My next batch?

[Bamagirl]

Now that I have a few batches under my belt, I am trying to figure out what I want to make next. I have a couple of ideas, but wanted opinions here since I am still a newbie

1) some type of milk soap--- but the dilemma is canned or powdered milk? Which type of milk is easiest to work with (cow, goat, buttermilk?)

2) some type of soap with honey and oatmeal--- what is the correct oatmeal to use and where can I get it?

3) Also, I have a large family and when I made soap and they were at my house, the ladies all wanted to try it, so being the enabler I am (and the fact that now that I've used homemade soap, I think everyone should) I let three of them try it. Two love it, but it is really drying for one of them. My recipe was

50% lard, 30% olive oil, 15% coconut oil, and 5% castor oil

and this really has me stumped. I am thinking it must be the coconut oil? She says she can't use soap that has cocoa butter in it and I don't know if that is a clue or not. So I am thinking of trying to come up with something without coconut and was considering a 100% lard batch. I know there are people on here who have made them, so if you can, tell me the good stuff about the 100% lard soap? Would I still need to sf at only 5%?

4)I am also considering playing around with the water as % of oils thing, but am ashamed to say that I still don't quite have a good enough grasp on that, in spite of reading through many threads more than once. How do you know what your lye discount would be for each recipe, or would it be the same regardless of recipe?

TIA for your help in enabling me to completely fill up my space I had set aside for bars of soap I'm thinking I should really start looking for a larger space as I can only fit about 6 1lb batches there and when I started, I thought "I'm only making it for me, so I don't need THAT much room" Boy, was I mistaken.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Now that I have a few batches under my belt, I am trying to figure out what I want to make next. I have a couple of ideas, but wanted opinions here since I am still a newbie

1) some type of milk soap--- but the dilemma is canned or powdered milk? Which type of milk is easiest to work with (cow, goat, buttermilk?)

2) some type of soap with honey and oatmeal--- what is the correct oatmeal to use and where can I get it?

3) Also, I have a large family and when I made soap and they were at my house, the ladies all wanted to try it, so being the enabler I am (and the fact that now that I've used homemade soap, I think everyone should) I let three of them try it. Two love it, but it is really drying for one of them. My recipe was

50% lard, 30% olive oil, 15% coconut oil, and 5% castor oil

and this really has me stumped. I am thinking it must be the coconut oil? She says she can't use soap that has cocoa butter in it and I don't know if that is a clue or not. So I am thinking of trying to come up with something without coconut and was considering a 100% lard batch. I know there are people on here who have made them, so if you can, tell me the good stuff about the 100% lard soap? Would I still need to sf at only 5%?

4)I am also considering playing around with the water as % of oils thing, but am ashamed to say that I still don't quite have a good enough grasp on that, in spite of reading through many threads more than once. How do you know what your lye discount would be for each recipe, or would it be the same regardless of recipe?

TIA for your help in enabling me to completely fill up my space I had set aside for bars of soap I'm thinking I should really start looking for a larger space as I can only fit about 6 1lb batches there and when I started, I thought "I'm only making it for me, so I don't need THAT much room" Boy, was I mistaken.

1 - from reading through the other posts on milks, what are your thoughts on them? Rather than people covering the same ground each time............

2 - smaller is better, full size can really hurt. Many people prefer oat flour rather than oats. Baby oats are also well liked.

3 - I would make up a small batch and see. I made an 80% lard soap and I really liked it. 100% would of course lather less than one with CO.

4 - lye discount and water % are not the same thing. Lye discount is your SF in cold process (less lye = more unsaponified oils). In this post - http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=579650#post579650 it is also looked at. When you read that, what were your thoughts?

 

[Bamagirl]

1 - from reading through the other posts on milks, what are your thoughts on them? Rather than people covering the same ground each time............

2 - smaller is better, full size can really hurt. Many people prefer oat flour rather than oats. Baby oats are also well liked.

3 - I would make up a small batch and see. I made an 80% lard soap and I really liked it. 100% would of course lather less than one with CO.

4 - lye discount and water % are not the same thing. Lye discount is your SF in cold process (less lye = more unsaponified oils). In this post - http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=579650#post579650 it is also looked at. When you read that, what were your thoughts?

1) Honestly, I am scared of scorching the batch so I think powdered would be better for me at this time, so I guess you made me answer my own question huh? :???:

4) Reading that post was what brought it back up for me. For some reason, I cannot seem to wrap my head around it. On my second batch, I done a search and read several posts about not using water as % of oils, and I wanted to change it, but couldn't grasp it enough to be comfortable changing it. So, I will tell you what I THINK it means--- like in the post, amount of lye never changes because you have to have X amount of lye to turn oil into soap, so only water amount changes. If you use LESS water, it takes less time for the water to evaporate out of your soap (not less cure time though, just less time for water to evaporate right?). I am still not sure why this would be better, but if a good many seasoned soapers say it is, then I trust their experience. But my problem comes when I try to figure out what lye concentration to use with the batch, and from my limited understanding the amount of the lye discount may change depending on what type of soap you are making? Or do I have this wrong and once I decide on a lye discount, I would basically use it for every batch I make, regardless of the oils used? Seems like I remember reading something about maybe a 100% CO batch wouldn't use the same lye concentration as say a batch with only 10% CO? When I get the chance today, I will try to do a search again and read through those posts and see if it makes any more sense to me this time?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Generally, your chosen lye discount will be fine for your soaps, unless you change something like the cleansing right up or something, in which case a higher SF is better (like with salt bars).

lye concentration is more fluid (ahahahahaha!) because of things like swirling or not, milk or not, fast trace, slow trace and so on. It can also affect your gel temperature, so it depends so much on the application. Generally, a 30-33% conc is a good place to aim for, going to the upper or lower end depending on the recipe.

