If you make HP, would you care to share a tried and true recipe?

[ShelleyW]

I am in the mood to experiment and thought I would try a HP recipe today. The recipes I am finding are all over the place. Not much consistency in ingredients. Since it is my first batch, I would like to start simple. I have Palm, Coconut, Olive, Almond, and Shea on hand. I am heading out this afternoon to the thrift store to get a crock pot and can get Castor oil if I need it.

Thanks!

 

[DeeAnna]

Well, pretty much any recipe you would make CP can be made HP. That's why you're seeing "recipes ... all over the place".

Do you have a recipe you like using the ingredients you have? If so, try that!

HP is more about the technique than the recipe. I think the main tip for an HP recipe is to use "full water" (a lye solution of 28% NaOH in water) to allow for evaporation during the cook, rather than a more concentrated NaOH solution.

If you don't have a recipe, I'd probably start designing a recipe with proportions something like the list below, since I like a soap with lower cleansing, higher conditioning, and longer life.

coconut 15%
palm 35%
olive 30%
almond 10%
shea 10%

I'm assuming you want to use all of your fats, but that's certainly not a requirement. You could create a very nice soap with just coconut, palm, and olive.

I wouldn't go less than 5% on any ingredient.

If you want to add castor, then put it in at 5% to start and see what you think. I would keep it under 10% max.

My preference for superfat is about 5%, but other people will bump that to 8% or so.

Tweak from here to your heart's content.

 

[Fyrja]

Exactly it's all about technique. You just have to watch it very closely.

In the crockpot I tend to melt my fats seperately and then add them to the crock which I then put in the pot. I used to melt them in the crock pot itself, but for some reason doing it that way I had a lot of problems with the soap escaping the pot.

I've also noticed in the crock pot that my soap will go from the applesauce stage to the mashed potato stage very very quickly. So it's not really something I can walk away and leave to cook. Once it reaches the applesauce stage I watch it like a mother hen.

I love it though, for instant gratification you can't beat it. I do tend to let my HP soap cure for a week after though. Just because.

 

[roseb]

I love HP and the recipe that DeeAnna gave you will work fine. I use a 33% water discount. I melt my oils in the pot, pour lye, stick blend to trace while the pot is on high. Once trace is reached I turn it down to low until it has completely folded over, which should be around 20 to 30 minutes. At which point I turn the pot off, stir the soap ONCE, put a towel over it and leave it alone for about an hour. It works every time. I've only had one near volcano when I added rosemary powder, but I watch the soap like a hawk so a tragedy was averted. Love it because when I add my expensive EOs and superfats I know they are staying put. I let mine cure about 2 weeks. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[ShelleyW]

Thanks for the advice. I made my first batch Friday night. I used Coconut, Palm, Olive and Castor. I got a little crazy and added pumpkin puree and pumpkin FO. It turned out fantastic! It smells great and has awesome lather. It did take almost 2 hours to cook but I think I hindered it b/c I was paranoid and kept checking the crock pot. If I had left it alone it would have been much quicker. You know the whole a watched pot never boils thing................:razz:

Anyway, I am pumped to make my next batch. Hopefully today with some EO and colorant.