Beeswax?

[spenny92]

I stumbled upon some beautiful yellow beeswax in my local organic shop today, so I picked up a small block for soaping purposes. I've never used it before. Do I input it into my recipe as a base oil and melt it with my other solid oils? Or should I be using it as an additive?

 

[umeali]

I am new here and just learning soap making ,made my first soap ,beeswax harder the soap so I am also keen to know but I was panning to put it with some other oils .

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Beeswax is one way to harden a soap, but it is not without its issues. Do you need to harden your bar? Is it too soft at the moment? Can you use more solid oils? There are avenues to explore before wax

 

[Obsidian]

You add it with your other oils and don't use more then 5% in your recipe. Make sure it grate it before trying to melt it and watch out for overheating of your soap. My beeswax soap got really hot, really fast. Next time I'll put it in the fridge.

 

[DeeAnna]

Beeswax melts at a much higher temperature than regular soaping fats. If you don't keep it fully melted during saponification, you will also end up with hard bits of beeswax dotted throughout your soap bars. It will harden your soap, yes -- but it can also cut the lather and give the soap an odd waxy feel.

You need to include it as a fat when calculating your recipe. It does consume some lye.

For me, the problems of using beeswax in soap outweigh the benefits. I'm a beekeeper and I use my beeswax in other products where it is really useful. I make my soaps hard enough to suit me by choosing a balanced blend of fats, not soaping with too much water, and giving my soap bars a reasonable time to cure.

 

[dixiedragon]

I love beeswax in my soap. You will need a very well-behaved recipe, b/c you will have to soap hotter to keep the beeswax from solidifying.

 

[not_ally]

I would avoid using beeswax until you have a bit more experience. I think even experienced soapers find it a bit of a pain sometimes.

 

[Obsidian]

I too really like beeswax. I use 5%, it doesn't reduce lather and even seems to make it a bit creamier. I also like the waxy feel of the bar.

 

[cmzaha]

I you try using beeswax I would not add in any sugar, milk or honey since they add in heating up factors, and I would use the beeswax in the 3% range. Unlike some popular opinion when making soap 3% will make a difference. Many feel under 5% does nothing but with some oils that is not true. I make a lovely Orange Clove Honey soap that is wonderful but it is a total disaster waiting to happen so I hp it. lol, it made with goats milk, honey, bee propolis, beeswax (3%) with clove and orange eo's. Talking about an impossible recipe to cp...

 

[not_ally]

Jeez, Carolyn, you are a sucker for punishment. I can see why you HP that one.

 

[dixiedragon]

I've made soap with milk, honey and beeswax. I wouldn't recommend it until you have some experience under your belt, but it's not that difficult. I've never had my milk, honey, beeswax soap heat up and separate the way some describe. *knock on wood*

I think it helps that I used canned milk and not fresh, though.

 

[spenny92]

Thanks everyone. I was thinking of using it in a goat's milk and manuka honey bar, which I haven't had any issues with overheating yet. I've switched to non-lard, non-palm recipes so using butters to harden, but was thinking of decreasing the butters by a couple of percent and adding the beeswax.

 

[MtnSoaper]

I too really like beeswax. I use 5%, it doesn't reduce lather and even seems to make it a bit creamier. I also like the waxy feel of the bar.

I thought the extra creaminess was just me. I really like beeswax and haven't had any trouble with it other than the soap coming to trace quicker. I use 2-3 % and buy from ebeehoney.com