How to build a soap recipe!!!

[Bunny]

How to build a soap recipe - Part Uno

Please note, this is only a general get started guideline. Some awfully strange recipes make fantastic bars of soap, and you’ll never know unless you try it!

For soapmaking instructions and precautions, please see Robin’s CP tutorial. I’m going to assume you’ve printed it out, and read it forward, backwards, and can recite it in your sleep.

Ok, many bars are comprised of 50% hard oils and 50% soft oils. There are many variations, but we’re keeping around here for simplicities sake in teaching. Yes, I know if you soap with 20% hard oils you can still get a good bar and vice versa.

Cleansing: Coconut Oil, Palm Kernal Oil, Babassu Oil

Soft Oils: Sweet Almond, Apricot Kernal, Avocado, Castor, Hazelnut, Hemp, Meadowfoam, Olive, Passion Fruit, Rice Bran, Soybean, Walnut, Wheat Germ

Hard Oils: Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Kokum Butter, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernal Oil, Lard, Tallow

We’ll start out with the hard oils. You know you want a cleansing bar, and the cleansing oils just happen to be hard oils. More than 15% coconut may dry your skin and be itchy, and more than 20% palm kernel oil may do the same. (I’m not to familiar with the babassu) Now, these are very inexpensive oils, so you want to use the max possible without getting dry skin, and for maximum bubbleage. (I like that word, bubbleage.)

Once you have your cleansing percentages figured out, add them up and see how much you have left out of the 50%.

Like this:

15% Palm Kernal

+15% Coconut

-----

30 % So, I have 20% more to fill in hard oils.

Please note that most butters don’t need to be used at more than 5%, more is usually.

We’re going to throw in some palm as it makes a nice hard bar, resists melting in the tub, and can take the soap into trace sooner. Lets say 15%, as it’s an inexpensive oil too. If you don’t have any palm, or prefer it, use lard.. It makes an awesome bar of soap! It also slows tracing time if you feel you may want extra time for that swirl!

So, we have the 30% from above, plus the 15%, which totals 45%. Time to pick a butter for some label appeal! This one is personal preference. I’ll say cocoa for this one.

Here’s the total breakdown we have so far:

15% Palm Kernal

15% Coconut

15% Palm or Lard

+5% Cocoa Butter

-------

50% total hard oils

Ok, now to the soft oils. What oil tickles your fancy? You know as well as cleansing bar, you want to feel soft once you're out of the tub. Anything that just sounds like it feels good? I think avocado sounds good, and apricot kernel sounds pretty cool too. So, we’ll use 10% of each of those to keep the expense down, while imparting wonderful conditioning. You can use more as your wallet allows and as you experiment. Feel free to plug in any of the above oils in the soft oils category, as all the ones I choose to list are highly conditioning.

Here’s where we are with the soft oils:

10% Avacado

10% Apricot Kernal

+10% Sweet Almond

--------

30% total soft oils

Now, we’re going to add the rest in olive or rice bran oil, as then are nice an inexpensive, but don’t let the price fool you, these are wonderful oils!

10% Avacado

10% Apricot Kernal

10% Sweet Almond

+ 20% Olive

---------

50% total soft oils

Now, we add this to the above hard oils and it’s going to look like this:

15% Palm Kernal

15% Coconut

15% Palm or Lard

5% Cocoa Butter

10% Avacado

10% Apricot Kernal

10% Sweet Almond

+ 20% Olive

------------

100% and a kick bootie bar of soap.

Next lesson, how to use sooz! (Ok Robin, feel free to take over anytime here..lol)

Please note, I didn’t list all the available oils or butters, I just choose the most common ones I have seen used in soaping. This is just a very basic instruction, none of this is set in stone. Be creative, play with percentages, and have fun! Please ask questions if you have them! And get the soaping pot out!

[Carrie]

Hey Bunny, that was very informative. I wish I'd seen someone spell it out like that before. I'm printing it and will put it in the from of my soap notebook.

One question. What happens when you add higher percentages of butters? Like say 25% of Cocoa butter. I want a soap that is unscented but still smells scented. I was thinking about the undeoderized cocoa butter 25% and coconut milk as 1/2 of the water. Are there any special things I need to do when using higher percentages of butters? Also, wouldn't this help to make a really hard bar or would it crumble?

[RobinInOR]

You can make some really nice soaps with high %s of butters, but I've found it kills the lather in my recipe. I don't go over 10% butter when I do use them. But you'll only know if you try it - each formula is different - the mix of oils is really synergistic..

[Melly]

Thank you for posting that bunny, it's a great help. I was always under the impression that Hard Oils were the ones that remained solid at room temp, and soft oils were in liquid form. I see soybean oil as a soft oil, does hydroginating it to make it solid at room temp change this?

[eugenia]

I see soybean oil as a soft oil, does hydroginating it to make it solid at room temp change this?

Yes and they have different SAP values too.

e

[Suzanne]

Thank you Bunny!! Amazing! I started making cp soap this year and it's overwhelming the amount of info you have to take in and weed through to figure it out and understand it. Expecially with so many oils available. The way you have it broke down like this helps the understanding much better.

[Sara]

Awesome instructions, Bunny, thank you for posting these. Great base to start tinkering with. I'm one who keeps my butters at 5% too.

[Bunny]

I would up the soft oils very much, as cocoa butter in soap can make it brittle at these percentages. Give it a shot, it may be your best bar yet!

