Recipes for a palm-free soap

[Soapy Gurl]

I got the okay to use coconut oil in the soap for my friend's daughter. I need some input on a recipe, I have never made a soap without palm or palm kernel. I want to keep the olive oil at 30-35% so it will dry in a reasonable amount of time. These are what I have -

Olive
Coconut
Castor
Rice Bran
Apricot Oil
Grape Seed
Sweet Almond
Macadamia

 

[fiddletree]

Any chance you could get your hands on some cocoa butter and/or shea?

If I were using only those oils, and keeping the OO relatively low, I'd do this:

CO 30%
OO 35%
Sweet Almond Oil 10%
RBO 20%
Castor Oil 5%

It won't be the hardest bar, but hard enough, but nice and conditioning. With a nice 7% SF or so the CO won't be drying.

 

[Fragola]

My understanding was that the issue with olive isn't wetness, but softness. I see no reason for olive soap to dry slower than palm soap.

On topic of softness, maybe you need some additives to harden your soap, for example: cocoa butter, beeswax, sodium lactate or salt.

 

[fiddletree]

I find that high OO bars take a few (or many) months to harden up to the point that they don't get mushy in water, and to develop a decent lather. They do get rock hard eventually, though. I think that it probably needs a higher % of the water to evaporate than palm (or other harder oils/butters) to make a nice bar.

 

[IrishLass]

My Castile-type has 50% OO and it hardens and performs just fine for me at the normal 4 week cure mark (I do use a water discount, though- i.e. a 33% lye solution). True, it does get even better with a longer cure, but it's quite acceptable to me at 4 weeks- what I like to call it's earliest best (provided it gelled, that is). My formula also has CO, cocoa butter, rbo and castor. And I add sodium lactate to it at 1 tbsp ppo.

For 100% Castiles, my earliest best is more like 4 to 6 months.

IrishLass

 

[Soapy Gurl]

Oh, I do have cocoa butter, shea and mango, I totally forgot to list those!

 

[Mellifera]

I've made this one http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/sea-clay-avocado-facial-bar/ many times, and it turns out nicely.[/url]

 

[Soapy Gurl]

fiddletree - that looks like a good recipe. I could work a little cocoa butter in to harden it up. Thank you.


Mellifera - that looks good, but I used the rest of my avocado last time I soaped. I loved avocado but I have so many oils to use up I won't let myself get more.

 

[Mellifera]

fiddletree - that looks like a good recipe. I could work a little cocoa butter in to harden it up. Thank you.


Mellifera - that looks good, but I used the rest of my avocado last time I soaped. I loved avocado but I have so many oils to use up I won't let myself get more.

I'm sure you could sub something for the avocado.

 

[judymoody]

Hmm, maybe 30% CO, 10% cocoa butter, 40% OO, 20% sweet almond. I find that castor makes my bars soft, so I'd leave that out. Cocoa butter really contributes to bar firmness. I'd SF at 8%

You could also try a 100% CO with 20% SF.