My husband has INCREDIBLY sensitive skin. We have to use special laundry detergent or else his skin breaks out in a terrible rash and then flakes off. He went through years of not using soap at all (strange, I know) before discovering that he can use Dove unscented soap for sensitive skin.

Now, Dove isn't exactly breaking the bank for us, and it might be even more expensive to make our own, but I see so many great posts about soapmaking that it has gotten me wondering. Would it be a good idea for me to try making soaps for him?

I'm a little concerned about the whole discussion of lye burning your skin, i.e. Fight Club, etc., although I know that the good folks at Dove must have used lye at some point in the process, too, and that doesn't hurt him... I would ideally like to have a moisturizing soap for him that doesn't upset his skin and doesn't smell too girly.

Any soapmaking glitterati out there, I would appreciate some advice. Better to stick with the Dove or to venture out into the world of making our own soap? Thanks!

hmmm. if u make soap try vegetable glycerin instead of animal. and if he wants a scent maybe lavendar. I also work at the body shop and most of my customers that are sensitive and break out can use pure lavendar stuff. it's wierd.

hi there,
making your own soaps can be a really good idea since you control what's in them- no preservatives etc. Have you tried buying soap in a health food/natural meds shop? I don't know if it's available in your country but there's a soap called Savon Vierge which is made ENTIRELY out of virgin olive oil, nothing else! Other olive soaps tend to be great too if you're sensitive but this one is extraordinary.

I've been making my own soap from scratch for about 2 years now, and am addicted to it. You should visit this site: http://millersoap.com/

There are books out there that teach you to make soap, but you don't really need them as that site is pretty comprehensive. She also sells her own soap there too.

Being able to control what goes into your soap is a definite benefit of making it yourself. Lye scares people off, but it shouldn't. Once you read the precautions about working with lye, you should be able to make your own unscented olive oil soap easily, and pretty inexpensively.

If you have questions about it, you are more than welcome to ask me: Katywahl at earthlink dot net

My sister has really sensitive skin, and she hasn't had a problem with the soap I've made for her. I use all vegetable oils, and only natural colorants when I add color.

If you want, I can swap some of my soap for whatever your artistic specialty is. If you are willing to wait a month or so, I can do a completely scent and color free batch, and send you some of that.

You can email me at amkippes @ earthlink . net
(sans spaces) if you are interested.