D-Day! or rather S-Day! My first time - questions

[loveit_latherit]

Hi all! Thanks for all your help! Today will be my first day provided I get my pots from Amazon.

I have made a recipe and plan on trying HP (double boiler) and CP so I can familiarize myself with both methods.

I have made a recipe that I want to be moisturizing, hard, cleansing and lathery.

Please provide your input and any valuable tidbits I should be aware of:
Beeswax 4.72%
Canola Oil 7.08%
Castor Oil 7.08%
Coconut Oil 28.3%
Olive Oil 28.3%
Shea Butter 9.43%
Cocoa Botter 9.43%
Apricot Kernal Oil 5.66% (reserved for superfat - that means i add at trce, right?)
= 21.2 oil oz

5% for the Lye calc setting - 8.056 oz water 2.916 NaOH

1.5 oz FO
10 oz Sea salt added at trace
Color from Michaels added at trace and for HP the gel stage (?)

Please let me know what you think and any valuable tidbits as it is my first time - but I am familiar with baking and paint andye so mixing and measuring I should be good with.

Will have my vinegar standing by and hopefully will only need it for my salad dressing

WISH ME LUCK!!
Thanks for all your help!
Anna
www.AnnaPereira.com

 

[holly99]

Congrats on getting ready for your first batch! Yippee!

I did notice several things about this first batch recipe. First, it's quite an extensive recipe for a first time. Most first-timers try something a little simpler than a salt bar and use fewer oils. Also, if for some reason the batch flops (we're hoping not!) than you won't have lost so many pricey oils/butters.

I don't have much luck working with beeswax in soap as it's pretty ornery, IMO. With a salt bar, it's going to be plenty hard to cut without the beeswax. I personally wouldn't worry about it.

Salt bars can struggle to have lather so most soapers tend to choose coconut oil as their main oil to combat the lack of lather. Then up the superfat to 15 -20% as coconut oil and salt can be very drying.

Salt bar "batter" can be very hard to get into the mold. You'll have to work fast and then cut soon.

With CP batches, it's not necessary to add a superfat oil at trace. Figure all your oils for a 5% superfat (or whatever you want) and add them all at the beginning. No matter what time you add a special oil, it's still going to go through the lye process and that way you also don't forget to put it in which would result in a lye heavy soap. With HP, some do like to reserve a % of a special oil to add at the end of the cook.

Simple colors from Michaels tend to morph when in contact with the lye so keep that in mind. However, some people have had luck using them.

That's probably more than you wanted but I do love to help so these are just some things as I see them.

 

[loveit_latherit]

Thank you Holly!

So do you suggest I cut the salt in half? I know I used so many ingredienbts - I can't help being over the top (I tend to be that way) Nothing can be easy and simple! LOL

If I cut the beeswax out do you suggest I replace with OO?

TY!

 

[holly99]

If you want to do a salt bar than I would adjust the recipe even further than just removing the beeswax.

I would go with 75-90% coconut oil and make up the rest with castor oil and some shea or cocoa butter. Remember to use a 15-20% SF though.

If you just replace the beeswax with olive, you're lather is still going to be quite little. Even with 90 coconut oil and 10% castor, the lather is still very weak in my opinion.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Congrats, Anna!

I have to admit...that's an extensive recipe right now, and one that's probably going to trace fast (not that it's a bad thing, mind you, but for your first...maybe not).

Perhaps you could plan on doing two today? Have an extra Gladware container lying around? That works fine for a mold. You can clean your pots and utensils immediately, just wear your gloves and goggles when doing so just in case. Vinegar is your friend, there, and if I'm going to do it I tend to pre-soak them in a 1/10th vinegar solution for a bit before cleaning to neutralize the lye.

For the first one, try the basics. Olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, the cheap stuff, in other words. Observe it as you go. Knowing when it's tracing is experience, and that first soap...ugh. Mine came out hideously ugly. The process is, "Is that tracing...is that what it looks like? The video didn't quite look like that...oh, crud." I "poured" at heavy trace. Which involved scraping the pot.

You've heard it before, but be very careful measuring with that many ingredients. A minor error, adding up with that many oils and waxes and whatnot, can become a major issue.

