Weird Recipes

[Blufuz]

Hi everyone! After a too-long absence, I’m back into soap making!

This past year, I worked on experiments where I would change just one thing and see how it affects soap. Now and for next year, I wanted to get more familiar with soapcalc and all the scales they provide for each combination of oils in terms of harness, bubblyness, etc. so that I can better develop my own recipes.

As I was playing around, I started to create really weird recipes that nevertheless had all the values in range, like using extremely high percentages of castor oil, offset with lots of beeswax. Or trying to have extremely low creaminess but normal bubbliness to see what that’s like. I’m so curious to try these out, but I wanted to ask you all first, what really weird soap recipes have you tried, what was a disaster, and what turned out surprisingly all right? When have the soapcalc values let you down, and when have they saved you in surprising ways?

I appreciate hearing about any and all experiences

 

[AliensrReal]

I use between 5-15% castor oil in my recipes. Most don’t use it above 5% due to it possibly creating a sticky bar of soap, but I have only noticed that when I unmold too early or cut before it’s ready. It has never felt sticky when using it and it feels so silky and lovely on my skin. It can take longer to firm up before it’s ready to cut, but it makes such an awesome bar of soap. I do let it cure for a minimum of 8-12 weeks. I also use over 55% hard oils in my recipe and no olive oil so that could also be a factor as to why it works well for me.

While soap calc can give you an idea of what the soap may do when washing with it, there are many factors that it can’t count for. Adjusting the superfat can have an impact on bubbles and some oils can have an impact on the feel of the soap in a negative or positive way depending on the formula.

 

[Marten]

I do a similar thing with my "shampoo/shaving" soaps. Lots of coconut and palm and 10% shea butter and 10% castor bean oil. Seems to work well and gives great suds for those who want shampoo bars and shaving soaps.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

It’s so much fun to try recipes, but it can also be a big rabbit hole. I tested a fairly wide range of recipes during my first two years of soap making. Here’s are some of the things I learned:

• long chain fatty acids (palmitic and stearic) produce creamy, dense lather; 100% lard and tallow soaps don’t lather much because it’s hard to get the soap to dissolve; most of the soap I make now has palmitic+stearic in the range of 29-30%; at higher percentages, I don’t like the way the soap feels in my hands
• oleic acid produces lotion-like lather on it’s own, but adds to small bubbles/foam in balanced recipes; when used above 50% it has a tendency to get gel-like, especially if the soap sits in a puddle of water; that gel will turn ropey/snotty with more water and agitation, but the effect is lessened when salt is in the mix.
• If I increase the polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) in a balanced recipe while dropping the percentage of oleic FA, the soap will feel more silky/slippery and bigger bubbles will form as long as there is plenty of water in the mix, but the open bubble structure is at the expense of some of the cushiony foam
• coconut oil contributes to abundant, large bubbles; it makes my skin itch when used above 25%, except in salt bars with high superfat (18% or more), but I’m not wild about the lather of salt bars because it feels a bit dry and one-dimensional to me
• I’ve used castor oil up to 10% and the soaps haven’t been sticky, but this could be because I’ve only used it in combination with reasonable percentages of palmitic and stearic (25% or more); the 10% castor oil soaps I’ve made have a satiny finish, smooth, but not like glass. My favorite recipe with 10% castor, plus avocado oil, rice bran oil, cocoa butter, soy wax and coconut oil (5%) makes a lovely lather that is a bit foamy and a bit creamy.
• sugar, sorbitol and dual lye enhance bubbles in my balanced recipes; these additives slightly increase the solubility of the soap, but not enough to change the longevity of the soap bar in a way that users notice
• I have never felt the urge to add beeswax to soap
• with respect to high oleic soaps, I‘m in the “I like ZNSC” camp
• I can reasonably predict the lathering behavior of a soap based on the calculated fatty acid profile, but individual fats have “personalities“ that I take into consideration. The uniqueness of each fat may be due to lot to lot variation (I’ve seen this with 35 lb cubes of tallow), the presence of unsaponifiables, “hidden“ > C20 fatty acids, hydrogenation or something else that I can’t document or control. Or, it’s possibly just in my head

 

[Servant4Christ]

It’s so much fun to try recipes, but it can also be a big rabbit hole. I tested a fairly wide range of recipes during my first two years of soap making. Here’s are some of the things I learned:

