Soap Recipe

[brempel]

So I am trying to use the lye calculator. Can you tell me if I have designed a good bar?

5 oz of Avocado Oil

20 oz of Coconut Oil (76 degree)

40 oz of Olive Oil (pomace)

20 oz of Palm Kernel Oil

5 oz of Sweet Almond Oil

13.88 oz of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 0% superfat

33.75 oz of water (by weight)

br

[Scented]

Well here's my take:

Why 0 superfat? I think you'll want to leave some oils behind. Why not put a 5 superfat % on it? And then again, make it both ways and see which you like ...

BuT:

The combination of coconut and PKO for 40% of your hard oils will/could/most likely make this a very high cleansing bar. I think that will make your skin itch. Would mine, especially without superfatting.

You've got 50% of soft oils in there. Eventually would make for a hard bar, but that's just too much olive oil (regardless of what kind) for my taste in a bar. That's my preference and recipes should reflect your preference. I'm not convinced that much pomace would make your bar more mild ... but again, try it. See what you think.

The joy of creating your own recipe is to experiment to find what a soap gives you for preference and to tinker to make it give you more of the good, less of the bad feel.

Personally, I use up to 30% coconut or coconut-related oils, but I also change the values on the coconut for a more mild feel. I don't go above 25% on olive oil either, because more to me really tries my patience and just doesn't give me the feel. Course I'm not sure if I like the split between olive and RBO either ... still playing around there.

Anyway, that's my take on your recipe.

[brempel]

I am so confused about this. When I go to the lye calculator I really don't know how to plug in the amounts. Thats where I am going wrong I guess. I make soap but have always used a recipe I found and like. Maybe I will just stick to that.

Bev

[brempel]

So here is a new try

5 oz of Avocado Oil

30 oz of Coconut Oil (76 degree)

25 oz of Olive Oil (pomace)

20 oz of Palm Kernel Oil

10 oz of Palm Oil

10 oz of Sweet Almond Oil

15.01 oz of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 5% superfat

37.5 oz of water (by weight)

[Scented]

Well I divide mine out based on Bunny's 50/50 rule ... which I'm comfortable with for the moment ... that's 50 hard oils, 50 soft oils in %.

SO I look at a recipe and if the oils are hard, they go in the hard category and I play with %s enough to get what I think I might like ... make a 1 lb batch and if I end up liking it, I'll make more.

Yes, I look at the range of numbers, because it's just a thing to shoot for, but I feel you have to decide what you want out of a bar of soap.

For me, I was in the pursuit of bubbles and more bubbles and ended up getting more just tweaking the original recipe I think I started out with. Then bubbles weren't enough, but I wanted bubbles that didn't leave a bar too harsh ... made me itch afterwards type of thing. The first recipe I ever made was 30% coconut and like 10-15% pko and 5% babassu and my skin screamed at me ... but it was a starting point.

So anyway, I put all my hard oils together and I've worked % up and down of each and I do the same with soft oils and worked those % up and down and some 50-75 recipes later, I have what I want out of a bar of soap.

I'm not trying to make this difficult, but not knowing what you want out of a bar makes it hard to tinker with the ingredients to maybe help you get there.

[brempel]

Thank you for being so patient! I am looking to make a bar that is gentle on skin. I also want a bar that lathers nicely. I have a recipe I like but want to experiment. I also have hemp oil and I don't know if that would make any difference. I think I am getting the hang of this. Any advice is always much appreciated!

Bev