PattyZB

You can use them, but they won't work any better than cheaper oils for soaping.

The main problem with your recipe is too much lauric oil (the kind that produces bubbly soap). Coconut and babassu are almost the same, plus PKO is in the same category. That's a total of 50% lauric oils, which is pretty drying in most recipes. Normally anything over 30% is pushing it.

Apart from the castor, the rest of your recipe is 45% oleic oils. Oleic oils are what you want for the soft (liquid oil) portion of your recipes, but you could use olive oil more economically. 45% is also pretty high.

What you're missing is a hard non-lauric base oil. That could be palm oil, lard or beef tallow. Along with olive oil, you can use those harder oils to balance out your soap. You could splurge and use a little of your shea butter as a hard oil too. The shea would be especially beneficial if you're making a veggie soap with palm oil. The animal fats don't need it as much.

Just to get you started, maybe something like 20-30% lauric oils (coconut, pko, and maybe babassu if you have no other use for it), 20-30% oleic oils (olive or other), with the remainder being hard oils from the preceding paragraph and maybe a little castor oil if you like.

THANK YOU! That's exactly what I was looking for!! :)

So basically most of the oils I bought I can't really even use for soaping. Great...I should have just stuck with the coconut oil, lard/shortening and olive oil. Thanks!

So months ago I bought lye from a very generous crafter...I later joined in on a co-op to get some oils...now I'm trying to figure out what to do with them.

I have -

Palm Kernel Flakes

Beeswax

Shea Butter

Babassu Oil

Apricot Oil

Avocado Oil

Caster Oil

I used a soap calc to come up with the following:

Avocado Oil 20%

Babassu Oil 15%

Castor Oil 5%

Coconut Oil, 76 deg 20%

Olive Oil 25%

Palm Kernel Oil/Flakes 15%

I'd have to get some Coconut Oil as well as Olive Oil. I was trying to balance out the numbers and cleansing still comes out kinda high.

Hardness 29 - 54 48

Cleansing 12 - 22 33

Conditioning44 - 69 46

Bubbly 14 - 46 38

Creamy 16 - 48 19

Iodine 41 - 70 50

INS 136 - 165 164

Any suggestions from the more experienced soapers out there?

Up until now I've used log molds lined with wax paper for my CP soaps. I bought some silicon molds to use with my M&P soaps and I'm curious if I can use them for my CP as well. Anyone have any experience in this area? I have oils enroute so I'm plotting.

Did it absorb anymore?

Same here with 2 lb batches...I'm sad that I don't have more of the good ones but I'm thankful that the bad ones were on the small side. lol

@Miadrianel Candles - as long as you plug everything into a soaping calculator to find out how much lye and water you need you should be fine.

I used to work for a water company, so I can see several problems with using tap water.

Most water companies have multiple wells. Each well could have water that has very different mineral contents.

Water companies will often buy water from the next town over, during peak periods, if their own wells and tanks can't keep up with demand.

Many water companies treat their water with lime, which could throw off your PH. Not to mention chlorine, fluoride and who knows what else that they add.

A lot of companies try to filter out certain minerals. How much of which minerals they filter out can vary from day to day... even hour to hour.

All these things could cause different results from the same recipe. So what works today might not work tomorrow.:rolleyes2

That's good information to know! I've yet to have a problem with my filtered/well water though I also have my rain barrel outside that I can use for soaping as well. I wonder which would be better - filtered well or rain.

@thecandlespastore - I didn't use any fragrance and the soap is pure white! It's really creamy too with only a slight scent from the tea leaves. Once I get more oils I can't wait to try another batch with some coconut FO like you mentioned!

No prob Dust. . .i learned as well. lol

I'm guessing i've never had issues using tap water because we have well water with a filter.

Kinda like when your cat goes running through the kitchen, slips and slams into the fridge. Then it gets up and struts off like "I meant to do that".

My hubby's cat used to get stuck in plastic bags after we'd unload from a shopping trip...he's run around like a freak then once he was out of the bag do a strut like that. lol

I wasn't sure if soaps would burn you if you used them too soon. I had a hunch, though.

