Allergic to everything

[Brittany Shaneyfelt]

Hi!! New here!
I'm here to post for my mother who has developed some pretty severe allergies to glycols and linalool so we have been looking into her making her own soaps.
She wants to make a soap bar and a shampoo and conditioner bar avoiding glycols and linalool...we are absolutely desperate to figure this out and learn how to make a solid soap and solid hair products she can use.
Any help would be SO appreciated!!!

 

[AliOop]

Welcome! As someone with lots of allergies myself, and within my family, I can totally relate!

First thing is to learn how to use a soap calculator. All recipes should be run through the calculator to check for errors. When entering the recipe, select a 33% lye concentration (not water as percent of oils). That's a great place for a beginner to start.

Do you have an objections to using lard and tallow? They have been used for centuries to make absolutely wonderful soap! Assuming you are ok with that, here is a gentle soap recipe that works for so many of my family members, using ingredients that can be picked up at the local grocery store:

65% lard
20% coconut oil
10% olive oil (or avocado oil, rice bran oil, or high-oleic sunflower oil).
5% castor oil

If you don't want to use animal products, you could try this instead:

75% olive oil
20% coconut oil
5% castor oil

For either recipe, I'd use a 3% superfat, and cure it for 4-6 weeks. You can try it before then, but it will lather better after curing.

Also, before adding the NaOH to your distilled water, I'd dissolve some white sugar into the water first, to help the soap lather more easily. Use 1 T white sugar for every pound of oils in your recipe.

Speaking of the recipe size, I recommend starting with just 1lb or 500 grams of soap. That will give you 4-5 bars of soap to test.

Here is a good video on preparing your lye solution and oils for making soap. She has another good video here about learning to recognize trace and emulsion.

And as always, I recommend @DeeAnna's Soapy Stuff pages on her website for really great detailed information about soapmaking.

 

[Brittany Shaneyfelt]

Welcome! As someone with lots of allergies myself, and within my family, I can totally relate!

First thing is to learn how to use a soap calculator. All recipes should be run through the calculator to check for errors. When entering the recipe, select a 33% lye concentration (not water as percent of oils). That's a great place for a beginner to start.

Do you have an objections to using lard and tallow? They have been used for centuries to make absolutely wonderful soap! Assuming you are ok with that, here is a gentle soap recipe that works for so many of my family members, using ingredients that can be picked up at the local grocery store:

65% lard
20% coconut oil
10% olive oil (or avocado oil, rice bran oil, or high-oleic sunflower oil).
5% castor oil

If you don't want to use animal products, you could try this instead:

75% olive oil
20% coconut oil
5% castor oil

For either recipe, I'd use a 3% superfat, and cure it for 4-6 weeks. You can try it before then, but it will lather better after curing.

Also, before adding the NaOH to your distilled water, I'd dissolve some white sugar into the water first, to help the soap lather more easily. Use 1 T white sugar for every pound of oils in your recipe.

Speaking of the recipe size, I recommend starting with just 1lb or 500 grams of soap. That will give you 4-5 bars of soap to test.

Here is a good video on preparing your lye solution and oils for making soap. She has another good video here about learning to recognize trace and emulsion.

And as always, I recommend @DeeAnna's Soapy Stuff pages on her website for really great detailed information about soapmaking.

Thank you!!

 

[ToniO]

https://www.humblebeeandme.com/ has some great free recipes that you can look at to make your own shampoos and conditioners and all sorts of other awesome stuff!

 

[Chaiat5]

If you don't want to use animal products, you could try this instead:

75% olive oil
20% coconut oil
5% castor oil

For either recipe, I'd use a 3% superfat, and cure it for 4-6 weeks. You can try it before then, but it will lather better after curing.

Do you use the Zany seawater method or just distilled water for this recipe?

 

[artemis]

Here is a playlist of videos aimed at teaching beginners to soap: