Teach Soap

Because I am terrible at math...

I've seen a lot of different ingredients I want to start experimenting with, but not sure how much to use. These include: Colloidal Oatmeal, goat's milk / buttermilk / yogurt powder, heavy cream (cow milk), kaolin clay, and hydrolyzed silk.... And for referencing, my usual batches are 32oz of oil.

1. Now the silk powder I'm assuming is best stirred into the heated lye water? I know that's how regular tussah silk strands are done. It says soap usage is 5%. Is that 5% of just the oil weight or including the oils + water for full soap weight?

2. The oatmeal also suggests 5% in soaps.

3. The goat's milk powder says "Mix 1 oz of powdered goats milk with 8 oz of water. Mix well." I've done regular goat's milk in frozen cubes and completely used it instead of water. If using a powder, do I just add the amount of powder that would equal the water? For instance -- if it's 1oz per 8oz water and I was adding 16oz water, I would add 2oz of goat powder to the oil mixture?

4. For the cream - is there a suggested amount? Or just discount a few ounces of water and add cream instead? (I see a lot of people adding cream after the lye water is mixed together)

5. What if I want to add all the goat/yogurt/buttermilk powder together? Do I go by the 1:8 powder/water ratio directions and just split the total needed into thirds?

6. Is there a total max amount of powder additives allowed in soap? Like if the oatmeal is 5% and I'm adding a few other 5% items, that might start messing up with too much! I see a lot of things being measured by '1 tbs ppo' or '1 tsp ppo' but not sure which is best / more accurate for trying to find the right amount of all these things in a 2lb batch. Thanks for any insight!

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~*~ Jennifer ~*~

I don't use silk powder due to cost, but do use raw silk. I add a pea sized piece to my water to help it hydrate, then I add the lye.
I use oatmeal up to 5% with no problems. I prefer colloidal oatmeal or baby oatmeal, so it's not scratchy.
I follow the direction on the can to reconstitute the milk with water. If it's 1 oz. per 8 ozs. of water, it would be 2 ozs. for 16 ozs. of water.
For the cream, discount your water and add the cream as soon as the oils and lye are emulsified. I find it's easier if I add it before trace.
Goat/yogurt/buttermilk go with the 1:8 ratio and split it into thirds.
For powder additives you have to remember that they will soak up some of your water from the lye and you might get an unexpected result. I would not go above 5% total of any powder additives to start, but since oils/butters different lye strength react differently.

Experiment and see what works for you.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks, Irena. You're the best! Sometimes I over think new things and then get paranoid I'm going to miscalculate and end up with a mess!

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~*~ Jennifer ~*~

You're welcome Jennifer. Add-ons are easier because if you make a little mistake, it's no big deal. It's the lye and the oils that need to be accurate.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

What is colloidal oatmeal?

It is just oatmeal powder, so ground up oatmeal. You can make your own. Just make sure that the oatmeal is not the instant kind, then grind the oatmeal into the finest powder possible so that it dissolves easily in a lukewarm bath. You can use a blender, a food processor, a coffee grinder, a mortar and pestle, or a Kitchen Mill. Kitchen mills work the best/easiest I think, but my blender is old and has all kinds of settings and it works just as well as the mill does.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

!!HELP!!

This is my normal recipe:
Olive 10.24
Palm 7.68
Coconut 7.04
Castor 3.52
Shea 3.52

water 12.48
lye 4.295

Soaping around 95F.
I added 1.6oz of powder (combination of oat flour, kaolin clay, buttermilk, yogurt, goatsmilk) into the oils and stick blended until mixed.

I used 10.48 oz of water in the lye solution and added that and mixed, then incorporated 2oz of whole milk and mixed. I did have a harder time seeing the oils and lye mixing together because of all the white additives, usually it's a pretty obvious color change, and since I was using full water rates. But it appeared to be at light trace. I did two batches and one was a layered design and the batter was thick enough to pour on top of each other without poking through.

So here are some before and after photos http://imgur.com/a/NuFkx

The first batch, the soap seemed nice and thick with the soap and gold mica swirl and I sprinkled oats on top of it. I CPOP'd it like I normally do. When I looked this morning, the entire top is clear liquid. The oats are sunk in and the top is just a clear pool of some oil. The other soap (I don't have a before picture because it was a grey ombre/solid color top) but you can see in the picture it has a thin layer, but oil seeping out the sides and if I move it, it jiggles like a water bed.

what went wrong?? Too many additives? Not traced/mixed enough? Can I save it as it? or do I have to rebatch it?

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~*~ Jennifer ~*~

I need Irena to the rescue! LOL

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~*~ Jennifer ~*~

Oat flour & kaolin clay work better if you hydrate them first. Round up your oils and butter unless you have a scale that measures small increments. Round down on your lye. Did you discount your water for the buttermilk and yogurt? I ran your recipe through a lye calc and I get 8-12 ozs. of water (or liquid) and 4.3 ozs. of lye. It looks to me you have too much water and too much liquid overall due to the buttermilk, yogurt & goats milk. The seepage could be from all the extra water or liquid. I would leave it be and see if the liquid absorbs back in, You have too many things going on all at once. I would start simlple.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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~*~ Jennifer ~*~

You have too many powders in there. White it's true that you can stick blend powders into the oils, they will be attracted to water as soon as the lye water is added since they are water soluble. My suggestion is don't add that many into just one batch.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I keep reading about NOT to use instant oats for soap making. I have been using instant 1 minute oats and I have never had an issue at all.. No clumps at all or nothing. Why is it that people don't recommend instant oats?