You can add everything right together in the oil pot, as Holly noted. For the first few batches that results in a lot less stress. Since trace isn't the completion of the lye reaction (not even close!), the lye monster won't spare anything added at trace (in CP; HP, when done, can be super-fatted with anything you want). If I have a base color (usually white), I add it right to the pot as well, along with my fragrance. Swirls, if I do them, then get the white soap poured off into a plastic cup and I mix the colorant there. For darker swirls, I'll add the titanium dioxide to the main pot after splitting the soap into the cup for coloration.

Don't go into hysterics about temperature. I mind my oils, but let the lye temperature fall where it will. If the container is only warm or blood-temperature to my hand, we're good to go. Slightly hot...eh, OK, whatever. For oils, I tend to use a temperature depending on what I used--110 or so for lots of olive oil, 120 for coconut and palm dominated soap. But you don't even have to get that close and can do most things at room temperature or 140 if you want.

But I gotta say it again. To avoid major disappointment, start simpler, just once. Get a success under your proverbial belt before trying anything hard and failing. You'll feel better about the process and have an idea what went wrong.

 

[orangetree71]

Anna, you are extremely ambitious! I'm a newbie too, and I would recommend making a batch of regular, non-salt bars first. That way you can keep all the oils you want to use. Good luck! Please let us know how it goes.

Tamara

 

[loveit_latherit]

Ok I'm kicking and screaming but have been convinced - I will pass on the salt!

Still waiting for UPS to bring my pots...

 

[IanT]

lol once you start you will neeeeeeeeeever stop.... its like pringles (oh hey side note... pringles cans can be used for soap molds )

lol


woooo... too much energy drink for IanT...

 

[loveit_latherit]

lol once you start you will neeeeeeeeeever stop.... its like pringles (oh hey side note... pringles cans can be used for soap molds )

lol


woooo... too much energy drink for IanT...

LOL thanks Ian. Sitting waiting for my pots and 'taking calls' while i'm re reading process tutorials - on smf tutorials right now as a matter of fact! I'm obsessed already! Starting to foam at the mouth! LOL

Thank goodness for all you kind folk with all your help xoxo

 

[IanT]

lol we have alllll been there!!!!

I seriously didnt sleep for like 2 months when I started soaping lol...I stayed up til like 4 am every night reading, re-reading, posting on the forum... oooh twas non stop!!

Glad you are finding the tutorials listing helpful!!

Starting to foam at the mouth! LOL

Yeah you know its real bad when the foam starts smelling like lavender EO or some other combo lol... mmmmmmm

 

[holly99]

You're in a really fun phase I think! I researched almost constantly for months before I started. Once you do this first batch, you'll be hooked! Forever and ever! There will be plenty of time for that salt bar!

 

[ChrissyB]

HI
Okay, I'd definitely do without the beeswax, throw that idea right out the window.
Also, I would go for a much much much simpler recipe. Something like OO, Palm, coconut, maybe a little castor. That's it, no salt, no cocoa, shea, sweet almond, canola. No fragrance either.
Or even just a 70% OO 30% Co will make a nice hard bar of soap with good bubbleage that will be nice and mild after cure.

 

[loveit_latherit]

Aww thanks everyone! Still being a good soapy student and learning what I can! But a huge disappointment - my pots did not come today! (unless UPS is coming back - but doubt that) I have EVVVVVERYTHING else! Can ya believe that? I have bad allergies today too, so just as well - don't need my nose dripping into my pristine soap! Lol.

Keep the suggestions coming... Thanks a boat load!!!

 

[orangetree71]

It's true, once you start, you keep wanting to try different variations - different oils, different scents, different techniques. Glad to know I'm not alone. I thought I was the only one who stayed up late reading and rereading soap books and going to sleep thinking about soap recipes. . .

 

[Bukawww]

lol we have alllll been there!!!!

I seriously didnt sleep for like 2 months when I started soaping lol...I stayed up til like 4 am every night reading, re-reading, posting on the forum... oooh twas non stop!!

Glad you are finding the tutorials listing helpful!!

Starting to foam at the mouth! LOL

Yeah you know its real bad when the foam starts smelling like lavender EO or some other combo lol... mmmmmmm

How funny, this was me exactly...I would literally be holding my eyelids open while trying to convince myself to step away from the computer.

I had friends that would call/IM and immediately say 'Hey whats up? Looking at soap again?'...and it was more like 4 months before I finally tried my first batch.