# Trying for a more conditioning soap recipe



## Hazel (Jul 21, 2012)

I was playing around on soapcalc after looking at Soap Queen’ recipe for moisturizing soap which looks like a lovely soap and very mild. I recommend it for anyone wanting to try a milder soap.

Disclaimer: These recipes I’ve come up with are based on what I like for my dry, sensitive skin. So, please don’t hate me if you try one of these recipes and think it’s horrible.

I was playing around on soapcalc after looking at Soap Queen’ recipe for moisturizing soap which looks like a lovely soap and very mild. I recommend it for anyone wanting to try a milder soap. Anyway, I came up with a few ideas which I thought might also make a more conditioning type of soap. *I haven’t tried these recipes* but I thought some people might find them interesting enough to try a batch. (I want to mention here that soap isn’t moisturizing but it can be made less drying with the addition of some oils and a higher superfat. I checked SQ’s SF and it appears to be 5%. I normally use 7%-8% SF.) I also add sodium lactate to help with hardness and approximately 4% sugar based on the oil weight. Plus, I love buttermilk or cream in soap to add a little extra luxuriousness to the lather.

If I wanted to make a similar soap to SQ's, I’d make a few changes to make it a little more conditioning. I think jojoba oil is extremely expensive and I prefer to save it for lotions so I eliminated it from the recipe. Also, I prefer to use shea in lotions and whipped butters but it would make a softer bar if I eliminated it completely. 

The simplest variation to increase the conditioning would be to eliminate the 1 ounce of jojoba, replace it with 1 ounce of castor oil and use a higher SF. 

Another variation – a little more conditioning but also a slightly softer bar. 

42% Olive oil
20% Palm oil
19% Coconut oil
9% Avocado oil
5% Shea butter 
5% Castor oil

Another way to make it more conditioning is to sub out the AVO and use HOS. 

[FONT=&quot]
42% Olive oil
20% Palm oil
19% Coconut oil
9% High Oleic Sunflower oil
5% Shea butter
5% Castor oil

Without shea butter

40% Olive oil
25% Palm oil
20% Coconut oil
10% High Oleic Sunflower oil
5% Castor oil


Off topic – 

Because I was playing I did come up with a couple that isn’t very conditioning but I liked the values as a body bar for my BIL and nephews. They don’t like soap with a lot of emollient oils, they prefer a less mild soap and they _really _like beer soap. So, I would use more CO than normal and use beer for the liquid with a 5% SF. (I wouldn’t add sugar or SL in these recipes.)

35% Olive oil
27% Palm oil
27% Coconut oil
6% Castor oil 
5% High Oleic Sunflower oil
If I wanted to use avocado oil, I would eliminate the HOS and replace it with AVO.

I would change the percentages a little and use 8% SF if I was making a beer batch for myself and other members of my family who have dry skin. 

35% Olive oil 
26% Palm oil
25% Coconut oil
7% Castor oil 
7% High Oleic Sunflower oil


Again, these are just my preferences when making soap. Everyone has their particular favorite oils and may not like my choices. I like castor because of how it really increases conditioning, stabilizes lather and adds some creaminess and smaller bubbles. I also like high oleic sunflower since it’s more stable and has a longer shelf life. It might be better to substitute your own favorite oils in place of what I like to use. Also, I’ve found too much coconut oil dries my skin out terribly unless I use a really high SF like I do for salt bars. Most people could increase the CO percentage and find they prefer it. 

I hope some people find these recipes useful as a starting place. I like tweaking recipes to see what will happen in soap. I’ll confess I’ve had some bad ones but overall I’ve found recipes with these oils and similar percentages to produce bubbly and mild soap. I’ll add to this if I think of more variations.

eta: I made this one.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]42% Olive oil
20% Palm oil
19% Coconut oil
9% High Oleic Sunflower oil
5% Shea butter
5% Castor oil

I found it to be mild, conditioning and nice lather. It was slightly "tackier" feeling even after 6 weeks of curing. However, one of my sisters loved it and asked for more. I noticed the tacky feeling appears to have disappeared now that it's cured for over 2 months or so.
[/FONT]


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## Bama (Jul 22, 2012)

Question Hazel. How do you know the Sunflower oil is HO.  Is the one you can buy at the grocery HO or do you have to order it from someplace.


