make facial bars, and what are your favorite facial soap ingredients?

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31 comments:

  1. Those flowers... wow <3
    I also like the recipe. You sure put a lot of good things in it. This could be a nice soap for super sensitive skin. I´ve made several facial soaps, but my all time favorite is salt soap. My face feels so much softer and cleaner. And I don´t need to use anything else to remove make up. Still my favorite ingredients is aloe vera juice and different clays.

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    1. My skin is super sensitive, so I really tried to keep this one very simple. I forgot that you mentioned before that you really like the salt bars for your face, I really should try that too! Do you use a 100% coconut oil bar with the salt?

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    2. My favorite is 80% coconut oil, 15% cocoa butter and 5% castor oil. And remember 20% superfat. Otherwise it will dry your skin. I like the best when I used pink Himalayan salt, but normal sea salt is also great.

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    3. Ohhh, excited to try it...thanks for the tips Marika! :D

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    4. My 'Hymalayn' was 80% C.O. 15% shea and 5% castor. 20%SF and 75% salt (finely gorund). Now, I would reduce salt amount!

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    5. Okay, thanks Maja...would you go with 50% salt then?

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    6. ....or even less....maybe 35! But, surely within the range 35-50.
      Oh,mine was with coconut milk, next time I would substitute it with goat milk.

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    7. Wonderful, thanks for all the tips Maja...I'm definitely going to try a salt bar next!

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  2. Beautiful clear and white soap Cee!!!
    I like your choice of EO's
    I make my facial Soaps with caolin clay or healing earth, with olive oil.

    Liebe Grüße Vivien

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    1. Thanks so much Vivien! I haven't heard of healing earth, I'll have to check into it! =)

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  3. Your soap bar is just looking beautiful! And sounds very good too. I have used only chocolate-olive soaps for my face about a year now, and I am very pleased with it.

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    1. Thanks Signe! For the chocolate, do you use cocoa powder or cocoa butter or real chocolate?

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    2. Real dark chocolate, about 70-80%. If I use 450g oils, I'll put 50g chocolate and cocoa powder. I don't need any other make up remover with this.

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    3. Now, I've used white chocolate in soap but not dark...I'll have to try this, thanks! :)

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  4. I have never tried hot process soap, but your experience sounds interesting, Cee! And you are right about the reasons.
    I also used soaps to clean my face, especially I like salt bars. There are so many ingredients you can add to facial soaps, it's quite difficult to make a choice!
    Love your mold!
    Wish you a lovely weekend,Cee!

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    1. There must be something to the salt bars, Marika says they are her favorite too, I must try that next! I still really love making HP soaps Nat, they are different from CP in a way that I can't describe. Thank you and I hope you have a lovely w/e too!

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  5. Honestly, I can't believe you've been buying your facial soap! I'm sure you have a great collection of bars which can be used as facial. But I'm happy you have found your formula now,I bet you will enjoy it. What a coincidence, we both used Aloe at the same time....
    I like this pattern,is it lining giving this texture? Looks like a cake decoration!

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    1. I know, shocking right...lol?! My skin is so fussy though that I've been hesitant to mess with what works! I saw that you used aloe too, great minds think alike ;) And you are right, that is a cake decoration! The liner that I used is a fondant imprint mat (but it works for soap too!) :)

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  6. Love it Cee! I have that liner as well, but hadn't thought to use it in my round mold, what a great idea! Your soap sounds lovely! I make a facial soap with shea and mango butters and sea clay, but I do find that I get that tightness after cleansing also, but really no dryness to follow, but I do have pretty oily skin. Thanks for the inspiration though, working on a new simpler facial recipe is definitely something to consider.

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    1. Thanks Laura, I wasn't sure if the HP soap would pick up the finer points of the impression mat, but it worked just fine! Shea, mango and sea clay sound so nice for a facial bar, clays seem to be a popular choice for facial soaps. It's definitely hard to find a nice balance, I have a difficult combination of dry and oily skin...argh!

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  7. Very beautiful Cee. I love the simplicity of the soap. I have very fussy skin too, I suffer from Rosacea and have been hesitant to make that any facial soaps for me to use. I made one batch once but my face did not like it :(. I have never tried HP soaping...hmmm something new to try :)

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    1. Thanks Roxana, I really dig simple soaps too :) I think HP soap might be a bit gentler too, or maybe it's that you can superfat them and/or add more cream or milks after the cook that makes it more mild, but so far my fussy skin is happy with the hot processed bar.

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  8. I think it is very beautiful! I love the idea of using a fondant mat for the design.

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  9. Very cool looking soap Cee! I tend to use soap to wash my face, but I use regular soap which probably isn't the best thing for it. Will you be selling your facial soap on your store because I think that's exactly what I need.

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    1. Hi Monica, I won't be selling them yet, but I just sent you an email ;)

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  10. It looks wonderful Cee! I am also musing since recently about making some new facial soaps, they are a world of challenges for themselves.

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    1. Thanks so much Ksenija! Yes, the facial soaps do open up a world of possibilities (and challenges!), but also very rewarding when you experiment and find that right combo!

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  11. I love how you used a fondant mat to make the flowers, Cee Gee! Your facial soap sounds lovely. I haven't set out to specifically make a facial soap, but I have found that my oily skin seems to like my salt bars. I got some activated charcoal recently, and I should try that soon. I'll bet it would make a good facial soap ingredient, too!

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    1. Yes, I think AC would be wonderful in a facial bar! I'm thinking next time I will try a 1/2 kaolin clay + 1/2 AC salt bar, you guys have convinced me to try the salt bars!

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  12. The soap looks delicate and sounds so luxurious with all the good things you put in there! I haven't made facial soap before...been using my salt bars and they seem to work fine for my face.

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