@MarnieSoapien Thank you! I'm really looking forward to learning and experimenting more in future batches. This forum is an amazing place to get inspired.
Feedback on recipe using avocado oil
- Thread starter Dannyritz
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Dawni
Well-Known Member
And once you start....... Lol
Looking forward to seeing more of your posts around here once you've really gone down the rabbit hole haha
I made the soap today using the cold process-oven process and it's come out really well! I tweaked the recipe again and this is what I finally used:
1. Olive oil: 43%: 215 gms
2. Coconut oil: 22% : 110 gms
3. Avocado oil: 23% : 115 gms
4. Castor oil: 7%: 35 gms (An extra 3 gms spilled out from the bottle, so 38 gms)
5. Shea butter: 5%: 25 gms
I also added 10 gms of turmeric, and 15 gms of gram flour, that's chickpea flour.
I made it last night and unmolded this morning. It was fairly hard, if pressed, it left a light indentation. When I added the turmeric and gram at trace it turned a blood red. After gelling, it's a dark orange. It smells downright delicious to me. It's got a warm, earthy scent, I really like that.
Trace crept up on me. One minute it was very liquidy and I thought nothing was happening. I used the high speed on the blender for 10 seconds and suddenly it was incredibly thick. I thought maybe it was false trace so I took its temperature, it was high, 54 c/129 f. I figured it couldn't be false trace at that temp.
The lye was 43 c/109 f and oil was 52 c/125 f when I mixed them. The oil heated up faster, and the lye cooled down faster than I thought. I figured if I just added them together they'd get close enough to 47 c/116 f which is where I wanted them. I left the soap in the oven at 70 c/158 f for an hour, before taking it out and putting it in the microwave to insulate.
I did the zap test after unmolding, I felt nothing. It actually didn't taste all that bad! I had increased the superfat to 7%, and then when making it there were 2 or 3 grams extra castor oil, and 1 gram less lye. So I think the superfat percentage has increased to 8 or 9%. It does feel a bit greasier than the hand made soap that I buy.
I cut off a small piece and used it. It was outstanding! I don't think my hands have ever felt this good. The lather was super creamy, it could have foamed up just a touch more I thought, but was still plenty bubbly. It left my hands feeling clean and soft. I can't wait till the 4 weeks cure time is up! I will update after using it fully.
I didn't have a proper mold. I bought a silicone mold to get clean looking bars but there was a white residue on it after washing it. So I used baking paper and a glass box I had. Which means the bars don't look pretty at all, very rough slices. There was also a cakey looking patch on a couple of them, pictures attached. I don't know what that is, but when I rub my finger on it it just blurs out into the soap. Could it be a bit flour that didn't mix properly?
Sorry for the long post, but I have a question about the oven process. If I cut out the oven and just insulated this mixture, like wrapping the box in a towel and shutting it in the microwave at the temperatures described above, would it gel as evenly? The ambient temperature is 21 degrees c/70 f. Would adding honey help keep the temperature high?
1. Olive oil: 43%: 215 gms
2. Coconut oil: 22% : 110 gms
3. Avocado oil: 23% : 115 gms
4. Castor oil: 7%: 35 gms (An extra 3 gms spilled out from the bottle, so 38 gms)
5. Shea butter: 5%: 25 gms
I also added 10 gms of turmeric, and 15 gms of gram flour, that's chickpea flour.
I made it last night and unmolded this morning. It was fairly hard, if pressed, it left a light indentation. When I added the turmeric and gram at trace it turned a blood red. After gelling, it's a dark orange. It smells downright delicious to me. It's got a warm, earthy scent, I really like that.
Trace crept up on me. One minute it was very liquidy and I thought nothing was happening. I used the high speed on the blender for 10 seconds and suddenly it was incredibly thick. I thought maybe it was false trace so I took its temperature, it was high, 54 c/129 f. I figured it couldn't be false trace at that temp.
The lye was 43 c/109 f and oil was 52 c/125 f when I mixed them. The oil heated up faster, and the lye cooled down faster than I thought. I figured if I just added them together they'd get close enough to 47 c/116 f which is where I wanted them. I left the soap in the oven at 70 c/158 f for an hour, before taking it out and putting it in the microwave to insulate.
I did the zap test after unmolding, I felt nothing. It actually didn't taste all that bad! I had increased the superfat to 7%, and then when making it there were 2 or 3 grams extra castor oil, and 1 gram less lye. So I think the superfat percentage has increased to 8 or 9%. It does feel a bit greasier than the hand made soap that I buy.
I cut off a small piece and used it. It was outstanding! I don't think my hands have ever felt this good. The lather was super creamy, it could have foamed up just a touch more I thought, but was still plenty bubbly. It left my hands feeling clean and soft. I can't wait till the 4 weeks cure time is up! I will update after using it fully.
I didn't have a proper mold. I bought a silicone mold to get clean looking bars but there was a white residue on it after washing it. So I used baking paper and a glass box I had. Which means the bars don't look pretty at all, very rough slices. There was also a cakey looking patch on a couple of them, pictures attached. I don't know what that is, but when I rub my finger on it it just blurs out into the soap. Could it be a bit flour that didn't mix properly?
