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Chrisje

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Okay, I can not wait anymore. I just NEED to make my first ever soap TODAY.
I could not sleep and have been thinking about it all night.

I would like to make a soap that gives me a thick creamy lather and I do not want it to be to drying for my skin.

I came up with the following recipe:

Cocoa butter 18%
Shea butter 16%
Castor oil 16%
Coconut oil 13%
Olive oil 37 %

Would this recipe create a soapbar that fits my wishes?

Thank you for yoru feedback
Chrisje
 
Those amounts of butters might make it harder to lather and the castor is likely to make the bar softer and stickier in use.

Have you considered lard? It makes a very creamy lather and something like this would be lovely -

15% co
5% castor
50% lard
30% oo

5% lye discount.
 
Thank you for your advice

Not sure where I can get lard.
The ingredients I have at home already are:

olive oil
Coconut oil
shea butter
mango butter
cocoa butter
Argan oil
Avocado oil
Grapeseed oil
Sweet almond oil
Jojoba oil
Castor oil
Glycerin

That's why I came up with my recipe.
 
Then if you absolutely HAVE to make soap with those ingredients, I would go with

50% OO
15% CO
15% Cocoa butter
15% Shea butter
5% castor

For the record, I don't think that butters have a place in CP soap, as I have seen more evidence that lard performs better. But many people do use them and love them
 
Okay, I think I will try and make a test batch first. ( enough for 1 or 2 bars ) Would a 4 to 6 week cure be long enough?

In the mean time I will look for lard. Is there anything I should look for when buying lard?
 
Last edited:
Normal cooking lard (varkensvet or reuzel from pigs) should be okay.

I would make a 500g batch at least, to allow for measuring errors. If you make a 100g batch and are out by 1 gram, it is 1%. If you make a 500g batch and are out by 1 gram, it's 0.2%- gives you a better margin of error
 
Wow, thank you so much for the advice. I just get over excited and want to get started.

Should I stay away from EO for my first couple of batches or would it be fine to add a little for fragrance.

So sorry, but everytime you give an answer I have a new question... EECK
 
No worries!

As for EO, it would depend what it is. I used some lavender in mine and it helps make the very first soap that little bit nicer.

One other thing - we like pictures of soap, especially when it is cut in to bars............... :D
 
I have lavender, geranium, lemon, tea tree, rosemary, pepermint and ylang ylang

Only thing left to do is decide on my mold. ARGH
I just found out that all my cake molds are gone..... I have wooden wine bottle box but ran out of bakingpaper...

So I guess I won't be making any soap today after all unless I make it to the store.

As you are in Austria, is there shop you prefer ( in Europe ) to buy molds (and supplies) I am fine with ordering overseas but it will take longer to arrive from the US then it does from other European countries

I promise to share pictures :D
 
For supplies, I like Manske Shop - German based so shipping can be a bit much so I tend to buy a lot in one go :)

For moulds, I just use loaf moulds that I made myself and line with baking paper. I am looking at making a much larger mould to line with Mylar :D (max capacity 260 bars!)
 
Great shop, they will cost me a lot of money I am afraid :lol:

Do you know if their Sheabutter natur filtriert is the same as unrefined sheabutter
( with it's typical smell, which I kinda like )

Off to shop some more :shh:
 
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