Kind of new to soap, have a couple questions

[Iseleigh]

Just finished the first official batch of Granny Woman. I had put my chosen scents on q tips in a bag and man did it smell amazing. Unfortunately I was unable to recreate the exact scent profile but what I ended up with smells pretty darn good. It has the following scents:
FO
Hot Apple Cider
Nutmeg
Caramel Pecan Pie
Toasted Almond
EO
Camphor
Cedarwood
Orange
Clove
I'm thinking the scent may not be strong enough but we will see. My colors may morph thanks to the vanillin content of the FO's and I'm sure the colors will be weird, but that's part of the excitement! Will post pics when I unmold and cut on Monday! I also subbed all the water for ACV and adjusted the lye, and added 2 tsp brown sugar to boost bubbliness.

 

[linne1gi]

Oh okay. That makes sense.
I'm just trying to switch up the base recipes outside of fats and oils to make the recipes different. I thought I might include ACV in the Granny Woman soap as it's probably something an Appalachian Granny Woman (basically a mountain herbalist) would have on hand. If it hardens the bars that's even better.
Way back when, before I knew much of anything about soap additives, I made an acv soap (swapped full liquid for acv). I think I was trying to make a dog shampoo bar, been years ago so I don't remember. I found the bars the other day. They're still a little soft and it takes some elbow grease to get the lather going, but once it does it's really thick and creamy. It's also nice for my hair and I haven't been rinsing with acv because I didn't know I was supposed to. Still learning. Lol

The ACV increases the super fat because it is an acid, which reacts with the lye, leaving some extra oils around, thereby increasing the fat.

 

[Iseleigh]

The ACV increases the super fat because it is an acid, which reacts with the lye, leaving some extra oils around, thereby increasing the fat.

I followed someone else suggestion about using the amount of vinegar X .0357 to get the extra lye I needed. When I woke up this morning I checked the loaf and it is hard! I'll cut it when I get back from church and post pics. Not what I imagined it would look like, but it's a nice simple bar and smells great so far. Fingers crossed the EO's will survive the cure!

 

[linne1gi]

Looking forward to the cut!

 

[Iseleigh]

Soap cuts smoothly, no trace of gel phase, and smells good enough to EAT! It set up for me very quickly last night, probably from the combo of vinegar and FO's. I'd like to try swirls next time maybe. The brown on the bottom is kind of off-putting to me so I think I'll omit it next time.
I also put a few in small silicone molds. They have no colorants. I need bigger cups to mix larger quantities of color! Dollar Tree is calling my name. Lol

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I like your color combination, including the brown! What kind of colorants did you use?

 

[Iseleigh]

The brown was cocoa powder and the others were micas I got online. I posted pics of the ones I got further up in the thread. The main bar color is just the color of the soap itself. It's a very light beige and I really like it but expect it to change as it cures.

 

[Iseleigh]

So an update on the small batch of soap I made.
I've washed my hands with it for a couple days, and it has barely any lather at all. It's thin and slick, with very tiny bubbles. It is still a young soap, so should I wait longer to see if the lather comes later?

 

[KristaY]

I looks like it's only about a week old, right? If so, yes, let it sit for another week then try it again. Do it weekly from there and see how the lather and gentleness of the soap changes. You really need at least 4 weeks for a good cure. I prefer 6 weeks, 8 when I have the time for it. Congrats on your soap!

PS: I just realized I don't know the recipe of your batch and that will affect the lather quality. So sorry I didn't read prior to the 41st post in this thread.

 

[Iseleigh]

I looks like it's only about a week old, right? If so, yes, let it sit for another week then try it again.

PS: I just realized I don't know the recipe of your batch and that will affect the lather quality.

It's almost 3 weeks at this point. I've made another batch with the same recipe, with the exception of subbing ACV for water and adding 2 tsp of brown sugar. That soap is not yet a week old, so I will have to wait a while for it to see how lather is affected with the added sugar.
The recipe is
3% castor
12% corn oil
48% lard
37% tallow
It also has activated charcoal and turmeric- would that affect the lather?