As to the ice thing, I kinda need to figure out if it can be done with no refrigeration at all. I can't freeze the milk.

I read somewhere on here about people adding milk at trace so I'm thinking that may not require you to freeze the milk.

I like that....they're not a 'mistake' they're 'unique'.

Stupid question: If you were trying to do this and you didn't have any ice, could you just add the lye more slowly? Could you just have your container of coconut milk in a sink with tap water?

I read somewhere about having the glass container with the milk in a sinkful of ice as you pour the lye in. I just mixed the water in then added the frozen millk.

Stoopid question #2 & #3: How long does it take for this concoction to solidify enough to demold and what happens if you try to use the stuff before it cures?

I actually was able to unmold it the next day and it's been a week almost and it's drying nicely. Not sure about using it too soon...I'm guessing you'd get the typical burns associated with using any soap too soon?

Anyone else have any insight?

Whoo hoo! I think I may just put that on my blog to promote handmade soaps!

This is my fan page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Allentown-PA/The-Artful-Mommy/61778588390?ref=ts

I never got as far as a group page though.

Just had a thought.... champagne soap for New Year's!

I've heard of beer so this could work...with a little strawberry FO and maybe strawberry puree?

I just learned about them on this thread so I missed the co-op as well. Too late to get for the holidays I suppose since CP wouldn't be ready in time if I cured it for 8 weeks.

I did pumpkin and it smelled great. A friend said she showed someone the ingredients list and they said it sounded more like a snack with pumpkin, honey and brown sugar. lol

Tomatoes. . .have to remember that one.

Breast Milk...um...I still think people selling it on ebay is odd so to go to buy soap and it's in there....ewww. Just don't go there.

Oh pretty!

Very true! My one friend commented on my soap and the ingredients "Pumpkin - how does that clean you?" I told her all the stuff about enzymes and antioxidants (research online) and that basically it doesn't matter what kind of soap you use - as long as you use it and wash properly like we were taught - sing twinkle twinkle little star. lol

I'm still amazed at how many people DON'T wash hands...especially now! I have 3 friends whose kids have been diagnosed with Swine Flu!

Isn't that the truth .

I wish I could get my hands on the study again .They closed that unit of the hospital and moved everything to another hospital , now no one knows where that binder is .

I found the following on this websitehttp://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/News/Clean-hands-for-better-health.aspx?articleID=10432&categoryID=news-poh4

Liquid, foaming, and bar soap are all effective for cleaning your hands, if used properly. The type of soap is not as important as the right technique. It is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps loosen and remove germs from your skin. The running water washes them away.

Antibacterial soap isn't necessary, and may actually be harmful. A review of 13 studies found that the antibacterial soap that is sold to consumers is no better than ordinary soap at getting rid of bacteria on the hands, nor is it better at preventing illness.

“As long as you’re washing your hands properly, antibacterial soap isn’t going to work any better than regular soap,” says Streitenberger.

Furthermore, some studies in the lab have suggested that antibacterial soap could actually be helping to create drug-resistant bacteria. So until we know for sure, stick with ordinary soap – just be sure to keep it clean.

I know...it's just not as perfect looking. I'm always my first critic. On the positive side a friend of mine who tried my one sample LOVED it. Happy Dance:yay:

There was a study I read at work that showed when people washed their hands PROPERLY with soap , it got rid of more germs and bacteria than hand sanitizer.

Another good reason to use handmade soap:)

Now THAT is marketing we can use!

cut into a new batch of soap, looked at the bars and realized you cut the wrong way? I sliced my new batch like a loaf of bread when I really should have cut in half lenghwise THEN cut across so rather than skinny long bars I'd have square shaped ones.

UGH. Maybe i can cut the current bars in half and then package them the way I had wanted to cut them so customers still get 4oz but it's more square shaped...even though the 'squares' would be cut in half. Grrr

At least when i cut the other batch i did it the way i had wanted to.

I'm so jealous! I ran out of oils! Grrrrr. I did make 2 batches this week but I want to try this method now!!!!

Okay, that makes me feel better, and means i don't have to limit my soaps to the shower.

ty