And as to the soybean, I was referring to regular soybean oil, not the hydrogonated. Not sure where the hydrognated would come in, maybe in place or with the palm oil?

I know I kept it super simple, please remember, it's a starting point, not an ending point. HTH!

Hey Bunny, that was very informative. I wish I'd seen someone spell it out like that before. I'm printing it and will put it in the from of my soap notebook.

One question. What happens when you add higher percentages of butters? Like say 25% of Cocoa butter. I want a soap that is unscented but still smells scented. I was thinking about the undeoderized cocoa butter 25% and coconut milk as 1/2 of the water. Are there any special things I need to do when using higher percentages of butters? Also, wouldn't this help to make a really hard bar or would it crumble?

[diamondk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melly

I see soybean oil as a soft oil, does hydroginating it to make it solid at room temp change this?

Yes and they have different SAP values too.

e

hey e or anyone, please explain the difference in the following:

Soybean Oil has a SAP Value: .135/.189 (BCN)

Soybean Oil (hydrogenated) Sap Value: 190mg KOH/g of fat (MMS)

TIA

[RobinInOR]

Bunny's main post is now in the Soapmaking FAQ section - thanks Bunny for allowing us to add it there We'll keep this thread open for any detail questions you might have..

[Bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melly

I see soybean oil as a soft oil, does hydroginating it to make it solid at room temp change this?

hey e or anyone, please explain the difference in the following:

Soybean Oil has a SAP Value: .135/.189 (BCN)

Soybean Oil (hydrogenated) Sap Value: 190mg KOH/g of fat (MMS)

TIA

I can tell you that straight soybean oil is 12 points higher in conditioning value on sooz.. Which can make a major difference in the finished bar...

The soybean also requires a touch less of lye to saponify than the hydrognated soybean. That's what the sap numbers are all about...

[elle110]

Ok looking at your instructions to build a recipe makes sense to me. Now I am hung-on how to check a recipe I currently am using to see what the percentages are

Here it is:

Coconut Oil 16oz

Veg. Shortening 42oz

Olive Oil 27 oz

Palm Oil 11oz

and then I either superfat with shea, olive or mango butter at trace 2oz

I have had a lot of success wth this recipe but is there any revision I should make to make it better? etc

Michelle

[diamondk]

I can tell you that straight soybean oil is 12 points higher in conditioning value on sooz.. Which can make a major difference in the finished bar...

The soybean also requires a touch less of lye to saponify than the hydrognated soybean. That's what the sap numbers are all about...

If you use the soybean oil hydrogenated what do you use on the sooz? I am getting confused again. What do you use on the sooz if you use soy shortening? TIA

[Bunny]

Ok looking at your instructions to build a recipe makes sense to me. Now I am hung-on how to check a recipe I currently am using to see what the percentages are

Here it is:

Coconut Oil 16oz

Veg. Shortening 42oz

Olive Oil 27 oz

Palm Oil 11oz

and then I either superfat with shea, olive or mango butter at trace 2oz

I have had a lot of success wth this recipe but is there any revision I should make to make it better? etc

Michelle

Are you doing CP or HP?

[Bunny]

If you use the soybean oil hydrogenated what do you use on the sooz? I am getting confused again. What do you use on the sooz if you use soy shortening? TIA

I used crisco, as it differ's in regions of the country as what it's make of, but just about the same sap wise. In some parts of the country it's pure hydro soybean, and it others it's a blend of the hydro cotton seed and hydro soybean.

I have never seen soy shortening on a lye calc, I would get the sap numbers and run it manually. (And I don't know how to do that, so me, I just wouldn't, my math is way too flaky).

[diamondk]

Thanks Bunny, I have been working with the sooz since I ask the question. I am using the soybean oil (hydrogenated) from MMS and according to them it is soybean oil used as a filler. That is if I read it right.

[Michi]

WOW, this really makes it seem easier (less daunting) spelled out like that Bunny thank you sooo much!!

I'm still in the reading and and reading and reading stage of CP, but I did go out and purchase some oils, and seeing how you put them together makes it easier for my simple mind to know which other ones I should still purchase.

*Note- I'm not really stupid, but I have sooo many things going lately, that nothing seems to STAY in my brain, it just feels like brain mush lately. LOL

Between this and Robin's tutorial I think I'll manage to turn out some CP soap in the next month or so.

[RobinInOR]

Hydrogenation of an oil supposedly doesn't change it's saponification number, so just use the entry for the more prevelant oil if it happens to be a blend.

[elle110]

Bunny

I am doing CP

Michelle

[elle110]

by the way what is sooz

[RobinInOR]

It's the calculator located at http://soapcalc.com/calc/SoapCalc.asp

I've started a FAQ on how to use it at http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?p=32288

[Landa]

This was just what I needed. Thanks,Bunny.

[mysticglow]

One more question on soybean oil. I found soybean oil at Sam's Club, it said on the label '100% fully refined soybean oil'. Is this the same liquid soy that you buy from the soap suppliers? It was a 35lb. container very cheap.

[Ange]

Bunny YOU ROCK girl!

[eugenia]

One more question on soybean oil. I found soybean oil at Sam's Club, it said on the label '100% fully refined soybean oil'. Is this the same liquid soy that you buy from the soap suppliers? It was a 35lb. container very cheap.

Yes, the same.

e