Can I superfat soap with Castor oil at 20%

[DaniJ]

Hi all, I posted months ago when I was still brand new to soap making. I have made batches and gotten some pretty good (and pretty bad) results .. I think I understand soap making now. I also understand nothing about it at all lol.

But my question is, I was planning to make coconut soap with 1-5% castor oil in it (i only have 3 oils to work with right now) .. I made a batch of pure coconut oil soap and superfatted it at 20% because I read that works well for coconut oil soap. Can I still superfat it that much with castor oil in it?

 

[shunt2011]

20% Castor oils will make it sticky. What is your purpose of using that much castor? Generally anything more than 5-10% isn’t necessarily good. Castor only stabilizes lather. Doesn’t add. And when using coconut you’ll have plenty of lather. 100% CO with 20% SF is pretty standard.

 

[DaniJ]

I may have worded it wrong (like I said, I understand and dont understand, haha) .. I only want to use up to 5% castor oil ..I was going to toy around in the soap calc and see what percentage between 1-5 looks the best, and then 95% + coconut oil for the rest of the recipe, but I was told that coconut oil can be drying to the skin so I superfatted the last batch (of 100% coconut oil) at 20% . I just wasn't sure if doing that with a little castor oil in the recipe would make things weird.

I also wanted to add a little castor because I thought it'd be more moisturizing for the skin, but if it wont really add anything to it then maybe I shouldn't bother with it? ..Im trying to get as creative as I can with the 3 oils I have to work with lol

 

[shunt2011]

What oils do you have access to? Coconut even at 20% SF can still be drying to many. Do you have access to lard? If not opposed to animal fat you can make awesome soap worth Lard, coconut, olive or another liquid oil and castor.

I highly recommend a better balanced bar. Another thing is 90-100% CO soap won’t last as long as a better balanced bar either.

 

[lsg]

I use 5% Castor oil in most all my soaps. I think 95% coconut/5% Castor oil would be OK supperfatted at 20%.

 

[DaniJ]

thanks all for the answers I currently have olive oil (pomace), coconut oil, and castor oil. I am actually learning how to make it for a friend who wanted to go into business (but not until I've mastered every angle of this, so not for a long while yet) , hes the one purchasing the oils for me. I picked out the 3 I wanted (before fully understanding what oils worked well) and we've just kinda been sticking to those 3 for practice purposes. I think he wanted to keep everything vegan friendly but I will have to ask him how he feels about it.

Now that I've made some batches that aren't *too* shameful though, I think he's ready to add in more oils. I originally wanted to try jojoba but someone (on here) told me that cocoa butter was basically the same but cheaper .

 

[Nona'sFarm]

Palm Oil, at 20 - 30%, makes a nice addition to olive oil and coconut oil, if you want to stay vegan.