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Can you critique this CP recipe for me, please?


daniedb

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I want to try my first batch tonight, so I'm looking for some input before today is over!

40% 76 deg coconut

20% SAO

20% Olive Oil

10% castor

10% shea butter

I know it's a lot of shea, but the sooz numbers are faboo! If cut back on the shea, all the good numbers go down - I'd love some feedback, like I mentioned, I'm going to try tonight, so I want some opinions!

Plus, if I use a plastic kitty litter pan, do I need to line with freezer paper? THANKS!

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I say go for it..that IS a high percentage of shea, but you may just adore the kind of bar you get from it...I've been super shea-ing stuff lately LOL, and I am finding the result to be just lovely. My guess is that you will have a super creamy/silky lather.

I'd put a liner in that litter box...you will be so glad you did when it comes time to take your soap out to cut it! It's a pita to cut freezer paper so that it fits beautifully in the box, but once you've done it a few times it's less annoying, and again, you'll be thankful you did~ trust me!

Have fun, and gooooooood luck!!

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Allrighty then, I'm going for it! I do realize the shea is on the high side, but Purple Lilac sent me a shea bar that had like 50% shea in it, and it's AMAZING - rock hard and beautiful. I know I'm bucking CT wisdom by adding more than 5%, but I figure, hey, I've got 25 pounds, so I can spare a little for a test batch, right?!

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Sorry to hijack here but since you are talking about shea I had a question about the bar you got from purple lilac. Does shea hinder lathering in a soap bar? I bought a bar from a local soap maker and it has shea in it and it lathers slightly well on a washcloth but not in my hands. I bought another bar from the same maker and it lathered great both ways and didn't have the shea? How is your bar?

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TexasBrat, the bar gets great lather. It's not dripping with bubbles, but it's not at all a challenge to work up a froth, KWIM? It's just an all-around AMAZING bar of soap, seriously. I don't think I'll ever be able to make one as nice.

Bunny, good point about the coconut. I forgot about the drying factor. The only reason I chose coconut is that since I'm not a soaper, I don't have any hard oils on hand, just butters and soft oils. Since you can buy coconut at the store, I was going that way. However, I can certainly pick up some shortening and use that instead, I suppose. I'll run some new numbers.

Okay, I ran new numbers, and with 20% crisco and 20% coconut, it's UGLY. I may try with just the coconut, just to see, especially since it's my first batch, and then see how it works, if it's drying.

Will it be obvious if it's drying to the skin? Like, immediately my skin will feel dry? I know it's a dumb question, just never had it happen.

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Give it a try with the high coconut, it might be OK w/ the other oils.

I'm sensitive to both coconut and shea, probably the high stearic acid content, maybe the unsaponifiables in the shea, dunno. If it does bother you, you'll feel a kind of "tightness" to your skin, and a little bit of an itch. Kind of a mild creepy-crawly kind of feeling. At least that's how I describe the feeling.

But sometimes high coconut doesn't do that. For example, the salt bars that people make, they have extremely high coconut because they need it to overcome the salt killing the lather - coconut soap is one that will lather well in salt water. Salt bars don't give me the same feeling that regular soap with high coconut do.

Also, some people say that some calculators out there have a too high SAP value for coconut, and that's the real reason for the "drying" sensation. Keep your lye discount around 5%, or maybe 6%, if you find your first batch too "drying"

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I regularly use that much shea or cocoa butter with no problems. Love it. You may want to add sugar to your batch too. I use 1tbs PPO. What I do is take out some of the water that will be used with the lye and dissolve the sugar in it. Just 1/4-1/2 cup or so. Then when I dump in the lye water I add the sugar water. Helps with lather/bubbles, so will the castor you have in there too. With that much coconut you should have a hard bar. I would try it with the high coconut and see what you get. I really do like shortening/lard in my bars though. Good luck

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You guys are so incredibly helpful, I would NEVER have been thinking of trying this if I didn't have your expertise. Awesome information. I went to the store and went ahead and picked up a tub of shortening, too - so I think my first batch will be just the coconut, then I'll do a second batch of 20 coconut/20 shortening.

I'm so excited! I have to wait until the H-bomb is asleep tonight to try it, but I'm so weird, I even had a dream about it last night, I'm so pumped up about trying something new.

Off to rerererererereread Robin's tutorial, and Purple Lilac's directions she emailed me......

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