Adding avocado to soap. Help!

[girlfromnovascotia]

I am a seasoned newbie and want to explore adding avocado to my soap recipe. After watching probably too many utub e videos, I'm still not getting my head around measuring the avocado . Do I replace the total water amount with the puree? How much avocado per amount of oil? How much water do I mix with the avocado for the puree? Brain fog on this one is real...

 

[artemis]

Searching the forum for "avocado," I found this:

Honey Avocado Soap

I made a batch of avocado soap last winter and loved it as facial soap ever since. It was a tiny batch with only 4 bars and I poured way too early. I decided to revamp it this year so I can use it for winter this year and hopefully my online shop will be ready by then. Avocado puree: water 1:1...

www.soapmakingforum.com

You may be able to find more related threads.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Wouldn't the avocado puree + water saponify once the lye is added if you use it to make your lye solution? I would have thought it better to add the avocado to the oils.

 

[girlfromnovascotia]

Searching the forum for "avocado," I found this:

Honey Avocado Soap

I made a batch of avocado soap last winter and loved it as facial soap ever since. It was a tiny batch with only 4 bars and I poured way too early. I decided to revamp it this year so I can use it for winter this year and hopefully my online shop will be ready by then. Avocado puree: water 1:1...

www.soapmakingforum.com

You may be able to find more related threads.

Thank you! Yes, I read all of these and it's very helpful. I guess I am still confused about the ratios. I am thinking that my water calculation gets replaced with the puree. My recipe calls for 742.83 grams of water and 308.41 grants of lye. I will discount this water amount by the gram amount of puree that I use?

 

[girlfromnovascotia]

Wouldn't the avocado puree + water saponify once the lye is added if you use it to make your lye solution? I would have thought it better to add the avocado to the oils.

I was planning on putting the puree in with the oils before adding the lye and discounted water mixture. So I would take my recipe water calculation and just subtract the amount of puree from that number and mix the remaining water with the lye . Does this make sense?

 

[KiwiMoose]

I was planning on putting the puree in with the oils before adding the lye and discounted water mixture. So I would take my recipe water calculation and just subtract the amount of puree from that number and mix the remaining water with the lye . Does this make sense?

Totally. I was just reading that old thread and wondering how one adds lye to a fat without it starting to saponify.

oh - if you still have thebrain fog please put in your recipe and I’m happy to help figure it out. Preferably in grams because i find those imperial measurements far too confusing.

 

[earlene]

I was planning on putting the puree in with the oils before adding the lye and discounted water mixture. So I would take my recipe water calculation and just subtract the amount of puree from that number and mix the remaining water with the lye . Does this make sense?

Just remember that NaOH requires an equal amount of water to dissolve. So I would suggest that first you create your recipe in your soap calculator with the lye concentration of your choosing. If you use a 33% lye concentration, which is 2 parts water to 1 part NaOH, you will have enough water left over after making your 1:1 mix of NaOH + distilled water to dissolve any other item you need to dissolve (like sugar if you add sugar, or whatever) and to add to make your avocado pureé. I also suggest that you make sure to mix your lye solution FIRST, so you don't end up with not enough water and then have to add extra and mess up your calculations.

How much water you need for the pureé is really dependent on the ripeness of the avocado, and the efficiency of your pureéing method, BTW.

The calculator I recommend is this one: Soapmaking Recipe Builder & Lye Calculator

You can choose the Masterbatch Lye option (see below) and then the calculator will determine how additional water you can use to mix into your pureé.

 

[DeeAnna]

...So I would take my recipe water calculation and just subtract the amount of puree from that number and mix the remaining water with the lye . Does this make sense?

If you want an easy method, this is probably the way to go. The easy method assumes the puree is 100% water, and we know avocado puree isn't just water. You have to decide if you're okay with this assumption.

If you're wanting to be more accurate, look at the nutrition data for the average avocado. Figure out how much fat (aka avocado oil) is in the puree and how much is water. Add the fat weight from the puree to the total fats in your recipe. Include the water from the puree as part of the total water for the recipe.

 

[Arimara]

If you want an easy method, this is probably the way to go. The easy method assumes the puree is 100% water, and we know avocado puree isn't just water. You have to decide if you're okay with this assumption.

If you're wanting to be more accurate, look at the nutrition data for the average avocado. Figure out how much fat (aka avocado oil) is in the puree and how much is water. Add the fat weight from the puree to the total fats in your recipe. Include the water from the puree as part of the total water for the recipe.

That is assuming tha OP is using a hass avocado, right? I had a Floridian avocado a couple of days ago and found it to be a little more watery than I remember them to be

 

[SoapDaddy70]

To keep it simple as a way to see how someone else did it I would follow Jan Berry's recipe. I have her book - Simple and Natural Soapmaking and made the avocado soap recipe from it and it was pretty easy to do and I really liked how it came out.

 

[DeeAnna]

That is assuming tha OP is using a hass avocado, right? I had a Floridian avocado a couple of days ago and found it to be a little more watery than I remember them to be

I didn't assume anything about the OP's avocado -- the link is to a generic "average" avocado. There are specific varieties in that database too.