new to soap making

[Shans]

hi all i am new to soap making and i am looking to get some advice and insight on this new adventure.
so i do not use olive oil however my soaps are made with coconut oil..shea butter..cocoa butter..vegetable lard and a very small amount of palm kernel flakes and well of course essential oils.

Is it my assumption that the butters will add moisture to the soap? any advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum. The butters may cause less stripping of the skin's oils. Unless we know the percentage of each ingredient used it will be hard to give accurate advice.

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome. Butters do make for a hard soap but also add to the cost. By Vegetable Lard do you mean shortening? Using a lot of coconut andPKO can make a drying soap. If you post your recipe members would be better able to help you out. Also, visit the introduction forum and tell us a little about yourself.

 

[Relle]

Welcome to the forum, you don't have to use just essential oils in your soap, a lot of people here use fragrant oils with great success.

 

[Shans]

Welcome to the forum. The butters may cause less stripping of the skin's oils. Unless we know the percentage of each ingredient used it will be hard to give accurate advice.

hi sorry for he late response the ingredients are as follows
coconut oil - 35%, Shea Butter 20 %, Cocoa Butter 20%, Lard (shortening) 15% and palm kernel oil 10%......i hope that's ok

 

[Shans]

Welcome to the forum, you don't have to use just essential oils in your soap, a lot of people here use fragrant oils with great success.

hi i do use scented oils at times as well i actually did one with vanilla scent and was amazing....but thanks for that tip

 

[Shans]

Hello and welcome. Butters do make for a hard soap but also add to the cost. By Vegetable Lard do you mean shortening? Using a lot of coconut andPKO can make a drying soap. If you post your recipe members would be better able to help you out. Also, visit the introduction forum and tell us a little about yourself.

hi i totally understand i use the palm kernel with the cost part but i bought in bulk and the recipe is as follows which only gives approx at times 6 to 7 bars depending on the consistency of the batch
coconut oil 35%, shea butter 25%, cocoa butter 20%, lard 15%, 10% hope that helps in helping me out

 

[shunt2011]

If the recipe works for you then go for it. It will move fast due to the high hard oils. Also, keep in mind that soap is a wash off product so won’t moisturize your skin. Soap can just be less stripping of the natural oils on the skin. Which your soap is going to be like.

 

[earlene]

To me lard means pig fat. Vegetable shortening should contain no animal fat as I understand it, but perhaps in your country the definitions are slightly different. So bear with me if I don't quite understand. I am just trying to clarify what you are using in your soap.

Is your country very humid? I have no knowledge of Trinidad & Tobago, but I expect it is very humid there. I would guess that if it is your high percentage of Coconut Oil is okay for your skin, but if this soap causes dryness, then maybe that is contributing. What is your SF for your soaps? Do you use a lye calculator for every formula to ensure the correct amount of lye?

I like Palm Kernal Flakes and use it at about 10 - 15% sometimes, but not in every formula. I don't use much CO most of the time and sometimes don't use it at all. Our weather is probably quite different here, so I base my formulas not only on what my skin personally prefers, but also on the type of weather we get here. So that can affect soap formulas, too. I did do a test with 100% CO Salt soap with a high SF while in Hawaii (using, not making) and found it was still a little more drying to my skin than I like, although many people like 100% CO Salt soap. I liked the soap, and it was a little on the young side, so further testing is needed with a longer cure. I am not ready to rule out this soap for me because I am not done testing yet.

As far as moisturizing, I prefer to think in terms of 'less harsh' to my skin rather than soap that moisturizes. So when I try a new soap, if it leaves my skin itchy and dry, I have to consider what caused that and try to change the formula to make it less so. The general public tends to think of that as non-moisturizing, but in fact, what it is is 'oil-stripping'.

So what causes oil-stripping? High cleansing numbers in the lye calculator will give you an indicator that the resulting soap may be one that strips the oils from the outer layers of your skin, resulting in dry, flaky, or itchy skin. But sometimes even with a fairly high cleansing number I'll find a soap that isn't stripping. For example, there is an egg-yolk soap that I make that has a high cleansing number, but doesn't strip the oils from my skin. It actually does make my skin feel nice.

Okay, clear as mud?

Regarding scented oils. We tend to use what are called 'Fragrance Oils' in the industry. We use a lye calculator such as Soapee or SoapCalc 0r Mendrulandria any other soap calculator to determine usage of not only lye, but fragrances as well.