• long chain fatty acids (palmitic and stearic) produce creamy, dense lather; 100% lard and tallow soaps don’t lather much because it’s hard to get the soap to dissolve; most of the soap I make now has palmitic+stearic in the range of 29-30%; at higher percentages, I don’t like the way the soap feels in my hands
• oleic acid produces lotion-like lather on it’s own, but adds to small bubbles/foam in balanced recipes; when used above 50% it has a tendency to get gel-like, especially if the soap sits in a puddle of water; that gel will turn ropey/snotty with more water and agitation, but the effect is lessened when salt is in the mix.
• If I increase the polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) in a balanced recipe while dropping the percentage of oleic FA, the soap will feel more silky/slippery and bigger bubbles will form as long as there is plenty of water in the mix, but the open bubble structure is at the expense of some of the cushiony foam
• coconut oil contributes to abundant, large bubbles; it makes my skin itch when used above 25%, except in salt bars with high superfat (18% or more), but I’m not wild about the lather of salt bars because it feels a bit dry and one-dimensional to me
• I’ve used castor oil up to 10% and the soaps haven’t been sticky, but this could be because I’ve only used it in combination with reasonable percentages of palmitic and stearic (25% or more); the 10% castor oil soaps I’ve made have a satiny finish, smooth, but not like glass. My favorite recipe with 10% castor, plus avocado oil, rice bran oil, cocoa butter, soy wax and coconut oil (5%) makes a lovely lather that is a bit foamy and a bit creamy.
• sugar, sorbitol and dual lye enhance bubbles in my balanced recipes; these additives slightly increase the solubility of the soap, but not enough to change the longevity of the soap bar in a way that users notice
• I have never felt the urge to add beeswax to soap
• with respect to high oleic soaps, I‘m in the “I like ZNSC” camp
• I can reasonably predict the lathering behavior of a soap based on the calculated fatty acid profile, but individual fats have “personalities“ that I take into consideration. The uniqueness of each fat may be due to lot to lot variation (I’ve seen this with 35 lb cubes of tallow), the presence of unsaponifiables, “hidden“ > C20 fatty acids, hydrogenation or something else that I can’t document or control. Or, it’s possibly just in my head

I'd love to know your favorite recipe if it isn't a trade secret. It sounds lovely.
I'd also love to know what exactly constitutes a "well balanced" recipe. I might already know this, but I'm sleep deprived at the moment and it's just not coming to me right now.
I am also a ZNSC fan. Low coconut seems to be necessary for me or my skin gets itchy and dry.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Servant4Christ The recipe I mentioned above, with high avocado oil, is 50% avocado, 15% rice bran oil, 10% each castor oil, cocoa butter, and soy wax (GW415) and 5% coconut oil. On the double check, the palmitic+stearic in this one is 24%.

I don’t know if there’s a formal definition for “balanced recipe.” I think of it as a recipe that falls within all of the recommended ranges for soap properties as shown in the SMF calculator. (with allowances for violations of the bubbly and cleansing numbers because it’s possible to make bubbles without adding a lot of coconut and castor oil and low cleansing soap still gets us clean.)

 

[Servant4Christ]

@Servant4Christ The recipe I mentioned above, with high avocado oil, is 50% avocado, 15% rice bran oil, 10% each castor oil, cocoa butter, and soy wax (GW415) and 5% coconut oil. On the double check, the palmitic+stearic in this one is 24%.

I don’t know if there’s a formal definition for “balanced recipe.” I think of it as a recipe that falls within all of the recommended ranges for soap properties as shown in the SMF calculator. (with allowances for violations of the bubbly and cleansing numbers because it’s possible to make bubbles without adding a lot of coconut and castor oil and low cleansing soap still gets us clean.)

Oooh, that does sound lovely! May I ask what SF and lye concentration you use for this? I'd love to try it out. Do you use any salt or salt water to combat slime or is that just a 'high olive oil' thing?
I like your definition of balanced because it means I've been doing something right.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Oooh, that does sound lovely! May I ask what SF and lye concentration you use for this? I'd love to try it out. Do you use any salt or salt water to combat slime or is that just a 'high olive oil' thing?
I like your definition of balanced because it means I've been doing something right.

I use 3% SF for this recipe, and do not add salt. Unless I’m making Ciaglia type soap (33% lye concentration), I use 40% lye concentration for all of my recipes.