An update, finally the shave soap was a success!!! I didn't allow the soap to cook, when my temps were good I just stick blended until it no longer separated. Then I added my glycerine and EO's. At this point it was like mashed potato. As soon as it was all well combined, I quickly put into my...
I am still tinkering with the recipe, at the moment I have stearic at 47 and palmitic at 7 so I am happy with that. However I have hit another stumbling block, I decided to run the recipe through another dual lye soap calc 'Mountain Sage' and it is giving me different lye percentages.
At 5%...
Thanks DeeAnna, Yes I will go back to the 3:1 water ratio as the extra water did nothing! I am going to reduce my stearic acid right down to 28 or 30% max and add in some high stearic butters. I will try the sodium lactate as I have some here, anything to help it along.
I do realize the nature...
I am thinking of going down that route the next attempt Becky. After about 20-30 mins the soap just became a solid mass that was impossible to incorporate anything. I left it to cook in the hope it would be a tad softer when translucent but it wasn't. Can I ask do you then leave it to cure like...
UPDATE FAIL!! Ha yes my third attempt is a fail, if anyone would like an update. I am beyond upset lol. This is my nemesis, I have been making soap for 10 years believe it or not. I reduced my stearic acid to 40% and upped my water 5:1. It all went swimmingly, I stick blended until it was pretty...
Thanks for that, yes I will try in my next attempt. Attempt number 3 what can go wrong this time! I definitely stick blended far too much I thought you had too see it through the initial stages whilst constantly blending. Thinking about it rationally why would you. I am sure it will be a...
Hi Dee Anna, Thanks again for the temps advice, 2nd attempt went well adding the lye water was no problem. Then I got to the mashed potato phase and it was so thick my stick blender broke. I now realize in hindsight perhaps more water would be better, I did 3:1 because I would like a hard soap...
Thanks for your detailed reply. I tried to get the lye water temp up but no matter how long I had it on a high rolling boil on the double boiler for I couldn't seem to get it past 155F. I thought the higher fats temp would help things along to stay melted. The next time I will mix my lye last...
I would love to pick you soapers brains. I tried to make my first shave soap today, and it was a disaster. My recipe has 45% stearic acid, dual lye 60/40. I usually make cp soap, so this was a whole new experience for me. I don't like stearic acid, the high melt point puts me off lol. First off...