Teach Soap

I'm looking for a good recipe for a nice moisturizing, hard bar. I am not happy with one of my recipes after having used a couple of the bars a few weeks.

I am okay with the other recipe, aside from it doesn't seem very moisturizing. I'm using a mix of:
olive oil
coconut oil
palm oil
castor oil

I added a bit of vitamin E to the soap after it cooked (hot process) but I may not have used enough of that. It was a 2 pound recipe and 1 tsp of vit E was added.

I would really like to get good enough at this that I could sell them at some point and share my love of soap!

Thans for your time and any help!

How much are you superfatting and how long do you let your soaps cure?

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

The cold process bars cured for over 6 weeks and the hot process cured for two.

I'm doing a 5% super fat.

You use the same oils I do in my recipe but I superfat all my soap at 7% - after a lot of testing, this was what most people prefered. I also keep my coconut oil percentage at 20 because others have said it felt drying when used at a higher percentage. Olive oil is the highest percentage in my recipe.

6 weeks is a good amount of time for CP, but the HP should cure at least 4 weeks because even though you can use it right away, it gets better after curing longer.

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

I agree with Linda. Go with 7% superfat.

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

Here are two I use...palm free

Avovado oil. 1 oz. 4.76%
Castor oil 2 oz. 9.52%
Coconut oil. 8 oz. 38.1%
Olive oil. 8 oz. 38.1%
Shea Butter. 2 oz. 9.52%

163

Hardness. 42. ( 28-54
Cleansing. 26. (12-22)
Conditioning 53. (44-69)
Bubbly. 34 (14-46)
Creamy. 25. (16-48)

Lye solution 33%

Superfat 6%

I also use milks and clay





The second version

Grape seed oil. 2 oz. 9.09%
Castor. 2 oz. 9.09%
Coconut oil. 8 oz. 36.36%
Olive 8 oz. 36.36%
Shea Butter. 2 oz. 9.09%

157

Hardness. 40
Cleansing. 24
Conditioning. 55
Bubbly. 33
Creamy. 24

Lye solution 33%

Superfat 6%

Again I add milks and clays

These are my small fragrance test recipes...I use the percentages in the calculator for my large batches.

Thank you for all the replies!! I will absolutely up the superfat next time and look forward to the results!

And thank you as well for the recipes, It was really helpful! Especially because I had been looking for a palm free recipe.

When you add milk, do you lower the oils? The recipe I followed was already put together by someone and included milk so I was unsure on how to incorporate that into a recipe that does not originally have it in there.

Thanks!!

The milk is calculated as part of your liquid (or water) amount. You don't lower your oils because you are using milk. Anytime you change your recipe, you need to run it again through a lye calculator. IMO Vit E gets eaten up by the lye, so there is no need to add it. You can, however add ROE (rosemary oleoresin extract) to your oils. That acts as an antioxidant.

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

Irena is correct I discount my water by the amount of liquid milk. I also adjust my SF % because rhe fats in the milk will compensate.

I add my milks clays and so forth to my oils...my silk I add to the lye water. The vit E does not survive saponification. The ROE is a good choice and emu oil is also great for skin healing and other properties.

Sorry to get off topic, but I've been wanting to try silk in my soap. Can anyone recommend a good supplier?

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

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

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Silk? Like fabric? You add that into soap after trace? Before? How does that work?

I'm in no way ready to add silk to my soap, but that sounds interesting!!!

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

How much silk would you add per pound? I am curious to try this as well. I like my recipe but it could use a "silkier" feel.

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Haven