A Cream Soap Tutorial

First let's start with an easy recipe:

Stage One

* Stearic Acid 8.4oz
* Sweet Almond Oil 2.55oz
* Coconut Oil 3.1oz
* Shea Butter 2.1oz
* Glycerin 5.0oz

Stage Two

* Water 3 oz
* Kaolin Clay .2oz

Lye Water

* Water 15.6 oz
* NaOH .6 oz
* KOH 2.2oz

Super Cream Stage

* Stearic Acid .5 oz
* Glycerin .7 oz

Now we get to play.

You are going to put all of the stage one ingredients in the pot to melt together. I use a crock pot, but you could use a double boiler or even the oven if that is your preference:



Let's get geared up for safety now.

While you're waiting for this to melt get your lye ready. Measure your water as usual and set aside. You're going to measure into your lye cup your NaOH first, then add the KOH right on top. If you don't usually wear mask (uhm like me) you may want one for this as it is stinkier (technical term that). Add your lyes to your water like you normally would and you're going to hear a hissing sound as they mix into the water as you're stirring. I promise it's not a snake or precursor to an explosion. Well it shouldn't be anyways otherwise it is one very annoyed snake. So just set it aside.

Once your oils are melted you are going to weigh out your water and clay, combine them well then pour into your oils and stir.

Now you're ready to add your lye. I like to preheat the bell part of my stickblender before adding the lye because the stearic acid attaches itself to anything cold and solidifies.

Have your stickblender in the oils and just give a quick twirl to make sure your clay is mixed it. Now add your lyes slowly stickblending the whole time....



Because I used full water on this it didn't chunk up on me as soon as the lye hit. That doesn't mean it won't to you, it can be rather temperamental on you so if it does, no reason to panic.

Well we made this far and I'm hoping no injuries - oh yeah - hold on now people you did put on your safety gear right? Whew....

We're going to let this cook for about 1 1/2 hours with frequent checking. I use high on my crockpot. In an oven I'm going to recommend about 180* F for the cook.

Because I used full water on this it didn't chunk up on me as soon as the lye hit. That doesn't mean it won't to you, it can be rather temperamental on you so if it does, no reason to panic.

Well we made this far and I'm hoping no injuries - oh yeah - hold on now people you did put on your safety gear right? Whew....

We're going to let this cook for about 1 1/2 hours with frequent checking. I use high on my crockpot. In an oven I'm going to recommend about 180* F for the cook.

So once that magic number of 1 1/2 hours has skipped by you are going to want to measure out your super-cream ingredients and put them on the stove to melt using medium low temperature. You need to stay right there with it because it will melt and then turn into steam before you blink (of course I always have a customer come into the store at this moment). Pour this into your soap and you may need to chunk it in . Take the time to get it well mixed in, then return to the cook for another 30 minutes.



After the 30 minute cook you're going to remove it from the heat and let it sit overnight....

You'll notice I didn't add any fragrance at this point. I like to fragrance once I'm ready to package it which is at least 2 months away. If I wanted a colour I would add it when I added my clay. In fact that is the time to add anything you are wanting to include in this, oats, milk powder, any other additives would be put into that 3 oz of water and then added before the lye.

Next Day...
So this morning the mixture was still very stiff:

I put it into my mixer to soften it up and see if I was going to need to add liquid (I was pretty sure since I want this to end up being in a lotion pump bottle):


I used my bread attachment as I don't want a lot of air being mixed into this since it's not a whipped soap and within a couple of minutes you could see it starting to soften:


But not enough so I added 4.25 ounces boiling water:

I still wasn't quite happy so I added an additional 3 ounces and this was just the ticket and where I want it to be:


And that's all there is to it. This is going to "rot" for the next couple of months in a sealed container and I might peak at it now and then (yeah like any of us can keep from peaking at our creations - whatever

Once it is fully cured/rotted you can add more liquid if you want and that is when you would add your fragrance. You will so love the feel of this and if you sell your customers will be beyond delighted.....

Thanks for letting me share this passion with you....

SO generous of you, Lindy! Thank you!

Thank you for sharing Lindy....question do you need preservative in this at all? I so want to try this.

Thank you so much! I was wondering how to make cream soap. Couple of questions, though:

1. Is the kaolin clay absolutely necessary to the consistency?

2. I did not notice any preservative, is this correct?

Nice tutorial! Another one to add to the list of things to try!

Awesome tutorial, Lindy! Thanks for sharing!


IrishLass

Thank you so much for the tutorial!! I have to ask though... any thoughts on GM as part of the water? Is it possible? Will it turn brown or just off white like CP?

Also wondering if the total water amount listed in the first post includes the extra you put in to make it thinner (pumpable) in the end, or if that amount is in addition to the first number listed.

You're welcome everyone.

There are 2 schools of thought on the preservative debate. Some believe that preservative is absolutely necessary some say that it is soap and the environment of soap does not allow for bacteria or mold. So you need to decide for yourself. I personally don't believe that it needs preservative even though once (in 4 years) I had a problem. After studying what happened I have decided that it was an aberration caused by condensation so I am back to believing preservative is not needed.

But you need to make your own decision based on your own research.

Goat Milk is fine in your Cream Soap as long as it is added prior to saponification being completed so I would add it just after you add the lye. You will have to chunk it in.

Lindy said:

Goat Milk is fine in your Cream Soap as long as it is added prior to saponification being completed so I would add it just after you add the lye. You will have to chunk it in.

Click to expand...

I just want to be clear on this.. lol. I'm sorry for all the questions!

As a portion of the initial water amount? Like you would in CP if you don't want to burn the milk? Or as additional liquid? You don't think you could mix it with the lye/water?

You could put it in with your lye same as CP.

Thank you Lindy! This is so much more informative than anything else I found to date!

Anyone have a cheap source of small amounts of kaolin clay?

*EDIT* Nevermind. Found some online for really cheap.

Any chance this tute could be made a sticky?

Thank you so much for this lindy. I'm definitely going to give it a go

I would love to hear about your results and how you like doing it.

thank you so much for the tute Lindy. i've made my 1st cream soap around 2 months ago. question, can i whip it again and add water at this stage? it's a bit drying on my skin, so i'm also thinking, perhaps adding a bit more glycerin?