attempt at a hard bar CP recipe

[december82]

I've only used 1 recipe before, but I just bought a milky way mold and suggestion of a harder type bar should shape better an be easier to remove from mold... so I took a cracked at soap calc and altered my usual recipe, cleaning and ins are a bit out of range tho, will this be OK to use as a face and body bar or should I just keep it as a hand soap?

 

[Obsidian]

Too me, that would be a very drying soap that I would only use on my hands. This recipe will make a nice hard bar that you can use on your body, use 5% superfat.

palm or lard 50%
olive oil 24%
coconut 20%
castor 5%

A little trick with milkyways molds, let the soap sit in the mold for 2-3 days then pop them in the freezer for 30 minutes or so, then unmold.

 

[cmzaha]

^^^I have to agree, it would be much to drying for me

 

[IrishLass]

That would be a drying soap for me, too.......unless I increased the superfat to about 10% or so, that is.

What does your original recipe look like, and are you happy with it? If so, there's really no need to tweak it to make it harder since you can just pop the soap/mold in the freezer for easy release.

When I pour my soap into MilkyWay molds, I let it sit on my counter for a day, pop them in the freezer, then I usually forget about them for a day or so (sometimes more). By the time I remove them from the freezer, the soap pops out quite easily from the mold after I first run it (the mold) under some lukewarm water.

For what it's worth, my soap formulas are not as hard as the one you posted.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

Have you tried your usual recipe with the milky way mold? Is it causing problems? If not, why fix something that ain't broke?

Orrrrr .... maybe you're an engineer like me? In which case, I understand! :mrgreen:

Edit: Dang! Irish Lass beat me to it.

 

[december82]

Usual recipe is : 7oz each coconut, palm & olive oil, 1oz castor oil, at 2% sf

And yes I'm guilty of experimenting for the sake of it... I didn't even try the usual recipe in the mold... tbh I wanted to use up what was left in the jars so I weighed them and put it through the calc. Lol

 

[TeresaT]

tbh I wanted to use up what was left in the jars so I weighed them and put it through the calc. Lol

Ha! I've done that, too. Makes for some very interesting soap.

 

[Arimara]

That recipe is a bit scary. If your recipe is what you have on hand, I would still say bump up the superfat to 10 (give or take) and add some coconut or goat's milk to it. Or even yogurt. I honestly would tell you keep that as a hand soap but that's even too harsh for my hands as often as I wash them.

 

[Steve85569]

That recipe will take grease off your hands though.
Kinda like a mechanics soap without any kerosene.

And yes, I too am guilty of making up a recipe to clear out a cupboard.

 

[december82]

Lol I guess I underestimated how much diffrence a couple point could be... at least it's somewhat usable!

Could I just melt it and add more fat? Would it be more suited to daily use then?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Have you already made it?

As it is, I would only use it as an occasional hand soap. Too much and it could start to leave your hands feeling worn out.

If you haven't made it and don't need a super-cleaning bar, I wouldn't make it at all. Wait until you have more ingredients and make something that you want to make.

Make your soap right, not make your soap right now.

 

[december82]

Lol busted for not being patient... yes it's already made. Sad thing is I have more ingredients, I just didn't want keep containers with less than 2oz in them lol. Luckily I know I'm very far away from attempting anything more than 2 lbs at a time.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Lol busted for not being patient... yes it's already made. Sad thing is I have more ingredients, I just didn't want keep containers with less than 2oz in them lol. Luckily I know I'm very far away from attempting anything more than 2 lbs at a time.

Assuming you use between 20% and 30% coconut oil, which would be more reasonable, you should get a rather hard soap if stearic and palmitic acid are above 25%. Just look up those two numbers for your recipe in Soapcalc and add them together.