@Barefoot Farm Girl , Hello and Welcome! I am also a beginner (13 small batches so far) and I feel your pain trying to digest all the information about fatty acids and properties.
After my initial post for help - I thought something had gone horribly wrong. The recipe had almost no water and it cooled off so fast, I barely had a chance to scoop it into the molds before it had hardened.
@DeeAnna encouraged me to take it slow. She suggested the best approach is to make soap that is fragrance and colorant free until I had a good handle on things. I promptly blew her off
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
- There are so many fragrances, so many molds, so many oils to try, I just didn't have the patience to take it slow! After using too much T.D. to whiten one layer in my 3rd batch, I decided to take DeeAnna's advice and back up just a little...
For my 4th batch, I tried the exact recipe you used except with 3% superfat (I followed SoapQueen's Lots of Lather to a "T").
I picked that recipe because her blog says she teaches it in all her beginning classes and that it is "tried and true."
I used red palm oil with NO colorants (that was my being patient compromise on taking it slow) and 6% grapefruit E.O. I soaped when oils and lye water were 108/109. I used single molds. Compared to my first 3 batches, it was an absolute pleasure. I loved the beautiful yellow orange color. The drawback was that I battled soda ash for a week and that the grapefruit E.O. was not quite strong enough to overcome the somewhat distinct smell of red palm oil. (Since then, I have immediately sprayed with alcohol, put the soap in a box, piled towels and a blanket on top to insulate it until it was cut, then I put the cut soap back in it's box and kept it covered for a week. - I haven't decided if that is necessary.... )
Because the palm oil's strong orange color dictates using alot of TD or using an orange or brown color scheme, the only thing I changed (oil-wise) for the next 3 batches was that I replaced the palm oil for lard once, and twice I replaced the palm oil for tallow. I also increased the superfat to 5%. I have dry skin and after reading a bunch of stuff, I was a little concerned about the high % of coconut oil in that recipe. (I don't yet know if that recipe is or isn't drying because those batches are only just now at the 6-8 week mark.)
Those next three batches had multiple colored swirls, so T.D. and micas. In the 6th batch, I added espresso grounds and what I thought was coconut E.O, but turned out to be a misrepresented coconut fragrance I bought on Amazon. In the 7th batch, I used lavender E.O.
All 4 batches were COLD PROCESS and had 467 grams of oil and 33% water as % of weight. I soaped all batches at 108-113 (although I made sure oils & lye water were within 5 degrees of each other- I understand they don't actually have to be within 10 degrees - it just eliminates one more variable for beginners.
What I have gleaned from these four batches plus what I have subsequently read is that:
1) Stick blending is better kept to a minimum, alternate between a couple short bursts of stick blending and hand blending
2) The fragrance you use can make a big difference. Certain essential oils purportedly deaccelerate trace- included in those is lavender and grapefruit E.O. I don't know if that is true, but the batch with coconut fragrance and the espresso grounds moved pretty fast. The others didn't. I'm now using fragrances, since they are alot less pricey and compared to Melt & Pour, cold process requires alot more product. So, I read reviews to see if there are complaints of acceleration, ricing, discoloration, etc. when selecting a FO.
3) it's important to get organized before starting. I print out my recipe, run it through soapcalc and print that, too, and I print out a "Materials List" of every single item I need- from oils, micas, gloves, etc. right down to chopsticks and spatulas , and I print out list of the procedures I'm going to follow (I've made myself templates/forms for these). I stick post it notes on my cupboard above the micas and fragrance in the exact order that I will use them. I check off things as I go so that I am less likely to forget things (I have forgotten fragrances and exfoliants
![Confused :confused: :confused:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
). It is stressful to have to run to the basement looking for the mica I meant to use, or to get a spatula, etc while my batter is thickening up on me.
4) I don't know about hot process, but in cold process soap, if you LIKE the feel of the soap and you want to keep your recipe, you could increase the water. I know many recommend adjusting the lye concentration on soapcalc. For some reason, I can't wrap my brain around lye concentration and it is easier to think of % water as % of weight. Many recipes for beginners have up to 38% water as % of weight. I understand the reason is too give a beginner more time before things start to get to thick to work with. That much water would require more time before you can unmold, and for cure, etc. Except for Zany's No Slime Castille Bar that I made a couple of weekends ago, and after my first batch which had 19% water, I use 32% or 33% of water as % of weight. I have considered increasing that to 34% on my next 3 color swirl, just to give me a little more time.
If increasing water doesn't appeal to you, but you're willing to adjust the oils a little, as
@AliOop and
@KiwiMoose suggested, you could replace a little bit of one of the hard oils with a high oleic oil. You can do small batches (450-500 gram) adjusting the % of soft oils each time to see when you feel a difference. I don't know how big your batch was that you made. The only batch I've made that wasn't between 450-500 grams was Zany'sNSC. That batch was 1000 grams. I don't know if it was the high % of olive oil, the fact that I used only one mica and 1/2 the recommended fragrance, or the fact that there was more volume, but it moved SUPER SLOW. I felt like I could have gone outside and cut the lawn while making this soap.
You said that it seems like there is a little "oil left behind." I don't know if you meant that there is a little oil left behind on your skin, or somewhere else. But, if you think the soap feels good but maybe a little oil left on your skin-and you don't want it quite so moisturizing, I wonder if reducing the superfat by 1% would help with that? There are others on this forum who might be able to comment and explain that superfat issue better than me, so I won't try. But, less superfat is not quite as moisturizing as high superfat. So, it depends on who is using the soap as to whether you want a little more or a little less superfat.
Anyway, welcome to the exciting world of soapmaking! Keep us posted on your adventures!