70% Shea Butter

[SoapDaddy70]

I was watching a you tube video of some Australian soapmaker talking about EO's and he grabbed one of his soaps and said how much he loved this particular bar. It was 70% Shea and 30% Coconut Oil. I only make as a hobby and bought 5lbs of Shea Butter from WSP and realized it was too much to buy and then for some stupid reason I went and bought 2lbs of Shea Butter from Baraka. I would like to work through this 5lb bag of Shea from WSP. Anybody ever use Shea at such a high amount. I was thinking of just messing around and doing a 400g batch of 70% Shea, 25% CO, and 5% Castor.

 

[AliOop]

@cmzaha has posted several times about her high shea soaps, so you might search the threads using her name and "shea butter" as your filters. If I remember correctly, she said they are fantastic after a long cure.

I keep meaning to try these myself so I can get them on the curing rack for future enjoyment.

 

[SoapDaddy70]

@cmzaha has posted several times about her high shea soaps, so you might search the threads using her name and "shea butter" as your filters. If I remember correctly, she said they are fantastic after a long cure.

I keep meaning to try these myself so I can get them on the curing rack for future enjoyment.

Thanks. I will search right now.

 

[Dawni]

The most I've gone with shea alone is about 25%.. Combo of butters I've done 45%

Having said that... These soaps of mine are best after curing about 4mos. I can't remember how long cmzaha cures her high shea though... Just thought I'd give you a heads up.

But yes, they are awesome once cured

 

[GemstonePony]

Haven't done high Shea butter yet. It's on the list, but my 78% Mango butter, 15% CO, 7% Castor soaps are among my favorite, and Shea butter and Mango butter have similar FA profiles. I normally like my CO around 15%, so you're preferences on that may differ.

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Haven't done high Shea butter yet. It's on the list, but my 78% Mango butter, 15% CO, 7% Castor soaps are among my favorite, and Shea butter and Mango butter have similar FA profiles. I normally like my CO around 15%, so you're preferences on that may differ.

I think I shall try one today have been playing around with the calc and I’m thinking about landing on the following
Castor 10%
Murumuru 15%
olive oil 25%
shea 50%
although I have thought about scratching the olive oil and doing 75%shea.

 

[TheGecko]

I was watching a you tube video of some Australian soapmaker talking about EO's and he grabbed one of his soaps and said how much he loved this particular bar. It was 70% Shea and 30% Coconut Oil. I only make as a hobby and bought 5lbs of Shea Butter from WSP and realized it was too much to buy and then for some stupid reason I went and bought 2lbs of Shea Butter from Baraka. I would like to work through this 5lb bag of Shea from WSP. Anybody ever use Shea at such a high amount. I was thinking of just messing around and doing a 400g batch of 70% Shea, 25% CO, and 5% Castor.

Holly with Kapia Mera Soap Company has made a 100% Shea Butter Soap and a 60% Shea Butter Soap

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Haha already pulled the trigger and made the above recipe. I added citric acid, sugar, aloe, and clay to lye water then mixed at 110 degrees. Nothing happened too fast. It was nice and smooth. I liked the numbers better with the olive oil. I think it will be my winter use bar.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

If I had to spontaneously combine 70% shea with something, I'd go for 5% castor and 25% of a mid-linoleic soft oil (sesame, peanut, almond/apricot, canola), go dual-lye (some 5% KOH), and add sugar/sorbitol.

But that's an opinion from someone who is currently in a no-lauric phase (testing how far I can push recipes without CO/PKO/babaçu/murumuru).

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

If I had to spontaneously combine 70% shea with something, I'd go for 5% castor and 25% of a mid-linoleic soft oil (sesame, peanut, almond/apricot, canola), go dual-lye (some 5% KOH), and add sugar/sorbitol.

But that's an opinion from someone who is currently in a no-lauric phase (testing how far I can push recipes without CO/PKO/babaçu/murumuru).

No Lauric phase you say? What spikes the interest here?

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I've noticed that the skin on my face and back/neck reacts to soap in unfortunate ways – but less so when there are no lauric oils in there. I'm no-lauric since May, and I noticed after a few weeks that my skin impurities declined noticeably. I don't want to monocausally prejudge lauric soaps; too many other things like psychosomatics, external factors (nutrition, weather, stress, …) play a role there as well. But when I can relieve my skin with such easy steps, why shouldn't I?

 

[Carly B]

I've made soap using 45% shea. It's a lovely bar, but according to my notes, even with 30% coconut oil, not much lather.

 

[Guspuppy]

I did a 100% shea just to use up some old shea and as an experiment. I made it last November and just put it away for the long haul cure. Just tried a piece and there is not much lather but it feels really nice. Will try it again maybe in January.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I was thinking of just messing around and doing a 400g batch of 70% Shea, 25% CO, and 5% Castor.

67% Shea Butter CP

RECIPE

 

[cmzaha]

I have made 100%, 75% and 58% is what I settled on for selling. From what I remember the 100% took well over a year, maybe two, before it ever lathered and I was not impressed, the 75% was okay but I did not notice much feel any difference between 75% vers 58% percent from what I remember, so settled on the 58% for selling. After a 2yr cure, these bars become fantastic, not including the 100%. I know I tried other percentages but those are the ones that stick in my mind. I always purchased 25-50 lbs at a time so I would have a lot of shea around.

Soapdaddy, 7 lbs of shea really is not much if you use it in soap, and if you want any fell difference I recommend going with at the min of 30%. I would include it at 10-15% in some of my soaps just as a selling point, but I honestly could tell no difference in those soaps.

EDTA: I was just reading Zany's 67% shea recipe, I will note my CO was never over 12%. If I wanted high shea I certainly did not want high CO. I use Sorbitrol to help with lather, with a combo of edta/sodium gluconate in all my soaps.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I will note my CO was never over 12%. If I wanted high shea I certainly did not want high CO.

With all due respect and this is just me... the key to using high lathering (aka stripping) CO in a recipe is to balance it with high conditioning fats/oils. Then you get the best of both worlds and there is no need for sugar/sorbitol to boost lather, to my mind, at least.

Hardness of CO plays a part as well. I find raw shea makes a softer bar than some other butters, cocoa butter for example.

ETA: Shea butter values in the left column vs cocoa butter on the right: