Please help me w/ CP recipe

[ilovescents]

Hello CP veterans. I have been using the same recipe for my CPHP soap but I have castor oil that I'd like to add that also. Could someone please give me the exact recipe for a 4 lb batch since I don't know how to use the soap calculator. I'd rather just make soap from a recipe if you know what I mean. Okay, so here goes the ingredients I have.

Coconut oil

Soybean oil

Olive oil

Canola oil

Castor oil

Shea Butter

Lye

Purified water

My CPHP soaps from my original recipe have lots of lather and my skin allergies have completely disappeared since I started my own soaps. Amazing! Thanks for your time.

Stephanie

[katshe]

Just add 5 % caster to original recipe and subtract 5% of another oil.

To figure this recipe for you would be very time consuming for us

Take your recipe total weight 4 lbs = 64 oz and multiply by percent to get oz per each oil

64 x .05 = 3.2oz That is 5% of 64oz

You could post your recipe here and let us have a look at your amounts.

[Ann M]

Soap Calculator is very easy to use. You just plug in your amounts and oils and it figures the rest. Go here and give it a try

http://soapcalc.com/

Ann M

[Carrie]

Making soap isn't a game, it's serious. If you are unable or unwilling to learn to use a lye calculator I suggest you stop making soap.

[ilovescents]

Just add 5 % caster to original recipe and subtract 5% of another oil.

To figure this recipe for you would be very time consuming for us

Take your recipe total weight 4 lbs = 64 oz and multiply by percent to get oz per each oil

64 x .05 = 3.2oz That is 5% of 64oz

You could post your recipe here and let us have a look at your amounts.

Thank you for your easy to understand, simple explanation. That sounds great actually. I'll do just that. I'm actually going to tackle the soap calc tonight and post my final recipe. Thanks again.:smiley2:

[ilovescents]

Soap Calculator is very easy to use. You just plug in your amounts and oils and it figures the rest. Go here and give it a try

http://soapcalc.com/

Ann M

Thanks Ann. I'm going to give it a try! Thank you for the link.

[ilovescents]

Making soap isn't a game, it's serious. If you are unable or unwilling to learn to use a lye calculator I suggest you stop making soap.

I did not find this post helpful at all. In fact, it's quite rude and full of assumptions. I have made 15 batches so far out of a 4 lb recipe someone provided me a few months ago. I find soap making quite fun. Anyone with common sense can handle lye properly if that's what you were referring as "serious". I merely asked for help which the 2 previous posters were so willing to do. I suggest you not respond at all if you don't have anything helpful to say.

[CareBear]

Just add 5 % caster to original recipe and subtract 5% of another oil.

To figure this recipe for you would be very time consuming for us

Take your recipe total weight 4 lbs = 64 oz and multiply by percent to get oz per each oil

64 x .05 = 3.2oz That is 5% of 64oz

You could post your recipe here and let us have a look at your amounts.

No no no!!!! You cannot just do this and use the amount of lye you have in your current recipe. Different oils require different amounts of lye (they have different SAP values). You just sub different oils without running it through a good lye calculator (or make any recipe without checking the lye amounts yourself) and you run the risk of hurting yourself or someone else. Katshe you left out the most important step - to run it through the soap calculator and adjust the lye.

Carrie is dead right when she says (in different words) that one really should not be making soap and working with lye without an understanding of what is going on. PLEASE go to millersoap.com and gain an understanding before someone (maybe you?) gets hurt. This is serious stuff here. I'm not trying to be condescending I just want to help. We are a community who help each other and now you are one of us.

[CareBear]

double post

[Angel91805]

I don't think Carrie made a rude/unhelpful comment at all. You can NOT, as Carebear said, just sub out 5% caster oil for another oil without running it through the lye calculator. The lye amounts will change. If you choose not to learn how to use the lye calculator, you shouldn't be making soap. It's dangerous. Period. You could hurt yourself or others. Period. End of discussion.

You wouldn't go out and hand a 16 yr old the keys to the car and tell them to drive along when you have only verbally told them how to drive and verbally explained the laws of the road, would you? Same diff.

There is a difference between being rude, and firmly stating the obvious, as Carrie did.

Using SoapCalc is insanely easy....once you get past the 5 minute learning curve. Spend 5 minutes and learn how to use it.

Donna

[sweetiepie]

Here's one to get ya started, but I make no promises about the end result.

Olive 16oz

Coconut 16oz

Shea 12oz

Soy 8oz

Canola 8oz

Castor 4oz

Lye 8.8oz or 250gr (I always measure my lye in grams for accuracy)

Water 24oz (this would be FULL water, so expect a looong cure time)

Without your original formula it's hard to guess your preferences. It is really tricky to get a nice hard soap without using palm, lard or tallow, so expect this one to be on the soft side.

I recommend spending some time on the Miller site as well. There's nothing wrong with using many "tried and true" formulas before striking out on your own. However, you will need to either learn to use a SAP calculator or to do the math by hand if you want to start "tweaking" or creating your own formulas.

HTH!

[Carriegsxr6]

Are you looking to make a 4lb batch because you have a 4lb soap mold? If that is the case, then your total oils will need to weigh less than 4lbs because you need to save room for the lye and water that also takes up space in the mold. If you think soapcalc.com is too difficult, then use the MMS (www.thesage.com) lye calculator; its much easier and it will insure your lye amount is correct. You should really always get into the habit of using a lye calculator for each recipe you make and any changes you make to the recipe, since each oil requires a different lye amount.

