Craftedinthewoods

When subbing other liquids for water in a recipe do you use the same amount as the water listing no matter what liquid you use? I don't see in Soapcalc where you can change the liquid. I've been seeing a lot of people use different liquids. Some I'm interested in trying are aloe juice and beer. I've read that beer adds lots of lather. And I would think aloe juice would add softness for skin. I'd love to hear from soapers here what you think about these alternatives.

Top, that was like a jedi answer - nothing definite! This is what I think of that... No, I'm kidding! I know that testing on my own is what will make the biggest difference in what I learn. Can't blame me for trying to get easy answers. :smiley2:

This is defintiely Soaping 101! I really appreciate all this great info for what is behind a great bar of soap. I've joined the quest for the perfect recipe! Nice :rolleyes2 - I wonder if they sell that oil at walmart? I've been washing my hands excessively since making soap (you know, I just can't keep my hands off the stuff) so I have attributed my dry hands to over washing. But I wonder now if I have dry hands because my soap is drying? To experiment with that do I lower the amount of the lauric oils (especially coconut)? But then do you up the amount of oleic or palmitic and create more problems with 'the stuttering glide'? OK - I'm believing you on this one. I'll keep working at it. Ok - so I cheated and used one of my soaps I made a week & a half ago. (I couldn't wait another day!) It's not only with my rebatched castile that I feel the 'stutter'. My first tester contains: 20% coconut 35% lard 40% olive 5%cocoa butter This was my first cp recipe I tried myself and I didn't have palm kernel or castor oil yet. I definitely felt the stutter - and it was a bit drying, too. My next recipes are similar but with pko & castor subbed in at differing rates. (I'm hoping with using some pko instead of all coconut, the drying factor is helped...) From what you said about a certain balance of palmitic & steric, I wonder if I have too much lard (palmitic) and not enough cocoa or shea butters (steric)? Most of the soaps I've made so far have 30 - 35% lard and only 5% cocoa. Adding more butters would lower the oleic oil (possable cause of stuttering) and still offer conditioning, I think. Am I on the right track? I don't want to get discouraged, for pete's sake, but for all the fun I'm having making soap I know I have to find a way to make soap that leaves me smooth or I won't enjoy using them.

Thanks - I'll keep reading and learning.:smiley2:

Well, this batch was definitely a thicker trace. Almost like pudding. And I'm (pretty) sure it was the FO as it was oily feeling and had the smell. I used 1 oz. for the 1 lb. of soap I was doing. Maybe it was just that particular oil? Anyway,.... I do have another question. Do you know what actually causes that 'sticky' feeling after using a bar of soap? (I talked about it in another thread, but I just can't find it.) When I've used store baught soap - I always used Dove - my skin feels smooth after rinsing... not slippery, but my hand swipes over it very smoothly. After using some of my earliest soaps, (they were milled with my mother-in-law and now cured for several weeks) I don't feel that smoothness. My hand does not just swipe across my skin, it 'sticks' and 'stutters'. I don't notice any difference after I'm dry, just while still in the shower. Does anyone else experience this?

Thank you for the answers and subtitutions. I'm not personally against beeswax, so I will just have to get some and give a lotion bar recipe a try. I was just wondering if soy would work because I have it already.

I've seen some interesting things about lotion bars. The recipes I've seen have beeswax in them. Can anyone tell me if I can sub soy wax for the beeswax?

I just had to share, my wonderful husband just stood admiring my curing soaps and listened to me for 15 minutes on all I've learned to date about soap. What a sweetheart! He even is excited to try it. I've made a few more batches of soap. I am particularly excited about a couple shampoo bar recipes. I've molded these recent batches in pvc and they turned out great. Although the top end of the log has a different color and feel than the rest of it. Might this be the ash I've been hearing about? I wonder if the top of the pvc log just didn't keep enough heat and that top 1/2 inch or so didn't gel? After cutting, the bars look wonderful, except that top one. One batch I also experimented with more FO and there was FO hanging around on the top of that log. I assume that is because there was too much FO.

I have a book that has several base recipes (for cold process) and then a ton of milled soap recipes. I'm kind of assuming that is the same as melt and pour. In this book, you are supose to take 12 oz. of soap base of choice, shred it, then melt it with 9 oz. of water and whatever addatives a recipe may call for. I've been doing some reading on line about melt & pour and it doesn't seem to me that any water is ever added. Do you think I can take shaved soap base and simply melt it with only a tablespoon or so of water if needed? (and then, of course, add scent and whatever...)

Just curious if coconut oil falls into this problem as well?

When I've played with numbers in soapcalc, the higher the conditioning number coinsides with a lower the cleansing number. Also, it seems that the lather numbers are not very balanced. The high oleic oils for example will give a higher creamy lather, but low bubbly lather and of course a lower cleansing number. So, using the priciples I'm learning, it seems the soap calc numbers would be very helpful if you don't focus too much on one area, but rather try to find good numbers in each area. One example of this, I plugged in a modified castile recipe I made up. I added coconut oil, lard and castor oil. (I made the recipe using a different lye calc.) Anyway, the numbers of the soap I made show a very low cleansing number, super high conditioning, very low bubbly, med. low creamy, and a low hardness. Yes the conditioning looks good, but I'm very disapointed in the overall numbers for this recipe. And I think the numbers match what I've learned about the oils so far. I can't wait to try the bar and see if the numbers match the actual performance. Right now, I'm actually wondering why anyone wants to use castile soap since it's cleansing properties and lathering qualities are so poor?

What do you mean by the cond. number beckons with better soap? Ok - I gave this a go, but I'm not there yet. I'm afraid I don't see what you mean.

