Eggs in soap?

[CatahoulaBubble]

So I've been making soap for awhile and I mainly make milk soaps. Recently I was watching a relatively new soaper that popped up on FB and she's adding eggs to her CP and HP soap. Has anyone ever added eggs to soap before? I did google it and saw one site where the person said they added eggs and had a recipe but I'm curious if anyone has actually made soap with eggs added, what the results are, what the shelf life is, and what difference adding eggs to the soap made?

 

[Arimara]

At the least, Deeanna has done one, I think. I've read that egg is a good additive for soap but you have to take away from you soap's water a to compensate for the egg white, I think. Hopefully, she'll chime in or another more established soaper.

 

[DeeAnna]

It's kinda fun to add eggs to soap. You can add whites, yolks, or the whole egg. The whites or the whole egg add a surprising amount of water to the soap, so you definitely want to reduce the other water-based liquids in your recipe.

I think you can safely ignore the small amount of fat added by the yolk as long as you don't get carried away with the number of yolks you use. I suggest 1-2 yolks per 500 g (16 oz) of fats.

I've seen a number of different ways to add egg to soap, some more complicated and messy and others less so, although all of them most likely work fine.

I like to use an easy, minimal mess method, assuming you have a stick blender. See the math and my method here -- https://classicbells.com/soap/eggSoap.asp

 

[Noreen Moore]

So I've been making soap for awhile and I mainly make milk soaps. Recently I was watching a relatively new soaper that popped up on FB and she's adding eggs to her CP and HP soap. Has anyone ever added eggs to soap before? I did google it and saw one site where the person said they added eggs and had a recipe but I'm curious if anyone has actually made soap with eggs added, what the results are, what the shelf life is, and what difference adding eggs to the soap made?

I was bumming through a gift shop yesterday checking out the soaps and I found a Dutch Egg White soap! I was thinking of searching here for recipes! I really wanted to buy that soap bar but... I am surrounded in soap. And I keep creating more recipes and now my Brambleberry order came in!!!
I would love to search for an egg white soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

Use your favorite soap recipe and add 1 egg white per pound of fat (or per 500 g of fat). Subtract the water contained in each white (38 g/white) from the total water for the recipe, and use that answer as the rest of the water needed. I have a few more tips in my article (see link in my first post.)

Honestly, it's way simpler than you might think at first glance.

The prices they charge for those tiny bars of commercially-made egg-white soap are a major rip off.

edit -- @Noreen Moore -- Wups! I see now that you may be a new-ish soap maker and might not have a favorite recipe yet. If you need help with that, let us know. Maybe we can suggest a suitable recipe with a little help from you about the fats you have on hand.

 

[msunnerstood]

I done both egg white and egg yolk. My Husbands family is Swedish so I made them all Swedish Egg White soap. The shelf life stayed the same, lather was the same. I did notice the wet bar was a bit more slippery though. Might have been my imagination

 

[DeeAnna]

I think you have a point about the wet soap bar being more slippery -- mine seem that way too. But other than that, I agree the lather, mildness, and longevity of the soap don't seem all that different. I use a basic soap recipe and add egg to it, so I am able to compare the basic soap and the same soap with egg.

 

[Obsidian]

I've used yolk in shampoo bars when I was still using them. It seemed to make the lather denser.
I haven't used them in my regular soap, really should try it.
I push the yolk through a sieve to remove the membrane and any gross bits from the whites.

 

[Carly B]

What is the benefit or purpose of adding egg to the soap? What makes the bar different? I mean, unless slippery soap is your thing....

 

[cmzaha]

I have also made egg soaps, using whole eggs, egg yolks, and egg whites. I find the soaps made with dried yolks to be the most slippery and the whole eggs next then come the ones with the whites. Other than that I found nothing other than label appeal.

 

[TheGecko]

So I've been making soap for awhile and I mainly make milk soaps. Recently I was watching a relatively new soaper that popped up on FB and she's adding eggs to her CP and HP soap. Has anyone ever added eggs to soap before? I did google it and saw one site where the person said they added eggs and had a recipe but I'm curious if anyone has actually made soap with eggs added, what the results are, what the shelf life is, and what difference adding eggs to the soap made?

I haven’t yet, but I find a recipe on Brambleberry: Eggnog Soap Project. Looks interesting.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Interesting, well thanks for the responses. I sometimes have an excess of eggs from my chickens and ducks so adding them to my soap could be a viable option for using up eggs I can't sell fast enough. I might give it a try this week.

 

[Sharon Patterson]

So I've been making soap for awhile and I mainly make milk soaps. Recently I was watching a relatively new soaper that popped up on FB and she's adding eggs to her CP and HP soap. Has anyone ever added eggs to soap before? I did google it and saw one site where the person said they added eggs and had a recipe but I'm curious if anyone has actually made soap with eggs added, what the results are, what the shelf life is, and what difference adding eggs to the soap made?

