Sunflower oil

[Gryfonmoon]

Has anyone tried making a 100% sunflower oil soap? I was thinking of making a tiny batch to experiment. Thoughts on this?

Sunflower is in my budget (aka: cheap) and if a 100% recipe wouldn't work, what would the highest percentage of the sunflower oil could I get away with? If anyone has any experience with this I am all ears. Thanks so much!

 

[Seifenblasen]

I don't think it will make a very good bar. See the link below:

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

Other than budget, do you have any other preferences, such as palm or no palm, vegan/vegetarian/omnivore, etc? Crisco and lard are pretty inexpensive if you don't have an issues with either product, and both of them will make a better bar of soap than sunflower oil alone.

 

[Gryfonmoon]

Well, I currently have about 2 ounces of red palm oil on hand, maybe 4 ounces of coconut oil, 30-ish oz of olive oil and like a bajillion pounds of lard (long story). If you have any suggests with what I can do with these plus the sunflower oil I'd be much obliged.

And thank you very much for the VERY informative link!

Also, I like to stick with plant oils for the most part but am very down with animal fats, anything to get a good soap. I only buy sustainable palm. Too pricey to pick up any more at the moment.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Wow! That's challenging.

This is the best I can come up with using Soap Calc. Not ideal, but probably OK soap. In the first two recipes I also took the liberty of using 1.5 oz. castor oil. It will boost the amount of bubbles. You can get 1 - 2 oz. bottles at grocery stores, drug stores, etc. for less than $2.

I am also using a water discount. The default for water is 38% of the amount of oil. I only using 28% because these soaps are kind of soft. With full water it will take longer before you could unmold/cut the soap.

I think the best thing is perhaps for you to play with Soap Calc. I like my soap bubbly and creamy, but perhaps you have different preferences. It is rather fun, anyway!

http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

The first one is vegetable oils only, using what you have on hand to make a 2-lb batch. It is going to be super soft and may take a while before you could unmold, cult, and may need a longer curing time.
[attachment=0:3q0dlxbu]Veg Recipe.png[/attachment:3q0dlxbu]

The second one uses lard. Still kind of soft.
[attachment=1:3q0dlxbu]Lard Recipe.png[/attachment:3q0dlxbu]

The one is an almost castile. I am partial to 100% olive oil castile soap, very mild and great for my skin, but unless you cure it for 1 year or so, it tends not to have a lot of lather even to the point of feeling slimy. It is "soft", but with a long cure olive oil soaps can become very hard.
[attachment=2:3q0dlxbu]Bastile Recipe.png[/attachment:3q0dlxbu]

 

[Seifenblasen]

Just thought of something else. If you don't want to get castor oil and rather use things you already have around, you could also use milk or sugar to boost lather. Either replace half the water for lye with frozen milk, or a add a spoonful of sugar to the water for lye.

With cow's milk, it is not unusual to get an ammonia like smell when it combines with lye. Most of the time it will disappear after a a few week's curing.

 

[judymoody]

High oleic sunflower oil can be a nice addition to soap at up to 15-20% If the monosaturated profile is higher than the polyunsaturated, then it's high oleic.

If you're willing to use your lard, based on what you have, I'd try the following:

40% lard
10% coconut
50% olive (or 40% olive and 10% sunflower if it's high oleic)
7% superfat

If you want to up the bubblage, you could add castor at 5% as has been suggested and subtract it from the olive oil. You could also add a small amount of sugar or honey or use milk or beer as part of your liquid. However, if you are relatively inexperienced, I'd keep it simple and wait to use additives until you have a few batches under your belt.

 

[Gryfonmoon]

I really don't mind using up that lard. (Thank you for the tip about the cow's milk, I might have tossed it had I not known! Does goat's milk do the same?)

I will totally try the sugar trick with the lard recipe you recommended. I'll let you know how it comes out. I really appreciate the effort involved in helping me.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Goat's milk is even better than cow's. I suggested cow's simply because it is something most people have around in their fridge. I have made soap with both kinds.

But as Judymoody said, I would keep it simple and if you do use additives, hold back somewhat. For example, there are people who replace 100% of the water with milk or beer. I find it easier to just replace 50% water (or less) with milk or beer to start with. And if you decide to add sugar, don't do milk at the same time.

