Cutting soap and unmolding question

[Lye-h20-oil]

Hi! Just made my first shampoo bar and also first time trying a pvc tube as a mold plus first time cutting soap. This is alot of firsts! I have been using individual molds in my soaps so far.
Question about time. The recipe is 75% coconut oil 20% lard 5% castor. I found the recipe on this site.....can't remember who commented that this would be a good shampoo bar but I thank that person because it sounds like it might work for my hair but that will be known in about 6 weeks. I might have clean hair for new year!
Ok so my question is should I wait 24 hours to unmold and cut this recipe? Is it going to be soft or hard if I wait that long? I'll be using a big kitchen knife. It's been molding 14 hours so far. I forgot to say 2-3 % superfat.

 

[Obsidian]

I would unmold it as soon as you can. With that much coconut, its going to be hard and if you wait too long, the bars could break when cut. I'd check the hardness after about 6 hours. Did you line your PVC?

I would recommend using a wire cheese cutter if you have one or at least a knife with a very thin blade. The thicker a blade is, the more likely it can can cracked/broken soap.

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

I would unmold it as soon as you can. With that much coconut, its going to be hard and if you wait too long, the bars could break when cut. I'd check the hardness after about 6 hours. Did you line your PVC?

I would recommend using a wire cheese cutter if you have one or at least a knife with a very thin blade. The thicker a blade is, the more likely it can can cracked/broken soap.

Yes I lined it with the roll up cutting board from the dollar store. I cut the tube 1 inch shorter than the cutting board. It's been 14 hours so I will remove it now! I don't have wire, I have fishing line though. Thank you for the info on the thickness of knife. I didn't think of that.

Ok! I did it! First I had to run the tube under hot water because it was hard as a rock and the bottom had a little leakage ( I used folded parchment with rubberbands and wrapped plastic grocery bags around that ) glad I did. The hot water cleaned it up enough for me to use a soup can to push the soap out from the bottom.
It unrapped easy from the cutting board liner. It had a dip in the log from the way it formed around the liner, that's a bummer. I did use the biggest thinnest knife I had to cut it....it was hard but it worked. My cutting skills made the soap look like beaten up hocky pucks....but that's ok, it's the cleaning property I'm looking for. I'm not sure if I will use this method in the future. But I definitely want a round shampoo bar so that it is a different shape than body bar.

 

[AliOop]

That's a super cool idea to use the PVC tube. Gonna try that - thanks! FWIW, I use a 100% coconut oil shampoo bar that is 12% superfat, and I LOVE it! I also follow it with an ACV rinse (1 part ACV : 4 parts water) with 5-6 drops rosemary and lavender EOs. Hair smells great, feels great, and detangles easily, even after swimming in a chlorinated pool. As someone with long, curly, and super thick hair, and very reactive skin, it's great to have inexpensive and healthy alternatives to store-bought products. And so fun to make, too!

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

That's a super cool idea to use the PVC tube. Gonna try that - thanks! FWIW, I use a 100% coconut oil shampoo bar that is 12% superfat, and I LOVE it! I also follow it with an ACV rinse (1 part ACV : 4 parts water) with 5-6 drops rosemary and lavender EOs. Hair smells great, feels great, and detangles easily, even after swimming in a chlorinated pool. As someone with long, curly, and super thick hair, and very reactive skin, it's great to have inexpensive and healthy alternatives to store-bought products. And so fun to make, too!

Sounds like my hair and skin, only my hair is wavy, long and thick. It's not oily so I don't have to wash it frequently. I've tried 100% coconut oil soap on my hair but I think it was to much superfat. I will keep the 12% in mind if this batch fails to perform.

 

[AliOop]

Your recipe sounds great for hair! I do have to be careful with castor oil since it definitely makes ALL of my hair grow. Great for scalp and eyelashes, not so much for the lady mustache and sideburns, haha! So if I used that recipe, I'd have to be very sure not to get the soap suds on my face while washing my hair. But most people aren't quite that sensitive to castor oil, and it will definitely be great for the health of your locks. Tell us how it turns out!

 

[shunt2011]

That's not a good recipe for hair....That much coconut will strip the oils. I would never recommend using it on hair, I made and used a shampoo soap with no coconut and it totally ruined my hair.

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

Your recipe sounds great for hair! I do have to be careful with castor oil since it definitely makes ALL of my hair grow. Great for scalp and eyelashes, not so much for the lady mustache and sideburns, haha! So if I used that recipe, I'd have to be very sure not to get the soap suds on my face while washing my hair. But most people aren't quite that sensitive to castor oil, and it will definitely be great for the health of your locks. Tell us how it turns out!

I'm so glad you mentioned the hair growth result from castor!!! I would have tested it as a body bar too!! Sooo glad you mention this. Thank you for saving me from a hairy mess. I will definitely post results when I try it.

 

[AliOop]

That's not a good recipe for hair....That much coconut will strip the oils. I would never recommend using it on hair, I made and used a shampoo soap with no coconut and it totally ruined my hair.

Interesting... my hair is pretty dry, and at 12% superfat, this pure coconut oil soap is very moisturizing and does not strip my hair or skin at all. I found the recipe on Mommypotamus dot com and have shared it with tons of friends who also love it. I guess everyone reacts differently to different oils.

I'm so glad you mentioned the hair growth result from castor!!! I would have tested it as a body bar too!! Sooo glad you mention this. Thank you for saving me from a hairy mess. I will definitely post results when I try it.

Not everyone has that reaction; my daughter uses castor oil for face cleansing with no problem. You could always try the soap on one leg or something, and see if you get any growth there. Easy to shave away if you do. You can also put a thin layer of pure castor oil on your eyelashes every day for a week, and see if they get longer or fuller. Of course, that is way more castor exposure than you would get from the soap, so YMMV.

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

That's not a good recipe for hair....That much coconut will strip the oils. I would never recommend using it on hair, I made and used a shampoo soap with no coconut and it totally ruined my hair.

I

Not everyone has that reaction; my daughter uses castor oil for face cleansing with no problem. You could always try the soap on one leg or something, and see if you get any growth there. Easy to shave away if you do. You can also put a thin layer of pure castor oil on your eyelashes every day for a week, and see if they get longer or fuller. Of course, that is way more castor exposure than you would get from the soap, so YMMV.

I'll just stick with castor in my hair suds...no need to test the powers of growing hair in other places at this point, they are doing just fine lol !!!! I will watch for unusually strange hair growth in usually hairless areas. Oh wow, we are brave souls for testing on ourselves! Patient too.

 

[shunt2011]

Also keep in mind that Castor is no longer castor oil in soap. It becomes a salt. Not likely to have any of the same qualities. Just like coconut is great straight up but in soap can strip the hide at too high of a usage.

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

Also keep in mind that Castor is no longer castor oil in soap. It becomes a salt. Not likely to have any of the same qualities. Just like coconut is great straight up but in soap can strip the hide at too high of a usage.

That's good to know because I forgot to add salt to my water in this recipe.

 

[shunt2011]

That's good to know because I forgot to add salt to my water in this recipe.

Not the same kind of salt.

 

[AliOop]

Also keep in mind that Castor is no longer castor oil in soap. It becomes a salt. Not likely to have any of the same qualities. Just like coconut is great straight up but in soap can strip the hide at too high of a usage.

That's great to know - thanks!