# Cypress soap?



## chibi-soap (Jan 15, 2017)

Hi,

   after my triumphant first soap batch on the weekend I'm now taking suggestions from the family for the next experiment.

  My daughter wants soap to clean her armpits that won't make the hairs squeaky that smells like a pine tree. TMO?

 Anyway, I thought I'd make this recipe with cypress oil ...
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/BasicSoapRecipes/a/Soap-Recipe-For-Babies-Or-Sensitive-Skin.htm

Olive oil 70% 
Coconut Oil 15% 
Shea Butter 10 %
Castor Oil 5%

It also has sugar and salt in it, which are added into the lye. Does adding sugar into the lye cause a scarey reaction?

Any idea how much cypress oil I need? :-?


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## Susie (Jan 15, 2017)

You need to use a lye calculator that will tell you how much fragrance to add.  I use Soapee.com.  I personally use the 0.48 oz fragrance oil/lb of oil setting.  You need to check where ever you bought the fragrance or essential oil at for usage rate.

I add sugar to part of the water amount and dump it into the oils before the lye water gets added.  It will not cause a bad reaction, but you may not get it all dissolved.  

That recipe will require a LONG cure.  I would only make a 32 oz/1 kg sized batch at the most until you know you love the recipe, though.


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## chibi-soap (Jan 15, 2017)

Thanks Susie.

Yes, i was planning on making ~1kg.

When you say long cure... how long? And will it need more time in the mold as well?


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## Steve85569 (Jan 15, 2017)

chibi-soap said:


> Thanks Susie.
> 
> Yes, i was planning on making ~1kg.
> 
> When you say long cure... how long? And will it need more time in the mold as well?



6 months for a start on the cure question. That is basically a Bastile soap because of the OO content. Olive really likes a long cure.


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## chibi-soap (Jan 15, 2017)

Oooh.... I knew about castille soap needing that long a cure, but didn't realise bastille soap needed that long too because this recipe from the soap queen 
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...s-soap/baby-soap-buttermilk-bastille-baby-bar 
 reckons at least 6 weeks, so I figured 6 weeks was enough.


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## Obsidian (Jan 15, 2017)

are you open to using lard or palm? You could add either to balance the bar out some and lower the cure time to 6 weeks.

Something like this. Bumped up the coconut to help with pit cleansing and to help increase lather.

Lard/palm 35% (personally, I like lard. It makes a better soap and is easier to work with)
olive 30%
coconut 20%
shea 10%
castor 5%


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## chibi-soap (Jan 15, 2017)

Yes, I used lard in the batch I made on the weekend. No problems there. Not keen on Palm oil though.

I chose this recipe because it claims to be good for sensitive skin. Every recipe I've seen for sensitive skin is bastile type, so I guess I need to suck up the 6 months curing time. By then I may have forgotten i made it and find it 5 years later covered in dust!


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## Gerry (Jan 15, 2017)

High lard content can be good for sensitive skin.  I have some 80% lard bars that are over 2 years old now and those who inherit them say they are so creamy, bubbly, and feel so nice.  My mom says finally a soap that doesn't make here skin feel tight and dry.  Some people can get irritation and rashes from olive oil.

I'm a rather lucky in that I have insentive skin so either is good for me.


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## BattleGnome (Jan 15, 2017)

During the holidays I used softsoap for the first time in nearly a year and came home with itchy redness under my arms. The most basic bar I had in my shower at the time was 100% lard and it cleared in a day. 

If your daughter needs a bar because of sensitivity under her arms then I'd say use a single oil if you can. Lard is a good one, so is olive. don't use coconut as a single oil until your daughter can tell you what she likes/dislikes about homemade soap. Coconut is often too cleansing (squeaky) for sensitive skin. 

In my experience (only a year and a half so take my advice with a grain of salt), any homemade soap is better than store bought. The recipe you posted should be fine unless your daughter has allergies/sensitivities (you haven't brought any up). That recipe will be ok in 4-6 weeks but will be much better after 6 months. At the same time, I've never heard of a soap that was better at 4 weeks than 4 months. (I'd still go with a long cure for a Bastille even if it's a useable soap at 4 weeks)


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## chibi-soap (Jan 15, 2017)

Wah! Things are getting more complicated. 

OK. I think I'll stick with the recipe I posted and cure it for 6 months. 

But on the subject of sensitive skin... my mother has terribly itchy skin. No one knows why. Should I try making 100% OO and 100% lard soaps, unscented, for her? I thought I could make bastile soap iwith calamine for her, which will make it a pretty colour as well.


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## earlene (Jan 15, 2017)

Chibi-soap, although it will benefit from a longer cure, it will still be safe to use before that.  You can have her use a bar at 6 weeks (as long as it is zap-free, which I am pretty sure it will be if all goes well), then save the other bars to cure longer.  That way she/you can see the difference in the soap at 6 weeks, versus 3 months, versus 6 months, etc.

