Ok, the last 3 times I have made CP soap, I used varying % of mango butter. I use it like I use Shea in any other recipe. The first time, I noticed a big lye crust in my lye water container after the fact, so I knew the soap would be soft bc of it. Interestingly, this soap went through gel phase quickly and stayed weirdly translucent-like in the center. I am going to shred this soap and use it in a new batch one day. Then I made 2 different 12 oz soap recipes (bc I don't need that much), making sure the lye was completely dissolved beforehand. These soaps take a few days to get hard enough to unmold. If I do it within 48 hrs, I risk smashing the edges of the bars. This is weird behavior for me, as when I used Shea, it seemed my bars were pretty firm within 24-48 hrs. My last recipe was: using 4.56 oz water and 1.69 oz lye
Castor Oil 10% (I always use 10% Castor)
Coconut Oil 25% (solid oil, not fractionated)
Lard 30%
Olive Oil 25%
Mango Butter 10%
The other recipes were close to this one, maybe 5% different here and there for or Coconut or Lard (Castor Oil is never more than 10%). I also try to keep olive oil 25% or lower. My second recipe, the bars were still soft enough to disfigure if I wasn't super gentle and leave some soap in the mold, but once unmolded, the bars hardened up sufficiently. I guess maybe I just need to leave them alone for several days before I even think of unmolding to get a neat, clean bar? My past recipes before Mango butter, using Shea did not seem to have this problem....Mango butter is the only variable it seems. Is this just a thing with Mango butter that I didn't know? Since I tried Mango over Shea, I am sold! Shea butter is much more greasy (to me) and unless you purchase it refined, the smell is unpleasant (to me). Mango butter takes care of all that, so I wanted to use it in my soaps and lotions the way I have previously used Shea. I mean, Mango butter seems plenty hard enough. Anyway, just some thoughts and wondered if anyone else noticed? Also, neither of the last 2 batches went through gel phase. If anyone knows why the first batch that was short on lye did and others don't, I'd be interested to know the chemistry or whatnot behind it....
Castor Oil 10% (I always use 10% Castor)
Coconut Oil 25% (solid oil, not fractionated)
Lard 30%
Olive Oil 25%
Mango Butter 10%
The other recipes were close to this one, maybe 5% different here and there for or Coconut or Lard (Castor Oil is never more than 10%). I also try to keep olive oil 25% or lower. My second recipe, the bars were still soft enough to disfigure if I wasn't super gentle and leave some soap in the mold, but once unmolded, the bars hardened up sufficiently. I guess maybe I just need to leave them alone for several days before I even think of unmolding to get a neat, clean bar? My past recipes before Mango butter, using Shea did not seem to have this problem....Mango butter is the only variable it seems. Is this just a thing with Mango butter that I didn't know? Since I tried Mango over Shea, I am sold! Shea butter is much more greasy (to me) and unless you purchase it refined, the smell is unpleasant (to me). Mango butter takes care of all that, so I wanted to use it in my soaps and lotions the way I have previously used Shea. I mean, Mango butter seems plenty hard enough. Anyway, just some thoughts and wondered if anyone else noticed? Also, neither of the last 2 batches went through gel phase. If anyone knows why the first batch that was short on lye did and others don't, I'd be interested to know the chemistry or whatnot behind it....
