Teach Soap

Hello Everyone!

I'm about to try CP for the second time tomorrow morning. First try was a bust so I've tried to keep it very simple this time.

For a 3 lb wood loaf mold totaling 38 oz.

I'm looking for a mild, conditioning bar that has a reasonable lather and will harden up after curing.

20% Coconut Oil 76 deg. 215.456 gr.
20% New Crisco 215.456 gr.
60% Olive Oil 646.369 gr.
Super Fat 8%
Water @ 35% 337.048 gr.
Lye 144.16 gr.

No EO or FO
No Colorant but I would like to add titanium dioxide to lighten it up but how much?

So a few questions: (ok more than a few)
1. Does my recipe look good or is there room for improvement?
2. I reduced the water from soapcalc 38% down to 35%. Is this ok? More? Less?
3. Should I bring down superfat to 7% as many recommend but my books are saying 10% (Susan Miller Cavitch books) so I settled on 8%
4. With the high percentage of olive oil, I'm trying to determine what the natural color of the soap will be. I'd like it a light green so am thinking of the titanium dioxide. Any thoughts on this addition?
5. If it do add the titanium I've seen it added to the lye solution but is that the best way? I have not been able to find usage rates for titanium dioxide. I have some from Bramble Berry.
6. Finally, any tips?

Thanks soooooooooooooooo much!

Jeannine

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Jeannine

~the journey is everything~

Personally, I wouldn't superfat any more than 7% The only time I've seen someone superfat 10% is when they were making a super-super-super moisturizing hair soap (for curly, african hair).

Also, I'm pretty sure olive oil does not turn your soap green.

I superfat 7 to 10% regularly, so 8% superfat sounds fine to me. For 100% coconut bars I superfat 20%. I have not seen truly green all olive oil soap. Light olivy green, yes. I don't use Crisco, so I'm not much help in this dept.

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

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Debbie

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

Thanks everyone!

Ok so I've decided to not do the Crisco and made a new recipe of:

70% Olive Oil
20% Coconut Oil
10% Shea Butter

(Soapbuddy, is it 20 or 30% coconut oil you don't go over because you find it drying? I want to emblazon that on my forehead!)

Oil to water is at 35% (should I go lower?)
Superfat at 8%

SoapCalc says cleansing is only at 13 but after hearing everyone talk about 100% olive oil not looking good at all in SoapCalc (when we know it's good stuff) is 13 acceptable with a 70% olive oil soap?

Thank Ya All!

Jeannine

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Jeannine

~the journey is everything~

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Thanks Linda but it's another failed batch. Nearly wore out 2 stick blenders trying to get trace. After an hour I gave up. I was so careful with my weights and temps. The only thing I can think of is that my scale is off? I'm going to have to test it with a known weight. Even then I know a few people in my area that say they make soap so I'll wait until they do it and watch. I'm 0 for 2

Thanks everyone for your help!

Jeannine

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Jeannine

~the journey is everything~

Jeannine, I'm so sorry you're having such problems. A higher olive oil soap can take longer to trace, but I can get a 100% OO to trace in about 15 minutes with a stick blender.

I would certainly check to see if your scale is accurate.

How about your lye? Are you sure it is 100% pure with no other ingredients? How old is your lye? Where did you get it?

What are the actual temps you're using?

My own thought on the water would be to leave it at the SoapCalc setting, particularly since you're a newbie. Keep in mind that discounting water by a major amount can speed up your trace. Obvious not something you're having problems with at the moment.

I'd also leave the titanium dioxide alone. For your first few batches, until you get the hang of it, it would probably be best to not put in a bunch of extra stuff that can misbehave.

I also just checked with Cavitch's troubleshooting guide in "The Soapmaker's Companion" and one of the reasons she lists for not tracing is "No more than 20% coconut oil". I don't know if you'd want to look at using a higher amount of coconut oil or not. I personally use 30%, split 10/10/10 between coconut/palm kernel/babassu. I have another recipe that is 15% coconut and 15% palm kernel. I live in a dry climate (NE Colorado), but I don't have dry skin.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'll post again if I do.

Anita

I wore out one stick blender until I learnt to mix: one minute on - one minute off- one minute on- one minute off etc. This way the motor does not over heat. I also thought I read somewhere that even if a soap does not trace, as long as the mixture does not separate just pour it into a mold and it will form soap. Of course that would be if all of the measurements were correct.

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Whether I use 20% or more coconut has no effect on how fast it traces. I do find any more then 20% coconut in a recipe drying for my type of skin.

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

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

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