Teach Soap

If you don't mind my dears, does this recipe look good? Had the nephew today so I had to put off creating until tomorrow!

40% Olive oil
20% Coconut oil
20% Palm oil
15% Lard
5% Castor oil

I found that my castor oil has small flakes of "solid" substance in it, I understand this is sterate (steric acid), how do I get rid of this without losing oil content? Does it dissolve with higher heat?

Thanks folks! I appreciate it!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

It looks good to me. Using a majority percentage of olive oil will make a nice soap. And your castor % is good too, not too high.

As for the stearic acid, someone else probably knows more about that than me but when you heat your oils all together just make sure everything is melted and clear. It shouldn't be a problem.

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Soapmaiden (Natalie)

Looks ok to me too. I buy castor by the gallon and have never seen any flakes in it. Castor oil only has 0.5% of stearic acid. Are you sure it wasn't contaminated with something else, it got frozen or it's old?

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

Oops! I meant palm oil, not castor! I have castor on the brain it seems!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Did you melt your entire batch of Palm Oil down, stir it around and divide it up into smaller containers?

I've never had flakes in my Palm oil though...

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

I melt it before I measure it and mix it up super well. I haven't seen the flakes before, and it was my first time using palm (the ITP batch) so I'm VERY sure its from the palm. There were only maybe a dozen tiny little flakes when I added the lye water, and they aren't visible in the soap itself.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

At what temp are you combining your oils and lye?

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

Between 100 and 120 *F, I try for around 110.

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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

Generally, except that one batch. I left it in the crock pot on high for nearly an hour and those little flakes didn't disappear. Wondering if maybe it doesn't get hot enough... its an old pot (maybe 15 years) and it wasn't so expensive. I may try the microwave tomorrow.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I picked up a $19 stainless steel pot (one of those really tall ones) from my local supermarket. Seems to do the trick well, heats up nice and hot!

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

We have a finicky old gas stove that I dislike using with waxes or oils, I do have a hotplate somewhere mind you... wonder where it is LOL Its the culprit behind the 1 cm round burn marks all over my table! Those little rubber feet on it get super hot!

I like the microwavable bags BB uses, but at $150 S&H for 2 baggies of oil and some neon pigment I think I'll have to pass until I get to NJ

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Aah ok, yeah we have an electric stove. I'd be a bit worried with oils and gas too lol!

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

The darn thing is way too hot too! Even on low it turns olive oil to black stinky goo very very quickly. It makes cooking tricky too *sigh*

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist