Recipe formulation

[wiggetywhack]

So I came across the most luxurious soap I have ever found and It inspired me to learn cp soap making. I've been trying to find a recipe with the same ingredients to make for myself for months and months now, and trying to figure out the %'s of each components on my own quite literally hurts my head Haha! Ive had lots of fun making recipes that are tried and tested but don't feel brave enough to formulate my own without some help or guidance.

Sooooo here are the ingredients to what my dream soap contains. It was super rich, very fatty and soft. Very luxurious.

Olive oil
Coconut oil
Macadamia nut oil
Shea butter
Sweet almond oil
YOGURT
& Essential oils

Basically Id love to get your opinion on what amounts of each I should I be looking at I'd love any advise you have.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Well, for a start try posting just one thread about it, or people will post in one or the other and it will get jolly messy!

Usually ingredients are listed in descending order, if it is correctly done - is this the order of the ingredients on your soap?

Is there anything else that you can say about the soap? Pictures of the lather or something?

What variations of this recipe have you made so far? Which ones were close to your desired results and which ones were further away?

 

[Susie]

I would probably start with the obvious:

Olive Oil 50%
Coconut Oil 20%
Macadamia Nut Oil 10%
Shea Butter 10%
Sweet Almond Oil 10%

Then I would use Yogurt for 1/4(or less) the water amount. Whatever that amount is, it is less than the oils, so you may have to figure it out once you run the recipe through a lye calculator.

 

[Earthen_Step]

+1 to what Susie says.

Soap calculator
http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
Thread on yogurt
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=92

 

[lsg]

I like a little more coconut oil in my soaps, but Susie's recipe looks good. You might try making a 1 pound recipe to see if this is close to the soap you like.

 

[wiggetywhack]

Awesome! thank you thank you thank you. I can't wait to give it a try.
Does it matter if I slightly modify the oils, a little tweak here or there like more sweet almond or macadamia oil and less olive oil?

My apologies for posting twice, I'm new to forums. I tried to delete the other post after I realised I put it in the wrong area but it wasn't possible.

 

[not_ally]

I'm sure you already know this, but just in case, definitely run any recipe you do - even if it is from a good source - through a lye calculator. The ones most people use are soapcalc and the sage ones. This step is indispensable for any recipe.

http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

 

[kumudini]

Is that the whole of ingredient list, in that particular order? Doyou know if it is a CP soap or HP? expensive oils and butters sometimes are added after the cook to retain their perceived benefits.It would also be good to know like Gent said, the soap qualities, those that we soapers generally look at . you will have to come up with a superfat level, may be like 10 to 12% if the original soap is as fatty as you say. I have seen 20% SF in HP soaps in online shops and people raving about them. Susie's recipe is really nice but you need the SF percentage to get started with lye calculations and also the method.

 

[wiggetywhack]

Just tried Running it through a lye calculator and noticed there is nowhere to include yogurt...? What what percentage super eat should I be pitting it as?

 

[wiggetywhack]

**whoops I accidentally pressed send .... **super fat not super eat. .. And putting not pitting!!

 

[wiggetywhack]

Oh and it's cold process soap

 

[not_ally]

Yogurt won't be in soapcalc b/c it's not an oil, you would add it as all/part of your water portion/allocation - you'd want to do some research on that, and maybe on milk soaps generally first, I'd think. Here's a thread from this forum on yogurt in cp: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=92

Was thinking about this project generally, and it might be a bit difficult to replicate something so specific if you don't have a lot of experience? I'm not being patronizing, I'm a relative newbie myself, only 5-6 mos out, with 60 + batches done so far. I've really been concentrating on finding a recipe which works well for me, like you are, but with far fewer ingredients, so am able to make changes, figure out what SF amt works for me, etc, and it has still been a really long process.

I figured out pretty early on I wanted to work with a fairly high SF and certain oils because of their fatty acid profiles, bar qualities, etc, so have been able to narrow things down. I am just afraid that you face such a big task - so many ingredients (some of which are expensive) - no real idea of how much to use, a milk element, it might be a disappointing outcome and put you off of soapmaking, which is such a rewarding process. You will love it if you stick with it, even if this one is not a perfect match.

 

[wiggetywhack]

I know it's a complicated recipe to try early on but I'm determined to give it a shot with a small batch . I feel like I've been very conservative and cautious with all the recipes I've tried so far and know it's time to be a little adventurous!

I figured out pretty early on I wanted to work with a fairly high SF and certain oils because of their fatty acid profiles, bar qualities, etc, so have been able to narrow things down.

What are your favourite ingredients / recipes to work with for high sf bars?

 

[not_ally]

I don't really change the ingredients depending on the SF. Ie; for me the sf (I like b/w 7 and 8 because I have dry skin) is sort of a constant. I use mostly lard (in high amounts) coconut, olive and castor and sometimes tallow because I like the balance of things the fatty acids in those oils bring.

When I tweak it is usually in small amounts with those oils and in other additives (eg, aloe juice, milks). I tweaked at the beginning to figure out what I wanted in all bars specific to my use (I have very hard water, like to unmold quickly and don't use high amounts of bubbly oils, so add EDTA, sodium lactate, sugar solution, and castor to all of my soaps as standard additives for these issues.)

So basically I have spent the most time finding a basic recipe/ingredient list I liked and then lots of time tweaking slowly to see what changes occur when I make one tweak, then building on those things, but pretty slowly. I don't think I could figure out what the changes *were/are* unless I do it this way. A recipe like yours at the beginning - or heck, now - would have had me throwing up my hands and saying "oh hell, this is a big oozy mess, I'll just keep buying the stuff"

 

[lsg]

I never worry about adjusting the superfat when using milk or yogurt. I use 5% superfat, but 6% or 7% is great too.

 

[jules92207]

I would have broken out the recipe exactly as Susie did, and I'd stick with a 5% sf. I bet it will be awesome!

 

[wiggetywhack]

I would probably start with the obvious:

Olive Oil 50%
Coconut Oil 20%
Macadamia Nut Oil 10%
Shea Butter 10%
Sweet Almond Oil 10%

Then I would use Yogurt for 1/4(or less) the water amount. Whatever that amount is, it is less than the oils, so you may have to figure it out once you run the recipe through a lye calculator.

So I just cut up the soap and it looks and feels beautiful. Thank you susie
It doesn't seem as rich or soft as the bar I'm chasing but I think it will be beautiful none the less. I'm looking forward to using it. Now just the hard part.... Waiting for it to cure!

I definitely like the idea of a superfat 7-8% soap too Not_ally, I have dry skin also. This is so addictive and I can see that I'm going to have lots of soap to give as gifts to friends and family. I'm excited to see how it cures and to think of some ways tweak the recipe to get the most nourishing and soft bar possible....

I was thinking of discounting the lye, increasing sweet almond and Shea and lowering olive slightly.

 

[wiggetywhack]

Maybe even upping the yogurt ratio to 1/3

 

[not_ally]

YAY! That is fantastic, WW. Keep us apprised on how it cures, it sounds great. I know I'd be sampling little scraps along the way

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Glad it worked out!

......I was thinking of discounting the lye, increasing sweet almond and Shea and lowering olive slightly.

You already discount the lye. In cp, lye discount and superfat at synonymous. Do you mean discounting it more, it changing the water amount?

As for tweaks, I would really wait to see how it performs after a cure, as it will be totally different than how it is now and you would need to change certain things based on that, not the findings today. If it has all the properties that you want apart from the bubbles aren't there, your suggested tweak just won't help.