70% Shea CP experiment

[LynetteO]

I have 5lbs of unrefined Shea that I need to use up in soap as I dislike in sugar scrub due to nutty scent. Two weeks ago I made a small batch with 70% Shea, 20% CO & 10% castor. I was prepared for quick trace but the false trace was CRAZY and immediate! I had never experienced anything like it. It was if a snake coming alive in middle of oils. I was planning to hand stir only but thought said ‘snake’ needed to get dispersed into rest of batter. 4 tiny pulses, then a few stirs with a whisk and batter was ready to be poured.

I tested a sliver today and I’m hopeful about a bigger batch in near future, but a bit nervous about combatting false trace with bigger batch.

 

[AliOop]

When I make high-shea soaps, my melted oils and butters are usually at 110-120F, which is quite a bit warmer than normal for me. Although soaping warmer does speed up trace, to me, it is worth the benefit of avoiding false trace and the issues that come with that.

My FO/EO gets blended into the warm oils. Warming the scent this way helps to minimize acceleration and ensure thorough mixing of the scent throughout the soap (a difficult feat if you try to add it later while the batter is racing to trace).

To warm up my room-temp master-batched lye solution, I mix in my additional water (with dissolved additives). When I pour that mix into my warmed oils, first I hand-stir, and give 1-2 short buzzes with the SB. Usually that's all I need to reach a stable emulsion, and then it's time to pour, baby, pour.

As an aside, do you make lotions at all? You can use up some of your shea in a lotion, where the scent is greatly reduced due to all the water (and other ingredients). You can also cover it up with scents that blend well with shea. For me, those are scents like vanilla, coffee, chocolate, and most "masculine" type of scents.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Alioop beat me to it - I was going to suggest soaping warmer.