Got the ingredients...just need a recipe

[PattyZB]

So months ago I bought lye from a very generous crafter...I later joined in on a co-op to get some oils...now I'm trying to figure out what to do with them.

I have -

Palm Kernel Flakes

Beeswax

Shea Butter

Babassu Oil

Apricot Oil

Avocado Oil

Caster Oil

I used a soap calc to come up with the following:

Avocado Oil 20%

Babassu Oil 15%

Castor Oil 5%

Coconut Oil, 76 deg 20%

Olive Oil 25%

Palm Kernel Oil/Flakes 15%

I'd have to get some Coconut Oil as well as Olive Oil. I was trying to balance out the numbers and cleansing still comes out kinda high.

Hardness 29 - 54 48

Cleansing 12 - 22 33

Conditioning44 - 69 46

Bubbly 14 - 46 38

Creamy 16 - 48 19

Iodine 41 - 70 50

INS 136 - 165 164

Any suggestions from the more experienced soapers out there?

[Kitn]

I would get some OO ,Palm oil and CO before I made soap .You have a lot of great oils there that would be better used in stay on products like solid lotion , lotion, lip balm etc. Palm oil is different than PKO , PKO can be interchanged with CO for bubbles etc.

HTH

Here is a link with a great recipe

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36294

Edited January 11, 2010 by Kitn
to add the link

[JacquiO]

I would get some OO ,Palm oil and CO before I made soap .You have a lot of great oils there that would be better used in stay on products like solid lotion , lotion, lip balm etc. Palm oil is different than PKO , PKO can be interchanged with CO for bubbles etc.

HTH

Here is a link with a great recipe

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36294

Ditto here that is one kick-butt recipe. You have the shea and the PKO and they rest you can get at the grocery store.

[PattyZB]

So basically most of the oils I bought I can't really even use for soaping. Great...I should have just stuck with the coconut oil, lard/shortening and olive oil. Thanks!

[topofmurrayhill]

So basically most of the oils I bought I can't really even use for soaping. Great...I should have just stuck with the coconut oil, lard/shortening and olive oil. Thanks!

You can use them, but they won't work any better than cheaper oils for soaping.

The main problem with your recipe is too much lauric oil (the kind that produces bubbly soap). Coconut and babassu are almost the same, plus PKO is in the same category. That's a total of 50% lauric oils, which is pretty drying in most recipes. Normally anything over 30% is pushing it.

Apart from the castor, the rest of your recipe is 45% oleic oils. Oleic oils are what you want for the soft (liquid oil) portion of your recipes, but you could use olive oil more economically. 45% is also pretty high.

What you're missing is a hard non-lauric base oil. That could be palm oil, lard or beef tallow. Along with olive oil, you can use those harder oils to balance out your soap. You could splurge and use a little of your shea butter as a hard oil too. The shea would be especially beneficial if you're making a veggie soap with palm oil. The animal fats don't need it as much.

Just to get you started, maybe something like 20-30% lauric oils (coconut, pko, and maybe babassu if you have no other use for it), 20-30% oleic oils (olive or other), with the remainder being hard oils from the preceding paragraph and maybe a little castor oil if you like.

Edited January 12, 2010 by topofmurrayhill

[quietgirl2004]

I kinda like that recipe too, Kitn

[moon01945]

You can use them, but they won't work any better than cheaper oils for soaping.

The main problem with your recipe is too much lauric oil (the kind that produces bubbly soap). Coconut and babassu are almost the same, plus PKO is in the same category. That's a total of 50% lauric oils, which is pretty drying in most recipes. Normally anything over 30% is pushing it.

Apart from the castor, the rest of your recipe is 45% oleic oils. Oleic oils are what you want for the soft (liquid oil) portion of your recipes, but you could use olive oil more economically. 45% is also pretty high.

What you're missing is a hard non-lauric base oil. That could be palm oil, lard or beef tallow. Along with olive oil, you can use those harder oils to balance out your soap. You could splurge and use a little of your shea butter as a hard oil too. The shea would be especially beneficial if you're making a veggie soap with palm oil. The animal fats don't need it as much.

Just to get you started, maybe something like 20-30% lauric oils (coconut, pko, and maybe babassu if you have no other use for it), 20-30% oleic oils (olive or other), with the remainder being hard oils from the preceding paragraph and maybe a little castor oil if you like.

Hi.. thanks for the details. This helps define what oil does what.

[PattyZB]

You can use them, but they won't work any better than cheaper oils for soaping.

The main problem with your recipe is too much lauric oil (the kind that produces bubbly soap). Coconut and babassu are almost the same, plus PKO is in the same category. That's a total of 50% lauric oils, which is pretty drying in most recipes. Normally anything over 30% is pushing it.

Apart from the castor, the rest of your recipe is 45% oleic oils. Oleic oils are what you want for the soft (liquid oil) portion of your recipes, but you could use olive oil more economically. 45% is also pretty high.

What you're missing is a hard non-lauric base oil. That could be palm oil, lard or beef tallow. Along with olive oil, you can use those harder oils to balance out your soap. You could splurge and use a little of your shea butter as a hard oil too. The shea would be especially beneficial if you're making a veggie soap with palm oil. The animal fats don't need it as much.

Just to get you started, maybe something like 20-30% lauric oils (coconut, pko, and maybe babassu if you have no other use for it), 20-30% oleic oils (olive or other), with the remainder being hard oils from the preceding paragraph and maybe a little castor oil if you like.

THANK YOU! That's exactly what I was looking for!! :)

[Kitn]

I kinda like that recipe too, Kitn

I tried it , it rocks , thank you for sharing :smiley2:

[Kitn]

So basically most of the oils I bought I can't really even use for soaping. Great...I should have just stuck with the coconut oil, lard/shortening and olive oil. Thanks!

Don't feel bad , I think we all do that when we start making soap, I was just trying to save you the time and cost that it takes to realize you don't need those for soap .Having said that ,making soap has a snowball effect , you will want to try solid lotions (the oils you have will be great there) then you will want to try lip balm etc , lotion, and on and on .The oils you have will be perfect for things like that that stay on your skin .If you can I would pop them in the fridge to prolong the shelf life.

Have fun with your first batch :smiley2: