Feedback on recipe please?

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Vanessa

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Ok, so I am new to soap making so I am sort of limiting myself to easy to find and cheap oils (supermarket) just incase it goes terribly wrong and I have to chuck it.

I have made up a recipe based on what is easy/cheap for me to get or what I have at home already, and also based on what I have read about maximum amounts to use so here goes

200g Sunflower oil (20%)
250g Coconut oil (25%)
250g Palm oil (25%)
300g Olive oil (30%)

140g Sodium hydroxide (6% excess fat)
250-375mL water

Any one have a feel for how this would turn out?

I used the MMS calculator for the lye amount but I am just wondering is there any other calculators around that will tell you what sort of bar it will make, ie hardness, lather, conditioning, cleansing etc?
 
Hi (again) Vanessa! :lol:

A good one to use is soapcalc9 - it is a little more complex than MMS but if you take the time to read how it works and read also the 'soap qualities' section it should make sense. The link: http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/soapcalcWP.asp

I have a programme called Soapmaker which I purchased from Heirloom Body Care online here in NSW. There is a Canadian online home site from which you can download a 1 month free trial - it is awesome and the Professional programme has an ingredient and finished product inventory which is wonderful to keep track of things. Heirloom have purchased a number of pre-paid coupons from the home site and the cost via them is better than buying directly from the Canadian site with the way the Aussie $ is currently.

Here is the Canadian link which offers the free trial. I make all my soap batches using this now. http://www.soapmaker.ca/

Your recipe when run through soapcalc9 is quite balanced....a little on the soft side but soapcalc doesn't really take into account how hard olive oil soaps get!!! With soapmaker it is quite a hard, creamy lathering bar with nice moisturising qualities. I personally would drop my sunflower by 50g and up the Coconut oil by the same for a little more fluffy lather - but I am a lather ho!!!


Tanya :)
 
I totally agree with Topcat, up the coconut a little bit, and for the first time make sure that you use the full water amount = the full 375grams. This will give you more time to work with the soap batter once it reaches trace, and will give you a better handle on how the whole process works for the first time.
 
The reason I went with 250g for the coconut oil is i know it comes in 250g blocks.

I had heard that adding sugar (like icing sugar) in at trace helped to add bubbles to the lather so I might try that if I am not happy with it, personally I like a creamy lather, it just seems to feel so luxurious.

This sort of thing is not any good at all for trying to cut down shower times, and save water...ah well at least I'll be nice and clean
 

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