Advice with my recipe

[Pennytoes]

hello, it’s my first time posting, hope I’m in the right place. I’m looking for help with my recipe, just someone to say wether or not it’s ok before I go ahead and try it.
I’ve been making soap for sometime, very simple recipe but I’d like to do something a bit more moisturising and one that hardens nicely.
I’ve made a slab mould and calculated the volume for a batch of 36 bars.

Olive oil 1200g
Coconut oil 1200g
Cocoa Butter 325g
Shea Butter. 275g

Super fatting 5% I’ve put this through the calculator but I’m just looking for advice in wether or not it will make a nice bar.
Thank you for any advice in advance.
Apologies if this isn’t posted in the correct place.

 

[Kamahido]

This bar will be very drying. I suggest lowing the Coconut Oil and raising the Shea Butter to compensate.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would also, as a general piece of advice, suggest making smaller batches when trying something very new. You might end up being stuck with a lot of soap which you don't like if you make such large batches of an untested recipe

 

[Amy78130]

Try raising your olive and Shea, definitely cut your coconut, maybe in half. Try something like 1750 g olive oil, 600 g coconut, 325 g cocoa butter and 325 g Shea. Do you add sodium lactate to your lye water? I’ve also had luck dissolving a little sea salt in my water before adding the lye to harden the bars, if I didn’t have sodium lactate. This should give you a very moisturizing bar, especially with the butters!

 

[IrishLass]

Agreed- definitely too much coconut oil if you're wanting something not so drying to the skin......and also too big of a batch for a recipe in the yet untested/experimental stage. I myself go no larger than about 500g batch when trying out a new recipe, which makes about 4 to 5 bars, depending on how thin/thick I cut them. That way, if it turns out I don't like it, I won't be stuck with a bunch of unpleasant soap on my hands and wondering what to do with all of it.

If it were me, I would do something like this:

Olive oil (55%)....1650g......................(or rather 275g for a 500g batch)
Coconut oil (25%)....750g....................(or rather 125g for a 500g batch)
Cocoa butter (10%)....300g..................(or rather 50g for a 500g batch)
Shea Butter (10%)....300g....................(or rather 50g for a 500g batch)

But that's just me.


IrishLass

 

[Clarice]

@Pennytoes

As a newcomer to this forum, I have learned the hard way to follow the VERY GOOD advice given by folks who have been around a long time and have a great deal of experience. Hint: Look at when they joined, how many posts and likes they have. For example, If I told you to do X, and @IrishLass told you to do Y - you would be very well advised to ignore my advice and go with hers LOL!

Have fun - and do consider small batches - i had to toss some big ones that I screwed up and I regretted being so cavalier with my oils!

 

[Nicola]

Thank you all. I do appreciate it. the last batch I made was equal amount of olive and coconut plus coco butter and I found them drying after 6 weeks but 6 months on they’re fine. I didn’t superfat that batch either. I will take your advice and make a smaller batch with less coconut oil.
Appreciate your speedy reply’s x

Try raising your olive and Shea, definitely cut your coconut, maybe in half. Try something like 1750 g olive oil, 600 g coconut, 325 g cocoa butter and 325 g Shea. Do you add sodium lactate to your lye water? I’ve also had luck dissolving a little sea salt in my water before adding the lye to harden the bars, if I didn’t have sodium lactate. This should give you a very moisturizing bar, especially with the butters!

No I haven’t tried sea salt. I will make my batch smaller and try one with sea salt too. Thanks for your advice

 

[Amy78130]

No I haven’t tried sea salt. I will make my batch smaller and try one with sea salt too. Thanks for your advice

No problem!! Let us know how it works out for you!!

 

[Dawni]

No I haven’t tried sea salt. I will make my batch smaller and try one with sea salt too. Thanks for your advice

Remember to add the salt to your water and dissolve well before adding the lye, unless you're doing an actual salt bar