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## judymoody (Jul 22, 2012)

Bama said:
			
		

> Question Hazel. How do you know the Sunflower oil is HO.  Is the one you can buy at the grocery HO or do you have to order it from someplace.



Look at the label, If it's high oleic, the monounsaturated fat level will be much higher than the polyunsaturated.  If it's the reverse, it's the ordinary kind.  The same applies for safflower.  I'm pretty sure the Louanna brand found at Walmart is high oleic.

Hazel - thanks for sharing!  My base soap recipe is pretty similar as I live in the desert and push conditioning over cleansing and I generally SF at 8-10%.  My husband likes a more cleansing bar so for him, I up the palm and coconut.

I made a really decadent break the rules soap for Mother's Day for myself and some special friends.  It has no palm, no coconut and no olive oil.  In descending order - unrefined avocado, kokum butter, babassu, mango, unrefined hemp, and castor, 8% SF.  It is divine!


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## Hazel (Jul 22, 2012)

judymoody said:
			
		

> I made a really decadent break the rules soap for Mother's Day for myself and some special friends.  It has no palm, no coconut and no olive oil.  In descending order - unrefined avocado, kokum butter, babassu, mango, unrefined hemp, and castor, 8% SF.  It is divine!



OMG! That does sound awesome! I love babassu in soap and I also used avocado a lot until I tried HOS. I also love mango in lotions, etc but oddly I've never used it in soap.

*@Bama*

I couldn't find HO sunflower in the stores so I had been using regular sunflower oil. Last year, I finally bought some from soaperschoice.com after repeatedly reading how much nicer it was than regular sunflower. I especially liked the benefit of a longer shelf life.


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## Bama (Jul 22, 2012)

Well Judy and Hazel I read the label on the bottle of Sunflower oil i have from Walmart and it is the regular kind cause the poly is higher than the mono but it says high in Vit E.  It is imported from Ukraine.  I will order some of the other from Columbus when it cools off weather wise again. I want to order some Rice Bran too to replace OO and make a really white bar.  I have used the Sunflower I have in small amts and it does soap well


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## Hazel (Jul 22, 2012)

Walmart is where I used to buy regular sunflower oil. I think it was the brand you bought. Not only is it great in soap, it's lovely in lotions, creams, scrubs and lotion bars. A bonus is you can bake with it, too.   

You don't need the high oleic one. I prefer it because I don't go through oils very quickly so I like to buy oils with longer shelf lives. Also, it worked out slightly cheaper for me to order a larger container even with shipping once I decided I wanted sunflower as one of my basic oils. It may not be cheaper for you depending on where you live. The shipping is very reasonable for me since I live in Ohio.


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## new12soap (Aug 16, 2012)

These look great, thank you  I think it's awesome of you to share them, even though they are as yet untried. I have dry sensitive skin so I really like to keep my CO at 20% or below (and cleansing on the lowest end), but since I live in a very hot humid climate I like to use oils that have the longest shelf life possible and I superfat at 3-5% (other than salt bars which seem to be self-preserving). I do have some high oleic sunflower oil but I haven't used it yet, now I can't wait to try it!

I also use sodium lactate most of the time, so I am curious why you would leave that out in bars for BIL and nephews? It would make a harder more long-lasting bar without adding any of those girly emoillients  I get that you don't need the extra sugar when using the beer!

Any and all who try these, please let us know the results?


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## Hazel (Aug 16, 2012)

new12soap said:
			
		

> I also use sodium lactate most of the time, so I am curious why you would leave that out in bars for BIL and nephews? It would make a harder more long-lasting bar without adding any of those girly emoillients



My reasoning behind not using SL in the soap for my BIL and nephews is because the PO, CO and OO will make the bar hard enough, IMO. I've just gotten into a habit of not putting SL in beer soap since I always use more PO and CO in the batches.  Maybe I should try it and see if it makes a noticeable difference. You can certainly use SL if you want your batch to be even harder.


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## new12soap (Aug 16, 2012)

Ok, I confess, I do CPHP and so my primary reason for using SL is that it keeps the soap a bit more pourable when I am glopping it into the mold and it releases from my plastic molds so much more easily


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## Hazel (Aug 16, 2012)

That's a good reason to always use it.


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