By cypress oil, I you're talking about an essential oil, right?  I've read that it can blend well with some other EOs, but I haven't read much about using it on its own.  In blends, its usually a lesser ingredient, so that might indicate it has a very strong scent.  Here are a couple of links with EO blends including cypress EO in case you are interested.  You can find more if you search.

http://soapteacher.blogspot.com/2010/10/suggested-essential-oil-blends-for-soap.html

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2016/02/essential-oil-blends-for-soap/


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## Susie (Jan 16, 2017)

I would suggest you use a recipe that looks like this:

Lard 50-65%
Olive Oil 20-35 %
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 5%

This will be good for really sensitive skin because lard is more like the oil your body already produces, so it is less irritating to the skin.  Olive oil is good, but lard is better.  

Why don't you make both so you can feel the difference?  You can make them both in the next week or so, test the lard one in 6 weeks, test the high olive oil one in 6 months.

And yes, high olive oil soaps need more time in the mold (unless you stick it in the freezer for a few hours).  I would probably try the hardness in 3 days, then every day thereafter.  Just push gently on the corner of the top of the mold, and if it dents, wait.  If it does not, try unmolding.  If it is soft on the bottom, just let it stay as a loaf until you can't dent it.  Then cut and let cure for 6 months.  Be sure your curing area gets good air flow.  So don't put it in a closet or a drawer.  They need to be open to the air.


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## penelopejane (Jan 16, 2017)

I really like your first recipe. Not a lot of people on this forum use OO because there are cheaper alternatives in the US but in Australia OO is fairly cheap so we use it a lot. I don't use lard. 

Your Bastille will be fine to use in 6 weeks. My son loves that recipe with that much coconut. I prefer 10% as I personally find it a little drying but it makes a hard, bubbly bar so it's a great oil to use. 

I make 100% OO and it's fantastic for sensitive skin. It's what dermatologists recommend for skin problems like eczema because it is so mild. You can use it at 6 weeks but it goes a bit mushy unless it is dried out between uses. It is better at 6 months and fantastic at 12. I use salt at 1tsp Ppo and don't get the sticky stuff some people complain about. Vinegar for 50% of the water also helps to harden it quicker. But I've only just started to experiment with it so I can't tell you that definitively.

As Susie said reserve some of the water from the recipe and dissolve your additives in it and add to the oils before the lye. The lye only needs its weight in water to dissolve (100g lye needs 100g water) so you can play with a fair bit of it if needed.


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## chibi-soap (Jan 16, 2017)

Thanks Penelope,

    can I ask what your recipe is? Does it have a superfat content? For the pure OO soap I mean. Interesting about the relaive costs of OO here and there. That hadn't occured to me.

I bought a cake of Daisy Cow OO/Milk soap the other day at the supermarket. It's made in Victoria and we're enjoying the way the OO oozes out of it. Quite different to any other soap I've ever bought!

Samantha


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## cerelife (Jan 16, 2017)

i make a castile soap with 1:1 blend of cypress and cedar essential oils and it's lovely!


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## chibi-soap (Jan 17, 2017)

Thanks Cerelife, I'm a bit horrified at the price of oils  so I just ordered the cypress oil. 

I just got a copy of "pure Soapmaking" and it has a 100% OO soap made with salt water. 

Can I use a loaf mold for Castile soap, or do I need individual molds?


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## penelopejane (Jan 17, 2017)

chibi-soap said:


> Thanks Penelope,
> 
> can I ask what your recipe is? Does it have a superfat content? For the pure OO soap I mean. Interesting about the relaive costs of OO here and there. That hadn't occured to me.
> 
> ...



I prefer between 0 and 2%SF.  This is probably a personal thing though because there are a lot of you tube videos that say you should use 7% SF. 
I use EVOO.


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## penelopejane (Jan 17, 2017)

chibi-soap said:


> Thanks Cerelife, I'm a bit horrified at the price of oils  so I just ordered the cypress oil.
> 
> I just got a copy of "pure Soapmaking" and it has a 100% OO soap made with salt water.
> 
> Can I use a loaf mold for Castile soap, or do I need individual molds?



You can use a loaf mold.


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## chibi-soap (Jan 17, 2017)

Thanks.


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## Gerry (Jan 17, 2017)

penelopejane said:


> I prefer between 0 and 2%SF.  This is probably a personal thing though because there are a lot of you tube videos that say you should use 7% SF.
> I use EVOO.



I do this exactly the same.  I find well cured castile at 0% SF is much more mild on my skin than my balanced soap with 20% CO at 6% SF.


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