If the case is that you are trying to fill up a mold that holds 4lbs, here is a recipe for you that includes some of the oils you listed:

Castor Oil: 3oz (6.25%)

Coconut Oil: 14oz (29.17%)

Olive Oil: 19oz (39.58%)

Shea Butter: 5oz (10.42%)

Soybean Oil: 7oz (14.58%)

I would'nt suggest using both canola and soybean with the addition of olive and castor. Your bar may be to soft with all four liquid oil types, especually without adding palm. So I suggest to omit the canola.

When you plug these amounts into the MMS lye calculator, it will give you a range of water to add: 12-18oz. I always go with right around the middle: 16oz (30% lye solution). The lye calculator will also give you a lye amount range to use: 6.41oz-7.12oz. I always like to go with the 3%-4% excess fat range, which will be around 6.90oz of lye.

This should fill your 4lb mold right up to the brim with fragrance added as well.

[ilovescents]

Are you looking to make a 4lb batch because you have a 4lb soap mold? If that is the case, then your total oils will need to weigh less than 4lbs because you need to save room for the lye and water that also takes up space in the mold. If you think soapcalc.com is too difficult, then use the MMS (www.thesage.com) lye calculator; its much easier and it will insure your lye amount is correct. You should really always get into the habit of using a lye calculator for each recipe you make and any changes you make to the recipe, since each oil requires a different lye amount.

If the case is that you are trying to fill up a mold that holds 4lbs, here is a recipe for you that includes some of the oils you listed:

Castor Oil: 3oz (6.25%)

Coconut Oil: 14oz (29.17%)

Olive Oil: 19oz (39.58%)

Shea Butter: 5oz (10.42%)

Soybean Oil: 7oz (14.58%)

I would'nt suggest using both canola and soybean with the addition of olive and castor. Your bar may be to soft with all four liquid oil types, especually without adding palm. So I suggest to omit the canola.

When you plug these amounts into the MMS lye calculator, it will give you a range of water to add: 12-18oz. I always go with right around the middle: 16oz (30% lye solution). The lye calculator will also give you a lye amount range to use: 6.41oz-7.12oz. I always like to go with the 3%-4% excess fat range, which will be around 6.90oz of lye.

This should fill your 4lb mold right up to the brim with fragrance added as well.

Thanks so much Carrie! I have (3) 4 lb loaf molds that's why I always make a 4 lb batch. With your recipe, I can definitely use up the gallon of Castor oil I bought a month ago. This soap making has been such a great addiction for me since I've lost 10 lbs. I don't think about eating unhealthy foods that much anymore.

I'm such a recipe person and was anxious to try CP. After reading extensively about the procedure, dangers of lye and the precautions needed to be safe, I took a tried and true recipe especially for beginners from another board and stuck with it. 15 batches later, I decided to tweak it a little bit since I bought a few more ingredients. Having said this, I will definitely learn how to use the soap calc and actually excited to do so. I can make my own soap formulations depending on the ingredients I have.

I apologize to everyone for being so sensitive and it wasn't my intention to hurt anyones' feelings. I'm perfectly aware of the dangers of lye and have seen the injuries caused by it where I work in the Burn Trauma Unit as a registered nurse. Our state has heavy meth users who mess with lye all the time. I take strict precautions when soaping. It would be quite embarassing for me to end up as a patient in my own unit, not to mention the painful process. I've also used someone elses CP soap bought from a powerseller on eBay. My skin became very itchy which I attributed to lye content in the soap. I and my family have never had this reaction to my own handmade CPHP soap.

Okay, I need to stop rambling and check the link to the soap calc. I'm going to learn this stuff and keep having fun soaping. Thanks everyone! I love this board!!

Stephanie

[eugenia]

Could someone please give me the exact recipe for a 4 lb batch since I don't know how to use the soap calculator. I'd rather just make soap from a recipe

Stephanie, how about I come over and make it for you? That would be easy for sure.

Want to make soap? Ask for help on how to use the lye calculators.

e

[Carrie]

I did not find this post helpful at all. In fact, it's quite rude and full of assumptions. I have made 15 batches so far out of a 4 lb recipe someone provided me a few months ago. I find soap making quite fun. Anyone with common sense can handle lye properly if that's what you were referring as "serious". I merely asked for help which the 2 previous posters were so willing to do. I suggest you not respond at all if you don't have anything helpful to say.

You asked for help. You were given bad advise so I gave you some good advise. Sorry it wasn't the spoon full of sugar you were looking for.

[CareBear]

Ah Carrie!!! Darn you!!! I'm gonna be singing that stupid song all night and all day tomorrow!! I HATE Mary Poppins songs - they STICK LIKE GLUE!!!

just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down

the medicine go dow-own

the medicine go down

just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down

in the most delightful way!

[katshe]

I must have been sleepy that morn, I so did not mean to not run it through the lye calculator, I thought I was giving her instructions on how to figure her own recipe to plug into the lye calculator...my mind was thinking it but I did not type it

A million apologizes

DO RUN THIS THROUGH THE LYE CALCULATOR!!!!!!

It is not difficult once you learn the math

That is why I said she should post her recipe, to I could see the amounts of each oil to help her figure he percentages...