Country gal seeking input on recipe

[IwantItgreen]

I'm a CP soap virgin and live in a very rural and heavy agricultural area of the country and would like to use ingredients in my soap that reflect that. I'm asking for your input on this recipe I have put together; good, bad, or otherwise.

Here goes:

Lard/tallow 35%

Coconut oil 20%

Olive oil 30%

Soy Wax 10%

Castor oil 5%

Eventually I want to soap with honey and/or goats milk but will start with water as many of you have advised for beginners.

I'm not really interested in the fancy butters and oils at this time.

The MMS calculator doesn't show the soap qualities or the fatty acids, but does have soy wax on their list. SoapCalc doesn't list Soy Wax, only soy oil. TIA! Let me know what you all think!

[LuminousBoutique]

Honestly I've never used any wax in my soap so I dont really know.... I've never even heard of using soy wax, maybe I'm out of the loop. I know some use beeswax, Stearic, so on... for a harder bar... but Soy wax is completely new to me

[WendyByTheBay]

I use a recipe pretty close to that one and I like my soap. I have heard of people using soy wax that was 100% soy. I think that should make a good bar of soap.

[topofmurrayhill]

No problem, soy wax is an oil. Most any soy wax should be soapable, as long as it isn't blended with paraffin.

The recipe looks promising. Go ahead and try it out.

[LuminousBoutique]

interesting.. ive never even heard of it. I know its just an oil but i never looked at it that way.

[IwantItgreen]

interesting.. ive never even heard of it. I know its just an oil but i never looked at it that way.

Here are some posts about soaping with soy wax:

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41435&highlight=wax+recipe

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63064&highlight=wax+recipe

Top, in the above post you stated that soy wax was a sub for lard. Just double checking if you still hold by that. That post was over 2 years ago.

If that's the case then my recipe is 65% hard oils. Is that OK?

Edited to add: I would use the GB415 soy wax

Edited March 14, 2010 by IwantItgreen

[topofmurrayhill]

Top, in the above post you stated that soy wax was a sub for lard. Just double checking if you still hold by that. That post was over 2 years ago.

Not exactly. I was still thinking generically in terms of hard vegetable oils, but I've gotten a lot more into the details of fatty acid balance since then.

What I said implies that soy wax could be a base oil. And of course it could be, because for some people it is -- like that guy whose site I linked to. That's uncommon though, and I can't say much about it because I haven't tried to come up with that sort of recipe.

What I can say is that it's a different approach than using lard or palm oil. Our hard base oils are generally palmitic, but soy wax is a stearic oil. The higher the melt point, the more it's a stearic oil. That kind of associates it with the tropical butters. In fact, the way I mainly conceive of using it at this point is to increase the stearic value of a recipe without using costly butters. Since you didn't want those anyway, it seems like the perfect idea.

If that's the case then my recipe is 65% hard oils. Is that OK?

That's true. Personally I think the rule of thumb for hard oils should be at least 60% rather than the 50% you usually hear, so to me it's fine.

I would use the GB415 soy wax

That's what I assumed when I plugged your recipe in. GB 415 isn't super hard, so I think 10% sounds reasonable. Follow your instincts and try it out. You can always refine it later.

[chuck_35550]

Have you any results yet on your recipe?

Steve

[IwantItgreen]

No, I'm still waiting for the lye. Should get it tomorrow!

[IwantItgreen]

Well, I made soap today! Everything went well, now just waiting....

I used the recipe in the OP and added CS coconut lime FO. I have it unmolded and cut now. I'm going to MI next week to see my 4 sisters so will bring them each a bar to test.

I can't wait for my dyes to come from the co-op!