About to make first ever batch of CP

[CraftyRedhead]

Hi! My name's Emily, and I'm brand new here, and new to soapmaking in general. As soon as my lye comes in I'm going to start my very first batch, and I wanted to bounce my recipe off anyone that knows what they're doing
I'm going for an exfoliating peppermint mocha soap.

Right now it's:
2oz Castor Oil (5%)
4oz Jojoba Oil (10%)
6oz Sweet Almond Oil (15%)
6oz Cocoa Butter (15%)
8oz Coconut Oil (20%)
14oz Olive Oil (35%)

14oz Coffee
5.15oz Lye (according to thesage.com)

2tablespoons coffee grinds
1tablespoon cocoa powder
.5oz Peppermint essential oil

I know the color will be dark brown and bland, but I'm not going to try and color anything this go round. I'm worried about the different oil amounts and how they'll be together, and also the amounts of additives. As far as the cocoa powder and peppermint, I want to make sure that it smells good but isn't overwhelming. I know that cocoa butter will have a chocolaty scent, but will the smell hold during saponification? If it does hold, do I even need the cocoa powder?
Thanks for reading, any help would be appreciated!

 

[judymoody]

Hi Emily and welcome!

I have a few suggestions for your recipe.

Jojoba oil is extremely expensive - you might want to save it for a leave on product instead of using it in soap or at least hold off until you have more experience. You could recalculate your recipe with another oil or fat as a substitute for the jojoba. If you're not averse to using palm oil or lard, that would add some nice creamy lather to your soap.

The scent from the cocoa butter will be very faint after saponification. Ditto for the cocoa powder which may also make your lather a bit brown.

If you are looking for a chocolate mint combo, you are likely to get mostly mint. However, cocoa butter is lovely in soap - it contributes to a hard, long-lasting bar.

The scent level you suggest is a good one because peppermint EO is very potent and can be irritating/tingly if used too heavily. You could even go a bit lower - 1-2% of your soaping oil weight.

The coffee grounds should be super fine - like espresso grind. They can be quite scratchy.

You could reduce your liquid (coffee) a bit, maybe down to 12 ounces. Make sure it is cold before you add the lye. And it will definitely stink when that lye hits it but don't worry, the smell will dissipate as the soap cures.

Hope this helps!

 

[juliab86]

Your recipe looks fine to me. I've used all those oils except jojoba in soap. It's too expensive for me to use in a wash off product.

I'm relatively new to soap myself, but I would try running your formula through soapcalc.net. That might give you a better idea of the properties of your soap.

I've never used coffee, but I've used black tea in my soap. When the lye mixed with it, it made a horrible fishy smell, but thankfully didn't transfer to the final product I don't know if coffee will react the same way, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[CraftyRedhead]

Thanks for the input! I'm so happy to have someone to talk to about this.
I'll see if maybe I can find some palm oil, I actually don't think I've seen any around. And I'll definitely make sure to grind my coffee grounds as small as possible. And thank you for letting me know about the smell of the coffee while it's setting - that would have freaked me out!
So skipping the cocoa powder, what should I use to make a chocolate scent? I can't seem to find any chocolate EO, and I've heard so many bad things about using FOs that I don't know if I should try it or not?

 

[pamielynn]

For coffee scent you'll need to go with a fragrance oil. I hate to admit to admit it, but I love Coffee Beans from Wholesale Supplies Plus.

 

[Twiggy]

I have made such soap one year ago, as I think that mint and chocolate is such a wonderful team! But as Judymoody said, not much was there from cocoa scent after all, even I’ve used A LOT of cocoa butter Lesson learned haha Also, the suds are brownish from cocoa powder, and cocoa raw mass I’ve used - if you don’t care about that go ahead!
Good luck with you first batch, and show us the results PLS

 

[judymoody]

As you are going for a mocha mint, I would try Brambleberry's chocolate espresso fragrance oil. Most chocolate FOs smell kind of like plastic to me in the finished soap. This one is the best I've found; my teenage daughter loves it. And while you're there, you could pick up some peppermint essential oil and some palm oil! BB has a nice sampler of common essential oils.

If you have a health food store in your area or market like Whole Foods or Sprouts, you can find palm oil under the Spectrum brand of shortening. It's not cheap, but not too outrageous either. You can also get it for less from Wholesale Supplies Plus or Essential Depot. WSP offers free shipping over $30. ED usually has a palm oil special with free shipping. Or you can try my favorite oil supplier, Soapers' Choice. (I'm assuming you're in the US)