New bath soap recipe on deck: Lard and Sunflower

[Johnez]

Hey all going to make a few bath bars with the usual multiple purposes in mind and being I haven't made many bath bars figure I should run this by some soaping wizards first.

First purpose is to test an oil infusion. I've infused 7 g of Himalayan Rhubarb root powder into 500 g of HO sunflower oil and wish that to be my "main" oil. I hope to get as brilliant of a color as I've seen online. Second purpose is to test a new FO (Victorian Roses from NG)-this is another first for me. Oh, and this is going to be my first CPOP (and CP in general recipe!) so quite a bit of new ground I'm breaking experience-wise.

For the recipe, I've set CO at 20% obviously for the bubbles, and that being the max I really want to use due to stripping nature. I've set HO Sunflower oil at 40% being that's the "star" of this whole soap. Lard at 30% to get at the good creaminess and didn't want to go too high for fear of piggy smell. Another reason I want lard in this recipe is that I've 2 small boxes and need to start using them up. Being that I noticed my "linoleic budget" wasn't being used up I decided to include mid oleic sunflower oil. Really it's a bit of a filler however, as I really didn't want to increase the percentages of the other fats listed.

Now some concerns-I notice the "hardness" of the bar is fine but longevity is quite low. Is this something I should be worried about? Is there anything else I should consider?

Also of note, I've set the recipe at 100 grams oil but am most likely going to double it to get at least 2 good bars

 

[lsg]

You have a bar that is high in oleic acid. Here is a link that discusses longevity.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/help-needed-hardness-and-longevity.77011/

 

[earlene]

For a soap to test an infusion, I don't think longevity is extremely important. The reason for your high oleic content is the HO Sunflower oil, and since that is what you used for your infusion, you can't really get around the longevity issue unless perhaps you replace the 10% regular sunflower oil for a hard oil such as a butter (shea, cocoa, mango, etc.), soy wax, palm or animal fat.

I look forward to your result with the Rhubarb Root powder.

What is the significance of the rhubarb being Himalayan? Is Himalayan Rhubarb superior to any old generic rhubarb? Or is that simply what you had access to when doing your online ordering? I would probably guess the latter, but I'm still wondering...

 

[Johnez]

For a soap to test an infusion, I don't think longevity is extremely important. The reason for your high oleic content is the HO Sunflower oil, and since that is what you used for your infusion, you can't really get around the longevity issue unless perhaps you replace the 10% regular sunflower oil for a hard oil such as a butter (shea, cocoa, mango, etc.), soy wax, palm or animal fat.

I look forward to your result with the Rhubarb Root powder.

What is the significance of the rhubarb being Himalayan? Is Himalayan Rhubarb superior to any old generic rhubarb? Or is that simply what you had access to when doing your online ordering? I would probably guess the latter, but I'm still wondering...

Himalayan Rhubarb root is used in traditional fabric dyeing, the blog I found out about it from (LovelyGreens) states regular rhubarb root might have the same effect. I was able to find the Himalayan variety quite easily and didn't pursue regular rhubarb.

I might scrap the lard and midoleic sunflower and just use Shea like the original recipe. Too many competing goals here methinks. Thanks for the advice!

 

[AliOop]

I'd personally replace the 10% sunflower oil with 5% castor, plus 5% tallow or cocoa butter. The tallow or cocoa butter will increase hardness, and the castor will stabilize the lather from the CO. If you don't have or don't want to buy castor oil, you could do 10% tallow or 10% cocoa butter.