Soaps for strong, but sensitive, skin?

[fluxxii]

My dad and I share a bond in that our skin is very tough in handling cuts and shaving, but is very sensitive in that we are easily prone to eczema and psoriasis. I've just formed an interest in CP soapmaking and haven't gone past the basics yet, but I definitely want to try making something that would help us out. I was particularly inspired when I noticed some powdered Tide in my parents' bathroom - apparently regular soap is too weak for him!

I'm thinking about pine tar soap with coconut oil and olive oil, which is a pretty standard recipe. What else can I add to it to make it stronger? I was thinking about adding lavender seeds, but I'm not too sure how well that would work. I guess I'm looking for something to make it harsher (think scratchy loofah soap) and still keep pine tar's healing properties.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

[MareMare]

Hiya, you might want to try an essential oil with antiseptic properties such as tea tree, and you might as well throw some lavender eo in while you're at it since it is so wonderful for skin problems. There are all kinds of scrubbies you can add to soap, ground oatmeal or ground coffee beans would be on the more gentle end of the spectrum while ground loofah and poppy seeds would be on the scrubbier side. I have a couple recipes that I add strawberry seeds to (in my avatar actually) and they are really scrubby, I have to go easy on them!

I don't know anything about lavender seeds...if you mean lavender buds, they aren't really that scrubby, but look pretty! They do kind of turn gray in cp soap though.

Yes, please help your dad so he doesn't have to use Tide!  

You might want to look into recipes for gardener's soap, they usually have nice eo's as well as scrubby bits. The one I make has random citrus oils (I make it a bit differently every time lol!) with lemongrass, peppermint and other eo's and calendula petals, orange peel powder, and poppyseeds. I believe before I tweaked it I got the original recipe off of www.millersoap.com but recently I couldn't find it on there, so not sure if I was not looking in the right spot or it's not there or I got it somewhere else to begin with!

Another option might be to make a soap based scrub, like a salt scrub that you add some mp base or liquid soap into. Or just use an oil based scrub followed by a soap?

[pink zebra]

Another option might be to make a soap based scrub, like a salt scrub that you add some mp base or liquid soap into. Or just use an oil based scrub followed by a soap?

i have ichtiosis vulgaris and sometimes also a bit of neurodermitis. while those are entirely different condtions i know very well where you are coming from.
i second MareMare's sugestion here, because it's what i do.
my shower routine is i do a salt scrub and then use soap.
for the salt scrub i make small batches with sea salt and a little olive oil and a few drops of essential oil (tea trea oil, most of the time, but sometimes something else for a little variation). most of the time i make about a cup full, that i will use within a week or two. it's the easiest thing to be made at home and works well for me.
i need the oil in my scrub because i have insamely dry skin, if this is not the case for you, you could make the small batches of scrubs with organic liquid soaps, perhaps. salt bars might be an option as well.

i also had soap with poppy seed and strawberry sees before, and liked them a lot, but they weren't scrubby enough for me.

[smittenheart]

Tide..as a body wash..

interesting..

let us know what works or not for him..

[fluxxii]

^^ I know, right? Poor guy!

The salt scrub sounds great, but I'm afraid that he won't use it. I've never really considered it before though. Are you supposed to use them before or during the shower?

I bought him some organic pine tar soap yesterday and he loved it. I think that's my goal, although I'm definitely not comfortable working with pine tar yet. One day, though! The ground loofah sounds great, I'm going to try that with some soaps. I don't have all of my CP stuff in one place though. What would be a good base to use for MP? Unfortunately the only thing I can find locally is Life of the Party from the craft store.

I looked up some gardener's soap recipes and found one that called for ground walnut shells. That one's new to me.