Teach Soap

Hi,
I made a soap using a recipe that i created on soap calc. The recipe score was 160.
But after I made it, gelled it, cut it, and let it sit for a few weeks, it is hard but I can still make finger dents. So it isn't that hard. What should I do? I am guessing I need to adjust my recipe...but if 160 wasn't a hard bar, what number would be? Does the lye amounts make a difference? The bramble berry calc differed from the soap calc using the same %s below. Oh and I used a silicon mold. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Here is my recipe:
Castor 5%
Cocoa butter 15%
Shea butter 15%
Olive oil 35%
Coconut oil 30%

I am trying to make a hard but moisturizing bar with a good lather.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks! Michelle

30% in butters will make your soap soft and you won't get a good lather. It will be moisturizing and creamy but not bubbly. I would drop those down to 5% each and add the difference to your olive oil. How much did you superfat?

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Haven

Don't know about cocoa butter but shea butter makes soap that is as hard as a brick.
I'd reduce the butters to 10% each, cut the olive oil by 5%, and put 15% palm oil in the recipe.

Hi Haven- Thank you for your response. that helps a LOT. I didnt superfat because i made the recipe several times and it was soft.

I did run some new recipes cutting down the SB and CB but the score was 156. Is that okay? i guess i need to compare the hardness #s.

Hi barquentine,
Thank you for responding . I love the hardness that palm oil gives...but i am really trying to create soaps without it. I recently just started soapmaking, as i wanted to teach my 7 yr old about making homeade gifts...i would feel that using palm oil would counter-act my efforts.

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Haven

I use 15% shea butter in my shea bars and they're nice and hard.

Michelle, you should always do a superfat of at least 5% so that you don't end up with a lye heavy soap.
I agree that reducing the butters to 5% each would be better. I would add the difference to my olive oil amount so the recipe would be:

Olive 55%
Coconut 30%
Shea 5%
Cocoa butter 5%
Castor 5%

Soapcalc shows this as a soft soap, but that because it lists olive as a soft oil, but it actually makes a hard bar. This recipe should give you some bubbles and a good creamy lather, and it will be conditioning. I'd do a 7% superfat.
Hope this helps!

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

Thank you so much- Linda! i am going to try that recipe tomorrow.
I appreciate your response

You're welcome! Let us know how it goes.

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

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Haven

You could add some table salt or sodium lactate to your batch to increase the hardness. You could also give it a very long cure, not that it is fun or easy to do!

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

Thanks! I had just recently read about sodium lactate and was about to give it a try. I have since corrected my recipes with less butters and my soaps seem to be better. However.... I think most of the problem was impatience with a slow cure. Those softer recipes did finally harden. Not super hard...but enough. Now to get them. Tad bit more bubbly.