Olive Oil pomace, Virgin Coconut Oil, Sal butter combination good for soap?

[Kalulu]

Hi everyone! I’m a newbie here and a newbie in soap making too.

I’ve only done 1 batch of soap yet, so I’m very inexperienced in formulating ingredients.

So here’s my question. A supplier online has got these three combination of oils and butters cheapest: OO Pomace, VCO, and Sal or Shorea Butter, I live in the Philippines so the weather here is tropical, honestly just hot and humid all the time. I figured this would do me good? Since these three are kinda known to make harder soap.
But what would be the ideal percentage of each tho? Thanks tons.

I’ll attach the recipe I thought would work, but would appreciate any opinions on this. Thanks!!

 

[Ekuzo]

Welcome to the forum!

Looks fine to me overall. What's the fragrance you are going to use, and is it EO or FO? Usually, 1% of oil weight is not enough to give the soap good scent, but that really depends on the scent itself and, of course ‐ you need to follow the recommended usage rates as well.

I assume that's CP?

7% SF may or may not be to your liking, this is more of a personal preference. In most recipes people usually go for something between 3 and 8 %, it's a matter of what you are going for. Usually, lower % gives you better lather and a little harder soap, while higher SF can make it feel milder on the skin.

You can try with those numbers and see how it is, then you can focus on what can be improved and tweak some more for the next batch

 

[AliOop]

Be prepared for a very fast-moving batter, as each of your selected oils is fast to trace. Combining the three of them with a high lye concentration means you may not even need to use a stickblender, depending on how hot your oils and lye may be. Although I normally soap at 40% lye concentration myself, maybe consider using 33% lye concentration with this combination. to give yourself a little more working time.

 

[Kalulu]

Welcome to the forum!

Looks fine to me overall. What's the fragrance you are going to use, and is it EO or FO? Usually, 1% of oil weight is not enough to give the soap good scent, but that really depends on the scent itself and, of course ‐ you need to follow the recommended usage rates as well.

I assume that's CP?

7% SF may or may not be to your liking, this is more of a personal preference. In most recipes people usually go for something between 3 and 8 %, it's a matter of what you are going for. Usually, lower % gives you better lather and a little harder soap, while higher SF can make it feel milder on the skin.

You can try with those numbers and see how it is, then you can focus on what can be improved and tweak some more for the next batch

Thank you! Yes I’ll be using an EO for the fragrance, I’m rather sensitive to scent that’s why I put it that low, but if that’s the case I’ll add more then haha, yes it’s CP, that’s the only process I’ve managed to experiment with so far.
As for the SF, I think I’ll just stick to standard 5% then, or maybe 4%? Too mild of a soap won’t do us good with the amount of sweat we acquire throughout the day .

Thank you so much for the input!

 

[Kalulu]

Be prepared for a very fast-moving batter, as each of your selected oils is fast to trace. Combining the three of them with a high lye concentration means you may not even need to use a stickblender, depending on how hot your oils and lye may be. Although I normally soap at 40% lye concentration myself, maybe consider using 33% lye concentration for a little more working time with this combination.

Ooooohhhh I was actually worried how the batter would behave cause I’ve read up here that OO pomace accelerates trace, never thought lowering the percentage of lye would help with that that percentage was because of a tutorial I’ve watched on youtube and just stick with it since idk if I should mess with that or not

Thanks a lot!

 

[Ekuzo]

Thank you! Yes I’ll be using an EO for the fragrance, I’m rather sensitive to scent that’s why I put it that low, but if that’s the case I’ll add more then haha, yes it’s CP, that’s the only process I’ve managed to experiment with so far.
As for the SF, I think I’ll just stick to standard 5% then, or maybe 4%? Too mild of a soap won’t do us good with the amount of sweat we acquire throughout the day .

Thank you so much for the input!

I understand now - if you are very sensitive you may also make the soap unscented to make sure it will react well with your skin and nose. It's all about how you like it - having minimal or no scent at all would be better in this case than a bar that smells beautifully but is not okay for you to use.

You can start with 5% SF, and as you get more comfortable working with lye and making your own recipes, you can change the number to your liking. Low SF is good, but sometimes beginners are afraid that their soap will have unreacted NaOH and keep that % above a certain level just in case - I've been there.

The coconut oil is another thing you can play around with as you learn what you like. For me 25% CO is fine, for others - not so much. It makes soap with high cleansing abilities that lathers well, but some find its effect too harsh and drying - but don't worry for now. Make it that way now, adjust later if needed. The first soap I made had 33% CO in it and it was fine to me, so experimenting is the key.

And you're welcome, good luck!

Ooooohhhh I was actually worried how the batter would behave cause I’ve read up here that OO pomace accelerates trace, never thought lowering the percentage of lye would help with that that percentage was because of a tutorial I’ve watched on youtube and just stick with it since idk if I should mess with that or not

Thanks a lot!

The water content will also affect the reaction in the batter. If you feel like you may not have enough time, drop the lye concentration to 33% as AliOop suggested. Once you're more comfortable working with the numbers and the soap itself, you can change it to your liking, or keep it that way

 

[Kalulu]

I understand now - if you are very sensitive you may also make the soap unscented to make sure it will react well with your skin and nose. It's all about how you like it - having minimal or no scent at all would be better in this case than a bar that smells beautifully but is not okay for you to use.

You can start with 5% SF, and as you get more comfortable working with lye and making your own recipes, you can change the number to your liking. Low SF is good, but sometimes beginners are afraid that their soap will have unreacted NaOH and keep that % above a certain level just in case - I've been there.

The coconut oil is another thing you can play around with as you learn what you like. For me 25% CO is fine, for others - not so much. It makes soap with high cleansing abilities that lathers well, but some find its effect too harsh and drying - but don't worry for now. Make it that way now, adjust later if needed. The first soap I made had 33% CO in it and it was fine to me, so experimenting is the key.

And you're welcome, good luck!

The water content will also affect the reaction in the batter. If you feel like you may not have enough time, drop the lye concentration to 33% as AliOop suggested. Once you're more comfortable working with the numbers and the soap itself, you can change it to your liking, or keep it that way

Thank you so much for the detailed comment! I’ve learned so much here, posting in this forum before making this recipe was the right choice thank you thank you!

 

[Ekuzo]

The pleasure is mine! I hope you like the result when you make it