Teach Soap

So I'm experminting with different oils. Here are some of the results. Not sure I'm happy with it. This one is a recipe with Lard to see how it behaves. It's really soft and took forever to trace. The color is a neon from BB. I put 1oz of Pearberry in for a 2 lb of oil recipe. I put it in the refrigerator to try a non gel. Here it is in the mold. The funny top is from the waxed paper sticking to it.

This is the bars cut.

Now looking at them they are seeping something around the middle gel circle. No zap though when I first cut them.
The small dish I wanted to go through gel to see the difference has an oil part to the surface and is too soft yet to unmold.



Is this normal?? is it ok?? Did I try too many variables??

Rhonda

I would give it some time before you make a final decision. I like the bright color!

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

Love the color!!! WOW!

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

I bought the pearberry FO to try for my daughter. Thought I would try something bright and fun for her with the color. She's 15. I'm waiting to see how the color stays and see how it does with the color in the shower. It really is a Neon. But what fun.

The oil seems to have gone. Reabsorbed maybe??? But the small containers I poured still won't come out. maybe I'll try the freezer thing.

Here's the recipe I used. Would love some critiques.

Lard 272.2g
Olive Oil 362.9g
Coconut Oil 181.4g
Castor Oil 90.8 g

Lye 125.9g
Water 344.7g

I used a 5%Super Fat . I soaped at about 110 degrees. 1oz total for FO and 2 oz for color. Added both at thin trace.
Like I said took forever to trace.

And what happens to that circle in the middle?? Is that from gel.

Rhonda

Love that Neon color! What fun!

Rhonda, you have 10% of castor. Castor is a soft oil. I don't go above 5% for that one. That could also be why it took a long time to trace. The circle in the middle is from a partial gel.

Here is what your recipe looks like in %
Castor Oil 10.01%
Coconut Oil 19.99%
Olive Oil 40.00%
Lard 30.00%
Total Weight 907.3 gms.
125.36 gms. of lye for a 5% superfat (I would round down to 125 gms.)

If I was you I would add the 5% difference to your olive oil. For a small recipe, I round up for the oils and round down for the lye. Were you able to weight the exact amounts you have listed?

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

SAP value of lard is 141
SAP value of palm is 190 - 205
So no, they are not interchangeable.

I think you need a different scale that measures to 0.00 grams or round off your numbers.

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

I replaced the palm oil with the same amount of lard in my recipe because they are very similar in qualities. If you do that you need to recalculate your recipe with a lye calculator because of the difference in SAP values.

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

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Debbie

Rhonda, Don't go by SAP values alone. Go by the whole formula and what each oil brings to the table.

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

Thanks Irena. I'm so overwhelmed by all the information but want to try making a good bar of soap for my familly.

Rhonda

Rhonda, I feel you are close to getting what you want. Once I added a butter to my recipe I liked it even more. I started with mango butter, then tried cocoa butter and finally shea (found out my grand-dtr was not allergic to it!). The mango was my favorite. So lower the castor to 5, and if possible use that % in a butter. Be sure to run the recipe thru the soap calc. The first cocoa butter I used was from a health food store here in town, so I was able to buy a small quanity local.
Your recipe would be: castor oil 5%
coconut oil 20%
olive oil 40%
lard 30%
choice of butter 5%

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