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CynCyn

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I found a recipe that was labeled as a shampoo bar for thinning hair. After reading many posts here in the forum regarding CP shampoo bars not being good for the hair I've decided to switch gears, however I already have all the ingredients for this recipe. Can I also use it for a regular hand/ body soap? Do i need to make sunny changes? Any insight would be appreciated.
 

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I’d also like to add that most of us wouldn’t recommend using less than 5% of an oil. There just isn’t enough under 5% to feel like that oil brings anything to the party
 
You can use it for any part of your body. Soap is just soap. Have you made soap before? If not, you will learn which oils are best for your own skin.

I will say, though that 14+% sounds like more castor oil than I see people normally use.

Thanks for the input, I've never made soap before, I was waiting for the last ingredients to arrive and was looking forward to starting over the next few days.

I agree with @artemis about the castor oil percentage. Also, when using neem, be prepared for some serious stank. You will want some EO or FO to cover that up, for sure.

I was planning to use Lemon and Clary Sage as the EOs. The recipe put me at essentially .6 oz per EO.
 
I’d also like to add that most of us wouldn’t recommend using less than 5% of an oil. There just isn’t enough under 5% to feel like that oil brings anything to the party

Thank you... should I then remove the ones with only 1% and increase the others or just remove them all together and recalculate everything in the lye calculator?

I would suggest starting with a simple (just a few oils), plain recipe in a small (16oz) batch. This will not only help you learn how to make soap, but whether you like making it at all.
Do you have a recipe you'd recommend? I really wanted to start with a shampoo bar, so that's what i spent most of my time researching. Looking at recipes as a newbie cam be overwhelming.
 
The cocoa butter and Shea, in my opinion, are a little advanced for a first batch of soap, so I would set them aside for now. That recipe has a lot of hard oils, so I would substitute more olive oil, or another liquid oil, if you have one. I like avocado.

A simple first recipe to play with might be with just the coconut, olive, and palm. Some people start with 33% of each and then play around from there. If you are making small batches, you won't feel like you're "wasting" ingredients.

BTW, even if it doesn't turn out right, it's not a failure, and in my opinion, not a waste. It's still soap and taught you something about the process.
 
The cocoa butter and Shea, in my opinion, are a little advanced for a first batch of soap, so I would set them aside for now. That recipe has a lot of hard oils, so I would substitute more olive oil, or another liquid oil, if you have one. I like avocado.

A simple first recipe to play with might be with just the coconut, olive, and palm. Some people start with 33% of each and then play around from there. If you are making small batches, you won't feel like you're "wasting" ingredients.

BTW, even if it doesn't turn out right, it's not a failure, and in my opinion, not a waste. It's still soap and taught you something about the process.
Thank you so much for your time and suggestions. I do have avocado oil so I'll play around in the calculator with coconut, palm, olive, and avocado.
 
Thank you... should I then remove the ones with only 1% and increase the others or just remove them all together and recalculate everything in the lye calculator?

beyond artemis’s advice, I’d focus on what oils you can find easily. Locally sourced oils are the best oils cuz you don’t have to pay shipping. (Once you get into using colors and fragrances you may have to start debating where you want your money)

it sounds like you have a good start with basic, versatile oils. the only thing I’d add is to use coconut oil at less than 25%. Coconut oil is fantastic on its own but once it meets lye many people find coconut a bit irritating. There is definitely a learning curve where you may want to throw everything in the pot.... keep that batch on the smaller side so you can learn but not waste too many ingredients
 
beyond artemis’s advice, I’d focus on what oils you can find easily. Locally sourced oils are the best oils cuz you don’t have to pay shipping. (Once you get into using colors and fragrances you may have to start debating where you want your money)

it sounds like you have a good start with basic, versatile oils. the only thing I’d add is to use coconut oil at less than 25%. Coconut oil is fantastic on its own but once it meets lye many people find coconut a bit irritating. There is definitely a learning curve where you may want to throw everything in the pot.... keep that batch on the smaller side so you can learn but not waste too many ingredients
Based on all your wonderful advice here's what it looks like from the calculator. The "longevity" is in the low side (not sure how much that matters nor how to increase it) but I look forward to giving it a try.
 

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Looks great to me.

FWIW, if you really want to make a soap-based shampoo bar, do a search for “Liz Ardlady shampoo bar.” Her basic recipe for that is free on her blog, and lots of people swear by it. I just wouldn’t try the beer or vinegar for lye liquid as a first-time soaper. Stick with water and make a small batch. Good luck!
 
What Artemis is saying is the details of the recipe isn't in that screenshot. Just a summary. We'd like to see the actual list of fats and their individual weights.
 
Click the > arrow on the picture of the values to see the recipe.

I don't want to discourage you, but you are trying to make a very complicated soap for a specialized use for a first batch. The less things you have going on at first = the less things that can go wrong.

Also, a lot of us can't use soap as shampoo. It ruins our hair.
 
Okay, now I'm confused. There are two images. The first in the OPs first post which does show the fats. The second in the OPs post #11 shows only a summary. I thought the second image was showing a revised recipe, since the OPs message in post #11 appears to be a response to BattleGnome who suggested making revisions to the original recipe.

Is my perception incorrect? If so, my apologies for misunderstanding.
 
Okay, now I'm confused. There are two images. The first in the OPs first post which does show the fats. The second in the OPs post #11 shows only a summary. I thought the second image was showing a revised recipe, since the OPs message in post #11 appears to be a response to BattleGnome who suggested making revisions to the original recipe.

Is my perception incorrect? If so, my apologies for misunderstanding.
Yes, you are correct. My first post was of a complicated "shampoo bar" recipe that I found online. After input from this group I decided to go with a less complicated recipe aka the second one, but maybe I took the wrong screenshot so the amount of fats didn't show. I did 30% palm, 30% olive, 25% coconut, and 15% avocado. At any rate I made it today and well lets just say I'll be very surprised if it turns out good...I made some errors/ learned some lessons and my next one will be better I hope.

Here's the missing info on the recipe.
 

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The cocoa butter and Shea, in my opinion, are a little advanced for a first batch of soap, so I would set them aside for now. That recipe has a lot of hard oils, so I would substitute more olive oil, or another liquid oil, if you have one. I like avocado.

A simple first recipe to play with might be with just the coconut, olive, and palm. Some people start with 33% of each and then play around from there. If you are making small batches, you won't feel like you're "wasting" ingredients.

BTW, even if it doesn't turn out right, it's not a failure, and in my opinion, not a waste. It's still soap and taught you something about the process.
Cocoa butter worked out fine for me when I first started out but I was also one of the few adventurous types :). With a little bit more research, especially where oil properties are concerned, and a bit more tweaking, it may be a nice choice for OP as well. Shea butter is a bit of a different animal. I suggest not adding anything less than 5% of it to a batch and I suggest using it once OP is more comfortable with soap making.
 
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