Teach Soap

So, I'm still not 100% happy with my primary soap recipe. I'm close. I'm like, 95% of the way there. I've given the latest tweak a good month of testing - different fragrances and of course each batch, although the same, can still turn out slightly differently depending on how quickly it was cooled, how thick or thin the batter was, etc, etc.

Bubbles are my problem. There's not enough. I want more. There's lather... good, stable, lather. But I want more bubbles.

So, I sat down tonight with the ingredients I can access easily, and are happy to use, and set up a spreadsheet outlining each variation. With this ingredient, with that, with this AND that ingredient...

My problem now? I have 18 variations. And I'm still sure I'm missing something. So let's say an even 20...
How can I possibly test 20 variations?! Or more so, how can I punish my poor, already drowning in freebie soap friends by asking them to test all 20?! This is getting crazy.

At this stage, I'm thinking I might have to do the testing in two phases. First, I'll just cut out the butters completely and work on the primary oils. Then, when I know which combo of those work the best, I can do phase two where it would be with that combo + butter variations.

Do butters change a recipe enough that a two phase test wouldn't be as accurate as testing all variations to begin with?

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

In my opinon yes. I just did that whipped soap and because it was my first try I used one of the recipes Nizzy gives. Palm, coconut and lard (no butters). When I was washing some things 24 hours later I was very impressed with the amount of bubbles (and NO castor oil) I was getting. So I am thinking that there is a trade off on bubblage with added ingredients, like butters, milks, exfoliants, aloe, soft oils etc. I am thinking we walk a fine line between what we want to all add and what we should. But then look what gives the most bubbles: SLS - would not want to put that in my soaps.
I feel for you, we all want those bubbles but also mositurizing soap. And 20 batches of soap can be alot, and maybe the difference from one recipe to another is just very slight... I hope you find an easy way to do this.

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I'm moving soon, so I can't really build up a home stock of oils, lye, fragrances, and colorants yet. I don't want to schlep them across the country. However, this is what I'll be trying as soon as I'm settled in at the new place in California. Maybe you'd find the same sort of thing helpful.

I need a small handful of basic recipes -- no color, no scent, as few ingredients as possible while getting the effects I want.

- Olive oil only
- Soybean and coconut (70% to 30% ratio)
- Soybean and palm (ditto)
- Soy, coconut, and castor (60%, 25%, 15%)
- Et cetera

Those can be tested in small batches of, say, a pound each, or even one BAR each, cut into smaller chunks to take to work instead of use them at home. (That way, you won't have mountains and mountains of bars from full-sized batches, lying around because you only liked 3 out of the 20 batches you made.) Everyone wants to wash their hands at work, and half the time public bathrooms don't have soap at all, or have really cheap, icky soap. I'll put one in my purse for occasions when I'm away from the house and obliged to use a public washroom, and use a different one every few of days until I've tested them all.

Once I get my 'base' recipes, I'll do those with 0% superfatting.

Then, just after trace but just before pouring into molds, I'll be adding my 5-8% superfats using the fancier/more expensive oils for nourishing and/or scent, and whatever fragrances and colorings I think are appropriate. That's where the fun will come in.

That way, I can vary as much as I want on top of the base recipes, but the base recipes will become my mainstay. Those won't have to change at all, once I get a mix I really like.

I notice a big difference in my soaps made with all oils and the ones that I've added shea or cocoa butter. My basic recipe is all oils and I have lots of nice bubbly lather (olive, coconut, palm or lard, and castor). The butter soaps don't have the bubbles, but they do have a great stable lather.

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

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

ljm1180 wrote:
I notice a big difference in my soaps made with all oils and the ones that I've added shea or cocoa butter. My basic recipe is all oils and I have lots of nice bubbly lather (olive, coconut, palm or lard, and castor). The butter soaps don't have the bubbles, but they do have a great stable lather.

