Teach Soap

I am planning to make a batch of cold process using chia seeds and their mucilage. What I was curious about was if anyone had any experience doing this and if they could share their experiences and any tips they may have?

I have found lots of information about using them whole but I am thinking of grinding them and soaking them in distilled water first and have found nothing on this.

Ok so let’s give it a shot.

First we had to make mucilage from the chia seeds. To do this I ground three tablespoons of chia seeds in my mortar. I added them to distilled water that I heated to 95°F. I allowed them to soak overnight on the counter covered.

I then used a nylon strainer and a plastic spoon to push as much of the mucilage through the strainer as I could. I was rewarded with a slightly sweet nutty smelling green gray goop that weighed 4ounces. I added 1 teaspoon of honey and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Now to my soap recipe, I wanted to superfat at 8% because I need the bar to be very mild since it is intended for a friends granddaughter who has eczema.

I used:

11.46% Shea butter
41.67% Olive oil
8.33% Sweet Almond oil
8.33% Castor oil
5.21% Cocoa Butter
16.67% Coconut oil, 76°
8.33% Avocado oil

I needed 9.12 ounces of water I discounted to 6.4 since I was planning to add the 4 ounces of mucilage and I was sure that some of that weight was biomass that was not water.

I used 88.98 grams of sodium hydroxide.

For fragrance I settled on EO blend of Chamomile, geranium, and ylang ylang. Only .5 ounce total.

I froze my water the night before so I could keep the soaping temp fairly low.

I melted my oils and added my EO to the chia mucilage.

I then added my lye to the frozen water and as soon as it was fully thawed I added 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate.

At this point my oils were approximately 125° and my lye was 98° so I added half the chia mixture to it and blended with my stick blender. This brought the oils temp down to 101° so I began incorporating my lye water. Alternating stirring and blending I reached a light trace in about 5 minutes. I then added the rest of the mucilage and gave it a quick blend and stir to incorporate it fully.

I separated out three equal portions to add colors for a modified tiger strip and used the uncolored remaining batter as a base color.

The soap performed beautifully while pouring and I am anxious to be able to unmold it and see what the mucilage has done to the gelling process.

Unmolding was surprising. The top of the soap showed signs of having overheated slightly but other than a few barely discernible glycerin rivers it looked good once cut, reminiscent of oatmeal soap in appearance.

Cleanup of my mold showed that it is already developing a nice bubbly lather and rather than my hands feeling dry after cleanup they actually felt moisturized.

One thing I should have done differently so far is to blend the base soap to a medium trace before laying it down in the mold. My pattern didn't work out as planned but it still made an interesting design.[img]FullSizeRender2.jpgchiasurprise.jpg[/img]

Great experiment! Please let us know how the soap feels when you use it, lather, etc.

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

I will, and I am thinking that I need to redo it without the honey since the Chia smelled sweet anyway and then refrigerate to try and control the gel process.

The soap has continued to darken as it dries and I am afraid my micas were wasted since it looks like the colors are getting really muddied.

Sounds like an interesting experiment.

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

Two weeks and my soap has started to lighten back up. I will try to grab a picture or two when I get a chance.

I tested it in the shower last night. I just couldn’t wait any longer. It was killing me and since it was testing very near neutral ph why not?

The lather is a little lighter than I had hoped for, on soapcalc’s scale it’s about a 20 bubbly and an 18 creamy. I think that is due to the amount of mucilage I used. The weight of it is probably making it harder for the bar to suds than my usual recipe.

The feel of the soap is incredible. The chia mucilage is an excellent humectant. It is exfoliating due to the actual seed husk meal that made it through my strainer and is very slick, similar to a clay soap in feel.

I was left feeling moisturized and clean which is a little surprising for a soap that hasn’t cured at least 4 weeks. Young soap usually feels a bit itchy and drying to me.

As an additive I have concluded that it will make an excellent component for my soaps with experimentation to get the exact right amount of Mucilage ppo.

I'm glad it worked out to your liking.

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

I may have to give this a try. It sounds interesting and I have lots of chia seeds.

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

I would love to hear your opinions on it if you do.