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misslavey

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I've been researching for a couple months now and have finally made the investment into getting some supplies. Here's most of the supplies I've gathered:


(sorry for the oversized pic)

I'm still waiting on my digital scale to arrive. Now, my concern is with the first recipe I use. I want to work with the ingredients I already have, which is olive oil and shea butter. What I'm having trouble with is coming up with a recipe that won't fail using those 2 ingredients. I've used the SoapCalc, but I'm left wondering whether or not it's accurate and if my soap will turn out hard enough.

Can anyone help me out with a recipe using olive oil and shea butter? Are those enough to make a good batch of soap, or would I need another oil? Thanks in advance :)
 
Im pretty new at this too, so i dont want to steer you in the wrong way.
BUT!
I believe castille soap is the name given to a 100% olive oil soap which you could try.

Otherwise you will need some other type of oil to get the hardening such as coconut oil. Great thing with soap making tho the recipe is completely your choice.

I started out with 3 basic oils and added on that to create the qualities i was after.

Try checking out this site, it has different oils and what they do.
http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/s ... -oils.html

Good luck
 
I don't think those colors will necessarily work well in CP or HP soaps. Tho I could be mistaken, they look like MP soap colorants.

An olive oil & shea butter soap won't give you much in the way of lather. If you cannot get coconut, then at least try adding 10% safflower or something. But really do try to get some coconut. You can also add some lard.
 
Thanks for the info so far. I bought those colorants for bath bombs, but i thought I'd give them a shot and see how they worked in just a tiny amount (mixing with only maybe a cup or 2, to make a slight marbling effect in my first small batch).

After reading a couple more simple recipes, I'll be picking up some coconut, castor, and palm oils. I wanted to try my first batch with as few ingredients as possible, but it looks like that won't make a very high quality bar if I do.

Any suggestions on what % is should use if I used olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil and shea butter?
 
Save that white MP base from the craft store for experimenting. You will find it's pretty drying and you won't need it for CP soapmaking. I would also get some castor oil for the bubblage factor if you are making cold process soap.
 
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