Slow trace recipe check please, before I dive in tomorrow lol

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gigisiguenza

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Ok so I'm gonna try again tomorrow to do a pattern. I've taken all the varied advice (ty all for the feedback btw) n come up with the following plan. I think it will move slow enough to allow me time to do something pretty, but still yield nice usable bars.

I've increased the water from 38% to 40%, and lowered the hard oils a smidge, increased the soft oils a smidge. Between the changes, I think it will be slow enough to allow me time to work.

Please feel free to comment, suggest, correct, or throw tomatoes if you feel so inclined lol. I'm more than open to advice before I dive in. Below is the soapcalc data -

10% Castor
20 % Coconut
20 % Lard
50 % Olive

Hardness 33
Cleansing 14
Conditioning 63
Bubbly 23
Creamy 28
Iodine 63
INS 141
 
TEG I'm not sure what you mean, sorry. If I'm understanding you correctly, the lard could be increased and it shouldn't effect trace much? And I should lower the castor? I kept the castor oil atv10 % only because I wanted to balance the bubbly and creamy factors to ensure I had a bar that had adequate suds. Will decreasing the castor oil a smidge and increasing the lard help harden the finished bar up some?

Pardon all the questions please, I'm just trying to understand the reasons for your suggestions :)

Ty for the response btw :)

ETA - I reread your response several times and I think I get what you were trying to tell me LOL. I'm slow on the uptake sometimes, sorry. I think I will knock the castor oil down a little bit and add back the avocado cuz I like it :) Will run this all thru soapcalc n see what it changes. Thanks TEG :)

Here's what I got tweaking the original (no added avocado)
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I meant that you could go even higher on the lard and it shouldn't cause too much of an issue. While I think lard is a faster tracer than olive (not always) I think the benefits of lard over olive would be worth swapping them over in your recipe, unless the olive that you use is extremely slow
 
TEG Ah ok I get you now. I will play with the recipe some more and see where it takes me. Ty for your help :)

ETA - I meant to also ask what benefits lard has over OO. I'm researching as we speak, but am curious about personal feedback regarding people's personal opinions and experience.
 
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I agree with Craig. I would use the 52%(or more) Lard, and 5% Castor, drop that CO down to 20%. CO at more than 20% dries my skin. I would also NOT increase that water amount. Lard is a slow tracer, and will give you plenty of time to swirl, IF your EO/FO is not an accelerator.

The benefits of lard vs. olive oil- the rich, creamy lather has to be experienced to understand. Olive oil lather is just meh.
 
I would take recipe one and switch the lard and OO amounts around. Lard makes a harder, longer lasting bar that is gentle with superb creamy lather. Using more lard will make the conditioning numbers go down but in reality, it makes a better soap then a high OO bar.

The first year I was soaping, I wasted a ton of oils trying to come up with the perfect bat. To me, that would be one that was high OO and high conditioning. The soap were mediocre and no on ever asked for more. Since I've switched to 50% lard, I have repeat requests.

Don't get too hung up on the numbers, they are just a guideline. The only ones I really look at anymore is cleansing and hardness.

Most of us recommend castor at 5%, too much more can actually reduce the quality of your soap. Castor doesn't actually make your soap bubbly, it helps to stabilize the bubbles from the other oils and too much can reduce bubbles and make your soap soft. 10% is the max I would go, I only use 5%.

I wouldn't increase the water, 38% is plenty. Just soap cool (not cold) and don't over blend. Don't go for something too intricate your first try, a nice 2-3 color in the pot swirl is a good start.
 
I agree w/all about switching the amts of lard and olive, and why (ie; benefits of lard),and not increasing the water. Also def. second Obsidian's suggestion of an ITP swirl to begin.

I use a lot of lard (don't think I have gone below 65% since I became a fanatic), and my mix traces pretty slowly. I like the castor at 7 or 8%, do not find that it increases trace time noticeably/unacceptably unless maybe you are trying to keep the batter fluid for a really long time for some reason.
 
I agree w/all about switching the amts of lard and olive, and why (ie; benefits of lard),and not increasing the water. Also def. second Obsidian's suggestion of an ITP swirl to begin.

I use a lot of lard (don't think I have gone below 65% since I became a fanatic), and my mix traces pretty slowly. I like the castor at 7 or 8%, do not find that it increases trace time noticeably/unacceptably unless maybe you are trying to keep the batter fluid for a really long time for some reason.
I have played with different castor amounts in my slow trace, the one I use for my peacock swirls, and castor makes a huge difference. If no castor is used my recipe will take an easy hr to really trace well. With just 3% there is a noticeable difference and the difference between 3% and 5% is very noticeable.
 
If you mean water as a % of oils, and you are doing cold process, you don't want to increase that. According to the chemists here 38% is borderline and could cause your batter to separate.

I would use a 30% concentration. Change the button to concentration. There are many threads on here on why the default setting on soapcalc is not at all the best to use.
 
Carolyn, I've actually bookmarked one of your posts on castor w/r/t to peacock swirls (if I ever get around to doing one). That *does* seem to be the perfect one which to decrease castor as much as poss.
 
What a difference the advice here makes compared to raw data on a page! Thank you all for the feedback, it's tremendous, and I'm off to rethink this plan and rework the recipe yet again LOL before I set up to make the batch. I'll post the final recipe when I'm do e tweaking. Ty again all :)
 
I agree with Craig. I would use the 52%(or more) Lard, and 5% Castor, drop that CO down to 20%. CO at more than 20% dries my skin. I would also NOT increase that water amount. Lard is a slow tracer, and will give you plenty of time to swirl, IF your EO/FO is not an accelerator.

The benefits of lard vs. olive oil- the rich, creamy lather has to be experienced to understand. Olive oil lather is just meh.

+low temps and it is going to be a very slow tracer, you will have around 30 minutes from emulsion to thick trace to work up on your swirls.
EO are better idea they usually do not accelerate trace, except for clove, cinammon and floral , lavender and litsea never accelerated for me, but I use lard to slow it down, like Susie sugested....The lather is going to be beautiful and creamy
 
A quick question - I'm going to be using colorants that I've infused in oils. Do I need to adjust/discount the total amount of oils I'm adding the lye solution to to accommodate the addition of the infused oils?

ETA I'm gonna start a new thread with this question, seems less confusing :)
 
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Dahila - Ty. I'm planning on low temperature for sure. I'm using very cold refrigerated water for the lye and will be letting the oils cool considerably.
 
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