Olive and coconut oil soap

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AntropoDani

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Anyone has tried that recipe before? I'm planning my first soap batch and I want a recipe that makes a nice soap without using "strange" oils. My only options are olive oil, coconut oil and sunflower oil (which I don't find very appealing for making soap), I have seen that in almost any beginner recipes people also use castor or palm oil, but here in Spain they are not at sale at regular supermarkets and shops, and for now I don't want to spend money and time looking for oils that I will just use for making soap. Also I don't want to make 100% pure olive oil soap as I read that it takes longer to cure (several months) and makes few foam.

So I am thinking in using 70% olive oil and 30% coconut oil, would that turn out into a nice cleansing, conditioning and foaming soap? Maybe I should use another proportion? I don't want to go wrong in my first batch! :D

Thanks in advance!
 
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I used exactly that recipe for my first few batches. For myself I found it a bit drying at 5% superfat, but just fine at 6-7% superfat. Its still one of my husband's favorites.
Now I know you will be impatient, but it really needs at least a good 6-8 weeks cure to be at its best. Sure you can use it as early as 4 weeks (test it out even earlier, just for scientific purposes), and you will, but it really does get better with age.

Keep an eye out for lard - lard is awesome in soap :)
 
My favorite soap is 75 olive 25 coconut (sometimes I add a little beeswax too) with a 3% SF (I rarely do a higher SF). Although I've been using a 100% olive and I'm really liking it. . . .
 
I also really like sunflower oil in soaps, I personally would do a 70% olive oil, 20% coconut oil, and 10% sunflower oil, but that's just my preference. Also love lard if you can find it.
 
Thanks for the answers, people!

This time I prefer to make vegan soap so I rather avoid lard for now, and actually I have no idea where to buy lard xD but I will keep an eye on it as I see you all agree on its quality for making soap :D

So for this time I will probably do a batch of 750gr using 70/30 of olive oil/coconut oil, according to SoapCalc it will give a less bubbly lather and soft bar but very cleansing and conditioning, so that should be enough for my first attempt :D
 
Antro, I love lard as well, IMO it is the perfect soaping oil. In Spanish it is called "manteca", basically it is just pig fat. It is really great in soap if you want to experiment outside of the vegan realm. If you can find it, try it and let us know what you think.

ETA: oops, susie already told you to look for manteca. I should have known she would have been ahead of me on the lard thing ..
 
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That is a high percentage of coconut oil. I find more than 20% drying. But others LOVE their soap with more than 20% CO. YMMV, so try both and decide for yourself what you prefer. :)

Here in the States, we buy lard/manteca either in the baking aisle, the meat counter, or in the frozen foods. I don't know where you live, so if you tell us, someone can help when you are ready to try lard in soap.
 
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