Input on Exotic Butter Heavy Soap

[Polina]

Hi guys!

I'm new to this forum and have been soaping for a few months now. I'm in love! Anyway, I've been looking for a new palm-free, vegan recipe and was playing around with soapcalc after reading a bunch of posts by DeeAnna (you're my new hero!) and I think I found a recipe that I'd like to try. I'm hoping to get a bit of input from you more experienced folks on if you think this will turn out okay:

Olive oil: .441 lb, 20%
Shea Butter: .441 lb, 20%
Mango Butter: .265 lb, 12%
Rice Bran Oil: .22 lb, 10%
Avocado Oil: .22lb, 10%
Cocoa Butter: .22lb, 10%
Coconut Oil: .176 lb, 8%
Canola Oil: .11 lb, 5%
Castor Oil: .11lb, 5%

Lauric : 4
Myristic: 2
Palmitic: 13
Stearic: 18
Ricinoleic: 5
Oleic: 46
Linoleic: 10
Linolenic: 1

Hardness: 36
Cleansing: 5
Conditioning: 61
Bubbly: 10
Creamy: 35
Iodine: 67
INS: 124

I really want a long lasting bar that will make it through at least a couple of weeks in my shower. I also want it to be gentle. I'm a little bit concerned that I'm using too much butters though; I've heard that too much cocoa butter will make a bar brittle, but will combining different butters also mess with the soap?

Last, I'm wondering if there is a big difference between refined and virgin butters in terms of the way the soap feels?

THANKS!!

 

[Dharlee]

Have you tried all these various butters and oiks alone after developing a simple recipe you love? I personally would make a simple recipe and know I love that one first, then add the butters one at a time to the recipe so you will know what each brings to it. This way you don't make a batch you dislike and never see what the problem was. It also tells you what each brings to the mix. I think most people here will advise you to do the same. Glad you are having fun!

 

[kumudini]

That's way too many oils and butters in a single recipe. I would rather take out the canola oil and one of rice bran/ avocado oil and add that to olive oil. You could use all those butters but you will definitely need some bubble boosters in there especially with that low CO. Also some sodium lactate or beeswax will help with hardness. And finally, soap needs to be cured a good 6-8 weeks to become milder and last longer.

ETA: it has been my experience that excess Shea, over 10% makes for a softer bar.

 

[lenarenee]

Hi guys!

I'm new to this forum and have been soaping for a few months now. I'm in love! Anyway, I've been looking for a new palm-free, vegan recipe and was playing around with soapcalc after reading a bunch of posts by DeeAnna (you're my new hero!) and I think I found a recipe that I'd like to try. I'm hoping to get a bit of input from you more experienced folks on if you think this will turn out okay:

Olive oil: .441 lb, 20%
Shea Butter: .441 lb, 20%
Mango Butter: .265 lb, 12%
Rice Bran Oil: .22 lb, 10%
Avocado Oil: .22lb, 10%
Cocoa Butter: .22lb, 10%
Coconut Oil: .176 lb, 8%
Canola Oil: .11 lb, 5%
Castor Oil: .11lb, 5%

Lauric : 4
Myristic: 2
Palmitic: 13
Stearic: 18
Ricinoleic: 5
Oleic: 46
Linoleic: 10
Linolenic: 1

Hardness: 36
Cleansing: 5
Conditioning: 61
Bubbly: 10
Creamy: 35
Iodine: 67
INS: 124

I really want a long lasting bar that will make it through at least a couple of weeks in my shower. I also want it to be gentle. I'm a little bit concerned that I'm using too much butters though; I've heard that too much cocoa butter will make a bar brittle, but will combining different butters also mess with the soap?

Last, I'm wondering if there is a big difference between refined and virgin butters in terms of the way the soap feels?

THANKS!!

You've got a lot going on in that recipe, and I agree with Dharlee - there's an advantage to trying one new thing at a time.

