Teach Soap

The best soap I've ever tried came from this shop in a tiny town in Pennsylvania. The soap is soooo moisturizing. And it doesn't just feel good while I'm bathing with it. It feels good after I rinse off. Actually it feels almost like I just put lotion on. AH-MAZ-ING! I think the term for what this soap does is act as a humectant?

The website claims the soaps have the following ingredients: "coconut, olive, palm kernel, soybean, rice bran, & castor; shea & cocoa butters." If the owner put them in order of weight then that means she has a majority or coconut oil?? I don't know if I should use palm kernel, soybean or rice bran... does palm kernel really trump palm? And I've read that soybean and rice bran have short shelf lives which makes me nervous. I've also read they aren't the most fantastic oils. She's using a lot of oils.... maybe that's the secret? Not necessarily quality but quantity of different oils?

However, I notice that the majority of the soaps I've tried (and my own batches) feel great when I'm scrubbing but once I rinse off I get that "squeaky" feeling on my skin. It feels like the soap stripped too much moisture out of my skin. Ever since I discovered this Pennsylvania soap I've been trying to formulate a recipe that will leave my skin feeling like the quasi soap-lotion bar I described. It eludes me!

Here is my recipe currently:

60% Olive Oil
15% Shea Butter
12% Palm Oil
10% Coconut Oil
1.5% Avocado Oil
1.5% Sweet Almond Oil
3% Sodium Lactate for hardness and "humectant layer"
(7% Superfat)

If I up my superfat to 8% or 9% will I have a softer bar or will the Sodium Lactate handle that addition? Should I up my Avocado and/or sweet almond? Should I lower my coconut and/or palm? I read that there is a point when there is too much shea butter for it to be effective -- could this be an issue?. I just don't know how to straddle that line of fabulously moisturizing [soft] oils and hum drum [hard] oils.

Any suggestions? Anything welcome!

_________________
Soapmaiden (Natalie)

That is an excellent question and I can't wait for all the response's. Do you know if the soap was made CP or HP? Is it possible that the soapmaker added the SHEA and or COCOA butters at the end of the process creating an amount of butters that would not be saponyfied and therefore leaving that silky feeling? Just a thought. I can't decide on Palm oil or Palm Kernel oil as one makes more bubbles and one is for hardness so I split it and use both for now.

Her website states she does cold process.

As for adding the cocoa or shea last I do not know. Some people say that the lye will not discriminate and will saponify whichever oil/butter it wants to regardless of when it's added. However, I know some people add a specific superfatting oil/butter at the end hoping that it will remain the most unsaponified. I guess it can't hurt to do that regardless of whether or not it works, right? Maybe that's one of her secrets?

That's interesting about the palm and palm kernel.... I may just buy some PK and test.

_________________
Soapmaiden (Natalie)

There is so much info it's mind boggling. I have read that Shea butter is less able to be saponified just by it's nature and read the same for Cocoa butter. I suppose a good googleing would further investigate the saponification or ability to be saponified qualities of at least these two.

It could be that she just superfats at a much higher level and that is why the soap feels so nice. Do you think she would respond if you asked her?

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

Raw or unrefined shea butter has more unsaponifiables. So whether you add it all up front or at trace makes no difference. Since not all of it saponifies, some of it will end up in your soap as is.

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

_________________

In your recipe 1.5% of avocado or almond oil will not make much difference. They are also soft oils. I would leave them out, recalculate and superfat 8%.

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