It's great to find this forum and I just joined today. I am really new at soap making, but I love experimentation. I'm hoping for advice and critiquing from experienced soapers. Last week I made a batch of soap after reading up on the oils I had in my pantry (I didn't want to buy or order anything). I decided on 70% olive oil, 15% coconut oil and 15% grapeseed oil. I'm amazed that it seems to have actually turned into some kind of soap. Yesterday I attempted the same recipe with the addition of sodium lactate and colors I got from nurture soaps. what is a good way to proceed? I was hoping to create soap with easily available oils, nothing too exotic. The grapeseed oil is very green, but its what was on hand.
My first recipe.
- Thread starter Keds45
- Start date
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Hello and welcome! Congratulations on your first soaps. Many here use things they can get locally. If you’re not opposed to lard, that plus coconut, olive and castor make great soap. Grape seed has a short shelf life so if you do choose to use it keep it at a low percentage. It could make your soap more prone to DOS.
If you read through the last 10 or so pages in the beginners section you will find a lot of helpful information. Also be sure to read the stickies.
If you read through the last 10 or so pages in the beginners section you will find a lot of helpful information. Also be sure to read the stickies.
Thanks! I only just found out what DOS is! I will go thru the suggested section. I'm not committed to using grape seed oil, I just liked the challenge of using what I had immediately available. I do sort of want to avoid palm oil. I may try my next batch with lard!
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first soap. Looks very nice. As Shari mentioned grapeseed lends to dos and soft soap with is counter productive to using high OO as it loves a loooong cure to be a primo soap. It will still be usable in 2 months but not nearly as nice as it will be in 6-12 months. I recommend keeping one bar back to see what happens as the months go by.
If you have access to lard and castor oil you'll have a nice assortment for a general use, balanced bar. You could do 40% lard, 30% olive oil, 25% coconut oil and 5% castor.
I realize it needs to cure for a few more weeks, but I couldn't resist so us used a sliver. this is what it did. not drying at all. I am going to try the lard/coconut/olive/castor combo next week I think. Id I'd like to find a good basic recipe to use as a "control' and then I can se how the variables of fragrance etc act.
Oops still learning how to use the forum
Oops still learning how to use the forum
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Finding castor oil locally can be a challenge. If you look in the pharmacy section of whatever kind of store you shop at, you can usually find it in with the laxatives. Since you don't need more than 5% the small 2 ounce bottles they sell as a laxative is fine. That's how I got my castor oil when I first started making soap.
Some stores do sell it in larger bottles, but I have only seen it in a bigger bottle once, and don't really remember where that was. It was still overpriced.
The best price I get now is from Soaper's Choice, before shipping it's about 17¢ per ounce. Shipping of course depends on how far it has to go and how many bottles of oils purchased. I don't know if you plan to shop online for soaping supplies, but it is often much cheaper even with shipping for certain items. Others you can pick up locally at grocery stores, etc.
When I first started, I wanted to try cocoa butter, but that's hard to find without going online, too. So I used the little one-ounce tubes of cocoa butter sticks that Dollar General sells. Of course, I had to buy a few of them to get a decent percentag in my soap batches, but it gave me an idea of if I would like it in soap. Walgreens sells a stick just like that by another brand.
This is what it looks like in the brand I bought at DG:
edited to add:
I used to be able to find almond oil locally, but not anymore. You can also try palm oil in soap if you have a Target or Walmart nearby. Spectrum brand Shortening is palm oil. Also, Great Value all vegetable shortening is soy & palm and it is listed in SoapCalc and Soapee lye calcuators. Great Value shortening with 'meat fats' is tallow & palm. Also listed in SoapCalc and Soapee are the two types of Crisco, so you can use tallow and palm by buying some shortening of either of those two brands.
Some stores do sell it in larger bottles, but I have only seen it in a bigger bottle once, and don't really remember where that was. It was still overpriced.
The best price I get now is from Soaper's Choice, before shipping it's about 17¢ per ounce. Shipping of course depends on how far it has to go and how many bottles of oils purchased. I don't know if you plan to shop online for soaping supplies, but it is often much cheaper even with shipping for certain items. Others you can pick up locally at grocery stores, etc.
When I first started, I wanted to try cocoa butter, but that's hard to find without going online, too. So I used the little one-ounce tubes of cocoa butter sticks that Dollar General sells. Of course, I had to buy a few of them to get a decent percentag in my soap batches, but it gave me an idea of if I would like it in soap. Walgreens sells a stick just like that by another brand.
This is what it looks like in the brand I bought at DG:
edited to add:
I used to be able to find almond oil locally, but not anymore. You can also try palm oil in soap if you have a Target or Walmart nearby. Spectrum brand Shortening is palm oil. Also, Great Value all vegetable shortening is soy & palm and it is listed in SoapCalc and Soapee lye calcuators. Great Value shortening with 'meat fats' is tallow & palm. Also listed in SoapCalc and Soapee are the two types of Crisco, so you can use tallow and palm by buying some shortening of either of those two brands.
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Wow! Great to know and thank you! We do have a target and walmart close by. I watched Soap 101's tutorial on Dollar Store soap and she mentioned the cocoa butter as well! I haven't looked at or even heard of Soaper's Choice but I'm going to head there now.
Sorry, I am not doing too well at formatting my answers!
Sorry, I am not doing too well at formatting my answers!
Yes, that makes sense. So much to learn!
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Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
Welcome! Congratulations on your first and second batch of soap. Well done!
Thank you! I’ve actually made a couple of other batches prior to these, but I used premixed oils from Bramble berry. This was my first attempt at creating from scratch. I actually like these better as I feel like “I did it all by myself”! And I feel like I learned more about how it actually works.
A great recipe to use as a starter soap is this:
Lard 65%
Olive Oil 15%
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 5%
Superfat 5%
I use Soapee.com for a calculator. You can use it for bar, liquid, and hybrid lye soaps, and you can save your recipe with notes there.
Speaking of notes, be sure to keep detailed notes on each batch as you make and use it. That way you can go back and see what this recipe or that did weeks down the line. Saves you from repeating mistakes.
Lard 65%
Olive Oil 15%
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 5%
Superfat 5%
I use Soapee.com for a calculator. You can use it for bar, liquid, and hybrid lye soaps, and you can save your recipe with notes there.
Speaking of notes, be sure to keep detailed notes on each batch as you make and use it. That way you can go back and see what this recipe or that did weeks down the line. Saves you from repeating mistakes.
Saponificarian
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the addiction! 
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Welcome to the forum. Another easy recipe for beginners would be:
5% Castor
20% Coconut
40% Crisco with palm
35% Olive
5% Castor
20% Coconut
40% Crisco with palm
35% Olive
Welcome Keds45!
Yes- check out any of your local health-food stores or national chains such as WholeFoods or Sprouts for castor. They all sell it in much larger quantities than what I can find in the local pharmacies/drug stores. I buy mine at a local family-owned healthfood store down the street from my house. They sell it in whopping 2-pound bottles for $13.99 (HomeHealth-brand).
IrishLass
Yes- check out any of your local health-food stores or national chains such as WholeFoods or Sprouts for castor. They all sell it in much larger quantities than what I can find in the local pharmacies/drug stores. I buy mine at a local family-owned healthfood store down the street from my house. They sell it in whopping 2-pound bottles for $13.99 (HomeHealth-brand).
IrishLass
When I first started I also purchased my castor at a heath food store, in 2 lb bottles.
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