Newbe here, suggestions welcome.

[tmas73]

Hi everyone, I'm new here.

I want to make a soap with following ingredients.

Coconut Oil
Macadamia Nut Oil
Palm Oil
Castor Oil
Safflower Oil
Vegetable Glycerin


Does anyone know how much of each to use in a batch of 1300g?

Thanks!

 

[IrishLass]

Hi There!

I ran your oils through SoapCalc, an online soap calculator:

http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/soapcalc.asp

I've never used Macadamia Nut Oil before, but it doesn't look too far different from Olive Oil in terms of their fatty acid profiles. Based on that fact, and also based on how I like to formulate most of my soaps with Olive Oil, I came up with this:

Macadamia Nut (50%)....... 650 grams
Coconut Oil (30%).............390 grams
Castor Oil (10%)................130 grams
Safflower Oil (10)................130 grams

Water (full water amount, no discounts)...... 494 grams
Lye (at 5% superfat)..................................186.5 grams

Regarding the glycerin--- I didn't calculate it in because you don't need to soap with glycerin. Glycerin, you see, is actually a naturally occurring byproduct of the soapmaking process itself. There's roughly, on average, 10% (sometimes more, sometimes less) of naturally occuring glycerin in every batch of handmade 'from scratch' soap which is created during the saponification process.

Will this be your first batch? If so, this soap will probably be soft at first, but it will harden up nicely during cure. Let it sit in the mold for about 48 hours before cutting, and then set it on a rack to cure for at least 4 weeks.

I make a lot of Olive Oil soaps and have learned how to formulate using a lesser water amount in order so that my soaps are not soft coming out of the mold at 12 hours after pour, but if you are a beginner, I would stick with the full water amount at first until you get the hang of things. Lesser water amounts can be tricky and move very fast, so it's good to be prepared by having a bit of soaping experience under your belt first.

Hopefully others will chime in and give their recommendations, too.

Always remember lye safety!


IrishLass

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Hi and welcome! Irishlass gave you a pretty darn good recipe. :wink: You will love that soap if you follow her recipe. Glad you found us! Were here to help anytime.

Paul :wink:

 

[tmas73]

Great, thanks for the recipe and the formula, I do wonder if I could add also a little Palm oil maybe i addition to macadamia?

This is our 9th batch of soap making but like everything else we are learning. We for example always run in the problem having soaps that dont smell to much. We are confused if it has to do with only the amount of Eo we put in. Some recipes on the net mention a lot of EOs and others only a few drops. So we are always unsure how much to add.

Seems like a great community here. Thanks to you!

 

[IanT]

-usually for EOs the reccommendation is between .7-1oz per pound of oils (453.59grams=1lb) depending on which EO you are using...which ones were you planning on using in this batch???

 

[tmas73]

Wow thats why our soaps dont smell very strong, seems a lot of EOs. We usually put like a total of 80-100 drops to a 1300g batch! i was thinking of adding maybe a lil lavender (bulgarian) and some bergamond or neroli.
Is it true that the soap shelf life depends on the EOs? Also for preservation Vitamin e, wheat germ and are there other oils to preserve the soap?

Thanks