First CP soap

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psfred

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Made my first batch of CP soap this evening. Lard, CO, HO Safflower, edta. Poured it into my fancy 12 mini-bar mould and mixed in the FO's in the Brambleberry "masculine" sample.

Went pretty well, got a nice light trace and poured it then, oil and lye were about 128 degrees when I mixed them. Didn't want it to thicken up too much, it takes a while to add a couple drops of FO and mix it into 12 small cavities. Won't be mixed perfectly, but as the Fierce discolors pretty fast I can tell I got a decent mix, the whole section was faint pink and fairly even.

Not wowed by most of them, I would call all but three of them "metrosexual" scents, obviously marketed to the lower end of the X'ers and Millennial Hipsters, they all seem to be strongly related to Axe body spray or those unbearably strong "new" Old Spice deodorant scents. Hopefully they will be much less powerful once the lye chews on them for a while. I recognize Drakkar as one of the scents I can't get out of my clothes after going clubbing (some years back) and being brushed up against a youngster or two.

The residual on my fingers isn't so bad, so there is hope.

Mould is happily sitting in the warmed oven, hopefully it will be all set up tomorrow and I can pull the freezer paper off tomorrow evening.

Peter
 
lol to the scents. They are not my fav either. For masculine scent I like cowboy from lonestar.


Congratulations of your first soap!. Please post pictures!
 
They have mellowed out quite a bit, but Fierce and Drakkar are never going to make soap at my house, unless I need some deer and rabbit repellent. I'm going to still be smelling them tomorrow, can't get them out of my nose, lol.

Some of the others may be quite nice at very low rates of use.

The soap itself is great: gelled nicely, and it's zap free on top -- most of these FO's cause some acceleration I think. Looks like paraffin wax, almost translucent, small amount of ash in spots. Also some lumps where I put more batter in after I mixed the scents in. and it was hardening up as it cooled off.

All in all I'm quite satisfied. Only two of the scents are unbearable and the soap looks great. Pics tomorrow.
 
It's a good recipe, pretty simple and cheap:

80% lard
15% CO
5% OO or HOSafflower

2.5 gr tetrasodium EDTA

3% or 5% superfat (depending on whether or not I remember to re-set the default in SoapCalc).

Usually hot process, but it worked very well CP as well, had plenty of time to add FOs to twelve little cavities and more or less mix them in.

Will use paper cups to mix the batter and scents next time I think. Came out right at 60 gr average, and it's easy enough to weigh out 60 grams in paper cups.
 
I've been curious about that sampler set. I think I'll pass since I can't stand the overpowering "masculine" fragrances. Sounds like you have a great recipe though!
 
Do get the sampler, just toss the Fierce and Drakkar in your neighbor's trash, or leave the bottles slightly open in your veggie garden to chase the rabbits out, should keep half an acre or so critter free. Powerful stuff!

Don't judge them by OOB scent, they are all very strong and the Fierce will make everything smell bad in the box. Don't know if it's the cardamom or the rosemary in there, but it's minty-ish and pentrating.

The rest of them are really nice scents -- the first two are not Brambleberry's fault, they are copies of commercial products that I cannot stand. I don't think I like all of them enough to make significant amounts of soap with them, but they are all very nice fragrances.

Here is a pic of the soaps in my mold.

In particular Salty Mariner is a nice, clean not quite perfume scent that most people will like. Not strong either.

I'd buy Made to Measure for aftershave or cologne if I wore them, and the tobacco and bay is starting to smell like high quality tobacco, much less floral scent.

I will give a proper evaluation after six weeks or so when the soap is cured properly.

Here is the picture of my mold and the soaps just after I peeled the freezer paper off.

testers.jpg
 
I love Fierce from soapsupplies.net and it is a great seller for me. Tobacco and Bay is an interesting one although I will say not my favorite and an erratic seller for me. Salty Mariner I find okay but prefer Salty Sea Air from soapsupplies.net
 
Fierce is quite popular, but I can't manage it at all, it's so strong to me I can't smell anything else after I sniff that bar of soap, have to check it last.

Sense of smell is obviously very highly variable (just like color perception), and I got the nose that can find a molecule per cubic meter for some component of both Drakkar and Fierce. I can smell it for a day or so after sniffing the bottle (closed) of the FO, and if I brush up against someone wearing it, my clothes smell of it for a couple days.

Just one of those things. I'll pass on another supplier of Fierce, if it's at all like Brambleberry's I won't be able to stand it.
 
My favorite fo. men's soap (and my customer's) is Happy Man from New Directions Aromatics. I mix it with a little Lime eo. It is not strong at all but holds up well. It is phthalate free.
 
Made my first batch of CP soap this evening. Lard, CO, HO Safflower, edta. Poured it into my fancy 12 mini-bar mould and mixed in the FO's in the Brambleberry "masculine" sample.

Went pretty well, got a nice light trace and poured it then, oil and lye were about 128 degrees when I mixed them. Didn't want it to thicken up too much, it takes a while to add a couple drops of FO and mix it into 12 small cavities. Won't be mixed perfectly, but as the Fierce discolors pretty fast I can tell I got a decent mix, the whole section was faint pink and fairly even.


Peter

And, oh, I forgot. Why would you mix your fo. in each little bar instead of the soap pot? Would it seize?
 
Fierce is quite popular, but I can't manage it at all, it's so strong to me I can't smell anything else after I sniff that bar of soap, have to check it last.

Sense of smell is obviously very highly variable (just like color perception), and I got the nose that can find a molecule per cubic meter for some component of both Drakkar and Fierce. I can smell it for a day or so after sniffing the bottle (closed) of the FO, and if I brush up against someone wearing it, my clothes smell of it for a couple days.

Just one of those things. I'll pass on another supplier of Fierce, if it's at all like Brambleberry's I won't be able to stand it.
I can understand not trying another suppliers, but fo's can vary hugely between suppliers. My Pineapple Cilantro, for example, is not even close to the one B&B sells. You have to keep in mind I sell so fo's have to be strong. I used to have a Plumeria that people loved but gave me an instant migraine, so I went on the search for a new Plumeria. It mostly depends your purpose for using the fragrance, if selling you do not have to like it, for personal you do
 
The mold I made allows me to test a dozen scents at once, one small bar each, or a few each for a new soap recipe. I'm not planning on selling any of this, so making even a pound batch for each would leave me buried in soap pretty fast!

I'm going to weigh out the portions for each cavity next time and mix the FO's in a paper cup or something, it's too hard to get good mixing in the mold and I don't want to slop soap between chambers.

It's the kind of thing a bored PhD comes up with.
 

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