Oils for transparent / glycerine soap

[Fragola]

The recipe I used first time was:
50% olive oil, 31% coconut oil, 15% castor oil, 3.5% stearic acid

Problem is that soap is pretty soft. Anybody has tried a harder recipe ?

Obviously, I could replace olive with palm or add more stearic, but one of the resources I read suggested that more than 3.5% stearic isn't a good idea. Don't remember exactly why.

 

[new12soap]

Catherine Failor's making transparent soap has several recipes in it, and she discusses the different oils she uses and how they work and why they are preferable in transparent soap.

www.millersoap.com

has a variation on Failor's basic recipe that I believe uses primarily palm, lard, or tallow (your choice). I don't recall any of the recipes using OO, but that doesn't mean it can't be done, I just don't know if you will be able to get the bar to firm up. Another good resource:

http://www.bearchele.com/soap/Tutorial.html

 

[Genny]

Would adding more stearic acid cause drag? Me thinks I read that somewhere

I haven't tried making clear soap yet. Well, not successfully anyway.

Maybe cut back on the olive a bit & add a bit of PKO. I do know that Palm Oil can make clear soap cloudy, but Palm Kernel doesn't.

 

[Fragola]

Thanks for the replies.

What does drag refer to ?

 

[Genny]

The feeling of dragging on the skin, not that it dresses up in your clothes and high heels. Although, if someone's been into your makeup, it could be the stearic acid

 

[Fragola]

I find that puzzling. I have used up to 15% stearic to harden a soft oil soap and noticed no drag. Or maybe I just missed it.

I do understand why stearic acid would cause drag, but not sure about stearic acid soap (sodium stearate). Especially that transparent soap is supposed to be superfatted to zero-ish.