I raise ducks and occasionally will add duck eggs to my soap. I do HP so it is very important to temper the eggs (I use the entire egg, not just the egg white) with my oils before adding the lye. Then I stick blend like crazy to keep the eggs from cooking in the crockpot and to fully blend with the oils. The egg soap is wonderful.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I haven’t yet, but I find a recipe on Brambleberry: Eggnog Soap Project. Looks interesting.

I've made soap out of eggnog before, but it never occurred to me that it had eggs in it. I mean I knew that it has eggs but the reason I was using it was because I had a bunch left over from a holiday and I was all eggnogged out so I just used it like I use milk in my soap recipe. I did thin it with water because it was so thick. I only made a small batch as a test and from what I remember it was a pretty good soap. I may have to do that again.

 

[Noreen Moore]

@DeeAnna yes total newbie! And I am so over the top having fun with this! Spent hours, and I really mean hours! Of watching videos and then I sit for hours playing on SoapCalc plugging in this or that and I have a 3 ring binder of printed recipes I made and I think 5 batches under my belt! My computer room is now my soap curing room! It smells divine! This is something I have been wanting to try since back in 1986 when I used homemade laundry bar soap. Ex grandmother in law made it. She collected everyone's bacon grease and fat drippings. Was given an old baby dress my mother saved that was mine. Had 20 year old stains. That soap was amazing! 20 year old stains gone. Yes laundry soap is a different recipe! And I have spent a ton of money on awesome soaps from gift shops, whole food markets etc... Aw heck!
I am having a blast! Like I think I need Soapaholics Anonymous.
I just want to thank you so much for reaching out! Yes! Please! And Thanks! I will be accepting any and all advice! This is the best platform! Everyone is so very nice!!! Oh no... prepare for a pun...
Good clean people! Oh so sorry about that one!

 

[TheGecko]

I've made soap out of eggnog before, but it never occurred to me that it had eggs in it. I mean I knew that it has eggs but the reason I was using it was because I had a bunch left over from a holiday and I was all eggnogged out so I just used it like I use milk in my soap recipe. I did thin it with water because it was so thick. I only made a small batch as a test and from what I remember it was a pretty good soap. I may have to do that again.

It doesn’t have eggnog it in, but it has egg yolks: https://www.brambleberry.com/in-the....html?cgid=3-cp_project_studio#sz=12&start=71

 

[DeeAnna]

@Noreen Moore -- Here's the soap recipe with egg that I've been using lately --

The fats I use --
Avocado Oil ... 5.0%
Coconut Oil ... 14.0%
Sunflower high oleic ... 19.0%
Lard ... 57.0%
Egg, large, 5 g fat per yolk ... 1.0%
Lanolin ... 4.0%

Superfat ... 2% to 5% (I use 2%, but 5% is fine if you prefer a higher SF)
Lye concentration ... 33% (water:lye ratio 2:1)

How to tweak the fats in this recipe --
Avocado is optional. You can substitute any other "fancy" high oleic fat in place of the avo. Or you can omit the avo entirely and add this 5% to the sunflower.
You can substitute any other high oleic fat for the sunflower -- olive, HO canola, HO safflower, rice bran oil, etc.
The 1% fat from the egg is based on using 1 whole egg or 1 egg yolk per 500 g (16 oz) of fats. If using only egg white, no fat is added, so omit the egg fat and increase the lard by 1%.
Lanolin is optional. If you don't want to use it, add another 1% to the sunflower and another 3% to the lard.

The egg yolk colors the soap a delicate yellow. If using only egg white, this blend of fats will make a soft-white soap without the use of white pigment. If you want a bright white, you'll need to use titanium dioxide or other white colorant.

 

[There's Soap]

I made a soap using eggs. It turned out great. I love the feel of it. Very luxurious.

I read all the information I could ahead of time, such as the article mentioned above. Soap on the cool side. I reserved some of my oils and blended the eggs before adding to the soap batter. The eggs tended to curdle a little bit, so I was glad I was working with a recipe that could handle a bit of extra time with the stick blender to smooth out the tiny flecks of egg. I used 5 whole eggs for around 1800g of oils.

I even used a design that would remind one of egg yolks. (Some people were mystified, thinking they were looking at actual egg yolk polka dots! lol)



There's certainly label appeal as well. I used some eggs that were from a friend's farm. Free range, happy chickens. People like that.

Try it! It worked well for me!

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I reserved some of my oils and blended the eggs before adding to the soap batter. The eggs tended to curdle a little bit, so I was glad I was working with a recipe that could handle a bit of extra time with the stick blender to smooth out the tiny flecks of egg...."

When I've stick blended just the eggs in a small container, I have not seen any flecks of egg later on. For insurance, I usually pour the blended eggs through a strainer, but I've never seen any bits in the strainer. When I've forgotten to strain, I haven't seen any flecks or odd bits of egg in the soap itself. So this way of blending the eggs is working really well for me.

Maybe blending the eggs alone would help eliminate this issue for you too?

 

[There's Soap]

Maybe blending the eggs alone would help eliminate this issue for you too?

Thanks for the tip! I will have to try that next time!