recipe from book, what do you think?

Obsidian · Jun 4, 2014

I found this recipe in a free kindle soaping book and I'm really interested in trying it.

I need a low to moderate cleansing soap due to dry skin and as expected, they don't have the best lather.
This recipe has a cleansing number I can live with and a high bubbly number. I do have some concerns about the high castor content but if it works for the author, it should work for me.

What do you all think? Worth a experiment or is it a waste of castor? I would use palm kernel in place of coconut.

SF 5% (I would use 8% SF)
Palm 60%
coconut 20% <--I used palm kernel
Castor 20%

hardness- 46
cleansing-14
conditioning-51
bubbly-32
creamy-50

Nevada · Jun 4, 2014

It'll certainly be a hard bar, even with 8% SF. Lard instead of Palm sounds better (and cheaper) to me.

Susie · Jun 4, 2014

That is a lot of castor. I use a lot of castor in my 'poo bars, but IDK about a regular soap.

If you do this, please let us know what you think of it after? I think I have the same book, and wondered about some of those recipes.

Obsidian · Jun 4, 2014

I'd rather use lard too but I have a bit of palm left that I'd like to use up. If I like the recipe, I will switch over to lard. I'll probably make a small batch sometime today so watch out for updates.

CaraBou · Jun 4, 2014

I read somewhere that castor up to about 25% gives decent results as long as you have a high proportion of hard oils, which you do. And this jives with my limited personal experience. When I first started soaping, I used a lot of PO in my recipes with as much as 15 or 20% castor and I never noticed anything funky ( I'll look up exact amounts when I get home - lunch break now). Then for a short time I dropped PO but didn't sub lard or tallow, instead using a lot more soft oils. I hated the feel and got almost no lather, even in a beer soap. After 9 months I'm still letting these bars cure, hoping they'll change. They haven't as of a few weeks ago. Now I use lard and tallow (still no palm) but haven't re-up'ed the castor to complete the testing. I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you, please let us know. I'm always in pursuit of more bubbles!

Obsidian · Jun 4, 2014

I mixed up my batch and it instantly seized. I suspect the FO, I had blended it into the oils just in case it traced fast from all the palm. Its in the crock pot now, hopefully it will cook out ok.

Probably shouldn't have scented a test batch but I have a bunch of FO that are getting old and I wanted to use them up. Weird thing, last time I used one of those old FO's in CP, it also seized. Guess I'll just toss those scents, I don't trust them now.

cmzaha · Jun 4, 2014

I use castor in all my soaps but usually not over 7% since castor is a pricey oil. Here it is over $108 for 5 gallons. I find 5-7% with some powdered sugar gives plenty of bubbles. I usually use either palm or lard (vegan or non-vegan)

Obsidian · Jun 4, 2014

Yeah, this definitely wouldn't be a staple recipe but I'd love to have a nice super bubbly bar for personal use. This batch turned out great, it cooked really quick and smoothed right out.

I decided to add coffee grounds since I'm almost out of coffee soap. I scented it with clean cotton so its a weird scent for a ugly brown bar. Clean up was very bubbly already, should be great after a cure.

It sat up quickly too, its already unmolded and will be cut within a couple hours. There is nothing sticky about it and already has a nice waxy texture.

IrishLass · Jun 4, 2014

Looks like a lovely recipe to me. I have a formula that uses 23% castor, 65% tallow and 12% olive and although the bubbles are on the small side because I didn't add coconut to it, it makes a lovely hard bar without any stickiness. The high amount of tallow prevents that from happening. It actually feels quite velvety to me.

IrishLass

Obsidian · Jun 4, 2014

I couldn't wait, I tried one of the bars out as soon as it was reasonably hard. Its has great lather, very creamy and thick. I imagine it will be fabulous after a cure.

cmzaha · Jun 4, 2014

I really like high palm soap, I bet it will be fantastic in 8 weeks! I also like palm and lard together

lenarenee · Jun 4, 2014

I've been wanting to ask this questions for months, but just never did. Exactly what kind of bubbles does castor create; are they similar to the big bubbles of coconut, or more creamy?

And what about sugar? I made a bastille bar that I really like for this dry California climate, but the bubbles are only "okay". I love boisterous bubbles more than creamy. I tried sugar in my last batch of bastille, but it ruined the lather instead of improving it.

Obsidian · Jun 4, 2014

Castor helps make bigger and tougher bubbles but if you use too much, it won't lather at all. Usually 10% is the recommended amount.

Olive oil soap just doesn't lather well, thats why you really need to add coconut or palm kernel oil to your bastile. How much sugar did you add? How long did you let it cure? A really high OO bastile will need a long cure to be at its best.

CaraBou · Jun 5, 2014

I'm glad your batch worked out. I found the recipe from what I think was my second batch ever. It was 45 PO, 25 Castor, 20 CO, and 10 OO. My notes after a two month cure say "I think it lathers well but [DH] says it isn't enough." And so began the journey of chasing the dragon -- errr, I mean the lather!

I never made this recipe again. I just might have to try a variation now with lard, maybe more in the proportions of your recipe. 25% does seem a little over the top for castor, especially at the cost of it!

Obsidian · Jun 5, 2014

I tested it again this morning, it already produces more lather then any of my other soaps. It does leave a weird kinda sticky feeling on your skin but it goes away once dry.

You'll have to let us know if you try it with lard, I'm really curious to see how much of a difference there is but now I'm out of castor lol.

Skatergirl46 · Jun 5, 2014

I'm interested in hearing the results also. I routinely use Castor at 10% and I like what it does for my soap. I've stopped using Palm Oil, but I think this would be great with lard or tallow too.

lenarenee · Jun 5, 2014

Obsidian, thanks for telling me about castor bubbles. My bastille does have about 10% coconut for a cleansing of about 7 (I think. Too lazy to look at my notes). OO was 60%, and 5 % castor and the rest palm/lard.I was happy enough with the first bastille bars. The second batch I added 1 teaspoon of sugar to the water (for a 1 lb batch), and the bubbles were much smaller in size, no creaminess.

That's why I was so interested in your thread. I've tried 15 different formulas, but nothing close to what you're experimenting with. It has me curious.....and I just ordered some natural colorants to play around with. There's going to be some fun experimenting in my future!

seven · Jun 6, 2014

interesting. again, always something new to learn everyday

i didn't know that you can counter the stickiness from having high castor by also upping the hard oils. thank you Carabou, for posting that bit of info. my last encounter with high castor (15-20%) was far from pleasant. i think i was only using something like 30% palm, and 15% coconut. def not enuff, as the bars were sticky terrible.

i also like high palm in my soaps, i think it makes a nice, long lasting bar. a super bubbly bar that lasts forever, and ever... sounds promising. who doesn't love great bubbles?

Obsidian · Jun 6, 2014

A long lasting, high bubble bar would be fantastic, I hope this one is it! The bars are a tiny bit sticky but that could simply be from doing HP at full water. I've had other HP remain sticky for a few days.

recipe from book, what do you think?

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recipe from book, what do you think?

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