Teach Soap

Hi,

This is mainly a question for Anne Marie.

I've been trying to make some sugar scrubs, as per the recipe on your video tutorial.

So far they keep going wrong. The first one, I understood my mistake easily (soap was too hot when adding sugar, created soapy caramel!) The second one, I'm not so sure, but it didn't seem like it all mixed properly. There seemed to be a watery substance at the top. The pieces of sugar scrub are ok to use since I tipped them out, and got rid of the water, but aren't in a state that I can package or market. It seems like perhaps because I'm using a palm-free soap base, the emulsifier already in it isn't enough to manage the amount of sweet almond oil added to your recipe, so some of the water is separating out from the soap base.

I was wondering if you could offer any tips or ideas.

Also, I think I might be getting the quantities wrong. I have tried to convert them to grams, but might have made a mistake.

Is there any chance you could post the recipe for me either in grams, or as percentages, rather than ounces?

I really want to get it right! Also, I now need to go out to the shop and buy more sugar, since I've used up what I had in the kitchen cupboard on my first 2 attempts! Thanks!

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"The question is: does it work on stage? If it works on stage, does it fit the theory? If it works on stage, but doesn't fit the theory; throw out the theory." Bertolt Brecht

Although I know you said this was a question for Anne Marie, I just wanted to let you know that I successfully used that recipe with a base with these ingredients:

Propylene Glycol, Sorbitol, Water, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Triethanolamine, Titanium Dioxide.

I added white sugar to some and Turbinado sugar to others. The oil I used was coconut (76 melt point), but only half the amount the recipe called for... using the full amount made them feel unpleasantly oily. Good luck!

So the solid sugar scrub recipe?

Here's the post that inspired the video:

http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2009/07/ ... orial.html

4 oz. by weight clear glycerin soap
2 oz. by weight white glycerin soap
6 oz. by weight grape seed oil
18 oz. by weight white sugar

113.4g Clear Glycerin

56.7g White glycerin

170.1g grape seed oil

510.3g white sugar

is what I come up with.

We did find that different bases do NOT at all work as well. The project was designed with the Bramble Berry bases and so I can't vouch for any other bases (though am heartened to see that one other base at least works) =)

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

The base I'm using is...

Ingredients: Aqua, Propylene Glycol, Sodium rapeseedate, Sodium laureth sulfate, Glycerin, Sorbitol, Sodium cocoate, Sodium xylene sulfonate, Sodium lauryl sulfate, Rapeseed fatty acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium etidronate.

As the problem seemed to be emulsification (I figure maybe the Brambleberry one has more emulsifier in the soap base, so that is why it is ok with all those extra oils) I tried adding some BTMS, which seems to have helped! Batch 3 is looking much more hopeful so far, but I want to leave it longer to set.

It seems to need a lot longer to set really solid too. I'm too used to the speed at which M&P sets on its own I guess. Batch 2 (which had the water on the top), has set quite nicely since I got it out of the mould, the excess water drained away, and I left it on the side in dismay, coming back to look at it about 24 hours later. Alas, it's still in kind of crumbly looking lumps, rather than neat blocks, so I will have to use that one up myself!

As I live in the UK, I think it would be a bit pricey for me to order from Brambleberry all the time! (Though one day I may splash out on a few bits to see what all the fuss is about!)

Does anyone have any experience with trying different kinds of sugar in them? I was thinking that Demerara Sugar might be quite nice for it! (The ones I'm making at the moment are chocolate & spice scented and coloured brown, so the colour wouldn't be a problem, guess the brown of the sugar might not look so good if you were making red or green ones though!)

Umm, just checking...

For each colour on yours, you would use:
2 oz M&P, 2oz Sweet Almond (or other) Oil, 6 oz Sugar?
So that's 1 part M&p and 1 part Oil to 3 parts Sugar?

Much easier to turn that into grams! (Multiply by 10 or 100)

And, I keep wondering if I'm missing something obvious here but... apart from the convenience of not having to add the Titanium Oxide myself, is there any reason why I would want to buy white soap base, rather than just getting all clear soap base, and adding the white when I want it? I really don't get that! (Although I'm sure it does sell more units of soap base).

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"The question is: does it work on stage? If it works on stage, does it fit the theory? If it works on stage, but doesn't fit the theory; throw out the theory." Bertolt Brecht

I'm doing a chocolate themed kit, so the sugar scrub is initially to go in that, but I want to be able to make more in the future to package and sell. This one I'm naming Mayan Cacao. Its scented with dark chocolate and spices (It's meant to be like the original chocolate drink the Aztecs used to drink, which they give you to try sometimes if you go round chocolate factories). Yum! I'm looking forwards to testing out the non-saleable batch 2 on myself!

_________________
"The question is: does it work on stage? If it works on stage, does it fit the theory? If it works on stage, but doesn't fit the theory; throw out the theory." Bertolt Brecht