 

[dixiedragon]

Now that I have a few batches under my belt, I am trying to figure out what I want to make next. I have a couple of ideas, but wanted opinions here since I am still a newbie

1) some type of milk soap--- but the dilemma is canned or powdered milk? Which type of milk is easiest to work with (cow, goat, buttermilk?)

I don't think that either cow or goat milk is easier or harder. Powdered is the easiest, but if you don't have any use for powdered milk besides soaping, then you have a large box of powdered milk. Canned milk is my choice - either goat or cow. (Note, make sure it is not sweetened canned milk!) My method is to replace 1/2 of my milk (using the standard 38% calculation from Soapcalc) with canned milk. I dissolve my lye in the water, let it reach room temp, and melt my oils. I add my canned milk to my oils and then add the lye water.

2) some type of soap with honey and oatmeal--- what is the correct oatmeal to use and where can I get it?

Some folks like buy colloidal oatmeal, which is just oatmeal ground very very fine. You can take regular ol' rolled oats (instant is also fine) and grind them up in your food processor.

I love honey and beeswax soap!

3) Also, I have a large family and when I made soap and they were at my house, the ladies all wanted to try it, so being the enabler I am (and the fact that now that I've used homemade soap, I think everyone should) I let three of them try it. Two love it, but it is really drying for one of them. My recipe was

50% lard, 30% olive oil, 15% coconut oil, and 5% castor oil

and this really has me stumped. I am thinking it must be the coconut oil? She says she can't use soap that has cocoa butter in it and I don't know if that is a clue or not. So I am thinking of trying to come up with something without coconut and was considering a 100% lard batch. I know there are people on here who have made them, so if you can, tell me the good stuff about the 100% lard soap? Would I still need to sf at only 5%?

If she says she can't use soap with cocoa butter, maybe just make her one without cocoa butter and see how she likes it?

4)I am also considering playing around with the water as % of oils thing, but am ashamed to say that I still don't quite have a good enough grasp on that, in spite of reading through many threads more than once. How do you know what your lye discount would be for each recipe, or would it be the same regardless of recipe?

Water as percent of oils - you are just reducing the amount of water, not changing the amount of lye. I typically stick with a 5% lye discount. Water I have just recently started dropping to 35% vs 38%. I have gone as high as 40% when doing hot process.

TIA for your help in enabling me to completely fill up my space I had set aside for bars of soap I'm thinking I should really start looking for a larger space as I can only fit about 6 1lb batches there and when I started, I thought "I'm only making it for me, so I don't need THAT much room" Boy, was I mistaken.

Yes. Yes you were.

 

[Seawolfe]

Regarding the one relative that found your soap too drying - how long had that soap cured? Some people are just really sensitive to home made soap unless its super gentle and VERY well cured. Like I give them 1 year old castille.

 

[Misschief]

. My recipe was

50% lard, 30% olive oil, 15% coconut oil, and 5% castor oil

and this really has me stumped. I am thinking it must be the coconut oil? She says she can't use soap that has cocoa butter in it and I don't know if that is a clue or not.

If she can't use cocoa butter, I'm stumped too, because your recipe isn't listing any cocoa butter. Cocoa butter doesn't come from coconuts.

 

[lsg]

If she is sensitive to cocoa butter, then she may be sensitive to coconut oil. In some circles, cocoa seeds are considered fruit or tree nuts, so if she is sensitive to one, she may be sensitive to other tree nuts.

 

[Obsidian]

My MIL doesn't acre for high lard soaps, she prefers a bastile which is a high OO soap. How important is it you create a soap for this friend? You could end up with a lot of experimental soap trying to pin down a recipe for her.

 

[Steve85569]

3.) I too though a Bastille type soap would be a good one to try for you and your relative.
4.) If you've been using the default 38% by oils water content it's about a 27% lye concentration or a 2.7 : 1 water : lye ratio. To me that's a lot of water and really does shorten the amount of time there is to play before the batter is too thick and increases the chance of getting soap on a stick. A reduced liquid batch would not be the best one for oatmeal, honey, milk and whatever else as additives ( the oatmeal likes water and the milk has sugar in it which reacts with the lye and oil).

Low water soaps do not play well with all FO' and EO's. There is a good list in the February Challenge thread of the ones that are known to not A.

 

[Bamagirl]

If she can't use cocoa butter, I'm stumped too, because your recipe isn't listing any cocoa butter. Cocoa butter doesn't come from coconuts.

I was thinking of replacing the coconut with cocoa butter, but then she said she can't use that either, so I'm looking at other options.

 

[Bamagirl]

Regarding the one relative that found your soap too drying - how long had that soap cured? Some people are just really sensitive to home made soap unless its super gentle and VERY well cured. Like I give them 1 year old castille.

The soap had cured for five weeks. She at first said it just made her legs really dry, then after a couple of days, she said it was her face too. Maybe I will pass on a bar after it has cured for several months and see if that is any better.

My MIL doesn't acre for high lard soaps, she prefers a bastile which is a high OO soap. How important is it you create a soap for this friend? You could end up with a lot of experimental soap trying to pin down a recipe for her.

It's not very important, especially since she doesn't appear as excited about homemade soap as my other SIL (who has bought me pan holders, pizza pans, a large bottle of olive oil and a 4lb tub of lard, just because she says she likes the soap so much and appreciates me making it. She tried it because she was having issues with perfumed commercial bought soap, and once she tried it, she says it's the best thing she's ever used----naturally feeding my addiction to create more :twisted