Teach Soap

Alright, I made this awesome shaving soap... complete with 2 oils that boost lather. The graph below is for this recipe, it LOOKS perfect! But alas there is no lather at all. Zero. Zip. Ziltch! There is only a hard to wash off slime. Can anyone spot a mistake? It should have come out very nice, theoretically.

tallow 32.5%
olive 32.5%
babassu 10%
coconut 10%
castor 5%
jojoba 5%
pistachio butter 5%

6% super fat
1 tbsp green kaolin clay (total recipe was 50 oz)

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I have only gotten a slimy feel with high amounts of olive oil when it hasn't had a good, really long cure but your olive oil amount isn't that high at all. I have never used tallow before. Could it be a combination between the olive and tallow making up most of the recipe?

Not sure, tallow is supposed to be like lard, super lathering and makes the bar nice and hard. All of my recipes have the 32.5% olive and are fine, nice fluffy lather.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I'm no help, but wanted to complain about mine as well! Mine has less lather than yours, 3.3, but more stable lather 7.6. But where any lather really is I don't know Others have suggested a quite high stearic % which mine was, over 20 from memory, but I feel like throwing it out. I tried to make some lather with my hands and a shaving brush, but nothing.

castor 22%
cocoa butter 20%
shea butter 20%
coconut oil 10%
palm oil 10%
olive 10%
stearic acid 8%

Loretta

Same, no lather at all. I suspect I will bin the batch, but I want to know where I went wrong too.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Heather here is my two cents which is worth exactly that...but this popped out at me.

1. Bar hardness a bit high
2. The moisturizing vs SF vs Lather.

It probably feels slimey because of the great oils being superfatted
....that sorta counteracts your lather in my opinion.

For a shaving soap I use a middle of the range hardness and moisturizing but jack up the lather and creamy properties. Also I prefer bentonite clay as my personal choice. I also add ground oats to it...that also helps moisturize.

I have a couple basic recipes that I modify for my own tastes if you want to try em out. Just yell and I will post them.

Could you PM me a basic shaving recipe that works? Want one for my hubby for Christmas. Thanks!!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Heather this one my hubby likes.....

Here are your numbers...they are the same for either variation

169

Hardness. 48 (29-54)
Cleansing 22 (12-22)
Conditioning 47 (44-69)
Bubbly 22 (14-46)
Creamy 26 (16-48)
Iodine 50 (41-70)


15.84 oz CO. 33%
15.36 oz OO. 32%
15.84 oz Palm 33%
.96 oz Avocado Oil. 2%

2 tsps of bentonite clay 2 tsps powdered oats. 2 oz EO/FO

Version 2

33% CO
30% OO
33% PO
2% Avocado
2% Apricot Kernel Oil

Same additives

Give one of those a try...it is versatile enough to swap out the avocado and or apricot easily.

Ohh thanks! Will try the second one, with sweet almond and jojoba! Much appreciated!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

You are very welcome....they are only 5% superfat.

Heather, I just revamped my shaving soap and my husband loves it.

OO 14.9 oz (59.5%)
CO 6.1 oz (24.3%)
Castor 2.7 oz (10.8%)
Cocoa Butter 1.4 oz (5.4%)
1 T white kaolin clay
0.8 oz glycerin

I superfat it at 7%. Not bubbly type lather but nice creamy, stable lather. The OO is only 59.5% of oils so it's not slimey and doesn't take forever to cure. Glycerin gives it a lather boost too.

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Linda

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