What the Soap!?

Anyone that knows me knows how much I enjoy making soaps and oils. For the last 8 years it has been one of my most consistent creative outlets. I always joke that my kitchen cooks more soap than meals!
My biggest question these days is 'What soap will help with my dry skin, acne, oily skin...etc.' Here's the low down.
My basic recipe is the same for most bars of soap. The oils are the same. I do play with teas, flowers and exfoliants, but essentially the recipe is fairly basic and I use these because it looks pretty!
I have been asked about adding fancy clays and oils, but I am afraid to say when it comes to soap...any skin and body care, simple is best.
When purchasing a handmade bar of soap, keep in mind the more 'luxurious and extravagant' the additives the higher the price. I like to keep the higher end oils for the after care part of ones shower, and here's why.
You need your soap to be cleansing not stripping and drying, and you want it to be moisturizing not irritating. Even though I enjoy the look and feel of tea bits and flowers in my soaps, in the end it goes down the drain! Unlike body oils that you put on after that need to have lasting moisturizing power, we literally lather up and watch our soap scoot down the drain, so why pay for overpriced ingredients?
Clays and such are beautiful when allowed to sit on the skin as a mask or a herbal astringent where the benefits have time to be absorbed, but there is little benefit in soaps. It is like buying a great herbal tea for the healing properties and quickly dipping it in your mug of hot water and tossing it. No benefit unless you steep it.

So no I won't be adding them to my soapies, but if you are concerned about acne and such, start simply. Wash with a lovely mild handmade soap as not to dry your skin. Minor exfoliation once or twice a week with Baking Soda....Yes plain old baking soda! It naturally helps balance PH and is a great way to soften our water. You can then cleanse with plain old Apple Cider vinegar, then moisturize with a simple body oil. Body oil is blended without alcohol or acids, and will absorb naturally without leaving a film of waxes or other additives that will clog up your pores and cause pimples. And the most important tip..... WATER in conjunction with a cleaner diet will do wonders! Let's face it, in the end Beauty is an inside job! :)

One Earth.