First 5 lb loaf

[Ryan]

AO - 5%
Castor Oil - 5%
Cocoa Butter - 15%
Coconut Oil - 25%
Hemp Seed Oil - 5%
Olive Oil - 10%
Palm Oil 35%

No scent. (For mother in law, if it turns out well)

First time mixing colors, 3x larger than the first batches.

455 g of 50/50 lye solution + 195 g distilled water to reach 35% lye concentration 5% superfat.

It was still a little runny during pour to do a design.

What do you think of the oil combination?

 

[cmzaha]

Other than the 25% CO, but many here do like the higher amounts of CO your oils look fine. I am not sure what AO is. You soap looks beautiful and I am sure your MIL will love it. Looks like you poured at emulsion and that is where I usually pour. You did a great job with your colors

 

[Obsidian]

I agree, the recipe looks fine but I would have used less coconut but with the cocoa butter it might balance out ok.
The colors are lovely, pink and green is a favorite combo of mine.
@cmzaha I believe AO is almond oil.

 

[cmzaha]

DUH it probably is Almond Oil. I just always think SAO for Sweet Almond Oil

 

[penelopejane]

Or AO = Avocado Oil?

 

[cmzaha]

Double DUH, and I use Avo a lot...sometimes it is better if a person just spells it out

 

[Ryan]

Thanks for all the replies

Yes, the first is avocado oil. I didn't know the acronym for castor oil so I spelled out the rest.

Since I don't have tons of experience trying out many different combinations and % of oils I try to go off of the diaper calc. And the oils I have available.

I wanted to create a longer lasting bar & I read coconut oil contributes to a harder bar. It's also the only oil I have that has any lauric or myristic acid.
I have read that some people can not use soap with Coconut oil at all or over 30%. I'll do some more research about babassu, and palm kernel oils.

Also, why would the cocoa butter balance the coconut oil? Does the presence of hemp oil (78% linoleic & linolenic) also counter the cleansing effect of lauric and myristic acids?

Thanks for the responses. & I'll do some searching on the forum about my questions because it seems that many of the simpler questions get answered with a link to an age old thread

 

[Southpaw]

Nice recipe, I always add about 10/15% Palm Kernel Flakes to add hardness to my bars. Never used Hemp Seed oil, how did the bars work out for your ML ?

 

[Ryan]

I need a little more diversity with my hard oils. I was afraid of using too many hard oils or butters together for some reason. I saw the suggested %'s (per oil) and figured the butters/flakes would have a compounding effect and make the bar brittle or something.

I unmolded and cut yesterday. Pics are in that forum section.

I haven't been able to try out any of the soaps i've made so far, but I'm excited to. I will update when I take the next step

 

[penelopejane]

Coconut oil is funny as it actually dissolves easily so the bar does not last as long. Butters like shea are hard and they help to make the bar last a long time.

 

[earlene]

What type of skin does MIL have? Some older ladies skin is a bit more delicate and that high amount of CO might be too harsh. Just a thought. I'd suggest you let her sample the soap before you give her 5 pounds of soap that might not work well for her skin. After a decent cure, of course. BTW, what was your SF? That can make a difference with how harsh a high CO soap can feel.

Pretty swirls on top, I forgot to mention.

 

[Ryan]

Thanks!
I asked my wife but didn't get a good answer about skin sensitivity, just that it needs to be unscented and she normally uses dove.
5% SF.
They will be here at the end of December for a while so she can try it out here before she takes all of it. This is assuming 8 weeks is a long enough cure.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[DeeAnna]

Problem is Dove isn't pure soap. It's a fairly mild blend of gentle soap and synthetic detergents. If MIL is an avid Dove fan, a soap high in coconut or any other "cleansing" fat is probably not going to please because it will be too drying. Also soap performs best in soft water while the syndets in Dove allow it to be more tolerant of harder water.

 

[Ryan]

My MIL loved the soap, it wasn't to drying on her skin. I also gave some to my mom. When I tried it at her house it lathered much better than it did at my house. I am guessing this is due to water hardness.... Or it may just seem that way because I ran out of the soap at my house & began using a bastille soap that I don't enjoy too much.

 

[earlene]

My MIL loved the soap, it wasn't to drying on her skin. I also gave some to my mom. When I tried it at her house it lathered much better than it did at my house. I am guessing this is due to water hardness.... Or it may just seem that way because I ran out of the soap at my house & began using a bastille soap that I don't enjoy too much.

Does your mom use a water softener? Do you both live in the same water district? Is the water hard in your area? Do you use a chelator in the process of making your soap?

We have hard water, but use a water softener (salt type). When the water softener starts to run low on salt, we notice a distinct difference in how the water feels and how soap rinses when bathing. It is hugely noticeable.

A chelator in soap is beneficial not only in reducing soap scum, it saves on plumbing problems as well. Many here have confirmed that they have lowered their calls to plumbers to clear clogged pipes since starting to use chelators as additives in their soap.

My husband dropped something down the drain in the bathroom a couple of days ago (I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't his wedding ring, that much I remember) and had to take the drain apart to get the thing out. I asked him if their was a lot of gunk in the P-trap because I was interested in how well my chelator is working to reduce soap scum and thereby gunky build-up in the pipes. He said it was surprisingly clean. He said it looked like someone had cleaned it within the past 2 weeks. Well that tells me two things: 1. He doesn't rinse his shaver and run the bits of hair down the sink drain (well, he doesn't - I already knew that) and 2. the chelator is doing a really good job at preventing soap scum - but I already knew that, too, because I don't see it at the bottom of the sink or shower when I'm done washing up.

 

[Ryan]

I don't know if she uses a water softener. I don't think she does. We do not live in the same district, a few hundred miles apart. I am pretty sure we have hard water here because we used an electric kettle to boil water for coffee and tea & after the water cools again there are little white floaties on top of the water, which i believe is calcium.

I haven't heard of a chelator. I will look into it....

What is a good one for soap? that sounds like a good idea.

 

[Ryan]

Nice recipe, I always add about 10/15% Palm Kernel Flakes to add hardness to my bars. Never used Hemp Seed oil, how did the bars work out for your ML ?

I need to get some palm kernel flakes, they will be a good addition to cocoa butter to harden the bars some more.

 

[earlene]

I don't know if she uses a water softener. I don't think she does. We do not live in the same district, a few hundred miles apart. I am pretty sure we have hard water here because we used an electric kettle to boil water for coffee and tea & after the water cools again there are little white floaties on top of the water, which i believe is calcium.

I haven't heard of a chelator. I will look into it....

What is a good one for soap? that sounds like a good idea.

I use Tetrasodium EDTA as my chelator. In combination with ROE, it also helps prevent DOS, so it does double duty, which I really like. Others here also use citric acid to create citrate in the soap.

Here is an informative article on chelators by DeeAnna: https://classicbells.com/soap/chelator.html