# IrishLass's Creamy LS recipe success!



## emi (Jan 8, 2019)

I succeeded in making IrishLass's Creamy Shea/Cocoa recipe! I've failed making LS several times in the past and have since had a phobia towards LS. I came upon her recipe on this forum and it gave me courage to give it another shot! Her directions are wonderfully detailed with plenty of photos leaving no room for confusion or doubt. Plenty of tips and suggestions too. I particularly liked the instruction of using canning jars instead a crock pot to dilute. It was also very comforting to see, "Now we come to the hardest part of liquid soap-making- determining dilution rates." I felt validated to see a person of her caliber saying that dilution isn't as easy as it seems like it should be!

I have diluted about half of the recipe keeping the rest of the paste stored in the fridge. I did make the mistake of making the paste and following the recipe without running it through the lye calculator with my KOH that was "84-92%". Hers was calculated at 95% strength. So I had to ask the forum for some advise to correct that which I did. The only other snag was the canning jars I used. I bought 16oz canning jars just for this recipe (she used 32oz) and I later learned I should've bought the "wide-mouth" jars instead of the normal ones. My stick blender just barely would not fit into it! But considering all that could've gone wrong that was no big deal. I just poured it into a different container to SB. The only difference recipe-wise was that I needed around 47% water to paste instead of 41% for it to dilute properly without leaving the firm head of foam. That was probably because my paste was sitting out in the pot longer dehydrating. I also used around 2.5% EO to LS instead of the 0.5-1% fragrance recommendation.

Thank you IrishLass for this recipe! I love everything about it and know I will be making it regularly!

Here's the link to her recipe.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-creamy-cocoa-shea-gls-tutorial.57974/


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## IrishLass (Jan 9, 2019)

Yay!!!  



 I'm so glad it turned out well for you and that you like it! You made my day! 


IrishLass


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## DCNeicey122 (Jan 22, 2019)

Yeeeees. I know how you felt when you saw the results. My 1st liquid soap project made me experiment and read and experiment. Was so busy making small batches of soap and having fun with it.   

Keep soaping, reading and trying new recipes. IrishLass inspired me to create my own Moisturizing Butter soap & a Honey Calendula Butter soap for my granddaughter and her super sensitive skin.


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## Meena (Jan 30, 2019)

emi said:


> I succeeded in making IrishLass's Creamy Shea/Cocoa recipe! I've failed making LS several times in the past and have since had a phobia towards LS. I came upon her recipe on this forum and it gave me courage to give it another shot! Her directions are wonderfully detailed with plenty of photos leaving no room for confusion or doubt. Plenty of tips and suggestions too.
> Thank you IrishLass for this recipe! I love everything about it and know I will be making it regularly!
> 
> Here's the link to her recipe.
> ...



Gorgeous looking LS!!  I'm so glad you linked @IrishLass 's recipe, since I'll be doing my first LS next week.


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## Steve85569 (Jan 30, 2019)

Even I can make IL liquid soap. 
It's a wonderful recipe with very good instructions!


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## Meena (Jan 30, 2019)

Say, @IrishLass and anyone else -- Do you think I'd have a problem making this LS without the chemical additives?  Especially the Stearic Acid, and after that the PS-80?  Has anyone here made LS with just oils, glycerin, water, & lye? If so, what were any challenges you experienced?


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## IrishLass (Jan 30, 2019)

Hi Meena! For this particular formula, the stearic acid is a definite 'must' if you want the soap to come out opaque, thick, creamy and more mild/less stripping. Stearic acid is nothing to be afraid of, though. I personally don't consider it a 'chemical' as some might view chemicals (i.e., in a negative light) since it is a naturally occurring fatty acid present in most of the fats we use for soaping, such as palm, tallow, lard, cocoa butter, etc, only it has been specially isolated/extracted and further processed to be used as a stand-alone additive for many things... such as soap and candles to name a few. 

As for the PS80, it's purpose in this particular formula it to keep the soap from separating due to the high superfat (about 7%, all told). 

Having said all that, though - yes- you can make liquid soap with just oils, glycerin, water and lye!  I have a crystal clear formula that I make that does well with just oils, water, glycerin and lye.