And finally, sometimes you just have to throw out the "rules". (But please don't do it at this point)! :shock:

http://teachsoap.com/break-the-rules-soap/

 

[Hazel]

It's really interesting to see the variations that Seifenblasen and judymoody posted. I came up with a recipe based upon the amounts you listed for the coconut and palm. It would only make a small batch but I think it would be nice.

6 oz olive
6 oz lard
4 oz coconut
2 oz red palm
2 oz sunflower
2 oz castor (or only 1 oz if you'd like the soap to be slightly harder with a little lower conditioning value)

 

[Gryfonmoon]

The craziest thing I've done so far is to use green tea instead of water for my lye solution. I haven't tried milk of any kind yet, so no worries!

Hazel, thank you for the little batch recipe! I forgot to mention I have 3oz of shea butter.

Edit:

I remember my first batch of soap - a 100% coconut oil HP thing I wanted to do. I used it a few days later and I was so itchy D: Hahaha, it's now laundry soap.

 

[Hazel]

Green tea isn't crazy. A lot of people have used tea as the liquid in soap. I've used Rosehip and Hibiscus tea in a batch.

Well, you could toss that 3 oz of shea into the recipe I posted above and see how it turns out.

What superfat percentage did you use for the 100% CO? You really need to use a high percentage because CO is so drying. I normally use 18%-20% SF. Also, soap becomes milder through the curing period. Even though the soap is safe to use in a few days, it's definitely not the best it will be which is why I recommend at least 3 weeks for HP. If you're impatient, at least wait 2 weeks. :wink:

 

[Gryfonmoon]

Green tea isn't crazy. A lot of people have used tea as the liquid in soap. I've used Rosehip and Hibiscus tea in a batch.

Well, you could toss that 3 oz of shea into the recipe I posted above and see how it turns out.

What superfat percentage did you use for the 100% CO? You really need to use a high percentage because CO is so drying. I normally use 18%-20% SF. Also, soap becomes milder through the curing period. Even though the soap is safe to use in a few days, it's definitely not the best it will be which is why I recommend at least 3 weeks for HP. If you're impatient, at least wait 2 weeks. :wink:

Well, I only did 5% SF. Dumb, I know now at least. But its cured now for about 2 weeks and it's not so bad now, even at 5%. (the calculator I was using at the time only went up to 10%, and I'm still having trouble completely understanding soapcalc)

And I have GOT to be more patient, that's for sure! (You don't want to know how I got that lye burn during my very first batch...let's just say I was a bit...enthusiastic about the tongue 'zap' test. :roll: )

 

[Hazel]

You could rebatch it and add some sunflower oil. :wink:

 

[Gryfonmoon]

Rebatch...I have not yet done that procedure although I am familiar with the term. It's basically just trying to salvage a lost/messed up batch, correct?

And LOL, yes! I'll add all sorts of sunflower oil!

 

[Seifenblasen]

Rebatch...I have not yet done that procedure although I am familiar with the term. It's basically just trying to salvage a lost/messed up batch, correct?

Yes and no. Some, like Lindy (her very clear tutorial attached below), do it so that she could make a ton of bases and scent smaller batches with different scents. She uses water here because the soap already got sodium lactate which makes it melt better. Some people use milk instead of water in rebatching because it is supposed to give a smoother goop than water.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=33546

 

[Hazel]

I use a double boiler. I cut up the soap in tiny pieces and cook with the lid on to keep water or other liquid from evaporating. When the soap is translucent, I stir really well and then glop it into a mold. It works well but I've only rebatched soaps which are a few days old. You'd probably have to add a little liquid if you wanted to rebatch a cured soap.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Just want to throw this out as another option to re-cycle your itchy soap (use it in sugar scrubs):

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=30065

Now I SO want to make this!

 

[Gryfonmoon]

Thanks for the info on rebatching. I think I'm gonna have to do that with my itchy soap.

 

[Lindy]

You can also add Sodium Lactate when rebatching to get a smoother pour...

 

[Maythorn]

The only liquid oils I've heard of making alone are olive and almond. But rice bran oil apparently is a harder oil so maybe somebody's tried it. There's always beeswax to add to a soft soap I guess can be done.