Teach Soap

Hello all! I'm an MP'er just beginning to CP (and very excited), so you will probably be seeing a lot of questions from me in the near future. Thank you all in advance!

I found a shampoo recipe that looks a bit odd when run through a lye calculator. The recipe is from a random page, which I wouldn't normally trust, but it does claim to be taken from Susan Miller Cavitch's "The Natural Soap Book". The recipe can be found here: http://www.organic-gardening-and-homest ... ampoo.html

The calculator I'm running it through is the one on my Soapmaker 3 Pro software. Since I only want to test this recipe, I cut it down to 1/10th the size. So now it looks like this:

- 4.8 oz distilled water
- 51 grams lye
- 4.9 oz olive
- 3.6 oz castor
- 3.6 oz coconut
- .8 oz jojoba

My question is, my software calculator is reflecting that this recipe uses only a 2% lye discount (I believe "lye discount" = superfat?) and a *negative* water discount of 13%, meaning I'm using 13% too much water. Is that correct? Wouldn't a shampoo recipe usually have a high superfat, not low? And why would you want to use more water than is necessary?

Thanks again, everyone! It's much appreciated.

First of all, I would recalculate ALL the ozs. into grams for better accuracy since this is such a small recipe.

For that size batch, you would need 3 to 5 fluid ounces of water and 1.7 of lye (or 50 grams) for a 7% superfat. Lye discount is the same as superfat. Adding more water could make the soap become shrunken and mishapen as the soap cures.

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

There are other published recipes on the net that are duds. Some are even lye heavy! Always run it through a lye calc and if you need the batch smaller, rerun it again with any adjusted oils or butters. I do at least a 7% superfat with every batch. Some people work with a 5% superfat, but I find that drying to my skin. Since everyone's hair is different, experiment with different % and see what you like. I am one of those that cannot use CP soap on my hair at all. My hair prefers a syndet bar.

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

Is this a bar or liquid soap? That would explain a low superfat and lots of water...

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I checked the link (duh! should have done that before). It's a bar soap--sodium hydroxide, and box for a mold. Well, I would think that a shampoo bar should be more superfatted, not less.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

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Debbie

I've used castor as high as 15%. It makes the soap soft like playdough and takes a loooooooooong time to harden up.

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