In Your Face – face cleanser for oily skin recipe

Ethique used to sell a pink cleansing bar called In Your Face; it was beloved, as people with blemishes and trickier skin types had real success with it. It was also commonly used as a solution for bacne. Unfortunately, we discontinued In Your Face, but we want to share the special recipe with you here!

To make a 1kg batch, you will need:  

(Note: if you want to make more or less, you will need to double the oils and salt, then run your recipe through a lye calculator to ensure you have the right amount of sodium hydroxide, just in case. Done well, methodically, soap making is safe. But please check and do it properly. I recommend soapcalc.net.) 

Ingredients: 

• Coconut oil 425g 
• Cocoa butter 50g  
• Castor oil 25g 
• Fine salt 300g 
• Sweet orange oil (optional) 10g 
• Mandarin oil (optional) 5g 
• Sodium hydroxide (lye) (DO NOT use drain cleaner or similar from mitre 10.) 70.4g 
• Water 190g 

Method: 

Ensure you are wearing eye protection and gloves with long sleeves. Lye has a very high pH and will do damage to your eyes or skin if you splash yourself.  

Prepare moulds. This recipe works best in individual bar moulds, rather than one long mould as salt bars are hard to cut.  

Very carefully, sprinkle your lye over your water (do not pour water into the lye in case of splashes). Mix till it has visibly dissolved, and the reaction will release a lot of heat. Once dissolved, set it to cool to about 50 degrees Celsius. Do not use glass for this step.  

Melt your oils together, and warm through till the saucepan hits a temperature of around 50 degrees Celsius. Add in your essential oils (if using). 

Once both the oils and lye mix are around the same temperature (or within 5-10 degrees), pour your lye water into the oil mixture.  

Use a stick blender or a whisk until you reach something called trace. If this is your first time making soap, this is a bit tricky. Trace is where the batch suddenly seems much more opaque and thicker. It’s at trace if you can dribble some of the soap across the surface and it holds the shape for a short period. If you mix more, it will get thicker and thicker.  

Once you hit trace, you want to work quickly, as it can get too thick to mould quicker than you might think. 

So immediately upon trace, whisk your salt in and pour into the mould. 

That’s it. 

Leave in the mould to cool for 24 hours (closer to 18 hours if you have a big single mould and are going to have to cut it). 

Then, demould and leave for 4 weeks to cure. Please do not use IYF immediately when it is cool and hard.  

After your month is up, use like you would any other cleansing bar, and enjoy!