Can You Help Me With My First Bar Soap Recipe

[DesertRose]

Hello again

After success in my first liquid soap attempt, i would like to experience my first bar soap making process also. If you can support me with your comments, i'll appreciate.

Total Oil Weight: 1.000 GR
Water as percent of oil: %33
Superfat: %5

- Coconut Oil (76 F): %25
- Palm Oil: %27
- Olive Oil: %31
- Castor Oil: %10
- Palm Kernel Oil: %7

NaOH Amount: 144 gr
Water Amount: 170 gr
Glycerin: 160 gr
Sugar: 10 gr (%1 of total oil weight) (to increase lather and bubbles)

I have some questions if you can share your ideas with me;

1) Can Castor Oil be used as %10 or higher ? Does using Castor Oil above %5 make the bar too sticky ?
2) Is it a god idea to use Palm, Palm Kernel and Coconut in the same recipe ? Is there any advantage or side effect of using PKO ? Should i take it out of the formula ? I added it to increase lather.
3) Does using sugar cause my bar soap go rancid ? Is it a good idea to use sugar ?
4) Can i use Polysorbate 80 for binding essential oils to my bar soap ? If not, what would you offer instead ? How can i add scent effectively to the soap ?
5) Can i use a bottle or a water glass for mold to get a round shaped soap ? I know that glass is not suitable but may be i can lay baking paper into it

 

[AliOop]

Here are my recommendations:

1. I would not use glycerin to replace the water when making bar soap. Handcrafted bar soap will have plenty of glycerin from the saponification process; adding more can make it sticky. Stay with 100% distilled water for your first bar soap. You can play with other liquids after you get comfortable with the process.

2. Change your setting from "water as percent of oils" to "lye concentration" and try 33%. That won't be as much water, which means your soap will harden up for quicker unmolding. No one wants to wait extra time for unmolding, haha! Also, using "lye concentration" will give you more consistent results with different-sized batches.

3. Palm Kernel Oil and CO will behave very similarly in bar soap. Consider using one or the other to keep your first batch simpler. Also, because you are using a total of 32% of those cleansing oils, your cleansing number is quite high at 22. That's great if you like to be squeaky clean. If you tend to have dry skin (like me), you will want that cleansing number much lower, like 10-12. All soap will get you clean, even with a cleansing number of 0, so don't be fooled by the calculator on that issue.

4. Castor oil at 10% is as high as I'd go, and personally, I prefer to use it around 5-7%. It can make the soap feel sticky or rubbery in higher amounts.

5. No need for PS80 in bar soaps. You can add the EOs directly to your batter. Be aware that not all are skin-safe, and many cause acceleration. Some folks soak the EOs in a bit of kaolin clay and feel like that causes it to "stick" better. Many good threads here on SMF can shed further light on that.

6. Glass is not recommended because it is likely to shatter from the heat generated as the soap gels. It could also be dropped or knocked over, creating a caustic mess of soap batter with glass shards in it. Yikes! Instead of glass, consider a piece of PVC pipe or ABS pipe. Here in the US, we can buy those inexpensively at a hardware store or building supply store. You can line it with paper or silicone mats, or grease it very lightly with mineral oil. Another option would be a Pringles container, if you have those in Turkey?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hello from Yeni Zealande!
I concur with everything AliOop has said.
If you decide to use sugar ( which I don't recommend for your first bar soap) make sure you dissolve it throughly in your water before adding the lye - and after you have added your lye be aware that it will heat up the water and if you don't continue stirring you may get 'toffee' form on the bottom of your lye solution.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

For the recipe itself, I personally would drop the pko completely, lower the castor to 5%, and put that 13% on to the palm. Well, I would use lard instead of palm, but that can come later

 

[DesertRose]

Here are my recommendations:

1. I would not use glycerin to replace the water when making bar soap. Handcrafted bar soap will have plenty of glycerin from the saponification process; adding more can make it sticky. Stay with 100% distilled water for your first bar soap. You can play with other liquids after you get comfortable with the process.

2. Change your setting from "water as percent of oils" to "lye concentration" and try 33%. That won't be as much water, which means your soap will harden up for quicker unmolding. No one wants to wait extra time for unmolding, haha! Also, using "lye concentration" will give you more consistent results with different-sized batches.

3. Palm Kernel Oil and CO will behave very similarly in bar soap. Consider using one or the other to keep your first batch simpler. Also, because you are using a total of 32% of those cleansing oils, your cleansing number is quite high at 22. That's great if you like to be squeaky clean. If you tend to have dry skin (like me), you will want that cleansing number much lower, like 10-12. All soap will get you clean, even with a cleansing number of 0, so don't be fooled by the calculator on that issue.

4. Castor oil at 10% is as high as I'd go, and personally, I prefer to use it around 5-7%. It can make the soap feel sticky or rubbery in higher amounts.

5. No need for PS80 in bar soaps. You can add the EOs directly to your batter. Be aware that not all are skin-safe, and many cause acceleration. Some folks soak the EOs in a bit of kaolin clay and feel like that causes it to "stick" better. Many good threads here on SMF can shed further light on that.

6. Glass is not recommended because it is likely to shatter from the heat generated as the soap gels. It could also be dropped or knocked over, creating a caustic mess of soap batter with glass shards in it. Yikes! Instead of glass, consider a piece of PVC pipe or ABS pipe. Here in the US, we can buy those inexpensively at a hardware store or building supply store. You can line it with paper or silicone mats, or grease it very lightly with mineral oil. Another option would be a Pringles container, if you have those in Turkey?

Thank you.
- Making lye concentration as %33.
- Took the glycerin out of the formula.
- Took the PKO out but the reason i put the Coconut Oil high is because of i like lather.
- I haven't decided about the Castor Oil yet. I like the effect of Castor Oil, with lots of creamy bubbles.
- I won't use PS80 as you advice.
- Pringles container is a good idea, love it

How about using Aloe Vera Gel ? It's sold as a regular gel and as a concentrated form (1:10). Can i use Aloe Vera Gel ? Does it make any contribution ? Do all the vitamins, minerals etc. that Aloe Gel possess die because of saponification process ?

Probably i will use Pringles container, it's expensive but not more than a soap mould. I'll purchase all the stuff from internet, we don't have any store for those materials.

 

[DesertRose]

For the recipe itself, I personally would drop the pko completely, lower the castor to 5%, and put that 13% on to the palm. Well, I would use lard instead of palm, but that can come later

Thanks for your suggestions. I took the pko out. I can't use lard due to some ethnic reasons unfortunately.

 

[DesertRose]

Hello from Yeni Zealande!
I concur with everything AliOop has said.
If you decide to use sugar ( which I don't recommend for your first bar soap) make sure you dissolve it throughly in your water before adding the lye - and after you have added your lye be aware that it will heat up the water and if you don't continue stirring you may get 'toffee' form on the bottom of your lye solution.

I actually used sugar for my first liquid soap recipe and it resulted wonderful