Pls review and advise on my 1st HP recipe

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wolf05374

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I would really appreciate comments and feedback on this recipe. I prefer a low cleansing # it's winter and my 1st batch was 20 (recipe found online - before I knew much) and I find it drying and leaving me itchy.. What do you think of this recipe? I do prefer vegan no animal fats. Thanks in advance for your time!

my new Soap recipe 1.JPG
 
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IMO It looks good. I never use that much butters, but it might be because I am always pinching pennies. lol
 
I also think it looks good. I’d consider making a smaller batch though, 4 pounds is a lot if you decide you don’t like it.
 
I agree with the others - make a smaller batch. I think your recipe looks good, but the palm and butters could make it thicken up fast. Not a bad thing, but difficult to swirl. And with a large batch, in my experience, often the last log ends up looking kinda rough/chunky, since things have started to thicken up by then.
 
I agree with others also, and I would not make more than a 500g batch to test this out. I use butters up to 12% each and I include two which gives me a total of 24% butters and find that nice and creamy without any problems also I dont use palm so the butters help hardenss, I am a really dry itchy skin person also so I like my soap to be as emollient as possible. You are using 20.90% you might want to drop that a little to say 18%? I do use 20% but I counter that with the butters and a lot more olive oil to give me more Oleic.
 
Looks good to me, too, only I'd drop the water a little by using a 28% lye concentration if it were me (a 28% lye concentration is what many consider to be a 'full water' amount). Right now your lye concentration sits at 26.7% which doesn't seem too far away from 28%, but that equates to having 1.6 ounces more water in your batch than you might actually want (the more water, the more your bars will warp during cure).


IrishLass :)
 
You have a lot of oils going on, I would drop the RBO. This is what I would do and keep in mind it is just a suggestion. To high in butters cuts lather and low CO will compensate for using less butter and still give some bubbles. Adding in some sugar will help with bubbles.
30% Palm Oil
17% CO
33% OO or split with Almond Oil
15% Butters split if you prefer
5% Castor Oil
 
You have a lot of oils going on, I would drop the RBO. This is what I would do and keep in mind it is just a suggestion. To high in butters cuts lather and low CO will compensate for using less butter and still give some bubbles. Adding in some sugar will help with bubbles.
30% Palm Oil
17% CO
33% OO or split with Almond Oil
15% Butters split if you prefer
5% Castor Oil

Strangely enough I dont find a decrease in lather with my 24% butters despite reading this on many occasions, but I think both the SL and sugar might compensate for that and assist the lather somewhat. I like lather and not too worried if its the creamy kind which is what I tend to get, I have found adding stearic has also given me a good lather but of course its more shaving foamy type, but I quite like that as long as its not drying. Castor I have used at 8% no problem there also.
 
Thanks everyone for the response and good advise. Gloopy Good thanks I lowered my CO down and brought down my cleansing # might help my dry skin. what's a good condition number t be at?
I think I will try adding sugar in my water to help with the bubbles. At what number of hardness do you start to worry about a soft bar? I was debating adding a little salt to make the bar harder as well.. but is it really necessary? I have read some use sugar and salt in every batch.

my new Soap recipe 2.JPG
 
Thanks everyone for the response and good advise. Gloopy Good thanks I lowered my CO down and brought down my cleansing # might help my dry skin. what's a good condition number t be at?
I think I will try adding sugar in my water to help with the bubbles. At what number of hardness do you start to worry about a soft bar? I was debating adding a little salt to make the bar harder as well.. but is it really necessary? I have read some use sugar and salt in every batch.

I think you have a good to go recipe except the water level is a little on the high side for me, I would take that to no more than 30%, Irish Lass uses 28% which I sometimes also do but when I have stearic in my recipe I up that a bit to 30% and that might be good for you to crack on with and see how it is. I do not think you need to add anything for hardness but I would stress DO add sugar and also Sodium Lactate as this will make your gelled HP more fluid and a whole lot easier to mould, so that after you have added your FO/EO you can perhaps do a pot swirl glop some soap into the mould give a good tap and then glop in some more and tap again to rid trapped air and continue like that if using a log mould, if you want a smooth top just cover in parchment or plastic wrap and tamp down to smooth, then when hardened take off parchment or plastic and give a little smooth over before un moulding, leave the top to dry out a little more and then get it out of the mould ready to cut.
 
Ok just to confirm.. change my water as a percent of oils down from the default 38% to 30%? Thanks so much for the advise everyone!! I will be adding the sugar and Sodium Lactate and some colors. My husband has been begging me to make him soap and now I am slightly obsessed lol

My best soap recipe.JPG
 
hmmm on Soapcalc I adjusted the the water as a percent of oils down from 38% to 30% and it automatically adjusts the the lye.. am I missing something? Help pls.
 
So would this be correct then? Thanks for taking the time to review and help me out!! I changed the Lye consideration to 30% and it adjusted the water. Does this look good now?

For review.JPG
 

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