 

[cmzaha]

Thanks for your reply! I noticed that the www.soapmakingfriend calculator takes vinegar into account when doing lye calculations. Have you used this and found it to be accurate? Or do you just do the math yourself?

Yes, it is accurate, but I still check the math. Soapmaking Friend is great but at time glitches still show up.

The ACV increases the super fat because it is an acid, which reacts with the lye, leaving some extra oils around, thereby increasing the fat.

It will only up superfat when extra lye has not been added. When you multiply the amount of vinegar you want to use by 0.0357 the reaction will create sodium acetate which helps harden the soap and I find it really helps lather, but then I superfat low. Extra oils are hard on drains and deter lather.

It's almost 3 weeks at this point. I've made another batch with the same recipe, with the exception of subbing ACV for water and adding 2 tsp of brown sugar. That soap is not yet a week old, so I will have to wait a while for it to see how lather is affected with the added sugar.
The recipe is
3% castor
12% corn oil
48% lard
37% tallow
It also has activated charcoal and turmeric- would that affect the lather?

Sadly lard soap does not lather well, it adds slickness to soap which my hubby hates. Tallow will add some lather properties along with cleansing. Corn Oil also does not add much to lather. Some Coconut Oil in the 15-20% range would help. I love Tallow/Lard combination at the rate of 45/25%. I love how lard slows trace but just is no longer my favorite over 25%. My hubby hates how slippery it makes soap.
Yes let it cure a couple of months and you will see a considerable difference. A little hint Sorbitol powder at 1% adds greatly to bubbles and lather. For years I used sugar but changed last year to Sorbitol. For me, it is worth the cost and found on Amazon.

 

[Iseleigh]

I love Tallow/Lard combination at the rate of 45/25%.

I'll put the 45/25 combo on my to do list for Monday.
I'm only using ingredients that would have been found in the Appalachias in the 1800-1900's, so coconut oil and sorbitol are out for this project but I will consider sorbitol for other soaps. I've used coconut oil with good luck in other soaps I've done.

 

[cmzaha]

I do remember you mentioning about what would be found in the Appalachians in 1800-1900. So reverse the Tallow Lard percentages. Tallow does lather some on its own and adds cleansing. I think you might like it better.

 

[Iseleigh]

I do remember you mentioning about what would be found in the Appalachians in 1800-1900. So reverse the Tallow Lard percentages. Tallow does lather some on its own and adds cleansing. I think you might like it better.

There's probably other things I could add to increase the lather, but I'm having trouble finding specifics about what was around back then! With all the info on the internet you'd think it wouldn't be so hard.

 

[dibbles]

Sugar will boost the lather. Dissolve it in your batch water before adding the lye.

 

[Iseleigh]

Sugar will boost the lather. Dissolve it in your batch water before adding the lye.

I planned on adding sugar of some sort, milk, and beer (different things for different scents) to the bars for increased lather, and I will try the 45/25 combo cmzaha suggested and see what kind of lather it gives me. Time for more experiments!

 

[cmzaha]

Beer will help lather because of the sugar. Milks will usually deter lather because of the added fat.

 

[Iseleigh]

Beer will help lather because of the sugar. Milks will usually deter lather because of the added fat.

I didn't know that about milks! I thought they would boost lather because of the sugars in them. Will it still hamper the lather even if I account for the extra fat?

 

[yellowhorse]

... Plus, there just aren't reasonable options for some scents I want to use, like Mimosa and Molasses. And I can't seem to find a Mimosa fragrance that is the same Mimosa as what grows around here, which is the tree with fern-like leaves and puffy pink flowers that smell divine. At least, the pictures they use aren't that tree so it's hard to tell.

I always assumed that the fragrances with Mimosa was based on the drink and not the tree, Albizia julibrissin. Hope you found a good fo for it.