Thank you for answering my silliness! I have just been playing with the numbers and haven't yet 'viewed' a recipe. I've been very interested in plugging in different recipes and watch the soap values change and then adjust them so the numbers improove. Everyone should study that. It's facinating! But then again, I'm a newbie soap 'geek'. I wonder when this romance will wear off?

I think I'll stick to the thermometer for a while but I appreciate hearing your methods. I did this to a small degree the other day by puting my lye pitcher outside (it was mid teens that day) and then melted my oils and by that time, the lye was the right temp. By the 3rd batch I know it only took me 30 to 45 minutes to complete the batch. I know I'll get more proficient with ever batch. Sadly, I just put all my soaping stuff away today. Sitting out on the counter for 1 week is long enough. I can't wait to try soap again! I do believe that once you begin soaping time begins to slow down. Before I never new where the days went. Now, they aren't going by fast enough so I can test my new soap. So my theory is that everyone should soap... it would slow our lives down considerably!

I'm sure I'm really missing something... I decided to play around with the soap calc page (soapcalc.net) and I just can't see where the amount of lye is given for a recipe. I'm sure it is there somewhere! I'm sure I'm going to feel pretty stupid for missing it. I just looked again before posting this but I just don't see it!

Thanks! I can't remember the last time I've been so facinated by anything! I really think I've made all the sample soap I should for now. Once I test a few bars I'll be able to come back and make (or tweek) the ones I like best. ...although - I may continue searching for more shampoo bar recipes. I made one today, but it would be nice to have a couple to compare to each other. Hmmm, maybe the soaping equipment & supplies aren't going to be put away yet...:rolleyes2

Another dumb question... Do you just take the whole bar and use it for that first hand washing and then put it back on the drying rack? I've taken a few slivers to wash my hands with but it is kind of tough to get a good lather with a little sliver (I keep dropping it:rolleyes2) and it ruins my perfect little bars to have a cut taken off of them.

Ungelled soap is creamier but softer... Does it get harder with a longer cure or will it not last as long (i.e. melt away faster in the shower)? So, to not gel soap do you simply not wrap a towel / blanket around it? I'm not soaping with milk or honey (yet:)) so I assume I wouldn't consider puting soap & mold in the fridge, right? I'm not sure yet if I understand gelling enough to know if I want it or not, I'll still wait to look at my soap for now. That way, the soap will do what it will do...

I ended up heating my oils back up to 100 - 105 and put my lye pitcher in hot water to bring it up to temp as well. It all went well. I was soap crazy to day! I made 4 small (1lb.) batches - all cp. I studied some castile recipes on line and created one of my own - adding in some other oils to add lather & hardness, I made a shampoo bar recipe (studying on line and in a book I have and modifying for what I've been learning), and then tried a couple variations of my first recipes using palm kernel flakes. I molded 3 batches in 1 foot long pvc pipes and 1 batch in a cardboard quart milk jug (read about that on line). It is taking all my will power to not go in my spare room and peak at them. I'm forcing my self to wait, wait, wait!:smiley2: After today, I think I'll put my oils and tools away for a few weeks. I'll have enough soap to test and I've neglected the kids enough for a while! It's a good thing social services don't know how soap can affect a person!

Just thought of another question... Can soap get too hot in the molds? How can you tell and what do you do about that?

Ok - so gelling happens if the soap maintains it's heat in the mold? Do I have that right? The first batches I made a few days ago, I kept looking at while they were in the molds. I touched, poked, prodded and generally couldn't keep my hands & eyes off! So I don't even know if they gelled or not. I don't recall seeing the things described, sooo,.... I made soap today and I'm learning that I have no patience for waiting! But I'm going to wait and not open my towels until I fell the heat is gone.

I hope I'm not asking too many questions! (I'm afraid I'm wearing out my welcome.) I decided to post this one in a new thread since it is a new subject. I've been reading several threads about gelling soap. Some like to let it gel, others don't let it gel. What does this mean exactly? I've not found an explaination of this and why it is necesary or not. What is this gel stage, what does it mean in the soap process, why do you think it is good or not good for certain soaps. I've also read something about using pvc pipes as molds and this not letting gelling occur, or somthing. I didn't understand. But I'm going to try pvc as molds so I would like to know. This article I read talked about not insulating the pvc because of gelling and it just didn't make sense to me. Does that mean anything to anyone?

Thanks, Top. I am psyched! Hmmm... I'll have to think about the castor suggestion - I'll explain more further down. Yay, that means I can use my first bar in - 11 more days. Still an eternity! OK - It's very interesting you mention this rtcp procedure. Last night I spent a while reading on line (and a little info on this forum) about that method and I was very intrigued. So I decided to give that method a whirl with the above recipe. I made my lye solution and wieghed out my oils and melted them together last night (so for this time my castor is already mixed in). My thought was then to try it out this morning. But one thing that I've encountered already is my oils, while not solid, are definetly cloudy in my kettle. That must be the higher amount of hard oil like you suggest that doesn't stay clear at room temp? Should I heat everything back up and cp at 100 degrees? Or can I go ahead with my 'experiment'? I just wonder if the cloudy oil will soponify? IF... I go ahead and try in now at room temp and it doesn't seem to work, would turning the heat on low on my stove to jump start the process? So many questions!!!

I wonder if this looks good for a recipe to try with palm kernel... 15% Coconut oil 15% Palm Kernel flakes 30% olive oil 30% lard 5% castor oil 5% cocoa butter Does this look balanced? Also, when do you actually use a new bar of soap? I've tested and played a little with some slivers I've shaved off, but I don't know how long I should really wait.

Why do you have to add a preservative to homemade liquid soap?