Skin Nourishing Ingredients in Soap Part 1

Hi ya'll!  This week we are going to start a series about the skin nourishing oils used in cold process soaps.  First up is one of my favorites.... Castor Oil!

Castor oil comes from the castor oil plant.  The castor bean plant is native to Africa and the Middle East, but generally are grown everywhere.  The beans are taken from the plant and pressed to produce the oil.  

The oil has a unique fatty acid profile that includes 85-95% ricinoleaic acid, and 1-5% linoleic acid.  In addition to cold process soaps, castor oil can be used in other bath and beauty products, as well as food and as for a lubricant.

Soap made with castor oil is conditioning, moisturizing, and has a creamy lather with stable bubbles.  Although, you don't want to use more than 10% in your recipe because it can make your soap bars sticky.

There are a lot of benefits to using castor oil.  These include its cleansing and moisturizing properties.  It also has antimicrobial properties and anti-inflammatory properties as well.  Castor oil contains vitamin e.  As we all know vitamin e is great for skin and hair. It is said to give you shiny, healthy hair and make your roots stronger to prevent hair from falling out.  I am not stating this as medical advice and I haven't used it on my hair, so I can't tell you definitively if castor oil does this.  A simple internet search will give you the same information. 

It is also said that it treats wrinkles.  Does it? I can only tell you what I have experienced.  It moisturized my skin. Did it help with any wrinkles I have? Maybe, I can't say positively that it has.  Per my internet search about castor oil, it's also supposed to help with acne.  I don't know if it does or not....

Castor oil is one of my favorites because it has all the benefits/properties I listed above and more.  It is supposed to be healthy for you.  Just remember, as with anything new you try, do a skin sensitivity test first to make sure you aren't allergic to it.  

So, if you have any suggestions for my blog, please let me know. I'm open to your ideas.  I will continue this series, although it may not be every week, as I am going to try to keep ya'll posted with what we are doing in the soap shop.  

Stay soapy friends!