Any comments?

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

We're gearing up for some more experimentation this weekend and I've been playing with soapcalc for a while....any comments or suggestions about this recipe?

28% - coco
24% - palm
11% - pko
32% - olive
5% - castor

it seems to be a good hard bar, bubbly, but is it too cleansing??

 

[Soapmaker Man]

The way it is it's going to be a hard, cleansing, big bubbly bar, with OK conditioning numbers. I would up the olive to 40% and drop the coconut to 22%, raise the PKO to 12% and raise the palm to 26% This is still a hard bar with great bubbles and very good conditioning numbers! The INS is under 160 and that is good. Try this!

Paul.... :wink:

 

[Guest]

I love coconut in soaps - but my Winter skin hates it. No problem at all except in the Winter. So for me it would be too cleansing. If it's not a problem for you - then it looks great! I need more conditioning and would up the olive like Soapmaker Man said and personally - I would use tallow instead of palm - but I like lard in tallow in soaps. You might not - so up the Palm instead.

Marr

 

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

Thanks so much for the suggestions!!! I've been fiddling with it for a while. We're going to give it a shot this weekend.

 

[CPSoaper]

And if it were me, I'd change it to this:

15% - coconut
15% - palm
15% - pko
50% - olive
5% - castor

Summary of values suggested by soap calc:
Hardness 36 to 50 With my suggestions you get 37
Cleansing 14 to 22 With my suggestions you get 19
Condition 45 to 80 With my suggestions you get 58
Bubbly lather 14 to 33 With my suggestions you get 24
Creamy lather 16 to 35 With my suggestions you get 23

With my suggestions you get INS 147
With my suggestions you get Iodine 58

Everyone has their own way of doing it or percentages they prefer so this is just another way to do it.

 

[Zenobiah]

The soap calc had me tearing my hair out at first...

I still don't understand all the numbers but this thread is helping!

 

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

well we were planning to make a bunch of soap this weekend so maybe i'll make several of the variations and suggestions....i do know that things don't always come out the way that the formula says they should, i just don't have enough soap under my belt to have an idea of what might happen other than what the calculator suggests.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

CPSoapers and my recipe are very similar. With either one, you are going to get a really good soap! You won't go wrong, I guarantee it. Try soaping with a 30% solution at first, no more water discount than that. It took me over a year learning the numbers and what they meant at soapcalc.com. Once you learn what properties each oil or butter brings to a recipe and what ones to use together, or, "synergy" you will be well on the way to becoming an excellent soapmaker! :wink:

Paul

 

[itsmeroro]

The way it is it's going to be a hard, cleansing, big bubbly bar, with OK conditioning numbers. I would up the olive to 40% and drop the coconut to 22%, raise the PKO to 12% and raise the palm to 26% This is still a hard bar with great bubbles and very good conditioning numbers! The INS is under 160 and that is good. Try this!

Paul.... :wink:

Hi Paul - "INS" - what is that? lol, sorry, must be dumb questions day, I just dont know. Hope you are well.

roro

 

[reallyrita]

Sounds like a nice recipe. But I have a question about the PKO. Due to my problem with the white dots (see my post here) I was going through my Susan Cavitch book "The Soap Maker's Companion this morning and I happened to read up on PKO. I had bought some earlier but I don't remember why!!! Haven't used it yet! She seems to indicate that it can be substituted for coconut oil in a recipe, and that it is a little less drying to the skin. Why would you use both in a soap recipe?I sure don't mean this to come out sounding like a challenge to this recipe. It is simply a newbie question. Do they each bring something unique to the soap? When I get past making basic basic soap...I would like to try something similar to this one!

 

[Lane]

Sounds like a nice recipe. But I have a question about the PKO. Due to my problem with the white dots (see my post here) I was going through my Susan Cavitch book "The Soap Maker's Companion this morning and I happened to read up on PKO. I had bought some earlier but I don't remember why!!! Haven't used it yet! She seems to indicate that it can be substituted for coconut oil in a recipe, and that it is a little less drying to the skin. Why would you use both in a soap recipe?I sure don't mean this to come out sounding like a challenge to this recipe. It is simply a newbie question. Do they each bring something unique to the soap? When I get past making basic basic soap...I would like to try something similar to this one!

I've read the same thing! I think it's mostly a personal preference kinda thing. I always use both! Generally I use 20% Coconut and 10% PKO to bring it too 30% w/o using a full 30% of coconut, as they say it may be too drying. A lot of my family and customers are in Iowa where the water is very hard, so lather is a big deal to me. I also add to this about 7% Castor Oil for lather purposes.

 

[reallyrita]

Ok, this makes alot of sense. If the CO is drying to the skin then subbing out a portion of it for a very similar but not so drying oil but still keeping the percentages the same should help. I live in New Mexico at 8000 ft and the winters are cold and dry and the summers hot and dry!! Plus my well water is hard!! Think my next batch will be part CO and part PKO. I knew I had bought that stuff for doing something just could not remember what!!! That is why I tried making my basic soap with lard...thought it would be a little easier on the skin. I am planning on using some castor oil in the future as well. Little by little I am moving away from that basic soap but I am still tentative about superfatting...so far just sticking to 5% or 6%. Maybe time to move on up a tad!