Three batches later....

[Taraustralis]

Greetings from Ireland! I’m an Aussie American who is trying to make some soap while I’m here in Ireland and well.... after three failures under my belt, I wanted to ask for some advice. I want to steer clear from palm oil, but I’ve got coconut, olive and sunflower oil in the house. Do you have any cheap and cheerful recipes I can try out using what I’ve got at home to kinda make me feel like I can actually make soap? I’ve also got lye and distilled water amongnst a wide range of other cool soapmaking stuff like loafs and cool moulds.

I’d love to try one recipe out to see if I’ve got what it takes.

Thanks newbies and oldies for all your help and soapmaking support!

 

[SaltedFig]

I can see why you've put "Everywhere" for your location!

Hi and welcome aboard Taraustralis!

... I want to steer clear from palm oil, but I’ve got coconut, olive and sunflower oil in the house. Do you have any cheap and cheerful recipes I can try out using what I’ve got at home to kinda make me feel like I can actually make soap?...

A simple 85% olive and 15% coconut with a 3% superfat and a 33% lye concentration (or roughly 2:1 water:hydroxide ratio) should get you a functional soap (ordinary sunflower oil can be used in low amounts, up to about 15%, in a recipe, so you can substitute some of the olive for sunflower if you like). Mix (stick blend, rest and stir as you see fit) until the batter thickens and pour it into your mold - it will set over the next 1-3 days (depending on how warm and humid it is where you are). This very simple recipe can be improved easily once you have some more solid fats (cocoa butter or tallow can be used to add stearic/palmitic to this recipe, and give some of the qualities that you normally get from palm oil). Adding hard fats will also reduce the cure time quite a bit if about 20-30% is used in place of the olive oil. It is a good learning recipe that is easy to manipulate and add to as you gain confidence.

 

[Relle]

Welcome Taraustralis .

If you would like any further information, if you could post on a separate thread as this is the Intro thread.