Teach Soap

Hi..
I am on an very tight budget and would like to make a batch of facial soap with activated charcoal which i already have..
I only have Olive oil, Coconut oil(76) and Palm oil available.. My question is, can i make a facial bar with these 3 oils without it being drying or harsh on the face?

The recipe I wanted to try is this..

Olive oil - 48%
Coconut oil - 24%
Palm oil - 28%

These are the recipe properties from SoapCalc... does it look OK to you?

Hardness - 41
Cleansing - 16
Conditioning - 55
Bubbly - 16
Creamy - 25
Iodine - 58
INS - 153

Also... is it OK to use the same amount of EO or because it will be for facial I should use less?
thanks.

For my skin I find coconut oil over 20% drying. You won't get many bubbles with your recipe. I always superfat at 7-8% as that works better for my sensitive skin.

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

So what's the lowest cleansing number I should shoot for to get bubbles and not be drying?

Ok.. so I guess Im gonna have to get some Castor oil..

Here's what I got..
Olive Oil 45.00%
Castor Oil 10.00%
Palm Oil 25.00%
Coconut Oil, 76 deg 20.00%

Hardness - 36
Cleansing - 14
Conditioning - 61
Bubbly - 23
Creamy - 31
Iodine - 62
INS - 145

How does that look?

You won't need more then 5% of castor oil. It is considered a soft oil. Olive oil doesn't look good in soap calc but it makes for a nice and mild soap. Take those numbers with a grain of salt.

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

A really nice soap is 90% olive 10% coconut superfatted at 8%. The cleansing value is only 7 and the conditioning value is 76. It's not very bubbly. The lather is creamier with small bubbles. You could add a teaspoon of sugar PPO to boost the lather. It takes longer to cure because of the high olive oil, but it will be be a very hard soap. If you did 85% olive and 15% coconut you would have more bubbles and the cleansing value goes up to 10 and the conditioning value drops to 72.

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

Well.. I made a batch that the bubbles were only between 17-18 and the conditioning was 58-59 and boy they flew off my hands and got returned customers saying the soap was awesome and their skin felt great and that it even removed all makeup and mascara.. The entire batch only lasted a few days.

But it was only after I made it that I came across the soapcalc site and saw the soap numbers which really puzzled me because all my soaps have a cleansing number of at least 18-20 and they feel great and my customers like them a lot too..so Im confused because according to SoapCalc my soaps are supposed to be very drying, but they're actually not, at least I have not noticed it or have gotten any complaints.

Im still learning so Im trying to get all the info I can.

The numbers in Soapcalc are just guidelines. Plug in 100% olive oil soap. The numbers look awful, but it ends up (after a very long cure) being a wonderfully mild soap. The same with 100% coconut oil soap. If you superfat it at 20%, it makes a great soap.

The important thing is to learn the properties of the oils you want to use. Then it's a matter of making small batches and tweaking the recipes until you get a soap you love. Be sure to keep good notes.

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