That's what I have noticed as well. I went back to some of my very first bars last night (I still kept them!) and which one did I like the most? OO, CO, PO, Castor. lol. No butters, nothing fancy. Of course my problem is wanting to stay away from Palm. Making my life that little more difficult.

Coolah, have you tried just olive (70-75%) coconut (20-25%) and castor (5%)? This is one of my favorite recipes and my testers loved it. I like the 70/25/5 best with 7% SF.

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

Coolah is correct. There is no need to add any so called "superfatting" oil or butter at trace. Lye doesn't discriminate. At trace, lye is still very active and it will take whatever it wants. Add everything right up front.

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

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

Coolah, I am curious... are your testers or customers asking for more bubbles or are you thinking you should have more? I try to tell family and friends that alot of bubbles does not always equal good for your skin. I try to explain the glycerin that forms in the soap and how some of the other additives can give a positive result. I have had some friends come back later and say they never knew how nice a soap could be. These are my happier moments. If they insist on bubbles, I tell them to try the soap with a bath puff, that helps alot! I am betting your soap is one of the better ones out there and you just have not come to realize that yet.

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I'd like more bubbles. At the moment I have next to zero. I've been thoroughly analyzing myself when I was lol.

Basically, when you rub the actual soap bar over your arm, you can see it is leaving soapy goodness on there, but there are no bubbles. In order to get a good bubbly lather, I need to put the soap bar down and then use my other hand to rub all over. Then it lathers/bubbles up more to what the M&P bars do. More creamy lather than big bubbles.

Or I find it's like when you shampoo your hair - the first time you don't get a lot of bubbles, but when you rinse and repeat, the second time you're being smothered in bubbles. I noticed the same thing with my soap. If I rub the soap over, rinse my arm, then use the soap again, I get better bubbles. Maybe I'm just a dirty person?

I don't need heaps more bubbles. Just enough that when you are first using the soap, it acts a little more like soap. The bars that I made way back in the beginning with OO, CO, PO, Castor were like that - as soon as you started to use them, you got bubbles. The ones I make currently don't bubble when you're just using the soap, you need to use both hands together to make them. Perhaps friction causes them?

At the moment I'm using two different butters, and I'm thinking that I should drop back to 1. But then, which one? Last night I went back and forth between the two and both of them bring nice attributes to the soap.

I could keep my current recipe, but just try adding castor, but then do I hit that "too many ingredients" issue. Plus just adding more items raises the cost. That's when I sat down and started the spreadsheet to see the best way to go about it... and, well, it only compounded the problem lol.

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

Yep, you are overthinking it. I currently use two butters... but only because I do not want to give up my cocoa butter for the hardness it gives. I am going to try some Na Lactate and try only one butter... mango is my favorite, but I have some shea to use up. If you do not have castor in your bar I would say add some... I love it 3-5 %. So if you add castor and decrease to one butter you may have the answer, same number of ingredients. Have you tried a puff? I have been thinking about learning to make them, but then again they are not that expensive. And I do want to try my hand at a soap stamp!!

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I overthink everything.

I use Sodium Lactate. I like both my butters for varying reasons, but I'm thinking I might drop one from the soap since it's a wash off product and just keep it in my lotion bars instead.

I'm starting to understand why so many other people I know have soaps + everything else hehe.

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

Did you try adding a little sugar or honey? That can increase bubbles! I've noticed that my soaps with shea and mango butters have smaller bubbles and a more creamy lather, while my soaps with no butters have huge mounds of big bubbles. But my skin feels much smoother and more moisturized with the soap that has the butters. I only use lotion on my arms due to the keratosis pilaris. I don't use any on my face even, the soap (with 5-7% SF, depending on the batch) is moisturizing enough.

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I'm hesitant to add sugar or honey due to my soaps all having goat's milk in them. Although i'm thinking of trying a small amount of sugar if the addition of castor oil doesn't work. But the overheating factor is a worry...

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

Castor is great for bubbles!

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist