Recipe curious

[loudest_silence1]

I've been reading everything I can about how to make soap, and playing with the various soap calculators. I think I have a fair idea of how this all works, although the soapcalc webpage seems oddly complex for what amounts to "choose ingredients, choose amounts".

I'm not 100% certain about the numbers in regards to the soap's characteristics though. Should I be striving to get all the numbers inside the given range, and if so, is it preferred to hit the middle, more higher?

How does this recipe look? Is it a good one for a first timer? I feel like I did a pretty good job with the numbers, while also working with what I can actually afford, which is admittedly not much. Should I do anything to tweak any of the numbers, or am I good?

If it matters, I'm planning to do HP, although I do want to do CP later, but you know, this is new so I want to see a tangible outcome a bit faster lol.

View attachment Soap Recipe.pdf

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Can you type it out please? For many people the attached files don't work too well.

Edited to add - hp usually needs more of a cure than cp does. Hp is more representative of the cited soap sooner, but the bars are just far too soft and will disappear in one use (almost).

If you want to look at cp at some point anyway, make cp now and test the soap at 1 week, 2 weeks and so on. It's not long to wait, it gives you some great practical experience of curing and what it does and also means your first batch doesn't have the extra steps of hp

 

[loudest_silence1]

Can you type it out please? For many people the attached files don't work too well.

No problem

60% Vegetable Shortening
21% Coconut Oil
19% Olive Oil

Hardness 52 (29-54)
Cleansing 17 (12-22)
Conditioning 44 (44-69)
Bubbly 17 (14-46)
Creamy 35 (16-48)
Iodine 48 (41-70)
INS 165 (136-165)

If you want to look at cp at some point anyway, make cp now and test the soap at 1 week, 2 weeks and so on. It's not long to wait, it gives you some great practical experience of curing and what it does and also means your first batch doesn't have the extra steps of hp

So it would be fine to use even after just one week? That definitely sounds okay.

 

[mx5inpenn]

So it would be fine to use even after just one week? That definitely sounds okay.

As long asit passes the zap test, it is safe to use. You will want to test, hands only for a while tho. It will be safe, but not exactly good for quite some time. Testing weekly lets you see the changes and improvements that curing brings about. 8 weeks sounds like a long time, but what a difference it makes!

As far as your recipe goes, it will be fine. You may want to add 5% castor oil in place of part of another oil. Castor oil isn't very expensive and you can find it in the pharmacy department at walmart.

 

[loudest_silence1]

As long asit passes the zap test, it is safe to use. You will want to test, hands only for a while tho. It will be safe, but not exactly good for quite some time. Testing weekly lets you see the changes and improvements that curing brings about. 8 weeks sounds like a long time, but what a difference it makes!

As far as your recipe goes, it will be fine. You may want to add 5% castor oil in place of part of another oil. Castor oil isn't very expensive and you can find it in the pharmacy department at walmart.

Hmm... Okay thanks. Does castor oil do something special that the recipe is missing? I was just thinking of the easy to get or already possessed ingredients when I made that recipe. Didn't even think of castor oil.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would not worry too much about the numbers for now. Have a look through the recipe section, especially anything that is a beginner recipe or standard or along those lines. Then you start to see what sort of recipes work and why, what the variations would do and why and so on. Then combine this with the numbers at most - I don't actually look at the numbers much if at all any more.

An example of this is castor - the numbers don't really make clear what it would do to the soap. Numbers also don't take additives in to account, nor the superfat %.

 

[Susie]

Castor Oil keeps your bubbles/lather around longer. It does not make more bubbles, but since they are around a bit longer, it looks like it.

I would, if I were you, take that 5% for Castor Oil out of the Coconut Oil. That much CO is drying to me. I try to stay about 15% for me.

You can, as was said above, buy Castor Oil in the laxative section of most pharmacies. Walmart is cheapest.

Those numbers in SoapCalc.com and Soapee.com are good for beginners, but only as a starting point. After a short while, once you have made a few batches, you will ignore them. My use for them was to keep my cleansing below 12, to prevent drying.

Also, using the soap at one week, then two weeks, etc, is to show you the need for cure time. I would only wash my hands with it, not take a whole shower, as the soap will not be good for a few weeks. HP, as stated above, requires the same (if not more) cure time as CP. Safe is not the same as good, you see. No matter what the lady on Youtube says. Cure is going to take 4-6 weeks minimum. Period.

Your recipe is going to make decent soap. I would use lard in place of the GV shortening, or a blend of lard and GV. I have a suggestion for future batches for you. Make one batch with GV shortening, one batch with half lard and half GV, then one batch with lard and see which you prefer down the line. There is nothing like personal experience to show you the true qualities of your oils.

Also, if you have not purchased your Olive Oil, don't spend a bunch extra on EVOO, it is wasted in soap. Buy the cheap Walmart brand of yellow olive oil. I buy my OO and CO at Sam's, and my lard and castor oil at Walmart. It is cheapest that way, as I am just a hobby soaper.