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rizzo1267

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Hello Everybody,
Me and my daughter are trying to make soap for the first time. We have a few questions that need answers. Hope you Soapers can help us out. First this is my recipe so far...
3oz Coco Butter
13oz Soybean oil
2 tsp Honey
3 tsp Ground oatmeal

We are not putting fragrance or other additives this time. What I cant find is the honey subtracted from the water or not. Also how much water and lye do we need. Third where can I find a formula for finding this out. Ex(oil weight x what = lye oil weight x what = water).

Thanks
Darrack & Hayley
 
You need to use a lye calculator like soapcalc to determine the amount of lye. Each oil has a different saponification value which determines the amount of lye it takes to turn it into soap. So you have to put your full recipe into a lye calculator to determine lye amount, and superfat/lye discount somewhat to ensure you have a buffer of extra oil to make up for the fact sap values are averages for each specific oil.

your recipe is really quite unbalanced right now. You would have a better result using olive oil and cocoa butter. Or primarily olive oil with soybean and cocoa added. You would not count honey as part of your water amount, but honey is really not the best idea for a first batch of soap because it can cause overheating issues.

I would do a bit more reading before making your first batch. And all let the experts chime in with the best advice.
 
Thanks Lin. I cant wait to hear from the experts. We are trying to make the Dollar Store soap from Soaping 101(youtube).We saw that video and wanted to try it, we also saw a few on goat milk and want to try them also. Thanks for the advice.
 
How come you didn't choose olive oil? The dollar store soap was based on olive and canola blend. You can pick up both olive and canola at any local grocery.
 
I would try a 2 lb. batch to start - if you want to go with readily available grocery store oils, I'd try: 25% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, and 75% olive oil. All can be found at a Walmart or large supermarkets. Run this through www.soapcalc.net and it will give you lye and water amounts.

The ground oatmeal is not complicated to add but the honey would be. I'd leave that for a later batch.

Make sure you have a good accurate scale and proper safety equipment (goggles & gloves) and enjoy!
 
I agree (again) with Judymoody. And definitely get some experience before trying to add honey - it can be very tricky to work with.
 
Also, don't feel that when people only link to lye calcs that they are in someway being a bit rude - it's just that a) it's an important part and any mis-types or mis-reads can be dangerous! and b) it's important that you learn how to use the calcs and what it all means so that you go on to making more soap safely and confidently.

I would also suggest no honey for now. My first batch was very simple just to get in to it. Second batch was more interesting and I'm glad it wasn't my first batch! Honey can overheat, for one thing, which is a complication that you don't want to play with at the moment.
 
Jody
If i use your 25%,5%,75% can i sti add my coco butter(3oz is what i have on hand)

Also can I use a normale mixer dont have a stick mixer yet
Thanks for all the advice.
 
I would not recommend the hand mixer. It tends to splash a bit, and you do NOT want a raw soap splash! You can hand stir it using a spoon or a whisk. Make sure these are NOT aluminum. You can using stainless steel or even a wooden spoon.

You can use the cocoa butter. I recommend trying it at about 5%. Now, if you use a stick blender, I would NOT use the cocoa butter. It tends to speed things up, which is something you don't want in the beginning. But if you are hand stirring, things will be plenty slow!

You may find a stick blender for cheap at a thrift store or Salvation Army.
 
great advice!!!

you can add the cocoa butter, but it'll change your lye/water calculations slightly, so when you're adding/substituting/subtracting any oils to your mixture, make sure you run it through the lye calculator. it maybe daunting to try to do at first (trust me, it took me a long time to get comfortable with soapcalc), just read through the instructions on the website and play around a bit. you'll get the hang of it.

for your first soap, I would suggest just to try something simple. there will be plenty of time to play around with your recipe once you get the hang of the process and become comfortable handling lye.

keep doing your reading and youtube video watching. I think I spent a good month of all of that before I got brave enough to try my first soap.

keep safe, and have fun!!
 
brambleberry's lye calculator is a really easy, straightforward one to use. it was my go to calc when i first started. speaking of stick blender, i saw a video on youtube once (i think it was from nancy today?).. her sb broke and she tried to use a normal blender. it was quite funny. she didn't tell whether it was successful or not though..
 
I used a regular hand held blender once. It worked ok but you have to be careful of splashes, run it on a lower speed and always turn it off before lifting it out of the soap batter.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Could someone help me find a very simple recipe. All your advice will be taken to heart.
 
How many bars are you wanting to make? I generally do 2 lbs which give me approximately 9 bars 1" thick. What are you using for a mold?
 
I've used a regular hand mixer, I wrapped the mixer and bowl loosely with plastic wrap. The wrap got in the way a bit, but no splashes. Unfortunately I've have gotten splashed before so do keep vinegar around.
 

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