Teach Soap

Made a 16 oz batch of lotion for me and my kids. We all have sensitive skin so I wanted to try making something for us. It has raw goats milk, emulsifying wax, staeric acid, citric acid, aloe gel, shea butter, almond oil, castor oil, olive oil, glycerin, and germall plus liquid. I got the recipe online and the only thing I did different was double the shae butter which was only an additional gram Any idea what would give it a grainy texture? It's very soft and fluffy and white. It feels fantastic. But if you rub it between your fingers there is a light texture. The "grains" rub into your skin easily and disappear.

Not a problem...just curious! Thanks!

I bet it's the shea butter. Also you can't just add more butter without recalculating all your other ingredients. I would also leave the citric acid out. It's not needed.

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

I reduced the gram from the olive oil to add the shea in. But I will try it next time without that! Also, I so don't mind skipping on the citric acid but isn't it a preservative?

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

Um well I don't have my (much smaller, though I assure you absolutely accurate) amounts they are at home. But I can send you the full recipe!

40 gm wax
25 gm staeric acid
2.5 citric acid
3 gm aloe gel
3 gm shea butter
74 gm olive oil
50 gm almond oil
25 gm castor oil
22.5 gm glycerin
750 gm fluid
3 gm germall fluid
2 gm eo or fo

Thanks for all the help! I'll try again tomorrow out of curiosity without tweaking the shea/olive oils and without the citric acid.

Also the citric acid itself is very grainy perhaps it doesnt dissolve? The directions call for adding everything except the Germall and EO together, heating to 170 degrees with frequent stirring, then allowing to cool to 120 before adding the remainder ingredients. I suspect in that process it does dissolve. It would have a distinct feel and even taste on the skin if it were the grains I experienced...hmm...?

Here is what your recipe looks like in %. Unless I'm missing something, this formula doesn't make a 100% as it should.

40 gm e-wax - 4.01%
25 gm stearic acid - 2.51%
2.5 citric acid - 0.25%
3 gm aloe gel - I included this in part of your water phase
3 gm shea butter - 0.30%
74 gm olive oil - 7.42%
50 gm almond oil - 5.02%
25 gm castor oil - 2.51%
22.5 gm glycerin - 2.26%
750 gm fluid (with 3 gms. aloe gel) - 75.53%
3 gm germall fluid - calculate the proper % after your formula is complete
2 gm eo or fo - 0.20%

You have a lot of fluid in there. I presume it's water along with the aloe gel. Here is what I would do to change it.
Change the fluid (or water) to 500 grams. Leave out the aloe gel & citric acid. Change the glycerin to 11 grams. (Glycerin at 2% or higher can make your lotion very sticky.) Up the e-wax to 5%. How much more shea did you want to use?

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

The consistency of the lotion is ideal. It is light and actually just a hint too thick (was very hard to pour into a bottle!) So I am not sure the amount of liquid is a negative thing. The liquid is raw goats milk. We have two Nigis and between them I'm getting over a gallon a day so i set out to see what I could make with it! I am going to have to find a cheese forum next...

Now for the lotion - today is my day off so I want to go ahead and try again out of curiosity. Can you help me calculate how to make the glycerin an even 2%? I'd like to leave the aloe gel in. I have a little tub of it that I don't have any other use for so may as well use it for what I bought it! No citric acid, check. From what I can find it's a pH balancer but I do not know that I would need it with the Germall in there. I would also like to try replacing Almond with Safflower (because I am out of Almond but have plenty of Safflower from a kid's school project)!

Thanks!!

Milk proteins are harder to preserve. I presume you are using liquid Germall? If so, I would use it at the maximum percentage allowed, which is 0.5%

42 gm e-wax - 4.24%
25 gm stearic acid - 2.52%
3 gm aloe gel - added as a total to your milk
3 gm shea butter - 0.3%
74 gm olive oil - 7.47%
50 gm Safflower oil - 5.05%
25 gm castor oil - 2.52%
20 gm glycerin - 2.02%
750 gm goat's milk - 75.68%
2 gm eo or fo - 0.2%
Total for ingredients is 994 grams
4.97 gm germall fluid (0.5%)

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

Great! Thanks! It came out much smoother and lighter with no grains!

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

Okay, after all the help you gave me I made the new batch and the texture was much better! Well, yesterday I finished using up the old batch and started trying this new one and noticed as I was rubbing into my kids' skin (fresh outta the bath so no dirt or anything to cause this reaction) it generated a weird texture after rubbing it in...did you ever rub your palms together and get the black eraser/rubber like shreds from the skin cells, dirt and heat? Well...it's like that. It's like little pieces of rubber or fat that start coming off the skin after i get it rubbed in. What did I do this time? Could that be the Goat Milk? How can I prevent it next time? More emulsifier? Less Goat Milk/diluted with some water?

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

Okay. I'm off tomorrow. More e-wax, less staeric. Gotcha!

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