Hard Bar Recipe

[mysticmoon]

I need some suggestions on a good hard, long lasting bar recipe. My husband goes thru a bar of my current soap in three showers!! Now, he does lather a lot and I do know others don't have this problem with my soap but I want something that will last longer even if I make him his own batch!

 

[lovelysuds]

If your only up for veggie oils then Im not the best person to ask. However if your willing to use tallow then I can help! I always use at least a total of 25-40% tallow, lard or both. More so tallow than lard, but I use tallow, OO, coconut, and castor for a super hard bar. Lots of luck!

 

[Pepper]

I made a hard soap 18 months ago. I was just experimenting, and I've written in my notes "TOO HARD". I put it away, and only recently resurrected it.

Here is the recipe:-

512g coconut oil
230g rice bran oil
240g sunflower oil
20g beeswax

380g water
178g caustic soda

I decided to try it out recently, as it has been stored all this time. It's actually quite creamy, but not very sudsy. I have been using it only as hand soap in the bathroom, but it doesn't seem to be wearing down at all!!!

 

[lsg]

Adding a couple of tsp. of salt ppo to your lye water will make a harder bar. Coconut oil and Shea butter both make a hard bar. Palm oil, palm kernel oil and cocoa butter also help to make a harder bar. Some people use sodium lactate also.
Plug your ingredients into SoapCalc and fool around with the amounts until you get a 40 or larger number in the hardness category.

 

[soapbuddy]

A man with lots of body hair will go through a bar of soap much faster.

 

[sudsysarah]

A man with lots of body hair will go through a bar of soap much faster.

That is soooo true. My hubby can eak out a week with one of my bars of soap. He is a harry man beast

 

[honor435]

2 showers??? wow. are you doing hp or cp, i find hp goes quicker. use some pk that will make you bar hard, although the harder the bar the more drying.

 

[judymoody]

I use cocoa butter at 10% for a harder bar.

 

[adoptapitbull]

Really?? Hairy men use soap faster? I suppose because the hair causes friction which rubs away the soap?

I'm telling my husband to get out the Bic before he uses any soap! They don't call him "wolfman" for nothing.

 

[Bama]

You all are funny. I needed a good laugh today

 

[Guest]

Adding a couple of tsp. of salt ppo to your lye water will make a harder bar. Coconut oil and Shea butter both make a hard bar. Palm oil, palm kernel oil and cocoa butter also help to make a harder bar. Some people use sodium lactate also.
Plug your ingredients into SoapCalc and fool around with the amounts until you get a 40 or larger number in the hardness category.

I second your responses above.

 

[newbie]

Seriously? A WEEK??!! I can't even imagine! I also come from a pretty hairless family but it never occurred to me that hairy people would go through soap so quickly. Do you cure yours for a few months, instead of the standard 4-6 weeks? It may make them a bit harder. Maybe you should make some castile bars, which are really hard, but you'd be making them way ahead since they need 4-6 months to cure, but those are some hard hard bars of soap. 90/10 OO/Shea or OO/castor are nice.

 

[dcornett]

I'm with newbie, I'm wondering how long you are curing your bars if they only last 3 showers... :shock: You should try a lard/tallow bar they are nice and hard, also long lasting.

 

[mysticmoon]

To clarify, they last only a few showers with my husband's usage (note: in regards to hairiness- he's average). Others that use my soaps don't have this problem. But this is the case with most homemade soaps he uses that I've bought from other sources. The only soap that lasts for him is store bought- like Dove, etc.
The curing time of the soap he uses varies... sometimes it's 4 weeks, sometimes it's 4 months.

Thanks for the tips so far!! Very helpful!