Soothing Goat Milk, Lavender, Oatmeal, and Vitamin E Soap Recipe for Eczema and Dry Irritated Skin

Disclaimers: I have in no way been influenced or paid to endorse these products. All recommendations are my own.

I am not a medical professional. Talk to your doctor before attempting any treatments that may affect your health.

Warning: Always apply a test patch before using.

If like me, you experience eczema, dry and sensitive skin, then you need to be careful about the soap you use as it can irritate the skin and make it worse. I love goats milk soap because it is so gentle and soothing on the skin. However, I wanted to add other nourishing ingredients to it too, so I decided to make my own goats milk soap recipe using an easy melt and pour soap base. In this recipe I have added natural ingredients that have scientifically supported evidence for treating eczema and dry, irritated skin, including colloidal oatmeal, vitamin E, and lavender essential oil. I also added some lavender buds to pretty them up as I love to give these soaps as gifts.

If you experience skin conditions such as eczema and dry and sensitive skin, then you might also be interested in my All-Natural Salve Recipe for Eczema and Dry, Irritated Skin.

Goat Milk Melt and Pour Soap Base

For this recipe, I used a goat milk melt and pour soap base. I love using goat milk soap because it contains a range of beneficial ingredients which is wonderful for people with dry and sensitive skin, as well as conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. It contains alpha-hydroxy acids which help remove dead skin cells from your skin’s surface leaving smoother skin, and vitamin A which is necessary to repair damaged skin tissue and maintain healthy skin. The cream in goats milk helps boost the moisturising quality of the soap, therefore it won’t dry out your skin out like other soaps. Goat milk contains important minerals for the skin such as selenium. Selenium can help prevent damage to the skin from excessive time in the sun.

Key Ingredients

Oatmeal

Colloidal oatmeal is whole oat kernels that have been finely milled and processed in order to be used in skin care products. Oats, in colloidal form, is a centuries-old topical treatment for a variety of skin conditions, including skin rashes, erythema, burns, itch, and eczema. It has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities and is used in 1-2% concentration. The benefits of Colloidal oatmeal has been studied for many years and as a result there is a plethora of research¹ out there so I’ve just selected a few to share.

RELATED POST YOU WILL LOVE: All-Natural Salve Recipe for Eczema and Dry, Irritated Skin

Vitamin E Oil

Vitamin E oil has been used for many years in skin care. It can alleviate itching, dryness and flaking². It can also help soothe inflammation. Vitamin E is not a preservative, but it is an anti-oxidant which will help to keep the oils in this body butter from going rancid. Vitamin E is safely used at 1-5% concentrations. I usually use it at around 1-2%.

Lavender Essential Oil

I also added lavender essential oil to my soap recipe, not just because I love the smell of it, but also because it’s skin soothing and great for irritated skin. I also love that it’s relaxing and calming.

If you are planning on making these as gifts, you can also add some dried lavender buds.

Soap Moulds

There are lots of silicone soap moulds on the market of various sizes and shapes. Some also have attractive patterns. Here are a few for you to choose from:

• Basic rectangle silicone soap moulds
• Basic oval soap moulds
• Patterned soap moulds
• Instead of using patterned soap moulds, you can use a soap stamp to personalise your soaps.

How to Work out How Much Soap You Need for Your Molds

To work out how much soap your molds will hold, fill your molds with water and then tip the water into a measuring jug. This is how many ml of liquid your soap molds will take to fill it. The melt and pour soap comes as a solid block, however, the weight in gms is roughly how much mls it will be in liquid form.

For example, for this recipe:

I have a soap mold that makes 6 soaps. Each soap mold takes 100ml to fill it. That means I need 600ml to fill all of my 6 soap molds. Therefore, I used 600g of melt and pour soap base as this roughly translated into 600ml.

Soothing Goat Milk, Lavender, Oatmeal, and Vitamin E Soap Recipe for Eczema and Dry Irritated Skin

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Servings 6 100g/100ml soaps

Ingredients

  

• 600 g goat milk melt and pour soap base
• 2 tsp colloidal oatmeal
• 1.5 tsp Vitamin E oil
• 1.5 tsp lavender essential oil
• 2 tsp dried lavender buds optional
• 1 large pyrex glass jug
• 1 large saucepan

Instructions

 

• Cut soap base into your heatproof bowl and place it into a saucepan filled with about 5 cm (2 inches) of hot water that is sitting over a medium-low heat.
  
• Make sure that none of the water from the saucepan gets into your soap or it will cause it to become rubbery.
  
• Gently stir until the ingredients have completely melted into a liquid and combined. Don't leave it sitting on the heat any longer than needed and let it get too hot, otherwise you can end up with rubbery soap.
  
• Remove the bowl from the saucepan and dry off the water from the outside of the bowl so it doesn’t drip onto your work surface and soap.
• Stir the soap to allow it to cool down for a few minutes, then stir in the vitamin E and lavender essential oil. If you add the essential oil when it is too hot, it will just evaporate and lose its scent.
• Add the colloidal oatmeal and dried lavender buds if using. Keep stirring it until the soap starts to cool down, then pour into the soap molds.
• Leave the soap in the molds for several hours at room temperature to firm up (don't place them in the fridge).
  
• Once completely hardened, you can use a soap stamp to decorate.

Notes

 Tips:

• It's important that you don't overheat the soap or add any water as it will cause it to become rubbery.
• Melt and pour soap must be kept wrapped in plastic and stored in an airtight container after being removed from the mold, otherwise it will begin to sweat. The sweating is what happens between moisture and a humectant (the substance that preserves moisture). In this case, the humectant is glycerine. Glycerine in soap bases is a natural by-product and is a moisturising agent. Humectants attract/absorb moisture from the air which forms on the surface of the soap which causes it to 'sweat'.
• Allow the soap to set at room temperature. Don't place them in the fridge or freezer as this could cause sweating.

RELATED POST YOU WILL LOVE: How to Treat Dandruff Using Natural Remedies That Work

References

1.) Colloidal Oatmeal

Toni Anne Lisante, Chris Nuñez & Paul Zhang (2017) Efficacy and safety of an over-the-counter 1% colloidal oatmeal cream in the management of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis in children: a double-blind, randomized, active-controlled study, Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 28:7, 659-667, DOI: 10.1080/09546634.2017.1303569

Nebus J., Nystrand G., Fowler J., Wallo W. A daily oat-based skin care regimen for atopic skin. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 2009;60:Ab67.

Reynertson K.A., Garay M., Nebus J., Chon S., Kaur S., Mahmood K., Kizoulis M., Southall M.D. Anti-inflammatory activities of colloidal oatmeal (Avena sativa) contribute to the effectiveness of oats in treatment of itch associated with dry, irritated skin. J. Drugs Dermatol. 2015;14:43–48.

Sur R., Nigam A., Grote D., Liebel F., Southall M.D. Avenanthramides, polyphenols from oats, exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-itch activity. Arch. Dermatol. Res. 2008;300:569–574. doi: 10.1007/s00403-008-0858-x.

2.) Vitamin E Oil

Tsoureli-Nikita E, Hercogova J, Lotti T, Menchini G. Evaluation of dietary intake of vitamin E in the treatment of atopic dermatitis: A study of the clinical course and evaluation of the immunoglobulin E serum levels. Int J Dermatol. 2002;41:146–50.

Ellinger S, Stehle P. Efficacy of vitamin supplementation insituations with wound healing disorders: Results from clinical intervention studies. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2009;12:588–95.