Sorry for the long post, but I have a question about the oven process. If I cut out the oven and just insulated this mixture, like wrapping the box in a towel and shutting it in the microwave at the temperatures described above, would it gel as evenly? The ambient temperature is 21 degrees c/70 f. Would adding honey help keep the temperature high?
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penelopejane
Well-Known Member
Congratulations, your soap looks nice.
To CPOP preheat the oven to 40*C (110*F). Cover the soap with cardboard (or put it in a cardboard box), wrap it in a towel. Turn the oven off and put the soap in the oven.
It doesn't matter if your ambient temperature is 21*C or 10*C this will work consistently for gelling your soap.
Honey will raise the temp of your soap. You can either use 1 Tblsp ppo and add the honey to the oils and soap as normal and use the CPOP method or you can use more honey and add it to the cooled lye solution. This takes the heat out of the honey and you can soap as normal. If you are soaping hot (as you did in this recipe) add the honey to the lye to be safe and avoid the chance of a volcano.
I don't add anything at trace as it doesn't get mixed in properly. I have never added flour to soap but the white powder could be unmixed flour.
I use castor oil at 5% maximum as it can make soap soft at higher percentages.
I use shea butter but at 10% or more as I can't detect it at smaller amounts.
I have never zap tested a soap but if I was going to I would wait a few days before zap testing a CPOP soap as it can take that long to fully saponify.
I soap at 40*C (110*F). That is considered warm. By soaping at 47*C you are soaping hot and not giving yourself time to think. It will accelerate quickly. I'd consider dropping the temps. I'd also give the silicone mold a whirl but only if you soap at a lower temp. You can damage silicone molds at very high temperatures.
SF is a personal choice. It is something you can play with as you go along.
Great note taking. Keep up the good work.
To CPOP preheat the oven to 40*C (110*F). Cover the soap with cardboard (or put it in a cardboard box), wrap it in a towel. Turn the oven off and put the soap in the oven.
It doesn't matter if your ambient temperature is 21*C or 10*C this will work consistently for gelling your soap.
Honey will raise the temp of your soap. You can either use 1 Tblsp ppo and add the honey to the oils and soap as normal and use the CPOP method or you can use more honey and add it to the cooled lye solution. This takes the heat out of the honey and you can soap as normal. If you are soaping hot (as you did in this recipe) add the honey to the lye to be safe and avoid the chance of a volcano.
I don't add anything at trace as it doesn't get mixed in properly. I have never added flour to soap but the white powder could be unmixed flour.
I use castor oil at 5% maximum as it can make soap soft at higher percentages.
I use shea butter but at 10% or more as I can't detect it at smaller amounts.
I have never zap tested a soap but if I was going to I would wait a few days before zap testing a CPOP soap as it can take that long to fully saponify.
I soap at 40*C (110*F). That is considered warm. By soaping at 47*C you are soaping hot and not giving yourself time to think. It will accelerate quickly. I'd consider dropping the temps. I'd also give the silicone mold a whirl but only if you soap at a lower temp. You can damage silicone molds at very high temperatures.
SF is a personal choice. It is something you can play with as you go along.
Great note taking. Keep up the good work.
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Thank you! I'll factor this in in the next batch. The reason for the oils heating up to above 50 c was the shea butter. It just wouldn't melt. It took a lot of stirring for it to dissolve.
penelopejane
Well-Known Member
Try heating the shea butter by itself until it melts. Since you have coconut oil and shea butter you can melt them both together. Then add it/them slowly to your other oils, while you stir by hand, until you get the temp you want to soap at. I soap at 40*C so I have to heat my OO a tiny bit. I soap that warm to avoid stearic spots in my soap.
A lot of people soap cooler.
A lot of people soap cooler.
Dawni
Well-Known Member
I've used turmeric in soap but have always wondered what gram flour would be like and what would it benefit if it's in soap. Keep us updated once your soap is fully cured 
I have not used chickpea flour alone in soap, although I have added it when it was an ingredient in another mixture I made for my granddaughter that she used on her face to treat acne (I use this same mixture myself as needed, but not in soap). Over time I noticed the soap got very grainy and uncomfortable to use, but cannot be sure what additive caused the graininess. It was far worse than the graininess I have seen in soap with just shea butter, so I believe it had something to do with the dry powder additives. But the acne mixture had so many ingredients in it, pin-pointing the true culprit for the graininess would be a real challenge. I have since concluded that the acne mixture works well as designed but is not at all a viable additive to soap.
I used the soap yesterday, it's really nice! The turmeric smells warm and earthy, it foams well, it's got a creamy feel. It's hard too, I'm using about 10 grams of soap per shower. I weighed it before and after. If I had to make a change, maybe a touch less turmeric, possibly even half, to 5 grams per 500 of oil. The colour is a very dark orange. It feels super moisturising on my skin. Maybe because of the higher superfat, it feels great on my hair too. The gram flour has not made it grainy at all, though maybe the quantity has something to do with that, 20 grams per 500 of oil.
I don't know to what extent the turmeric and gram flour are playing a role, my next batch will have to wait though, probably till November when I visit my parents.
I don't know to what extent the turmeric and gram flour are playing a role, my next batch will have to wait though, probably till November when I visit my parents.
