Concocted a new recipe or two, whattya think?

[WanderlustSoaps]

Tried a couple new recipes out this past weekend, wanted to see what yall thought of them.  The acne one seems to have a lot in it (not quite the kitchen sink but close) but I wanted specific things from specific ingredients, I hope in a month it is as good as it looks on paper.  The other is what I am hoping will be a base recipe for me.

 

This recipe took a lot of planning to get everything added at just the right time but overall turned out just the way I wanted it to, well for now, time will tell.  Since I knew it would turn black from the charcoal I figured it gave me a chance to start playing with design a little, so I set aside a small portion without the charcoal so it would stay white and then I could attempt a marblish look.

 

Acne Brine Bar
29%    Coconut Oil, 76 deg
22%    Soybean Oil
19%    Olive Oil
19%    Safflower Oil, High Oleic
3%    Grapeseed Oil
7%    Castor Oil

0.50 Oz Tea Tree Oil        
0.25 Oz Lavender Oil

1 Tbsp Fine Ground Activated Charcoal (added to oils)        
1 Tbsp Fine Ground Sea Salt (dissolved in lye solution)

Substitute 15 - 20% of the water with Witch Hazel.

 

This is what I hope is going to be one of  my base recipes.  I left it uncolored and only added a small portion of EO for scent, seems pretty good after the colossal fail that I wrote about in my other post.  Through soapsheet and soapcalc this looks pretty good to me.  Bubbly lather    29,  Cleansing    22,  Conditioning    56,  Creamy lather    24,  Hardness    40.

 

Baseic Soap

21%    Coconut Oil, 76 deg
47%    Shortening (veg.)
25%    Olive Oil
8%    Castor Oil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trappeur]

Beautiful!  So what is the scent?  Sea salt and  lavender?

 

Trappeur

[WanderlustSoaps]

The brine bar is tea tree and lavender, smells absolutely amazing so far.  The baseic bar is very light lavender.  They are curing in my laundry room, and since the weather has been so fair recently the window is wide open and the whole room still smells so fantastic, I found myself down there reading today just to sit and smell it.

[Sponiebr]

Those are nice looking bars! My only thoughts would be to be careful about the witch hazel, because alcohol can accelerate the trace and give you a bad case of soap on a stick blender.  I don't know how big your batch was but I think you'll find that just a smidge of charcoal (powdered) will carry you a very LONG way. You don't want the charcoal to end up coming out in the lather. If the charcoal bar ends up being too drying for you, you might dial back the coconut oil and bump up the olive oil, maybe something more in line with your basic formula. Looks really good though dude! 

[Moonstar]

love lavender soap ! the soaps look awesome  On the shortening - do you Crisco that has tallow in the ingredients ? 

[WanderlustSoaps]

1 hour ago, Sponiebr said:

Those are nice looking bars! My only thoughts would be to be careful about the witch hazel, because alcohol can accelerate the trace and give you a bad case of soap on a stick blender.  I don't know how big your batch was but I think you'll find that just a smidge of charcoal (powdered) will carry you a very LONG way. You don't want the charcoal to end up coming out in the lather. If the charcoal bar ends up being too drying for you, you might dial back the coconut oil and bump up the olive oil, maybe something more in line with your basic formula. Looks really good though dude! 

 

Sponie, Thanks for the kind words, for my first "artistic bars" I am pretty happy.  I love the anti-embossed top and will play with that more.  I am worried about both the things you brought up, I tried to do plenty of research first but in a month I will know for sure.  I knew the witch hazel would speed trace but damn it was fast, I got the blender out in time but by the end of the "pour" I was definitely scooping it out.  The charcoal seems on par with the dozen or so other recipes I found, this batch was about 2.5 lbs total weight.

 

1 hour ago, Moonstar said:

love lavender soap ! the soaps look awesome  On the shortening - do you Crisco that has tallow in the ingredients ? 

 

This was actually the GV all Vegetable shortening, i think eventually in a few years if I open a business I am gonna go all animal free oils and eventually probably intend on getting away from this shortening as well due to the palm oil in it, just not sure what I will swap in yet, maybe the mango butter.

Edited October 19, 2016 by WanderlustSoaps
cause I cant spell.

[Sponiebr]

2 hours ago, WanderlustSoaps said:

 

Sponie, Thanks for the kind words, for my first "artistic bars" I am pretty happy.  I love the anti-embossed top and will play with that more.  I am worried about both the things you brought up, I tried to do plenty of research first but in a month I will know for sure.  I knew the witch hazel would speed trace but damn it was fast, I got the blender out in time but by the end of the "pour" I was definitely scooping it out.  The charcoal seems on par with the dozen or so other recipes I found, this batch was about 2.5 lbs total weight.

 

YEah the charcoal, isn't going to hurt anything it just might stain a washcloth or some grouting if there is too much. For what it's worth I've put a TBLSP of bronze mica in a batch (normal dark coloring would be around 1/4 tsp.) and the soap turned out usable. It was really just a note for your future reference to maybe help save you a little product. 

 

The TRACE though... Oh boy. Sounds like you had a NPE... (near pinetar experience) NPE's are never a pleasant thing to have lived through. I feel your pain man... I was wondering what the little white flecks were, and now we know how they happened  

 

I don't know this for a fact, because I haven't tried it or actually ever hear of anyone trying it, but if you can find hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) bark and twigs either from a herbal supply or in your woods, you could brew your own and use that without the alcohol and see if that behaves more reasonably. Alternatively you might be able to find a concentrated tincture of witch hazel and add that to your soap. Some companies that offer alcohol based tinctures and extracts also offer some in a glycerin base for children and hepatically compromised users. When I was over in East Europe witch hazel could be bought in little compressed wafers that looked like Pu-Ehr tea cakes to add to a sitz bath, but there was NO WHERE that you could find a witch hazel tonic like we have here in the States. You can get the dried bark and leaf from Mountain Rose Herbs (I just LOVE those guys, even if they are a tad pricey! ) https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search?page=1&q=witch&utf8=✓   You can also get alcohol free witch hazel products already prepared, Thayers makes several https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/thayers-alcohol-free-witch-hazel-with-organic-aloe-vera-formula-toner-lavender/ID=prod6161180-product   

 

Anyway dude awesome job, sounds like an awesome save as well! Keep on do'n yer thang! 

