Is 100% coconut oil soap drying?
Short answer
It can be. Coconut oil cleanses strongly, so as a skin bar it needs a high superfat of 15–20%. At 0–3% it's a household bar.
Explanation
Lauric and myristic acids give hardness, abundant fluffy lather and strong cleansing that can strip the skin's oils. Coconut's saturation makes a high superfat safe from rancidity. It traces very fast (30–90 seconds), so the book pours it at thin trace into individual molds and cuts or unmolds within 2–12 hours, before it gets too hard to cut cleanly.
What to do
- Recalculate the lye in a soap calculator for the superfat you want.
Source: The Big Book of Homemade Soap — 100% Coconut Oil Soap: A Masterclass in Single-Oil Formulation