Recipe feedback

[Marshall]

Hello all!
I am seeking your feedback on my recipe below. Your thoughts on the bar qualities this will produce or any tweaks you would suggest would be greatly appreciated.
I am attempting to make a conditioning bar that will help ease the winter dry skin blues.
Thanks in advance for your input!

Olive 41%
Coconut 23%
Palm 17%
Shea butter 12%
Castor 7%

5% superfat.

 

[shunt2011]

I would personally drop the CO a bit more for extremely dry skin. Though I don't find it extra drying on our skin. I would also up the Palm some and drop the olive. Otherwise it looks good to me. I don't generally use more than 10% butters but many do and love it. You could also try a small batch and see how you like it. Everyone's skin is different on what it likes and doesn't. You'll get many different suggestions because of that.

 

[SoapingChick]

I've never used palm but will chime in on the coconut; I don't have dry skin but my first 18-24% coconut dried out my hands (even with 8% SF) First I lowered to around 12-15% and it was better, I'm formulating now at around 8-9% tops and they seem better for my hands, even not being at full cure yet. The coconut makes a huge difference both bubble-wise but also skin-feel. I love my 80% CO saltbars, so I don't think I'm sensitive to coconut in soap. Just my 0.02$ Good luck!

 

[traderbren]

I would try it as is, or drop the coconut a bit. Keep in mind that it will take several weeks to cure properly, at least 4-6 but most likely more with the higher olive oil. At that point we will hopefully be out of the "winter dry skin blues" period.

 

[Marshall]

I appreciate the input from all! I printed this recipe out on SoapCalc last week and have since been following advise found on this forum to learn more about the fatty acid profiles. As I was typing the beginning of this thread I was thinking that the Coconut may be a bit high.

That seems to be a common consensus here, so maybe I am learning something!

I will look at the recipe again with closer attn to the top 3 fats as noted in your replies, glad to know I am at least on the right track.

Thanks again and have a great day!

 

[snappyllama]

I like to up my SF to 6-7% to put a little more oil back onto my skin in the winter.

 

[Marshall]

I like to up my SF to 6-7% to put a little more oil back onto my skin in the winter.

Brings up a question if I may... all things considered, If I had a base formula that I liked would making a change of 1-2% SF make an appreciable difference in the bar?

and do you typically run a SF at 5% and bump to 6-7 in the winter?

 

[lenarenee]

I've made both extremely low coconut soap recipes with 8 to 10% co and 3 - 5% sf, or moderate coconut with high 10% sf. I prefer the very low coconut during the winter. My theory is that the less I disturb my skin's own natural oils/mantle, the happier it is. A high sf may layer some oil onto your skin - but its not the same as your body's natural oils.

You'll have to experiment to see what works for you.

 

[snappyllama]

Brings up a question if I may... all things considered, If I had a base formula that I liked would making a change of 1-2% SF make an appreciable difference in the bar?

and do you typically run a SF at 5% and bump to 6-7 in the winter?

I do adjust my recipe. I live in a very dry environment and have seen a difference (especially on my elbows and feet) when I use my "summer" recipe bar in the winter.

For winter, I'm looking for a heavy, thick lotion-like lather.
For summer, I want something a little lighter that feels like it's cutting through grime. It still should feel fairly mild since I tend to accidentally burn in weird places in the summer and really notice it if a soap is too stripping. I'm talking about between my toes - sunburn between my toes! Silly mountain sun...

My preferred recipe is high lard, and I always use at least some GM.

Winter soaps:
SF at 6-7% depending on if I do full GM or partial GM.
Drop my CO/PKO total down to 16% and put the difference in shea or OO or AO

Summer soaps:
Use more aloe water in conjunction with GM
SF at 5%
CO/PKO up to 20%
No shea

 

[Susie]

I routinely bump my SF to 8%, and reduce my CO to 10% or less for winter soaps. I have greatly reduced my use of lotion by doing so.

 

[Marshall]

Oh boy, summer soaps, winter soaps... Different recipes, colors and scents to make them stink pretty.... Seems I have more work to do than I thought.

Thank you all again! I am sure with my new found guidance there will be an abundance of test batches as I work to get this figured out!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

 

[penelopejane]

The first soap I made was 30% OO 30% PO 30% CO 10% castor oil. It is a really long lasting hard bar that bubbles well. But just about everyone, even if they just wash their hands, notices it is drying.

I have recipes with no CO and others with 10%. I use OO for salt bars and probably won't buy CO again after this lot is gone.