success at making cream soap

[seaturtle]

I made my first cream soap a few days ago. My oldest son uses shaving cream soap and was begging me to make a batch. Well, he tested it and was thrilled! It lathers up beautifully; very creamy, small, long lasting bubbles. Catherine Failor's book is an indispensible resource. I had read it at least twice before starting my soap.

So far I have not added additional water after the cooking process (other than superfatting) and the texture is thick and creamy. Will let it age for a few days and then attempt to fragrance it. I am not sure yet how to incorporate the fragrance into the thick cream without creating bubbles.

 

[ironbrewer]

I've made 3 batches of cream soap using Failor's method. They all turned out great. The cool thing about cream soap is that you can scent partial batches differently. You can even use a spoon to stir in scents.

 

[seaturtle]

We are experimenting with scents. I am scenting 2 oz at a time, adding a few drops of EO until it is "just right". I used a cream soap recipe with tallow (my son had asked for it), and I believe I can detect a very light meaty odor. Nonetheless, when using strong woodsy EOs, the scent turns out nicely. I added a small amount of Vitamin E to preserve the soap. Hope it works.

 

[ironbrewer]

Vitamin E is an antioxidant not a preservative. I have put it in my shaving creams, but just to make it nicer on your skin.


For personal use you don't need a preservative, but if you want to sell it they recommend a preservative like Optiphen.

http://www.lotioncrafter.com/optiphen.html

I use Tallow in my shaving cream. I can't even smell a meaty odor in the straight tallow.

By the way I don't know anything about lotion crafter. It was just one of the first sites that came up when I googled Optiphen. The good thing about it is it doesn't contain parabens, doesn't break down into formaldehyde, and is unaffected by pH.

Jim