Did you know that a 100% olive oil soap will become extremely hard after a very long cure (6 - 12 months)? It doesn't have the traditional bubbly lather so many prefer, but it is a gentle bar.

Here's an idea for you that might be a good starting point for you:
5% castor oil
10 - 15% coconut oil
10 - 15% mango or shea butter (I don't have much experience with cocoa butter)
the rest in olive oil - depending on the percentages you choose.

I believe the unrefined butter/oils often have a higher number of unsaponifiables, and that's a good thing for soap = more conditioning.

I'd leave out the canola, rice bran and avocado oils for now until you get a feel for what you like and don't like from the more standard ingredients.

 

[Earthen_Step]

I've used very high cocoa butter without it being brittle. But, it does trace very quickly!

 

[dixiedragon]

Soap with cocoa butter traces VERY quickly. You will find it tough to get pretty delicate swirls, I think. (not sure if that's something you care about.) Mango butter actually caused my soap to seize when I used it at (I think) 15%. At 5% it just traces fast.

Try ONE butter at a time and see how you feel about it.

 

[Polina]

Thanks guys!

 

[hmlove1218]

Hi guys!

I'm new to this forum and have been soaping for a few months now. I'm in love! Anyway, I've been looking for a new palm-free, vegan recipe and was playing around with soapcalc after reading a bunch of posts by DeeAnna (you're my new hero!) and I think I found a recipe that I'd like to try. I'm hoping to get a bit of input from you more experienced folks on if you think this will turn out okay:

Olive oil: .441 lb, 20%
Shea Butter: .441 lb, 20%
Mango Butter: .265 lb, 12%
Rice Bran Oil: .22 lb, 10%
Avocado Oil: .22lb, 10%
Cocoa Butter: .22lb, 10%
Coconut Oil: .176 lb, 8%
Canola Oil: .11 lb, 5%
Castor Oil: .11lb, 5%

Lauric : 4
Myristic: 2
Palmitic: 13
Stearic: 18
Ricinoleic: 5
Oleic: 46
Linoleic: 10
Linolenic: 1

Hardness: 36
Cleansing: 5
Conditioning: 61
Bubbly: 10
Creamy: 35
Iodine: 67
INS: 124

I really want a long lasting bar that will make it through at least a couple of weeks in my shower. I also want it to be gentle. I'm a little bit concerned that I'm using too much butters though; I've heard that too much cocoa butter will make a bar brittle, but will combining different butters also mess with the soap?

Last, I'm wondering if there is a big difference between refined and virgin butters in terms of the way the soap feels?

THANKS!!

I haven't tried a 3 butter soap, but I have made one with almost 40% shea/mango and it was lovely after a long cure of 6 months plus.

Here's my suggestion for a recipe:
Olive oil: 30%
Shea Butter: 15%
Mango Butter: 15%
Avocado Oil: 10%
Cocoa Butter: 7%
Coconut Oil: 15%
Castor Oil: 8%

Olive, rice bran, and canola are all similar in soap, so combining those into one oil will make it much less of a hassle to weigh out 3 different oils.

I bumped down your butters % by just a tiny bit and added it to the coconut and castor to bump up the lather. 15% coconut oil will still be a very gentle soap, and with so many hard oils, this recipe can easily support a higher % of castor. I would get you could take it to 10%-12% easily without it becoming gooy.

I added a but to your mango simply because I love mango butter in soap, so feel free to redistribute those few % back to the cocoa if you prefer. I took them away because I don't really care for cocoa in soap, and also because I'm not sure how well 10% cocoa would play with the other butters.

And just an FYI, avocado is lovely in soap. The recipe I mentioned earlier had 20%, so if your like, you could split the avocado and Olive evenly at 20% each.

And no, virgin is no better than refined in soap.

ETA: After reading the rest of the posts, I agree with the others mid you haven't tried soaping with each of these oils/butters in other recipes to see what it brings to the table, I'd suggest starting there first.