No CO soap

[wearytraveler]

I've been contemplating making a batch of no CO soap just to see how I like it and my biggest concern was the possible lack of bubbles. However, I use 4 tbsp of sugar for all my batches so I hoped that would help. I made the test batch last night and today, 12 hours later, I unmolded and cut. The batch came our rock hard and I couldn't cut it with my wire cutter so I had to resort to using the crinkle cutter. I added 5 tsp sodium lactate (I usually use 4 but threw an extra one in by accident) and man, did that make a difference in hardness. The bars weren't crumbly at all; just brick hard. I usually unmold 12 hours or so after taking it out of the oven and let it "breathe" for 12 hours or so before cutting.
Anyhoo, the soap is less than 24 hours old and will get better with some maturity but the bubble situation isn't bad at all. I'm a fuzzy male so my built-in chest hairs always help make good bubbles and I can't wait to test the bubbles in the shower later today.
Palm oil, lard, avocado, shea (10%) and castor. Coconut milk, bentonite clay, sodium lactate and FO.

 

[cmzaha]

Your no CO looks lovely and I love nice creamy white bars. How did you get such a nice white using palm? I make a no coconut oil facial bar that I love and it bubbles just fine.

 

[wearytraveler]

Oops. I forgot to mention the addition of a teaspoon of TD to the oils.

Your no CO looks lovely and I love nice creamy white bars. How did you get such a nice white using palm? I make a no coconut oil facial bar that I love and it bubbles just fine.

 

[penelopejane]

4 tbsp of sugar is a lot. What is your batch size?

 

[cmzaha]

4 tbsp of sugar is a lot. What is your batch size?

As long as it works it is not to much I use 2.1-2.5 oz, which is 5-6 Tbs, in 60 oz of oils and have used more depending on my recipe.

 

[penelopejane]

As long as it works it is not to much I use 2.1-2.5 oz, which is 5-6 Tbs, in 60 oz of oils and have used more depending on my recipe.

Good to know. 60oz is a big batch for most. I wonder what the OPs batch size is. I guess they'd have overheating problems if the batch size is too small.
I use 1tbsp of honey per kg (36 oz) if I use it.

 

[dibbles]

PJ, honey will heat up, but I've never had a problem with granulated sugar. I will use 1-2 Tbls PPO.

 

[wearytraveler]

My batches are 38 oz oil/56 oz total. I've been adding that much sugar since someone here recommended it and I have never had an issue with overheating even when CPOPing in an oven heated to 175 degrees.

4 tbsp of sugar is a lot. What is your batch size?

 

[wearytraveler]

As a follow up; I've used this test bar for my daily showers and I'm very happy with it. I have oily skin and it cleans very nicely. So it's got me wanting to try other no CO recipes. This one happens to be high in palm. I'm going to try a no palm and no CO soap with lard (65%), avocado (20%), shea (10%) and castor (5%).
This evening I was doing something in the garage and got some oil on my hands and I went straight for this soap and it cleaned my hands perfectly. It's making me question the need for me to use CO much, if at all.
I'm happy with this one and can't wait to revisit it in March!

 

[earlene]

CO is not essential in soap. Castile soap has been around for hundreds of years and there's no CO in it. It works fine and even produces lather without the addition of sugar or anything else. So enjoy your experiments. They will all be soap and they should all get you clean.

You might enjoy this project: Single Oil soaps. I read about doing single oil soaps to see what each oil is like as soap on its own with nothing else added. So I decided to give it a try with every type of oil I had on hand at the time. I made about 18 different soaps that first time I did this and it was really a fun project. Some oils I used: Olive (all 3 types I had on hand); Sesame (loved this single oil soap); Cocoa Butter (liked this one, too because it retained the cocoa butter scent, not much lather though); Castor (very nice kind of almost translucent soap); Corn (didn't like it so much); Canola (not exciting on its own, at least not for me); Flax (loved this one, too); several others. I kept copious notes and plan to do this again sometime now that I have more experience and think I might actually learn a bit more from the experiment than the first time.

 

[Gerry]

Sesame (loved this single oil soap)

I've always been curious about sesame oil. I use it in cooking a lot; the fragrant kind, because of my time in Asia. This toasted stuff isn't for frying, but for flavoring. The stuff I have for culinary use is terribly expensive, but it smells very strong and sooo good. I wonder if the scent would come through in CP soap?

 

[earlene]

I've always been curious about sesame oil. I use it in cooking a lot; the fragrant kind, because of my time in Asia. This toasted stuff isn't for frying, but for flavoring. The stuff I have for culinary use is terribly expensive, but it smells very strong and sooo good. I wonder if the scent would come through in CP soap?

It did to a degree, and actually lasted. But that was 100%. I don't know if it was a smaller amount.