IrishLass


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## Meena (Jan 30, 2019)

IrishLass said:


> Hi Meena! For this particular formula, the stearic acid is a definite 'must' if you want the soap to come out opaque, thick, creamy and more mild/less stripping. Stearic acid is nothing to be afraid of, though. I personally don't consider it a 'chemical' as some might view chemicals (i.e., in a negative light) since it is a naturally occurring fatty acid present in most of the fats we use for soaping, such as palm, tallow, lard, cocoa butter, etc, only it has been specially isolated/extracted and further processed to be used as a stand-alone additive for many things... such as soap and candles to name a few.
> 
> As for the PS80, it's purpose in this particular formula it to keep the soap from separating due to the high superfat (about 7%, all told).
> 
> ...



Thanks so much, dear Lass!   I'm not fussy about the final look (opaque, crystal, shimmery), so that's one fewer parameter for me.  Okay, I'll buy some stearic.  Then instead of SF, skipping both that and the PS80 should work?


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## Meena (Jan 30, 2019)

Ordered stearic acid and glycerin.  Hopefully all will arrive the same day as the KOH.  

I feel another bar soap batch coming on, in the meantime.


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## emi (Jan 31, 2019)

IrishLass said:


> Hi Meena! For this particular formula, the stearic acid is a definite 'must' if you want the soap to come out opaque, thick, creamy and more mild/less stripping. Stearic acid is nothing to be afraid of, though. I personally don't consider it a 'chemical' as some might view chemicals (i.e., in a negative light) since it is a naturally occurring fatty acid present in most of the fats we use for soaping, such as palm, tallow, lard, cocoa butter, etc, only it has been specially isolated/extracted and further processed to be used as a stand-alone additive for many things... such as soap and candles to name a few.
> 
> As for the PS80, it's purpose in this particular formula it to keep the soap from separating due to the high superfat (about 7%, all told).
> 
> ...


Oooh while you're on the subject of the stearic acid, I've noticed that my LS looks like it's separated, but I don't think it's separating with the oil, do you? I think it's just clear LS. Theres a thin line of it forming in the left one too. (But I diluted that one about a week before the one on the right) These 2 jars come from the same batch off paste, but were diluted separately (the left one was about 4 weeks ago. the right one about 3 weeks ago). The only difference otherwise should be just different EOs. The one on the left has a bunch of orange and lemon EO (hence the orangier color) and the one on the right has some lavender EO in it. But as far as the dilution rate, I at least thought I did the exact same thing for both. I do remember adding a few extra drops of poly80 though, for both actually. But I didn't think too much poly80 would effect anything (as opposed to too little). They were small batches (1/4 of total paste in each batch) so I could've thrown off the proportions by even a small error in measuring. I know you said the stearic acid is what causes the opaqueness. Do you think I may have not added enough in the right side one? They both started totally opaque and stayed that way for at least 2 weeks before I started to notice the clear LS settling at the bottom. It looks like too much for it to be the SF separating out. I definitely added the poly80. Besides if the oil was separating, wouldn't it be on top? I'm pretty sure this is just clear LS at the bottom, so I really don't mind. But just wondering.


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## emi (Jan 31, 2019)

Meena said:


> Ordered stearic acid and glycerin.  Hopefully all will arrive the same day as the KOH.
> 
> I feel another bar soap batch coming on, in the meantime.



I just wanted to suggest, check your KOH strength beforehand and put it though the calc just to make sure. The soapmakingfriend one allows you to input exact KOH strength. I made the mistake of not doing this and using my weak KOH ("84%-92%") and having to make up for it later in dilution. If I did my math right, IrishLass's recipe is using a 95% KOH. Good luck making this awesome recipe with such comforting instructions! Please post your results too!


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## Meena (Feb 2, 2019)

emi said:


> I just wanted to suggest, check your KOH strength beforehand and put it though the calc just to make sure. The soapmakingfriend one allows you to input exact KOH strength. I made the mistake of not doing this and using my weak KOH ("84%-92%") and having to make up for it later in dilution. If I did my math right, IrishLass's recipe is using a 95% KOH. Good luck making this awesome recipe with such comforting instructions! Please post your results too!



Hi there, thanks!  I don't think I'll be able to adjust for my KOH purity because The Lye Guy's is said to be 96% pure and the calculator I use only has a 90% option.  That will throw it off the other way, so my idea/intention is to set SF to 0% -- not just for that reason, but because I don't want to add any other chemicals besides the stearic acid (which is derived from 'vegetable' sources, which probably means soy, which therefore certainly means GMO, and I'm not happy about this) to keep the SF in suspension.  (This is from memory, which is still suffering from the concussion, but I believe that's what the PS-80 is added for, i.e., keeping SF in suspension.)

Will defo post results!  Getting low on liquid soap at home, and hoping to never buy any again!


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