Making a lotiony bar

[goatlady]

I have made about 8 batches of soap so far. I am using goats milk and distilled water for my liquids as well as castor, palm, olive, and coconut oils. They lather great, smell great with my EOs. They are still curing but I have cheated and tried a few - they have about 2 weeks left to go. I have a question about how it makes my skin after I was with is - It feels really clean and smells great on my skin but its almost like squeaky clean. I was expecting it to feel more like lotion after washing. Is this normally how they feel or should I change something with my recipe. I would like it to feel nice and clean of course but also nice and soft.
Thanks!

 

[Mockingbird Ramble]

Sounds like you have a high cleansing bar, meaning your forumal is stripping all the natural and good oils from your skin. I am betting it feels tight?

Try lowering your cleansing (for my skin I use a 10-14)

Do you use soapcalc? What is your formula?

 

[panzerakc]

And what's your superfat percentage?

Anita

 

[new12soap]

It's normal at this point. A lot happens in those last 2 weeks, and if you wait a full 8 weeks before you use them you will be amazed at the difference in how much milder the soap gets. Your recipe and SF will have an impact, of course, but even the most conditioning bar will still feel a little "stripping" before a full cure.

Another factor may be your water. If you have hard water, your soap will react with the minerals and form "soap scum", and since plain soap doesn't contain rinsing agents that squeaky clean feeling may just be how the soap is behaving with your water. The important thing isn't whether you feel squeaky clean when you step out of the shower, but how does your skin feel an hour or even 8 or 12 hours later? No soap is going to leave you feeling like you just applied lotion, but you may find that your skin stays nice and soft without having to apply any lotion (or at least not as much).

If you want to post your recipe we would be happy to help tweak it so it is more on the conditioning side, but really I think you just need to be a little bit more patient

 

[lsg]

I was also thinking that the soap will get milder as it cures. I usually superfat at about 5%.

 

[goatlady]

That's what I was thinking, maybe just cause I was too anxious to try it that its not ready and therefore too cleansing still. This is my recipe, Im gonna try and paste it from the calculator

Oil(s) SelectedAmount%
Castor Oil2.00oz 7.69%
Coconut Oil (76 Degrees)4.00oz 15.38%
Olive Oil16.00oz 61.54%
Palm Oil 4.00oz 15.38%
5% Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) Amount3.517oz
Ounces of liquid recommended 8.58oz
Yields 38.10oz


One thing I am seeing is that my liquids may be a little low - I do 4 ouces of distilled water and 4 ounces of goats milk, maybe I should bump that up another 1/2 ounces BUT I do add EOs which I don't know if that should be figured in your liquids or not.

Thanks for the helps!

Current Batch (total oil weight): 26.00oz

 

[judymoody]

I would up your superfat to 8-10%. With all of that olive oil and relatively low coconut oil, it should be a relatively conditioning bar.

Or you may need just a bit more cure time.

 

[new12soap]

I just ran your recipe thru soapcalc, and I am coming up with 9.8 ounces as the full water amount, so you could bump that up a bit if you want to but it probably isn't necessary. Your superfat is actually a little higher than 5%, plus when you add in the fat in the goat milk I think you are fine there. No, EOs and fragrances are not counted toward your liquids or oils, they are just all by themselves. But, what EO's and how much are you using? They should be kept at a total of under 3% of the weight of your oils, and some can be irritants even lower than that.

Your recipe is very very conditioning and low on cleansing so I really think you just need more cure time. If you wanted to decrease the olive oil a little bit and increase your palm that will give you a bit more creamy lather, but that's up to you. Either way should be very nice and gentle.

 

[goatlady]

Hm, okay well maybe its just all in the cure time that Im messing up. I cant help it, Im anxious! LOL Thanks so much everyone for looking at my recipe and seeing if I should make some changes. I think I will try adding a little more liquid. The EOs have varied but some have been - lemongrass, tea tree oil, lemon and pink grapefruit, lavender. How do I figure out what % EOs I am using. I pretty much add 2 oz of EOs for a 2 pound batch. Thank you!

 

[new12soap]

Okay I was in the middle of a post when it vanished so I am trying it again... NOOOOOO! That is WAY too much EO for use in soap. 1oz ppo = 6% so you are using about twice as much as you should be! No more than a combined total of 0.5oz per pound of oil, 3%, is the maximum recommended for essential oils. I *think* lavender and tea tree are okay at slightly higher levels, but I think that lemon and grapefruit can be irritants. I am really not at all knowledgable about EOs (which is why I don't use them). I don't think your soap is unsafe, but in the future please cut that back to about half the amount!

 

[goatlady]

Hey cutting back the EOs would be great cause they are pricey and dropping $10 just in that per batch has been killer! I thought it seemed like a lot but what things I was reading was saying to do 1 oz per pound of soap and since I had 2 pounds I did 2 ounces. Maybe where I was messing up was it was per pound of oil not of the finished product in soap. hmmmmm. I will look at that! Thank you!

 

[misskat22]

You might have gotten your EO confused with FO (fragrance oil) as well, you can use those at 1oz ppo (some I should say, depending on strength) Though from what I've seen most people only use .7oz ppo which I believe works out to be around 5%. Of course, with that all said, you should check with your supplier of fragrances to see what they recommend as a usage rate Hope you're soap is nicer to you after it has a nice long cure!

 

[goatlady]

Thank you! That does make sense that its too much EO now that I think about it! Gonna cut that in half! Thanks all!!