bubbly soap

[SubLowe]

i know castor oil adds to the bubbles, but how much % of the castor oil would i need to use to make a bubble rich soap?

thank you in advance
- Mirka

 

[lsg]

I usually don't go above 8% for Castor oil and average 5% on most of my soaps. There are several other oils that will give you bubbles. Choosing oils that have a high percentage of Lauric, Myristic, and Ricinoleic fatty acids should help give you a bubbly soap. Using a high percentage of some of these oil, however will cut down on the conditioning values shown on SoapCalc. I usually add sugar to my water and dissolve before adding the lye. IMO this helps give me a bubbly soap.

 

[brandnew]

powdered sugar or regular and how much do you add per pound, say? I'd heard salt helps but too much can hinder!!!...so is sugar a safer bet?

 

[lsg]

I usually add 1-2 tsp of regular sugar per pound of oils. Sugar will help the lather, I think salt will help moisture evaporate from curing bars faster.

 

[Soapy Gurl]

I use 5% castor oil to boost my bubbles. I tried sugar but did not have as much luck. I only used 1 tsp per pound though.

 

[IrishLass]

This may just be me, but I find that castor oil doesn't lend much in the way of big, fluffy bubbles to my soap. It's hard to explain, but I find instead that castor lends more in the way of support or depth to my already existing lather, making it feel richer if you will.

For lots of big, fluffy bubblage you can't beat coconut oil, PKO or babassu oil. Those will give you more bubbles than you can shake a stick at! The problem is that they'll also give you more cleansing than you can shake a stick at. The trick is to add as much of them to your formula as you can to get the bubbles you want, and then play with your other oils and your superfat level to counterbalance the cleansing factor enough to your liking without diminishing your bubbles.

As for sugar, I find it really helps with my Castile-types. I've done side by side tests with sugar and without and there's definitely a bubbly difference with the sugar as compared to without. It's not a mega-huge-kapow! difference, mind you, but it's definitely enough for me to take notice. I don't notice all that much of a difference in my other formulas, though- just in my Castile-types. I use 2 tablespoons of sugar ppo.


IrishLass

 

[brandnew]

THANK YE !!!! THANK YE!!!! THANK YE!!!!!!!!

 

[walkinwounded]

This may just be me, but I find that castor oil doesn't lend much in the way of big, fluffy bubbles to my soap. It's hard to explain, but I find instead that castor lends more in the way of support or depth to my already existing lather, making it feel richer if you will.

For lots of big, fluffy bubblage you can't beat coconut oil, PKO or babassu oil. Those will give you more bubbles than you can shake a stick at! The problem is that they'll also give you more cleansing than you can shake a stick at. The trick is to add as much of them to your formula as you can to get the bubbles you want, and then play with your other oils and your superfat level to counterbalance the cleansing factor enough to your liking without diminishing your bubbles.

As for sugar, I find it really helps with my Castile-types. I've done side by side tests with sugar and without and there's definitely a bubbly difference with the sugar as compared to without. It's not a mega-huge-kapow! difference, mind you, but it's definitely enough for me to take notice. I don't notice all that much of a difference in my other formulas, though- just in my Castile-types. I use 2 tablespoons of sugar ppo.


IrishLass

What superfat % do you use for your high Coconut soaps? Is coconut oil the only oil you use?

 

[IrishLass]

I make a couple of different kinds of high coconut formulas:

1) 100% CO with a 20% superfat
2) 70% CO/30% Mango butter with a 15% superfat
3) Salt soap with 100% CO/25% salt/goat milk or coconut milk as my liquid amount with a 13% superfat (the salt and the milk make it feel more mild to me, hence my lower superfat)

IrishLass

 

[SubLowe]

This may just be me, but I find that castor oil doesn't lend much in the way of big, fluffy bubbles to my soap. It's hard to explain, but I find instead that castor lends more in the way of support or depth to my already existing lather, making it feel richer if you will.

For lots of big, fluffy bubblage you can't beat coconut oil, PKO or babassu oil. Those will give you more bubbles than you can shake a stick at! The problem is that they'll also give you more cleansing than you can shake a stick at. The trick is to add as much of them to your formula as you can to get the bubbles you want, and then play with your other oils and your superfat level to counterbalance the cleansing factor enough to your liking without diminishing your bubbles.

As for sugar, I find it really helps with my Castile-types. I've done side by side tests with sugar and without and there's definitely a bubbly difference with the sugar as compared to without. It's not a mega-huge-kapow! difference, mind you, but it's definitely enough for me to take notice. I don't notice all that much of a difference in my other formulas, though- just in my Castile-types. I use 2 tablespoons of sugar ppo.


IrishLass

sorry for the late reply .. had finals this week ( thank god theyre over!). Thank you for explaining the bubbliness of oils. i will try increasing my coconut oil to 25% see where that takes me. i kept it at 20 last time.

How soon can one tell how bubbly the soap will be. my soap is curing right now. i tried washing my hands with it the 1st day and i got pretty good bubbles, just not what i was looking for. Ive been buying this local goatmilk oatmeal honey soap and it has such rich bubbles! i Love it! and i was looking to make a soap with rich bubbles

 

[IrishLass]

Speaking only for myself, I find that the majority of my formulas reach a good enough maturity level to my personal liking in terms of lather and other qualities such as mildness and hardness, by about 4 weeks. They get even better after that, but I'm happy enough with them by 4 weeks to use them and to not be ashamed to give them as gifts. Some formulas, like my 100% OO Castiles for example, take at least a good 3 months or more before I like using them, but they're even more awesome to me when left to age for a year.

IrishLass