 

Slainte,

 

Sponie the Executor of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Ideas and Sundry Services. 

[Shari]

Those turned out lovely.   The only thing that jumped out at me is too much CO for a facial bar. It would strip too much oil from the skin which causes more oil production.  I only use 10%.  Charcoal is great in soap.   You want a soap that will clean but not strip all the natural oils.  Nice job!

[TallTayl]

Since get the witch hazel, alcohol free, from essential wholesale  

 

like Shari I avoid coconut and try to avoid comedogenic oils in facial soap.

 

Hope you love using BOTH of them! You're really coming along with your soap making.

[WanderlustSoaps]

7 hours ago, Shari said:

Those turned out lovely.   The only thing that jumped out at me is too much CO for a facial bar. It would strip too much oil from the skin which causes more oil production.  I only use 10%.  Charcoal is great in soap.   You want a soap that will clean but not strip all the natural oils.  Nice job!

 

Thank You for the kind comments, the CO was a concern for me but I was using it to try and offset some of the softer oils, I needed hardness and bubbly lather, have not found a good substitute yet, but I am working on it.

 

5 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Since get the witch hazel, alcohol free, from essential wholesale  

like Shari I avoid coconut and try to avoid comedogenic oils in facial soap.

 

Hope you love using BOTH of them! You're really coming along with your soap making.

 

I could not source alcohol free locally but I wanted to incorporate it so I was able to find a low alcohol version at an apothocary store nearby that is only 4% alcohol, still a pain to work with but I think it was a combination of all three the witch hazel, charcoal, and salt.  Ill report in a month how they do it application, but man, Im itchin to try them out, I think my lack of patience will be the real test of me succeeding as a soaper or not lol.

 

I had to google what a comedogenic oil was, now I know and will add that to my arsenal of things to look for when creating facial bars.  So much to learn about this "hobby".

[Sponiebr]

 

 

On 10/19/2016 at 9:29 AM, TallTayl said:

Since get the witch hazel, alcohol free, from essential wholesale  

 

like Shari I avoid coconut and try to avoid comedogenic oils in facial soap.

 

Hope you love using BOTH of them! You're really coming along with your soap making.

 

Weeeeaaaalll.... TT has a point about comedogenic fats... But, (oh there is a but, there is always a but) generally speaking these oils are only comedone forming when used as a stand alone oil or as an emollient and these fats do not cause zits when turned into CP soap. Most of the problems in using CO in facial soaps is that even when superfated to 20% it is extremely drying to the skin. Having said that, these oils CAN be comedone forming when used as a "specific" and high super fat in a HP soap. I think the upshot of what I'm getting at is don't sweat comedone ratings for oils that you are intending to use in soap making just yet. I'm only talking about soap here and not any of the other B&B schtuffs. You know then there is the whole everybody's different thing where "X" causes acne in Subject 0 but does not affect Mr. Dude, and what affects Mr. Dude does nothing to Subject 0. Your mileage WILL vary.  

 

On 10/19/2016 at 2:34 PM, WanderlustSoaps said:

 

Thank You for the kind comments, the CO was a concern for me but I was using it to try and offset some of the softer oils, I needed hardness and bubbly lather, have not found a good substitute yet, but I am working on it.

 

 

I could not source alcohol free locally but I wanted to incorporate it so I was able to find a low alcohol version at an apothocary store nearby that is only 4% alcohol, still a pain to work with but I think it was a combination of all three the witch hazel, charcoal, and salt.  Ill report in a month how they do it application, but man, Im itchin to try them out, I think my lack of patience will be the real test of me succeeding as a soaper or not lol.

 

I had to google what a comedogenic oil was, now I know and will add that to my arsenal of things to look for when creating facial bars.  So much to learn about this "hobby".

 

Just for your future reference (way down the line future reference bubba...) here's a site I use to look up comedone ratings for oils. https://www.beneficialbotanicals.com/facts-figures/comedogenic-rating.html

Interestingly enough, it seems that any oil which would normally lend itself to being an excellent emollient becomes very drying when turned into a soap. CO is so very frequently used in B&B products as an emollient as is shea butter, but when either of these is turned into a soap they are very aggressive soaps and generally very drying to the skin. 

 

Well, back to my bad idea management... -Sponie 

[TallTayl]

" Weeeeaaaalll.... TT has a point about comedogenic fats... But, (oh there is a but, there is always a but) generally speaking these oils are only comedone forming when used as a stand alone oil or as an emollient and these fats do not cause zits when turned into CP soap.  "

 

Not necessarily, SPonie... Several people I know develop serious bacne when using any soap made with cocoa butter ( commony considered comedogenic .... Same formula soap with no CB, no problem.

 

Remember too, that when you superfat many free oils are still unsaponified in the soap. Nobody knows without a lab analysis which oils and in which proportions those oils are free... and soap changes over time, switching atoms so what was once superfat may later not be and vice versa. (I need to find that scientific article that describes the process)

[puma52]

WanderlustSoaps....those soaps look awesome. That marble effect looks fantastic and love the color and design of the other. Great job!