Oils and ratios

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

raywitt001

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Location
Australia
Hi all,

My first attempt at soap making was a 100% coconut oil soap with 20% superfat and I am loving how it turned out - rock hard, lathers nicely, feels nice on the skin, and smells lovely with the EOs I used.
I would like to try some blending of oils to achieve different soaps but I would like to stick to readily available oils (found at the supermarket) and avoid animal fats if possible (although I'd like to try a tallow bar in the future). I also don't want to use Palm Oil (we have some little wildlife warriors in our house) or anything that is unsustainable or questionable in origin.
What are some common oil blends and ratios that give a nice soap bar - cleansing but moisturising at the same time - and doesn't take weeks/months to harden.

TIA
 
You can try Bastile Soap
30% coconut
5% Castor
65% Olive

The drug dept. of Walmart usually carries Castor oil.
 
CO and OO are definitely going to be staples, but a high OO percentage usually required a long cure time (I tried one of my young bastilles and it was not good). I think you can get away with using shortening if you don't ming hydrogenated oils, but make sure the ingredients say soybean oil. Some shortenings utilize a combination that includes palm oil.

Edit: a standard recipe would be 30% of CO, OO, & shortening each with the remaining 10% being another oil of your choosing. CO & shortening are usually hard at room temp (hard oils) and cut the cure time quite a bit. OO and Castor oil are softer and extend the cure time (though for OO it's usually worth the wait). Keep in mind that there are other soft oils (canola, corn, sunflower, non-hydrogenated soybean) that can be used cut down on the OO consumption. Research those oils before you use them as some of them will make the soap more susceptible to DOS. I hope I didn't reiterate what you may have already known. Good luck.
 
Last edited:
Not at all - thanks.
I think I understand the chemistry of soaps now, but the blending and variables are still a bit of a mystery - or unexplored may be a better word.
I've read a little about bastille soaps so I may have to try that.
If 100% coconut works, is there a reason that most other soaps say max 30% coconut? Would 50:50 CO OO work? I think I also need to read about Castor Oil (all I know is my grandma was given a teaspoon each day and it is a urban myth that it brings on labour).
Solid at room temp seems logical - like the coconut oil - to create a faster setting bar (not necessarily curing).
 
If 100% coconut works, is there a reason that most other soaps say max 30% coconut? Would 50:50 CO OO work?

I primarily made and used 100% CO for a long long time, so here's my understanding of the whole CO thing:

I tried other blends and wasn't happy with them. I don't like the feeling of a high emollient soap, especially on my hair and face (This is entirely personal preference, and my next experiment is comparing a very low/no superfat with the various blends, because the different oils do add other properties - One thing I did find was that adding other fats to the mix made a bar that doesn't dissolve so quickly as a CO bar does (it's soluble, despite being hard - good for laundry soap, but when it's sitting in bar form on the bathroom ledge, perhaps not so good)

The reason the common max of 30% is given is that for some/many people, the coconut oil soap is too drying/too cleansing. The cleansing factor of soap refers to how much of the skin's oil is removed by the soap.

Soap won't moisturise. Soap is for cleaning. All it can do is remove more/less of your natural oils and possibly leave behind some of the superfat (the identity of which is hard to control in CP with a blend of oils). Using oils with lower "cleansing" numbers will remove less natural oils. Adding in a superfat level will provide "emollient" effects, because the soap will have "bonus oil" in it that isn't turned to soap, and will coat the skin so it doesn't feel dry.

Exactly what level of CO is ok, and what degree of superfat makes higher CO work is very personal, and will depend on your water, your skin, and your preferences. :)

Hope that helps!
 
Last edited:
Thanks CanaDawn.
So, with a blended oil soap, to be used on the skin, what % superfat would be recommended? 5% seems pretty standard.
I guess I liked that in 100% CO the superfat has to be CO so I know what is being left on my skin, but with a blend you have no idea exactly what the left over oils are and how they will feel.
 
Yes, I agree. A single oil soap means you know what the superfat is. There's lots of "standard" recipes though that you could try in small batches (1lb or so) to see what you like best.

I'm considering looking into the Oil Cleansing Method, which is a practice of cleaning the skin using oil, with the logic being that the clean oil will dissolve and remove the dirty skin oils. It makes sense to me, although I don't use the method myself - but more to the soaping point, the properties of unsaponified oils will be much discussed in those forums, etc. I don't know how well it will translate to soaping, though.

There's lots of people here more experienced than I am with soap recipes, but I just wanted to chime in because I also make and like high CO soap, against the standard advice!
 
Back
Top