Recipe SOS!

[Mestiza Girl]

Hey y'all! I'm new to making soap and I came up with this recipe. I'm not sure how to determine a sufficient SF percentage so I just went with what I felt was..safe? I would really love to get your feedback and hear what numbers may need to be changed! I attached a picture.

 

[cedarstar]

Looking at your recipe the first thing that jumps out to me is your castor oil. At 20% it will produce a soft soap. It's usually not recommended above 10% and most people add it at 5%. Your recipe is high in soft (liquid) oils which will lead to a softer soap with a longer cure time. If you have nothing against using lard I'd suggest adding some for hardness or if not lard then palm oil. I usually use lard at 40-50% of my recipe. Your coconut oil percentage is good. Too high and it would be harsh. I use it no higher than 17-18%. Super fat is a personal preference. I usually leave it at the 5% and have gone as high as 8% depending on my recipe. My laundry bars are 0%. I am not sure what you're using for your calculation program but I ran your recipe through soap calc and your grams and ounces don't balance out the same. Your grams are 906; at 3% sf your lye would be 4.38 and water 8.88. Using the ounces you entered would be 31.6 ounces; your lye would be 4.33 and water 8.78. Others will jump on and give some great ideas.

and to add, lavender buds on top of soap will eventually turn brown from the lye monster and imo they look like mouse droppings

 

[BattleGnome]

I’d advise: lower your caster to 10% and add 5% to both the coconut and olive.

One of the few general rules is to not use more than 10% caster or your soap gets a bit draggy/goopy/soft. Another rule is to max out your coconut at 20% (but exceptions exist). Coconut is just too cleansing for most people.

Just as a note: most don’t go over 25% butters to avoid decreasing lather. Your 20% cocoa butter is a good range

1oz lavender may be too little for 32oz oil. That one is partially a personal preference.

 

[Dawni]

Looks like you'll probably end up with 60% pomace, if you decrease castor to the usual 5% with everything else remaining the same. You could get away with until 7% I think but you'll have a long wait to see if that's ok for you.

Do note that a Bastille will take longer to cure than the usual 4-6wks. You'll have to keep testing a piece to see when it stops being too drying for you. A longer cure will make it last longer too, and also have less slime. High oleic soaps tend to do that. If you search even just slime on the forum you'll get a lot of results haha.

That being said, I superfat my regular soaps (less than 30% olive, if any) at 2-3% because I use only 15-17% coconut normally. I think it's safe to use the same in a Bastille.

Also, careful on the botanicals. Lately there's been several posts on moldy additives so read up on how to cure these soaps properly to decrease your chances of mold and/or DOS.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Hi Mestiza Girl and welcome to SMF!

You did a nice job formulating your recipe, but as others have said, it could be improved with a few tweaks. Check out this Castile/Bastile recipe that's gaining a lot of positive feedback:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/zanys-no-slime-castile.72620/

For a nice bastile soap that's mild and long lasting, skip the cocoa butter for now and use these percentages:
85% Pomace olive oil
10% Coconut Oil
5% Castor
I think you will be happy with the result!

Now, let me introduce you to a soap making calculator to help you save time formulating:
http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

Hover your mouse over each item to learn what it's for. The default settings are good to start with until you learn how to tweak them for your own recipes.

I'd also encourage you to spend some time browsing the Beginners Forum. Lots of good information, as well as many tried and true recipes for you to make while getting the hang of it.

HAPPY SOAPING!