Favorite Luxury Soap and why...

[wildflower]

I am curious what everyone's favorite luxury soap or recipe is. what makes it luxurious to you?

As a newbie..well, let's just say pre-newbie (until i actually make some darn soap) lol...i dream about making a shea butter soap, but i read a lot about olive oil soaps being really nice.

 

[Genny]

My favorite soap is pretty simple:
olive oil
shea butter
coconut oil
castor oil

It has a nice lather and it's nice and creamy. That's why I like it, plus it's a nice and simple recipe, so it's easy to make.

 

[HutCar92]

I love lard soap, I havent made it in awhile but its one of my favorite. My ususal tho is Avocado, Castor, Coconut, Cocoa Butter, Olive, Palm and Shea...

 

[jcandleattic]

My favorite soaps always have a high concentration of Almond Oil...
IDK why, but they always feel like pure silk on my skin when I use them.

 

[fiddletree]

My favorite soap is pretty simple:
olive oil
shea butter
coconut oil
castor oil

It has a nice lather and it's nice and creamy. That's why I like it, plus it's a nice and simple recipe, so it's easy to make.

Same here!

I love love love love the soap that I make with these ingredients. Shea butter is fantastic in soap, but it moves fast!

 

[judymoody]

If I didn't care about cost, it would be OO, Avocado, Babassu, Mango, and Kokum.

 

[Maythorn]

I like my latest buttermilk soap and I find it luxurious though it's just a standard lard, olive, coconut, castor recipe.

 

[green soap]

Yes, luxury can have different interpretations.

I make three soaps with lots of garden ingredients: triple mint, triple rosemary and triple lemon. They all involve cooled strong herb teas, oil infusions and essential oils. They feel luxurious but maybe it is because they have part of my garden. Actually, triple mint and triple lemon are new additions are not fully cured yet. They smell luxurious and can't wait to try them! Triple rosemary is a favorite among menfolk, and foodie women.

The first cold process soap I ever tried was my own, so I have lots of catching up to do. Recently I tried fresh goat milk soap, and salt soaps, for the first time. Both felt luxurious in different ways.

Chocolate soap also feels like a luxury soap to me. I use real dark chocolate.

 

[IrishLass]

The most luxurious, decadent feeling soap to me is actually pretty simple- 100% coconut oil with a 20% superfat. It's just too bad they are not very long lasting. I've taken to fortifying them with cocoa butter or mango butter to increase the longevity, but to be honest, the plain coconut formula still carries a slight edge over the fortfied formula in the decadent/luxurious feeling dept. to me.

100% olive oil Castile's feel quite luxurious to me, too, but only when I lather it with a pouf. When pouf-less..... snot so much (or rather, so much snot).

And my lard/tallow/veggie blend/formula feels quite luxurious and sumptuous to me as well.


IrishLass

 

[krissy]

i did a batch for my DH who is allergic to CO (which i always use) that i ended up loving, it is OO/Shea butter @ 75/25%.
some of the bars have been curing for a good 6+ months and the lather is awesome with a pouf, andit only gets slime if it gets left soaking in water. i only make this soap for my DH though

 

[Soapy Gurl]

Genny and fiddletree - how high a percent of shea butter do you use? I have a bunch I need to use up.

For me my luxury soap is my high cocoa butter soap. It smells lovely and is creamy and hard. Real luxury is when my friend sends a bar to me. She makes fabulous soaps and it is a special treat to use one of hers.

 

[kbuska]

Are you asking what's in our secret sauce? That's a secret... A lot of people use olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, and castor oil. Use soap calc to look for the attributes you like and try to avoid oils that spoil quickly.

Good luck making your secret sauce.

 

[wildflower]

haha..no, I'm not trying to steal anyone's secret sauce. Really, just a question out of curiosity. The reason I asked is because I always wonder why people don't just make 100% shea butter soap, and figured there must be other things out there people consider just as or more luxurious than it. By 'recipe' i just meant what people have been listing...just examples of different oils or butters they use .

I am so busy, i probably won't get around to even making my first batch of soap until this summer at the earliest. I still need all the equipment and ingredients...it has just always fascinated me and somethign I've always watned to do

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I like the post about 'if money weren't an issue'...that's actually just what i was getting at...if money weren't an issue what makes the most luxurious soap.

 

[kbuska]

Different oils bring different fatty acids to the table and therefore give your bar different attributes. Ie hard bar, gentle with a good lather.

Coconut oil = hard bar
Olive oil = gentle
Castor oil= lather

My preference would be human fat. J/k. Just needed to through flight club in there.

-ken

 

[Dragonkaz]

My most favourite soap is CO, OO, ricebran oil, cocoa butter and castor oil. I super fat at a minimum of 7% ... which helps the lather be even more divine!

I don't use animal fats or palm oil and am thrilled it's not needed for a luxurious and creamy soap!

 

[Pepper]

Avocado & coconut, with a dash of castor, made with coconut milk. It's SO CREAMY! Yoghurt also makes a heavenly soap, with olive & coconut oils.

 

[jcandleattic]

My preference would be human fat. J/k. Just needed to through flight club in there.

-ken

LOL I had never seen (and still haven't but now get the reference) fight club. When I tell people I make soap and the first person asked "ew, like in fight club?" I was sooo confused!! LOL I thought to myself - hand made soap is not "ew!" haha
Then I looked it up and was like "EWWW" my own self...
But it does make me giggle when people first find out and ask about 'fight club soap' LOL

 

[Sunny]

my favorite bars have clay in them and essential oils!
usually with a high olive oil %, and 7-10% superfat.

also an unscented recipe with oatmeal in it. yaaahhh yummy.

 

[skyfarms]

Avocado oil, shea and cocoa butter, and coconut milk are in the bars that I love best. Hemp oil is next in line.

 

[steve4soap]

Coconut oil, Palm Oil, Avocado Oil, Almond Butter, Jojoba Oil.

Jojoba really does add wondrous properties to my soaps.